Twangy Jerry

[bucketorain]

how does Jerry get that twangy country sound on songs like Me and My Uncle etc..?

[Tennessee Jedi]

Probably 'cause he was into Fender early on.
Strats = the twang.He had a few Strats ...
Also Fender amps.He had them too.
I think he also had a thing for Telecaster type players- like maybe the guy from Merle Haggards band who's name I cant remember.

[BlobWeird]

It could just be the pickup he used. On my Gibson SG Classic I can get close to that tone using the 5th position.

[KCJones]

I don't think its so much his guitar and gear as it is his techniqe. Jerry was pretty in tune to the style of music he was playing, and each style has different picking, strumming, attack, etc.

That goes for any Jerry playing.... Jerry could be playing through any piece of shit amp, or any make/model good amp for that matter, and you'd be saying ..."yeah that's Jerry with his great style and tone going on". He's getting a major part of his tone from his techniqe and style of playing.

[Tennessee Jedi]

Yeah KC
I love a good Mexicali.
Jerry totally sounds like Jerry regardless of his rig.
But I also think he didnt just want any old rig or guitar.From whats on the site here it seems Jerry wasnt too fond of his gits till he went custom.
But he had some good runs with Strats (and other brands) and he had Fender amps.
I think the 1st Wolf had stock Strat pups in it.
Skull and Roses ,Europe '72 come to mind.Kinda twangy.Strat Years.
If someone wanted to go for Jerry's sound you wouldn't tell them to get a Marshall,although I'm sure Jerry would have ripped it up.
I took the O.P s question more in a how do get that tone as compared to the notes being played.
Hows the Lap Steel coming ?

[KCJones]

I hear what yer saying and agree with you on all points; you got my point too I think.
I just think too much emphasis is put on gear vs. technique/style when it comes to Jerry's "sound". Hey, I'm as much a gear whore as the next guy and consider my gear when trying to emulate Dead sound/tone. Collecting gear is fun. But in the end, what matters most to a musicians sound, I think is your own pesonal style and techniques, followed by your gear.

As for the lap steel, its coming slowly, lol. Trying some different tunings, etc.

[Tennessee Jedi]

Good luck with the steel KC
Yeah
Jerry is a master of so many styles.
It wont matter what gear you got - if you dont dig into what he was trying to do and where it was coming from,you wont sound like Jerry.

[Pete B.]

These comments pretty much some up the reason why, whenever these "what pickups..." and "what strings..." threads come up, I'm always saying..."given a certain guitar, it's not gonna make that much difference... turning the knobs on the amp will make a much more drastic difference...".
Just my take... it's all good!

imho, for mere mortals like us, the Twang tone is the brige pickup.
Think, intro to Big River.

I've been playing at a Monday night get together where the host has a Fender Thinline Tele Deluxe with HB's that I have been playing for several weeks now.
I am really liking this guitar for overall playability and twangy Jerry tone!... (without the single-coil Tele icepick-treble factor).
~pb

It's this one:
http://www.fender.com/products/search.p ... 0137402321

[deadguise]

Jerry had a real good "chicken picken" style on country tunes- maybe all the banjo playing he did had something to do with it. You could could hear it on Cumberland, Big River, El Paso, etc. I love Cowboy Dead.

[bucketorain]

well, as pete stated, it is the bridge pick up...i was fooling around with it the other day and when i select the bridge pick up or the center and bridge together i can get the sound on my strat....

but i think its a big combo of the pick up setting and how you pick...in regards to picking i was sort of picking and muting at the same time with the fingers holding the pick..

[BlobWeird]

I don't think its so much his guitar and gear as it is his techniqe. Jerry was pretty in tune to the style of music he was playing, and each style has different picking, strumming, attack, etc.

That goes for any Jerry playing.... Jerry could be playing through any piece of shit amp, or any make/model good amp for that matter, and you'd be saying ..."yeah that's Jerry with his great style and tone going on". He's getting a major part of his tone from his techniqe and style of playing.

KC of course what your saying is totally true. BUT can you explain in a short amount of time how to play like Jerry? Doubt it. But you can explain a good amp/guitar in a given price range that has a good jerry sound. Tons of the posts here TRY to explain how to play like Jerry. Not the easiest thing in the world to explain. Cuz hell you cant really explain it. You just gotta have it, or if not have it then work at it for a long time. So Id rather just tell someone the guitar/amp side of it than the jerry style of it.

[Pete B.]

="BlobWeird
...can explain a good amp/guitar in a given price range that has a good jerry sound.

If you mean, least expensive...
Having checked out some of the Tele's with humbuckers last week, I would say the least expensive one is the Squier Tele Custom.
This struck me as having a Twangy Jerry tone, again, think intro of Big River.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=515113

For amps... there's tons of inexpesive Fender amps on Craigslist.
I've never had an issue getting Twang out of any Fender amp. Just buy the amount of power your gonna need for the job.
[note: I have had trouble getting enough bottom end full/lush-ness out of some Fender amps, but not treble/twang].
I've been using a Fender Blues Jr (1x12), in stereo with a Fender Princeton 60 (2x10), with the Tele Thinline Deluxe (because that's what happens to already be there at the guys house who hosts the jam).
Sounds great for twangy Jerry.
Another song I've jammed on lately that have the twang factor include Box of Rain. UJB qualifies for some Twang tone, too!
~pb

[TI4-1009]

I don't think its so much his guitar and gear as it is his techniqe. Jerry was pretty in tune to the style of music he was playing, and each style has different picking, strumming, attack, etc.

That goes for any Jerry playing.... Jerry could be playing through any piece of shit amp, or any make/model good amp for that matter, and you'd be saying ..."yeah that's Jerry with his great style and tone going on". He's getting a major part of his tone from his techniqe and style of playing.

"Give me 15 minutes with any guitar and amp and I'll sound like Keith Richards." - Keith Richards

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

To get right to the question, Jerry would generally switch to the bridge pickup, and likely split to single coil for the country tunes, Cumberland, etc. It's a far twangier tone than the fatter, warmer middle pickup that he uses more often. The bridge pickup is naturally thinner, brighter, and more twangful.

Sure the picking style has a lot to do with it too, but definitely the bridge pickup is part of making that picking style come out sounding that way.

Brad

[playingdead]

My favorite quote from Keith Richards was when he was describing his guitar style in a documentary, and said all it takes to sound like him is "five strings, three chords, two fingers and one asshole."

Jerry's a little more complicated ... LOL

What I've always done on those cowboy tunes is use the Super 2 at the bridge, as a humbucker. I roll off a little of the treble on the tone pot, and I also set the bridge pickup height so its volume is approximately the same as the middle pickup as a single coil. On my guitar, the bridge as single coil is too thin and bright sounding, although I will use it that way with the middle pickup in the in-between position for that quacky Strat sound on Mr. Charlie, Black Throated Wind and a couple other tunes.

The clearest example of the difference in tone when you use that bridge pickup can be found on most versions of Chinacat Sunflower during the Tiger era; when you go to the bridge portion where the key changes to E, Jerry would throw the pickup selector and the guitar would get brighter and overdrive the preamp a little more for that great, crackling tone.

This is an excerpt from Duke 4-2-82:

http://52vincentdrive.com/jerrybridge.mp3