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Toney
May 1, 2016 6:02:17 GMT -5
Post by millring on May 1, 2016 6:02:17 GMT -5
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Toney
May 1, 2016 7:01:17 GMT -5
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drlj likes this
Post by fauxmaha on May 1, 2016 7:01:17 GMT -5
"Melted caramel" is the new "toasted wheat".
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Deleted
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Toney
May 1, 2016 7:10:52 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on May 1, 2016 7:10:52 GMT -5
Tony Rice's tone seemed to change after his D28 camE through the flood. On Manzanita, my first and favorite Rice album, I sense a bit of rubber band in the tone. His post flood recordings sound better to my ears, which make me that the guitar changed tone after the repairs or that he favored the SCGC guitars for recording.
David Grier played the D18 from the 50s that was his Dad's until he sent it for a neck reset at SCGC. When it came back the neck angle was so altered he started playing a Merrill, various other guitars, and most recently Dake Traphagen.. Grier's tone is consistently wonderful.
Remember how bad Mark O'Connor's tone was?
McCrary has always sounded awful, but he likes it and sticks with it. Norman may prefer crusty old strings.
As for me, I get sweet tone from my old Cruz, the Merrill which you have heard, and my Brondel.
Further thinking reminds me of the Gallagher guitar I played: heavy and dull sounding.
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Toney
May 1, 2016 7:41:26 GMT -5
Post by millring on May 1, 2016 7:41:26 GMT -5
I always heard that some or all of Manzanita was recorded with an Ovation Balladeer. bluesgrassscenesandsounds.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/the-manzanita-mystery/Grier is just great. His tone is clean, no matter the guitar. The guitar he recorded "House To Myself" with was, I think, the Franklin. Yes, O'Connor had the worst tone of all time. Crary played by the bridge with his wrist anchored there. It made for a really tight sound, but his particular arrangements were so singular, and the tone fit them. He was quite possibly better solo than in his various bands.
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Toney
May 1, 2016 7:48:32 GMT -5
Post by jdd2 on May 1, 2016 7:48:32 GMT -5
Tortoise-shell picks, anyone?
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Toney
May 1, 2016 7:57:20 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on May 1, 2016 7:57:20 GMT -5
Tortoise shell gave me the best tone for 20 years. I have two blue chip and don't care for them. I seem to have lost my current favorite tortoise, which has been replaced by an odd shaped steer horn, which tone wise is very lose and my he favorite.
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Toney
May 1, 2016 8:20:04 GMT -5
Post by billhammond on May 1, 2016 8:20:04 GMT -5
When I think of Tony's amazing tone, I think of this album (skip the very busy first tune and relax with the second one to hear that tone really well): www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzrcHue-tvI
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Toney
May 1, 2016 8:33:42 GMT -5
Post by drlj on May 1, 2016 8:33:42 GMT -5
I hate to admit it, but I almost agree with John. His being a Hoosier, born and bred, is always an issue but I suspect he picked up this great insight from hanging around with me.
Of the group mentioned, my all time favorite is Sutton. He is amazing and always sounds great. I would kick Blake off the list and insert Crary, but that is because Crary was my flatpicking god when I took it up. I think Tyminski sounds pretty damned fine, too, so I discount John 45 points on this issue. Doc was great but not a Bluegrass player. All the others are pretty damned fine, too. I would add Tim Stafford to the list over Blake.
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Dub
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Post by Dub on May 1, 2016 8:38:59 GMT -5
Good list of great guitar players, no question.
I think Rice's reverence for Clarence White is what makes that guitar famous. I'm not sure Clarence recorded with it much, or performed with it much either. It was Clarence's first good guitar and had to be cobbled back together to make it playable for him. Clarence, I've read, much preferred a D-18 for the lead work he's known for. The reason Tony got it was that Clarence had sold it long before, not considering it an important instrument.
The author seems to use the term "bluegrass" somewhat loosely. Doc Watson has always been one of my most favorite guitar players but I would never have called him a bluegrass guitarist. Not that he wouldn't have been one of the greatest, just that he was never part of any bluegrass ensemble that I ever heard about.
If the topic is bluegrass guitarists, Josh Williams definitely needs to be listed here.
Carry's tone is clean and balanced if a little thin. And I have no idea how he's able to play holding a pick the way he does.
Lester Flatt played mandolin as one of Charlie Monroe's Kentucky Partners before joining Bill on guitar. ICharlie played using a thumb pick and I always figured that's where Lester picked it up. Carter Stanley used a thumb pick too. A lot of those early bluegrass guitar players used thumbpicks. They were harder to drop and there wasn't much call for guitar leads.
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Toney
May 1, 2016 9:09:36 GMT -5
Post by Marshall on May 1, 2016 9:09:36 GMT -5
They all sound alike to me. Nice. But very familiar.The Booschwah sounds the nicest to me. But that't produced by the manufacturer, who WANTS to make their instrument sound exceptional.
