When I learned to play I thought I only needed to count to 4. Then I heard the blues and I learned to count to 12….. Now it seems I got to count to 31 for goodness sake….. Luckily, when I was younger I learned how to play cribbage. Just don’t make it anymore than 31 ok..
This is the most practical advice most musicians never dig into. Something about pushing things to their extremes whether its the knobs on your guitar or the bands on an EQ causes anxiety for a lot of people...but that's the only way to learn what they do.
Joe's ability to take a meandering and slightly patronizing question from this interviewer, funnel it into a clear and concise summary for the audience, and subtly infer that the interviewer is kind of clueless... This is so classy.
Joe is right about including a 31 band EQ to your rig. I was a sound engineer for 43 years. I've tuned speaker systems for decades with 31 band EQs. I'm retired now and play guitar just for my own pleasure. After buying a new Sire S3 last year I started looking for a used 31 band EQ. People for some reason still believe their obsolete analog equipment is still worth a lot of money. Instead I bought the Behringer 7 band EQ pedal new for $25. It works just fine. I still would like to find a 31 for a reasonable price. I'm going to add to what Joe is saying. When you boost or cut a single frequency it will be a very thin slice of the frequency response. You may have to boost two frequencies that next to each other to make a very noticeable difference. A 31 band EQ is also known as a 1/3 octave EQ. That means one frequency to the next one up or down is 1/3 apart. A note is 440hz. 500Hz would be a B note the next frequency above that would be a D note.
I like where at the end he was talking about the rhythm guitar not being at 10 and blending in with the group. The first thing that came to my mind was Malcolm Young.
@@gibson'It's A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock And Roll'. Malcolm drives this particular song and the addition of the bagpipes pushes it right over the top.
When I do a mixdown of multi tracks, Every instrument has a frequency they live in. I will usually turn down the outer upper and lower frequencies the particular instrument doesn't need, creating separation, and letting each instrument live in its own freq. range. This really cleans up the mix so you can clearly hear every instrument by getting rid of unwanted overlapping frequencies. He is pretty much talking about doing that on the original raw recording, before mix down, making it much much easier to mix down. Joe is one of the best in the world!
31, band Q unbelievable. He says something like that because it makes a lot of sense. It makes you smarter by knowing the frequencies how they speak, thank you, Joe❤🇮🇹 It's so true what he says, frequencies, frequencies, frequencies, how they can change and get lost when other instruments interact. I learned a lot of that sitting down with recording engineers are wondering why making my base sound this way.And then all of a sudden, when it's mixed in, it's like, wow
"The guitar, at least in my case, lives between 350hz and 1 to 2.5 Khz"...so this brings up a question for me, because standard tuning for a guitar is as follows per what I just looked up: "Standard tuning defines the string pitches as E (82.41 Hz), A (110 Hz), D (146.83 Hz), G (196 Hz), B (246.94 Hz), and E (329.63 Hz), from the lowest pitch (low E2) to the highest pitch (high E4)." So per this, unless you have a whammy bar, like a Floyd Rose that can relax the low E string downward and you take the low E down even more, the lowest string on a stop tail guitar is at home 82.41 hz. Now the high E string on a guitar in Standard tuning is tuned to 329.63 hz...now that's the lowest in hz that string is going to go without physically or electronically tuning it down to lower pitches, but it can go up to at least two octaves higher than that if you're just using the frets to make it pitch higher, like on a modern 24 fret guitar, and even on a 22 fret Les Paul if you are shooting for a double high E in relationship to how the high E string is tuned, you can go to the 22nd fret and bend it from there to hit the double high E...and when using harmonics various points on a string will "ping" pitches higher depending on where in the length of the string the player is touching and plucking the string to get the desired harmonic to ring out. So I get the possibility of the 2.5 khz, because a guitar can hit up there...but I'm not sure about the low number he threw out there, because in standard tuning, the E, as stated above, is tuned at 82.41 Hz. I'm not stating that what he's saying is wrong, I'm just wondering why he says in his case, the guitar lives between 350 Hz and 1 to 2.5 Khz when the low E is tuned to 82.41 hz...if anyone can throw me a "bone" a massa (hard to resist) as to why he stated this, I'd appreciate it.
