Looking for a blues sound

[Guitar57]

Hi all, I just started learning guitar on an acoustic but decided to get an electric guitar too.  I got a Les Paul Classic and Im trying to make out how to select the

pickup and volume and tone to make it sound a bit bluesey

Has the two  pickups and those push pull knobs for volume and tone.

 

Any help would be great. 

 

Steve 

 

[Rabs]

 

 

[Rabs]

Actually in watching that vid again. Joe misses one big factor in all of that. The amp settings..

If you have too much distortion going on it wont work like it does in the video. What you have to do is get it so that at full volume and tone on the guitar, turn the gain up until you are just getting that break up sound (till it starts distorting)...  Then you can use the volume controls to take that gain out and clean the sound up (if you see what I mean)..  Takes some time to fiddle about with the amp settings and learn this stuff.

[merciful-evans]

I reckon any and all guitars can sound bluesy. 

[kidblast]

it'd be good to know what you are using as your guitar amp.

[jdgm]

The volume and tone controls on your guitar are passive; so when they are full up (on 10) the pickup(s) are outputting all they've got.   Turning volume down decreases output, rolling back tone decreases treble.  That's all they do, cut tone or volume.  Very obvious but important to understand.

With those controls full up on the guitar, set your amp tone controls to about mid-way (5 out of 10) to start with.  If you are using a headphone amp the same thing basically applies. Then bring the amp volume up until it is at a good (but sensible for your living space) clean level, without any distortion.  Now you can control the volume of the amp with the guitar volume controls.  If the amp has reverb, select the spring reverb setting and start with it on 3 (or 'low') so you get a slight 'halo' or reverberation around the notes or chords you play. 

Leave the guitar vol and tone full up for the moment.  Leave the push-pulls down.  Using the pickup selector switch, note that the neck pickup is darker-sounding and probably slightly louder than the bridge pickup which is much treblier.  That is absolutely normal.  Set the pickup selector switch in the mid-position, strike a chord or play a bit and try turning down the volume of the neck pickup only first, then try the same thing with (only) the bridge pickup; and you will find there are some subtle variations in the tone of both pickups together via these different combinations of volume, without having moved the tone controls - yet.   Obviously the next thing to do is to repeat the exercise and move the tone controls a bit as well.   If you don't have a reverb of any sort, I recommend getting a cheap pedal - these start at about $23 on Amazon, for instance.  You would also need a correctly-rated power supply/wall wart unless the pedal takes batteries, and an extra lead.   It should be more than good enough to 'set and forget'. 

It might also be that if you turn just one of the volume controls down completely, there may be no sound from the guitar at all when the switch is in the middle position.  That is normal for many LP guitar wiring configurations, but not always the case these days.    Classic clean jazz tone is with the switch in the neck pickup position and the neck pickup tone turned down to 5 or sometimes less.   Twang comes from the bridge pickup with the tone up.   Blues tone can be many different things and the tone of a Fender Stratocaster or Telecaster is inherently different to that of a Gibson, due to the differences in guitar and pickup design and construction.

So in this way you begin to hear what range of tones the guitar is capable of without any distortion/overdrive added yet.  

The push-pulls are a whole other chapter! You should find that raising one of the tone ones makes the volume and tone controls inoperative; this is called 'pure bypass' and is not a fault - it sets the pickups at full output.  Push that down again and pull up the other tone knob. This puts the pickups out of phase with each other,  most noticeable with the selector switch in the middle position.  Next, the push-pulls on your volume knobs 'tap' the magnetic coils of each pickup and should make each one sound thinner, a little more like a Fender.   Again there are numerous subtle variations in tone achievable with the up/down combinations.

If you knew some or all of this already I apologise for being patronising.

Best wishes, good luck - have fun!

Edited May 18, 2021 by jdgm

[Guitar57]

Thanks you all for this great information.  I can better understand the controls now. 

One more thing what is happening when i pull the knobs up? It that something used a lot?

By the way I'm using a Fender Blues Junior 15 watt Tube amp 

Thanks

steve

 

 

[Mr. Natural]

All of the above is good advice.  And, as Fish Crumpet said, "Blues isn't a sound", but if by "bluesey" you mean slightly overdriven, a master volume amp like the Blues Jr. will get you an overdriven sound at a suitable "bedroom volume".  Turn the MASTER knob all the way down and the VOLUME knob all the way up.  Then, slowly turn up the MASTER knob until you get to a acceptable volume.  Tweak to suit.

[jdgm]

2 hours ago, Guitar57 said:

Thanks you all for this great information.  I can better understand the controls now. 

One more thing what is happening when i pull the knobs up? It that something used a lot?

By the way I'm using a Fender Blues Junior 15 watt Tube amp 

Thanks

steve

I'm assuming that when all the knobs are DOWN = normal humbucking configuration.

TONE knobs; pulling one of these (I don't know which one) will bypass all vol and tone controls giving you pickup(s) with max vol and max tone, as if it's all on 10.  Good for solos.

The other TONE knob puts the 2 pickups out of phase.  Try pulling this up (with all other knobs down at first) when the pickup switch is in the mid(both pickups) position. 

VOLUME knobs. Pulling either one of these up makes the dual-coil pickup behave more like a single-coil pickup.  The sound is thinner and good for rhythm when playing at high volume in a band.

It's nice to have so many tone-changing options; but in truth they aren't all that necessary and some would say not that useful.  So no, not used a lot.

🎸

Edited May 18, 2021 by jdgm

[kidblast]

It' all quite subjective,  but knowing the amp helps.

Any guitar will work here,  you want something a little edgy for a decent blues tone,  Not  heavily over driven, but the "breakup" side of a clean tone.

I'd run the Master Volume  low and turn up the "Volume" up past half way for starts.

Treble Bass and Mid, set that to your liking, and I'd put the FAT setting "ON".

The more you turn up the "Volume" the more breakup (natural over drive from the amp) you'll get, adjust the over all volume by turning down the Master Volume until you are starting to dig what you're hear.  One thing that would probably help would be some kind of compressor to give your notes a little bit of gravity.  (aka Sustain)