Bluegrass does sound pretty much the same. I think right hand technique plays a bigger roll in sound that the guitar. They're almost all playing dreads. And bluegrass runs are fun affairs. There's a lot of joy in the music. Not much room for pathos or real emotion. Too many notes for emotion to get a chance to establish itself. Even a sad song sounds like a kid on a lark.
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Toney
May 1, 2016 9:38:49 GMT -5
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Post by coachdoc on May 1, 2016 9:38:49 GMT -5
I gotta defend Blake. He's a favorite of mine. It's his cross picking that makes it clattery, and that's what I like. He is the biggest influence on my flatpick playing.
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Toney
May 1, 2016 10:18:16 GMT -5
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Post by drlj on May 1, 2016 10:18:16 GMT -5
Josh Williams. I forgot about him and I have seen him live. Top notch. I like Blake but I think there are players who consistently sound better. I am not a Bluegrass fan. A little goes a very long way with me. All that high voiced lonesome singing makes my ears bleed. It is easy to understand why these guys are lonesome. And the G run that Bluegrassers talk about incessantly makes me yawn--although I do some damned fine G runs myself! I love the solo guitar work and the fiddle tunes these people do, though.
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Toney
May 1, 2016 12:11:35 GMT -5
Post by millring on May 1, 2016 12:11:35 GMT -5
Let's point out that they left off Jim Hurst. Nothing UN-remarkable about his tone.
Josh Williams, Andy Falco, Eli West, Tyler Grant, that guy who played with the Lovell Sisters and Claire Lynch whose name escapes me right now, and a draft pick to be named later -- historical importance to the genre notwithstanding -- every one of them SOUNDS better, tonally, than at least three guys on the list. Clarence White's TONE was awful. Ditto Blake. And Lester Flatt's TONE? ...how in the WORLD would they know that?
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2016 13:39:01 GMT -5
Tough Crowd!
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Toney
May 1, 2016 13:39:34 GMT -5
Post by drlj on May 1, 2016 13:39:34 GMT -5
Let's point out that they left off Jim Hurst. Nothing UN-remarkable about his tone. Josh Williams, Andy Falco, Eli West, Tyler Grant, that guy who played with the Lovell Sisters and Claire Lynch whose name escapes me right now, and a draft pick to be named later -- historical importance to the genre notwithstanding -- every one of them SOUNDS better, tonally, than at least three guys on the list. Clarence White's TONE was awful. Ditto Blake. And Lester Flatt's TONE? ...how in the WORLD would they know that? Lester's rep is built upon the G run I mentioned.(Just my opinion. I know Lester lovers don't like this kind of talk.) The really intricate guitar work that was done in that band was Earl using fingerpicks. I have a recording of Blake doing Jerusalem Ridge and his guitar is set so low that the buzzes just kill the whole thing for me and it is really a pretty nice arrangement--just unlistenable. And everyone of these guys, on the list or not, have achieved a hell of lot more than I have so who am I to throw small, round, stones?
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Toney
May 1, 2016 13:44:38 GMT -5
Post by millring on May 1, 2016 13:44:38 GMT -5
Stupid list.
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Post by drlj on May 1, 2016 13:58:40 GMT -5
Stupid list. Don't make fun of the way I speak! Oh, wait. You said list.
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Toney
May 1, 2016 14:09:22 GMT -5
Post by millring on May 1, 2016 14:09:22 GMT -5
Matt Wingate. It took me that long to google up his name.
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Toney
May 1, 2016 14:45:29 GMT -5
Post by lar on May 1, 2016 14:45:29 GMT -5
We could argue that list until the cows come home and never come to any sort of agreement. That's part of the fun of those kinds of lists.
What I thought was notable was that in my opinion none of the videos represented the various players at their best. I found that disappointing as it did nothing to bolster the author's opinion.
I was very happy to see Courtney Hartman's name up there. I'm a big fan of hers and I love her band, Della Mae. think it's interesting to note that Della Mae doesn't consider itself a bluegrass band. They call what they do "Americana". To most people's ears though their sound may be closer to bluegrass than anything else.
Tony Rice and Doc Watson are two of my all-time guitar heroes. I don't care what slot you put Doc in he was one of the best.
I like Norman Blake a lot and I can't say I ever paid a huge amount of attention to his tone. I just like the way he plays.
One guys who might have made the list but didn't is Ricky Skaggs. It might be because he's more identified with mandolin. Buy there aren't many who can play better than Ricky.
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Toney
May 1, 2016 18:09:40 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on May 1, 2016 18:09:40 GMT -5
Hmmm. Norman Blake plays fine but can't sing worth shit. Tony Rice is an amazing player. I can't get past his playing to criticize his tone. Doc Watson rules. Everyone else is a wannabe. What else do you want to know?
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