One of the most common things that guitarists wonder is how to recreate the sounds of their favorite players. This is something that people have pondered over for years and year, and there are two conclusions that have been drawn. One, having the right setup will get you in the ballpark. Playing through the same amp head and cabinet, using the same pedals or processors and using the same guitars made of the same material using the same pickups are all ways that you can start to recreate the sounds of your favorite players. The second conclusion that has been come to is that the true sound of the player is in their fingers, and can never be reproduced.
It's the second that I want to address, as you can pick up a guitar magazine or go on line and find photos of your favorite players to find out what kind of setups they're using. While it's completely true that you can never totally recreate the sounds that a player makes, due to differences in your style and anatomy, you can come close.
I'm not writing this article to get your hope up that you're ever going to sound like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Kirk Hammet or Kerry King, as you'll never completely reproduce their sound. In fact, right down to how your fingers are shaped, there are too many things in the way. The way that you hold the guitar and fret the notes, which is affected by the way your fingers are shaped, the way you pluck the strings with the pick and the techniques that you use to move up and down the fretboard are all factors. The length of your fingers, size of your hands, arc and movement of your wrists are all minutely different from person to person. These minute differences create a world of difference in your tone, so you shouldn't ever think that you're going to be able to completely recreate the sound of your favorite player.
I do believe that, with the combination of the right equipment, and some practice, you can get in the ballpark. The equipment is the starting point. The amp and the effects are definitely key, but I want to start with the guitar itself. The experiences of each guitarists are much the same. There's only one real design for the guitar and that involves the making of an instrument, usually from wood, that has tuning pegs, a bridge, a fretboard and a set of strings suspended over that setup. So, right away you're going to be experiencing things much in the same way as the person you're trying to emulate.
The closer you get to the exact same axe as your favorite player, however, the more information you'll have about what they feel when they play the guitar. Doubtless big names all have different guitars, so you're not going to be able to know everything that they feel when they play the guitar - it changes with each guitar. Owning one of their guitars, however will help. You'll know how your hand wraps around the neck and what the action of the guitar feels like. Find out what kind of strings they play with and put them on your guitar. Different types and gauges will create different feelings when you play. Getting these basics down is the first step.
Now you'll want to study how they hold the guitar. If you can find video on line, look at how they place their hands on the neck - do they wrap the thumb around, or is it on the back of the neck? Where is that thumb located, directly behind the fingers or set apart by itself? Look at their wrists and arm, do they bend the wrist a lot, or is it straight? What about the arm, what's the angle at the elbow. All these different factors effect technique and tone. Starting there, you can begin to recreate the same tones that they do, by replicating their technique. If you can't afford a new guitar, jump straight to this step.
Getting the right equipment is also going to be a big clue in. Hearing the same sounds that they do is going to give you a lot of information about what they're doing with the guitar to make the sounds that they do. When you can set your amp and effects to the same as the player and then actually hear how the movements of your hands on the fretboard create different sounds and tones, you're going to know even more so what they're doing with their hands to create the tone. All of this information is going to get you closer to your goal of playing the guitar much in the same manner as the players that you idolize.
While it's not an easy thing to do, you can learn to play much like famous guitar players. You'll never completely recreate their sounds, and you really shouldn't want to since guitar and music is about expression, but you can come very close. Doing this type of exercise will really help you get creative and learn new techniques. You can push your own boundaries and open new doors in your playing doing the things that I talk about here. Good luck & happy playing!
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