I've only played in the studio a little, but that's where I noticed this the most. I would get a guitar sound that sounded great, but, when the band played together, I would just disappear. It's certainly a learned art
Man Joe hit it right on the head with this one. Further elaborating on one of his points; one of the most irritating things as a musician is playing with another musician(s) that are all about themselves. But in the other hand, one of the most rewarding things is playing with a group that respects each other, has open minds and are coachable. I’d rather play with musicians that aren’t as talented, but are kind and respectful, opposed to playing with super talented musicians that are arrogant and only there for themselves. It really makes a difference and it’s a more fun and enjoyable experience for everyone.
The two most useful pieces of gear I own are my Boss EQ-200 and my source audio EQ2 pedals. Boss for my fullsize pedalboard and Source Audio for my super compact board. These are typically used to tailor my setup to the room/band. I also use some cheaper EQs for boosts. I have a 10 watt tube amp that is always micd when gigging and can get all my overdrive from that. in conjunction with my guitar volume knob to roll back for cleans and EQ pedals for drive I can then boost/cut frequencies to get a TS vibe or a Klon vibe, for example, without actually needing those pedals.
WOW! I have been playing guitar a very very long time and know what I like and feel I have a pretty good ear for tone but this makes a whole lotta sense, I just learned a lot.
Agreed. It's so important for any person running the board to understand that each individual instrument has its own "space" in the frequency spectrum. It's one thing to balance the output volume levels, almost anyone can do that, but too many sound techs don't know how to properly balance the frequencies, so it all ends up sounding like total ass!
Another way to hear what he said is, "Guitar players want too much low end out of their rig in a band situation and it screws everything up." As a player and a sound guy, I'm here to tell you that telling a great guitar player to turn the bass knob down on his Marshall can absolutely start a fight. Same with a bass player that's too loud and messing up the mix because they can't hear themselves play. Get in-ear monitors and learn how to get what you need, then trust the sound guy.
Baby steps…just starting with a GE-6 will make it happen! I run two (they boost well too) I think David Gilmore was known to do this as well, it’s where I first got the idea.
All great advice here. I just want to add that your results should be specific to players and styles, gear choices and overall sound you want for your band. Ideally the whole band is not only dialing their tones with this in mind but even how you write your songs. Maybe being on 10 and hitting a boost might absolutely work. J Mascis has his Big Muffs dialed in to actually cut volume for his rhythm sound. I ride my volume knob a lot since I prefer single channel amps but I might use an octave pedal for a lead that stands out. The big take away is don’t get too married to your sound playing alone unless you make every other instrument adapt to fit and compliment you but that’s kind of a jerk move.
I do live sound for a 500cap venue, and if you think you can't be heard with a 25 watt amp at the edge of breakup - you are deaf. I have guitarists every bit as good as joe show up with a simple pedalboard a Princeton or Deluxe Reverb and sound fantastic. Loud enough for stage volume, and far far easier to get to sit in the mix for the audience through the PA than trying to get 50watt combos or half stacks to sound good
That's weird. I don't know how it started, but I have talked to other musicians in Hertz without thinking about it for as long as I can remember. They sometimes look at me funny.
Yes,,,.....,,,,,,while young,,i bought( after hearing one),,,a Clarion Equalizer for my car stereo,,8-track 😮,....play the stereo without it on,,,,then,turn the equalizer on,,,...night & day,,.....a 31 channel equalizer for any musical instrument,,,,,epic,......tnx,,Joe.
When I was growing up the bands I was in we were practicing with full stack Marshalls both guitarists and Full PA system. Im so deaf now lol at 36, The practicing I think killed my ears, Not even recording, mostly Practicing or Preforming live! In the studio we were using Smaller Fender Amps and Mesa Boogie and Roland! I play a small AMPS now only. ORANGE all day! 20-35 watts all day. Max I play is a 100 watt Combo with the volume Low and the Gain Low. Low Gain gives the best cleans. I learned that from some old school Blues artist Interview I forgot who, maybe Clapton.
Well, invest into a 31 band eq and then learn where every single instrument, drum, cymbal, lives. Thousands i suppose. But John, my wife isn’t as patient as your hand is with you. 😮
after reading some of the comments... and I do not like joe.... his set up is made up of people and instruments that have similar frequencies .. BASS, Horn Section, 2 Guitars, Backup Singers, KEYBOARD/ORGAN .. that's low to hi and everything in between.. and he needs to sing and play and hear everything ... Drums that has Bass drum and snare and Brass .... OH! single coil Fender and Gibson Humbucker .. and a gazillian amplifiers ...
