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Guitar sounds on records that surprised you


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Do you have any examples of songs where you thought a certain part was played on one type of guitar only to discover that it was played on something different?

 

We all know about Page using a Telecaster on certain songs or solos when people assumed he'd used a LP but any other examples of sounds/tones that surprised you?

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I remember years ago over on another guitar forum (which shall be nameless) people were asked to nominate their favourite Les Paul player's tone & tracks and someone listed Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top's 'La Grange'.

 

It was a while before some know-all clever-clogs smart-arse or other ([blush]) pointed out that the Rev. played a Strat on that track. A 1955 hard-tail....[flapper]

 

Nobody loves a smart-arse....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIW4ARVbhrw

 

P.

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Melvins Ozma was recorded on a 2 track. Compared to their other albums, it doesn't sound as good, but it always blew my mind how heavy they made it sound with such a simple recording set up.

 

melvins_ozma.jpg

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Anybody remember (or fans of) the band Poco. When I first heard their recordings I would have sworn they had an organ player. Then I saw them in concert and realized it was Rusty Young playing a pedal steel through a Leslie.

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More to the thread title, I'm always blown away by guitar sounds by King Crimson.

 

 

 

 

+1 to that..

 

Frippertronics, Belew, Levin, Bruford.

 

The talent on those albums was staggering.

 

(and I was fortunate to see those 4 together live)

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This maybe a bit out of context but I remember the first time I heard a Talk-Box, Frampton toon's on the radio, had no idea it was a guitar until I went to see some of my 7th grade classmate's jamming, there guitar player used one, they played Do You Feel Like We Do. James Gang is some what before my time so I didn't hear Rocky Mt Way till the late 70's early 80's.

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Do you have any examples of songs where you thought a certain part was played on one type of guitar only to discover that it was played on something different?

 

Scroll down and listen to the beginning of "Lucia" on Cougar's Soundcloud page. Sound like a nylon string acoustic? It's not, but that's one of the reasons I had to pick up a

....
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Ace Frehley (as well as Paul Stanley on Dressed To Kill) recording with small Fender amps, as well as all of the musicians that have made "ghost appearances" (Bob Kulick, Anton Fig, **** Wagner, et all) on KISS records, especially Robben Ford playing on "Rock And Roll Hell" and "I Still Love You" on Creatures Of The Night, and **** Wagner playing the solo in "Everytime I Look At You" from Revenge.

 

Jimmy Page recording with a Tele and Supro on Zeppelin I.

 

Alex Lifeson playing a Strat on songs like "Bastille Day" and "Something For Nothing", as well as his tone on the song "Stick It Out": he plugged his PRS straight into a Peavey 5150.

 

EVH's occasional use of the 58' Flying V on certain songs (like "Hot For Teacher"). And when I found out that his old Marshall was stock.

 

There's much more but I'll think of them later.

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Dan Electro's have been used by a lot of players in studios over the years, one example is Glen Campbell's guitar solo on Lineman for the County was a baritone Dan Electro he borrowed from Carroll Kaye. Leslie speakers are another tool that was used in studios on some well known hits, Iron Butterfly's famous drum solo on In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was mixed thru a Leslie, they used it in live gigs for years. Jack Bruce played a variety of basses including a Fender VI. Maybe the strangest guitar used was the custom Mosrite Surf Board guitars used by The Strawberry Alarm Clock

 

 

 

http://guitarz.blogspot.com/2006/09/ebay-1967-mosrite-vintage-strawberry.html

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Anybody remember (or fans of) the band Poco. When I first heard their recordings I would have sworn they had an organ player. Then I saw them in concert and realized it was Rusty Young playing a pedal steel through a Leslie.

 

Yep, saw them live at the Santa Monica Civic in about 1969 and kept looking for the organ player, finally figured out that it was the pedal steel guitar. That guy was a great player.

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When I first heard this, I was blown away.

 

As the intro (Carl Orff's "O fortuna") ends and Randy Rhoads comes in with the main riff with the energy of a nuclear attack - it gave me cold chills. Still does after so many years...

 

 

Cheers... Bence

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La Grange recorded direct to board with Strat

 

55 hardtail Strat - but I read that is was run through a 100 watt Marshall Super Lead (his '68 or '69) not straight to the board. Only the Rev knows for sure I guess.

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Terry Krath's Free Form Guitar solo on CTAs first lp......

 

Free Form Guitar

Free Form Guitar is a seven-minute cut from the Chicago Transit Authority album featuring nothing but other-wordly sounds produced by Terry Kath and his Stratocaster.

 

Some would call Free Form Guitar an example of electronic or experimental music. But admittedly, it's mainly for guitar nuts and those who want to hear something out of the ordinary.

 

Some folks, after listening to it, might want to be Free FROM Guitar for a while. For what it's worth, Chicago considered it significant enough to put on the Kath tribute album.

 

It originated when Kath started fooling around with his guitar and amp setup during a lunch break. Engineer Fred Catero was intrigued by the sounds Kath was producing, so he opened some microphones and rolled tape. Kath does some interesting things on this performance. There is an example of "two-handed tapping," a technique that some guitarist named Edward Van Halen would use to great effect.

 

The use of the Bogen pre-amplifier feeding a Fender amp produces some awesome sustain and feedback. If you're a guitar player, you might scratch your head wondering how Kath got those sounds.

 

Former Chicago guitar player Dawayne Bailey, who is a huge fan of Kath's playing, had this take on Free Form Guitar:

 

"Terry's Free Form Guitar to me was a direct spin-off of the classic Jimi Hendrix creation, Third Stone From The Sun from his Are You Experienced album (1966-67). Jimi changed the world and Terry felt that influence as well as every other guitarist with a tab of acid in their brain and a Marshall stack screeching feedback out to the universe in the mid to late 1960's.

 

"I thoughtTerry's performance was a creative contrast to the amazing variety of styles on that first Chicago album, but it wasn't groundbreaking-that was Hendrix's doing 3 or 4 years before CTA came out. Regardless, I still loved Free Form Guitar and consider it a classic still today. "

 

 

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The 1st time I ever heard feedback used musically was the intro to "I Feel Fine." I still remember Lennon miming shaving with an electric razor on TV. 1964. I'd never heard anything like it. Pre-Jimi.

But Jimi surprised everyone with his guitar sounds.

 

I agree that Belew is probably the most innovative 'sound' guitar player - who else would think of doing elephants and rhinos?

I saw the Talking Heads live vid with him again a couple of weeks ago, the guy is a genius.

 

And of course...Beck. The intro to 'Freeway Jam' on Beck/Hammer Live has some great car and traffic sounds, and on the 1st track of 'Guitar Shop' he does machine shop/electric drill noises. Brilliant.

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