Electric guitar guys spend a lot of time talking about tone: Who’s got the best tone, how does he get that tone, tone is in the hands, man. Tone tone tone, all day and all of the night … and dude, how did Dave Davies get that tone on that song? (He got it on “You Really Got Me” by slicing up the speaker of his amp.)
But I think these conversations tend to miss the most important point, which is that excellence of tone is contextual. What matters is not primarily whether a particular tone sounds cool or not, but rather whether it suits the song. And in that regard it has long seemed to me that the all-time masters of tone-in-context are the Beatles. Their guitars have a remarkable range of tones and they’re always just right. Consider the diversity of
- “Ticket to Ride”
- “And Your Bird Can Sing”
- “Revolution”
- “I’ve Got a Feeling” (John’s little riff, used as an intro and then played through the whole song)
- “Octopus’s Garden” (I’m serious)
I’m limiting myself to five, but the list could go on. Clapton’s tone on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is great, but it’s basically the same sound he used all the time in those days (before he switched from a Les Paul to a Strat). The Beatles had an uncannily perfect sense of what sound they needed from their instruments for any given song. People rarely say this, it seems to me, but they’re one of the great guitar bands.
More about the Beatles coming — I’m reading this, in the moments between meetings, emails from students, and exam grading.