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
One of my favorite things about Joe is how often he shares stuff like this; practical wisdom from a working musician who has done this since he was 12
You know the Joe Bonamassa signature 31-band graphic equalizer is coming.
these go up to 31
@@musicplaylists59”hey, I just got this sweet new 10 band EQ pedal.”
Joe: “ But mine goes to 31.” 😂
When I learned to play I thought I only needed to count to 4. Then I heard the blues and I learned to count to 12….. Now it seems I got to count to 31 for goodness sake…..
Luckily, when I was younger I learned how to play cribbage. Just don’t make it anymore than 31 ok..
This is the most practical advice most musicians never dig into. Something about pushing things to their extremes whether its the knobs on your guitar or the bands on an EQ causes anxiety for a lot of people...but that's the only way to learn what they do.
Joe's ability to take a meandering and slightly patronizing question from this interviewer, funnel it into a clear and concise summary for the audience, and subtly infer that the interviewer is kind of clueless... This is so classy.
Joe is right about including a 31 band EQ to your rig. I was a sound engineer for 43 years. I've tuned speaker systems for decades with 31 band EQs. I'm retired now and play guitar just for my own pleasure. After buying a new Sire S3 last year I started looking for a used 31 band EQ. People for some reason still believe their obsolete analog equipment is still worth a lot of money. Instead I bought the Behringer 7 band EQ pedal new for $25. It works just fine. I still would like to find a 31 for a reasonable price. I'm going to add to what Joe is saying. When you boost or cut a single frequency it will be a very thin slice of the frequency response. You may have to boost two frequencies that next to each other to make a very noticeable difference. A 31 band EQ is also known as a 1/3 octave EQ. That means one frequency to the next one up or down is 1/3 apart. A note is 440hz. 500Hz would be a B note the next frequency above that would be a D note.
I like where at the end he was talking about the rhythm guitar not being at 10 and blending in with the group. The first thing that came to my mind was Malcolm Young.
An absolute legend! Favorite AC/DC track?
@@gibson'It's A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock And Roll'. Malcolm drives this particular song and the addition of the bagpipes pushes it right over the top.
that's one more what makes Joe so great: respect for his fellow musicians and for the song....thank you for this video!
When I do a mixdown of multi tracks, Every instrument has a frequency they live in.
I will usually turn down the outer upper and lower frequencies the particular instrument doesn't need, creating separation, and letting each instrument live in its own freq. range.
This really cleans up the mix so you can clearly hear every instrument by getting rid of unwanted overlapping frequencies.
He is pretty much talking about doing that on the original raw recording, before mix down, making it much much easier to mix down.
Joe is one of the best in the world!
It’s always nice to listen to someone who REALLY knows what they’re talking about…..🙏
I love EQ, My dad was super into EQ also. he loved huge band EQs hed dial that in for every song
Love everything about Joe Bonamassa. Insanely talented, crazy smart, and ALWAYS so humble, crediting the giants whose shoulders he has stood upon.
Joe certainly knows his stuff!
He sure does!
Take his advice! Get an EQ and sit with the frequencies. He is spot on about being eaten alive by frequency. Great advice!!
This is so true, and the tone changes every where you play. That’s why I think the digital thing is better for playing multiple places.
Joe Bonamassa is a class act, His music will stand the test of time..
31, band Q unbelievable. He says something like that because it makes a lot of sense. It makes you smarter by knowing the frequencies how they speak, thank you, Joe❤🇮🇹
It's so true what he says, frequencies, frequencies, frequencies, how they can change and get lost when other instruments interact. I learned a lot of that sitting down with recording engineers are wondering why making my base sound this way.And then all of a sudden, when it's mixed in, it's like, wow
How much valuable insights can be extracted from this one interview 🥳
Take notes kids - JoeBo is sharing hard earned wisdom on this one.
