• From: Scotland
  • Registered: 2009-02-11
  • Posts: 453

Topic: I can't get used to my strat.

Hey guys I was wondering if anyone else had this problem. Like most on here I have been looking for a tone similar to Joe's. I used to play a strat and to be honest fancied myself as a bit of a kenny wayne shepherd type. I bought myself a Japanese Tokai Love Rock and have been loving the tones from that thing. yesterday I plugged my strat in and just couldn't get a hold of it. My playing was rubbish and I couldn;t get a tone I liked. I have also started to use the eric johnson signature picks and that didn't wade well with my start and KWS/SRV likes and styles. What has happened to me. I'll be buying a marshall next.

  • From: London, UK
  • Registered: 2008-07-27
  • Posts: 615

Re: I can't get used to my strat.

We all have off-days man, just leave it for a day or two, and go back to it, change amp settings, could be picks, strings, ya never know. But you dont have to spend your time on this Earth trying to play like someone else. These are times to find your own tone smile
Rus

Jamming with Joe and Bernie Marsden:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18zqg3brNH8
  • From: Florida, USA
  • Registered: 2008-06-04
  • Posts: 1,420

Re: I can't get used to my strat.

Fuzzblues wrote:

I used to play a strat and to be honest fancied myself as a bit of a kenny wayne shepherd type.

Hey man, I've been there and done that bro.  I wanted to be the next SRV and thought I was doing something "new" and "original"....then I discovered the Internet/Youtube and realized I was part of a legion of wannabes.  Then my dad brought me home a DVD of Eric Johnson Live in Austin Texas circa '88 and it changed my life.  I was still a Strat guy up to that time, you know being a HUGE Clapton/SRV fan and all.  So I started messing with that and then discovered guys like Jeff Beck and the more obscure "un-SRV" type Hendrix stuff.

I was always a huge fan of Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cream, and various other bands.  You know, my dad's music which was SO much better than what was out in the very early '90s for the most part!  So buying a Les Paul seemed to make sense to me and it was were my playing seemed to be going anyway.  I just got sick of the SRV thing and realized that I would never be him.  Then I find this guy Joe Bonamassa and it all CLICKS.  He seems to encompass what I love about all of those great groups/artists.  Just go where your playing takes you bro and enjoy the journey to finding your own voice.  I haven't found my own yet, but it's getting there.  smile

BTW Keep the Strat man, you never know when you'll need it.  Every time I think about selling my '57 Reissue I'll plug it into one of my vintage Fender amps and be like, "Oh yeah now I remember why I own one of these things!"  A Lester will never be able to cop the Strat thing, and visa versa.  I will say though, for me the Les Paul covers so much more ground.  Almost all my favorite Strat players also use Gibsons and/or I can still cop it on my Les Paul anyways.  Sorry for the longest post in history, I just got home from work and have some time to kill before bed.  KEEP ROCKING! cool

        -Justin

'67 and '74 Fender Twin Reverbs, '74 Marshall 1987 lead mkII, Metro Superlead 100. Pedals from TC Electronic, Ibanez, Dunlop, BK Butler, Electro-Harmonix, Fulltone, Maestro/Gibson, Loopmaster switching, VoodooLab, Boss. Gibson and Fender guitars, Dimarzio pickups.
  • From: Detroit
  • Registered: 2006-06-02
  • Posts: 5,807

Re: I can't get used to my strat.

Let me tell you it is cyclical.

I'll be on a huge Gibson kick for a couple weeks, then just to spice things up I'll go back to a strat. It's just sort of nice to f with something different every once in a while. Keeps ya honest.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool
  • Registered: 2009-07-03
  • Posts: 37

Re: I can't get used to my strat.

I got that problem sometimes too....it's cyclical...for a few days I just take Les Paul and like that full,fat,warm tone....I also notice that, at that time I prefer listening Cream, Zeppelin, Free etc... ....but then I hear some Band of Gypsys,Robin Trower, or Rory Gallagher, or SRV, John Mayer and I'm all strat again smile I found that only Joe and Eric Johnson I listen constantly... smile But I'm more of a strat guy, like I'm into strat thing for a 2-3 weeks, and than les paul for a few days, and on and on smile Sometimes I want to sell LP, and buy some good stuff for the strat, but I just can't... smile

  • From: North Carolina
  • Registered: 2008-10-26
  • Posts: 2,926

Re: I can't get used to my strat.

I've noticed that if I'm used to playing strats then I'll think humbuckers sound to in your face.  But if I'm used to play a gibson I will be fine switching back to a Strat but hate the way they play for about a week.  I changed to lower gauge strings to make it feel more like the tention my les paul has, but its less.  Maybe a pedal would make it sound closer to your SRV/KWS sound rather then a Marshall.  I play Strats and try to get them to sound heavy like a Gibson, and you can get very close like that but you never totally get there.  Gibsons just sound like gibsons.  If thats what you want thats great but its much harder to get a Gibson to sound like a Fender.  I think the answer to your problem is your musical tastes have just changed.

AD3THREE's Website

  • Registered: 2009-11-24
  • Posts: 94

Re: I can't get used to my strat.

I can't play strats for the life of me. I can play most "strat type" guitars, but there's something in the neck shape of an original strat that just gets in the way for me. Of course I grew up playing Gibsons, so it makes sense in a way... Don't get me wrong, I can get by on a strat, I just don't feel right playing one....

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  • From: Colorado Springs-Colorado
  • Registered: 2008-07-04
  • Posts: 1,047

Re: I can't get used to my strat.

I used to be a die hard strat guy until I got my Les Paul. now I'm a die hard convert. Not that I have anything against Fender at all... it's just that I find the Gibson to be much more comfortable. I know the feeling exactly. My strat feels slow and awkward now that i am used to my LP, but this thread has inspired me to try to work it out so that I'm using both guitars evenly to expand my tone range and diversity.

-Eric

"It makes it sound like the amp is about ready to explode, that's because it IS about ready to explode." -Joe

"I've come all the way from Colorado... Long way from my home. Give me the hammer that killed John Henry..." The Ballad Of John Henry
  • Registered: 2008-08-24
  • Posts: 181

Re: I can't get used to my strat.

I go back and forth from Strats to the Les Paul and haven't had much trouble,  My "Strats" have flat radius fretboards and Floyds and dual DiMarzio Humbuckers, tho.  I like the different scales for different songs, and of course the floyds are required at times.  You can't beat a Lester for riff rocking, tho! Same pickups in there that the Strats have.  I have sold most of my guitars, but still have two PRS-Style Dean Icons that I am trying to find new homes for.  I want to get down to just the two Strats and the Les Paul.