Hey Friend,

Have you ever noticed your ears perceiving a sound different than it actually was?

When I listen to any classic Rock songs, I tend to hear the guitars with a distorted sound. In my mind, I hear distortion as super high overdrive with lots of midrange and treble frequencies.

In fact, very crisp distorted guitar, ALA the intro guitar riff in “She's A Beauty” by The Tubes, is one of my favorite sound setups.

However, as I’ve been going through The Who tutorials over at Guitar Tricks, I’ve had it reinforced that Pete Townshend recorded most tracks with very little overdrive. 

Another example is classic Black Sabbath. When I listen to something like “Iron Man,” I hear dark, heavily distorted power chords. The truth is, again, very little overdrive was used. 

Most of what we hear on these songs is not an effect, per se, but learning how to use the basic sound frequencies and energies that your amplifier provides (and yes, you acoustic players, you could find yourself using an amplifier at some point).

Treble frequencies allow for cleaner, brighter sounds. Mid-range fills in the center frequencies and tends to balance the overall tone. Bass is the low end, adding the heft to your sound.

Too much of any one frequency range affects the sound. Too much treble makes your guitar sound thin an tinny. Too much bass will make you sound muddy.

But dial in the perfect frequencies and that guitar will sing…

The challenge is getting the right mix. 

It’s not as easy as lining up the controls on the correct numbers. Once you have the basic sound you're hunting for, you need to tweak until it hits that sweet spot.

It all comes down to learning your gear and working with its unique properties. 

Every guitar, every amp every effect is going to be a little different. Like people, there are no two alike. 

Now, we might not have the highly trained ears sensitive enough to perceive the difference, but I assure you, they’re there. 

I suspect that’s one of the reasons modeling amps and software were designed - to capture those sounds so they can be reproduced as closely as possible to the original sound and tone of a rig. 

If you like The Who, The Beatles, Boston or any one of hundreds of other bands, check out Guitar Tricks. You can not only learn some of their most popular songs, but also find out how to set your amplifier controls to get the closest sound match to the original recording.

Have a great afternoon!

Peace~

Dave