My buddy Dave C at church shared this mp3 of Lincoln Brewster talking guitar gear. I don't know where this talk was from but it sounds fairly recent. You undoubtedly know the great tone and playing style of Lincoln and his music. I've also included a YouTube video Lincoln has on his site. Initially I was surprised to learn Lincoln was such a good player -- I had just assumed the player cranking out the tones on his songs were by another lead guitar player, but not so, it's Lincoln.
Listen:
YouTube video from Lincoln's site:
I enjoyed this gear talk and thought it worth sharing with you because, frankly, I agree with a lot of Lincoln's approach to guitar tone. He likes to keep things simple, and I've learned after playing a while that I feel the same way about it. I'd much rather walk in, plug in my one box (my POD) direct into the board, plug in my Strat, connect my mic and in-ears, tune and I'm ready to play.
I'm always working from three basic tones: the Strat and classic Marshall tone, the glassy Strat chimey tone, and that throaty blues tone. The other sounds I use are typically to get a specific kind of sound, such as a U2 or Coldplay echoes setting, or a classic Fender tremolo, or warble horn tone when the tune calls for it.
Lincoln uses a POD and plugs directly into the sound system for both recording and playing live, except in small rooms where he might use an amp on stage to balance out live drums. I mix my POD X3 Live into a stereo Marshal MX stack and Mesa Boogie 50/50 for recording, and direct into the board when playing live. Lincoln does a great job of explaining how the POD isn't an effects box, it's an amp simulator (and a very good one) with additional effects you can layer on top. The POD really does amazing things and I've gotten great complements, and some requests for my patches, from other guitar players and studio guys on my tones. Truth be told I collaborate with my friend Michael Reese, a professional musician friend who lives in Colorado Springs. Michael's who turned me onto PODs and we're always calling each other ready to share our latest patch creation by verbally transcribing patch settings to each other over our cell phones. Lincoln has his POD patches up on his web site if you want to download and check them out.
Why is tone so important? Well, I think that once you reach a certain proficiency in playing guitar (somewhere past intermediate, I suppose), you start to be able to create tone through your playing style and your touch on the guitar. You notice how you play influences the tone you produce. Using your fingers a certain way, or even up stroking with a pick can change your tone significantly. Realizing this started the quest for tone for me anyway. Lincoln has a great way of explaining it. You want the sound coming out of your guitar to inspire you to play. You know how it is when your guitar plays that sound you've been craving for a song. Now it's about what you do with that tone, rather than how to get it.
In a worship setting it means you're inspired by the worship and what you are giving to it through your playing. That doesn't mean you are loud and blowing people away by your amazing face melting licks. I never know how loud I really am because when you're playing with in-ears, it's all up to the guys at the sound board to set your overall level in the mix. When you feel that inspiring tone, your giving that tone to the song, lifting the music to a level that helps it soar and gives it that special music chemistry, whether that be in a slower worshipful song or a faster energizing worship song.
