Does it bother you when someone asks you "who is the BEST guitarist"? It bothers me, as its not quantifiable, like an athletic event. It's all subjective! Equally as bothersome is when someone asks you "what's the BEST guitar"...I always respond with "the best guitar FOR WHAT?"...and there is still no right or wrong answer.

Have you ever thought about why we play the instruments we play? If you ask me that question, I probably would say that first and foremost, its because of the tone. Generally speaking about electric guitar, we get tone from the instrument, the amp and our fingers (sure, pedals help to give us different shades, but can we cover that in another post?). Whether that tone we can get based on our own experimentation, or the tone that our forefathers (idols) got during their classic recordings and concerts and we know we can achieve, I think we play because we LIKE the sound of the guitar. And eventually, we achieve our own voices on those guitars, which I believe to be the "sound of our fingers."

Think of all of the different tones you've heard, enjoyed and made over the years and the players, guitars and amps that produced them. Often you don't even need to put on a cd to hear them, they are ingrained in our heads. I'd like to take you through some of my favorites...

The first time I saw B.B. King playing his beloved Lucille was at a large outdoor concert in the late 70's, in mid-summer. That night, perhaps because he was using a rented silverface Twin Reverb instead of his usual Lab Series amps, he had an altogether different tone than the tone we all know and love. He was playing his guitar CRANKED through the Twin, and it was distorting almost to the point of Hendrix. It just grabbed me, and although that one night was over 25 years ago, I still can hear that sound, as it really moved me. I've seen him probably a dozen times since then, and (playing through his old warhorses - Lab Series L5 amps) he always got his signature tone, sounded great, but very, very different from that hot summer night.

The first time I saw Eric Clapton was on the "Backless" tour, also in the late 70's, and EC was playing blackie through very loud and very clean MusicMan 120 amps, with Albert Lee on second guitar. I did like this clean tone, although EC was getting bashed at the time for giving up his guitar roots. I must say that while I enjoy all of his tones throughout the years, my favorite stuff was on "Fresh Cream". So toney, raw and aggressive, but still very pure. His famous "woman tone" probably started on "I Feel Free" but really kicked into gear on later tunes like "Outside Woman Blues", which he got by rolling off the tone pot on his neck pickup, something we all like doing.

A defining moment for me as a young guitarist was getting Rory Gallagher's "PhotoFinish" album. That was my introduction to Rory, and arguably was his finest moment. To think that he played all of the various colors on that record with pretty much just his battered Strat is mindblowing. He got chunk, he got clean, he got shimmer, he got screaming Strat lead tone, and he got creaminess. To this day, "PhotoFinish" is one of my top 5 desert island albums.

Another favorite of mine was the tone that Mick Taylor and Keith Richards got on the "Ya Ya's" album. Just thick Gibson tone through some big Ampegs...but sweet as pie. My love of Chuck Berry came from this album and its two covers of Berry tunes.

There are so many good tones to choose from, a virtual Crayola Big Box of 96 Crayons. Many of us enjoy a particular instrument because of the variety of things it can do well, and how it can make us sound. That's probably why I play a Fender Stratocaster. A Strat just FEELS right in my hands. As I mentioned in my recent posting to Saiichi's journal, my first real guitar was an old SG, and to tell the truth, the first time I played a Strat, it felt so unnatural and difficult to play, and seemed like something you really had to "work at" to sound good. Now, I couldn't imagine NOT playing one. To me, the great thing about a Strat is that you can take 5 players all playing the same guitar, and yet it comes through sounding like THEM vs. the guitar...Does that make sense? Personally speaking, I think that the only time I can really EXPRESS myself from a soloing perspective, meaning get the phrasing that I hear in my head, and sound like me (for better or worse) is with a Strat. A good Strat is like a good friend, there's a level of familiarity that breeds comfort.

All that being said, there is arguably nothing better sounding than a screaming, humbucker equipped Les Paul. Playing with Saiichi in London last week really reminded me of what an awesome tone that truly is, especially when put through a classic Marshall as in Saiichi's case. Can't really get much better than that! But can you get fewer tones from a Les Paul vs. a Stratocaster as is the common beef? I don't think so, because alot of players who play Pauls have very different styles. Think of the great Les Paul tone Mike Bloomfield got while playing through a Fender Twin Reverb, which was totally different from the tone that Paul Kossoff got through his Paul, which varied from Mick Taylor's Les Paul, and now let's not forget Al DiMeola. Sure, part of it is the amp, but once again, I'll go back to the fingers. I do think they may be the "X factor"... In conclusion, tone may be comprised of different components, but it's probably the sum of these components coming together that grabs us and makes us want to listen and play.