"The guitar, at least in my case, lives between 350hz and 1 to 2.5 Khz"...so this brings up a question for me, because standard tuning for a guitar is as follows per what I just looked up: "Standard tuning defines the string pitches as E (82.41 Hz), A (110 Hz), D (146.83 Hz), G (196 Hz), B (246.94 Hz), and E (329.63 Hz), from the lowest pitch (low E2) to the highest pitch (high E4)." So per this, unless you have a whammy bar, like a Floyd Rose that can relax the low E string downward and you take the low E down even more, the lowest string on a stop tail guitar is at home 82.41 hz. Now the high E string on a guitar in Standard tuning is tuned to 329.63 hz...now that's the lowest in hz that string is going to go without physically or electronically tuning it down to lower pitches, but it can go up to at least two octaves higher than that if you're just using the frets to make it pitch higher, like on a modern 24 fret guitar, and even on a 22 fret Les Paul if you are shooting for a double high E in relationship to how the high E string is tuned, you can go to the 22nd fret and bend it from there to hit the double high E...and when using harmonics various points on a string will "ping" pitches higher depending on where in the length of the string the player is touching and plucking the string to get the desired harmonic to ring out. So I get the possibility of the 2.5 khz, because a guitar can hit up there...but I'm not sure about the low number he threw out there, because in standard tuning, the E, as stated above, is tuned at 82.41 Hz. I'm not stating that what he's saying is wrong, I'm just wondering why he says in his case, the guitar lives between 350 Hz and 1 to 2.5 Khz when the low E is tuned to 82.41 hz...if anyone can throw me a "bone" a massa (hard to resist) as to why he stated this, I'd appreciate it.
Best sound advice ever for bands, etc...
I've only played in the studio a little, but that's where I noticed this the most. I would get a guitar sound that sounded great, but, when the band played together, I would just disappear. It's certainly a learned art
Great video. This fits in well with Billy Sheehan's advice to "play live, because it forces you to prioritize learning how to play live".
I can't stand Joe's playing, but have absolute respect for his depth of knowledge and willingness to share it.
Needed to hear this and Joe really nailed the explanation. I actually understood some things better than I have before.
Thanks Joe!
Glad it was helpful!
I've had my 31 band for years, he is right, it's also nice to see the difference in frequencies of a Les Paul and a Strat. 👍
Best advice you can ever get for a band setting!
Man Joe hit it right on the head with this one. Further elaborating on one of his points; one of the most irritating things as a musician is playing with another musician(s) that are all about themselves. But in the other hand, one of the most rewarding things is playing with a group that respects each other, has open minds and are coachable. I’d rather play with musicians that aren’t as talented, but are kind and respectful, opposed to playing with super talented musicians that are arrogant and only there for themselves. It really makes a difference and it’s a more fun and enjoyable experience for everyone.
The two most useful pieces of gear I own are my Boss EQ-200 and my source audio EQ2 pedals. Boss for my fullsize pedalboard and Source Audio for my super compact board. These are typically used to tailor my setup to the room/band. I also use some cheaper EQs for boosts. I have a 10 watt tube amp that is always micd when gigging and can get all my overdrive from that. in conjunction with my guitar volume knob to roll back for cleans and EQ pedals for drive I can then boost/cut frequencies to get a TS vibe or a Klon vibe, for example, without actually needing those pedals.
Composers knew this back in the day even without electricity. Frequencies their residence and effect on other frequencies….
I meant residence too. Not resonance.
This is good advice. Joe has so much knowledge in that brain…
WOW! I have been playing guitar a very very long time and know what I like and feel I have a pretty good ear for tone but this makes a whole lotta sense, I just learned a lot.
Awesome, I never thought about it
Gosh, Joe knows his stuff.
Great advice. Thanks!!
This is the most powerful video on sound and frequency cluster f*cks everyone will run into. This is huge!
This is a great lesson.
Thanks for watching!
That's brilliant. Think like a sound guy and get a good mix!
Agreed. It's so important for any person running the board to understand that each individual instrument has its own "space" in the frequency spectrum. It's one thing to balance the output volume levels, almost anyone can do that, but too many sound techs don't know how to properly balance the frequencies, so it all ends up sounding like total ass!
Another way to hear what he said is, "Guitar players want too much low end out of their rig in a band situation and it screws everything up." As a player and a sound guy, I'm here to tell you that telling a great guitar player to turn the bass knob down on his Marshall can absolutely start a fight. Same with a bass player that's too loud and messing up the mix because they can't hear themselves play. Get in-ear monitors and learn how to get what you need, then trust the sound guy.
Excellent analysis!! Boy that Joe is awesome!
Baby steps…just starting with a GE-6 will make it happen!
I run two (they boost well too)
I think David Gilmore was known to do this as well, it’s where I first got the idea.
5:20 the last thing I think of when I think of SRV guitar tone is the bass end.
Jesus, that's the best tone I've ever heard him get. What's the nickname of that particular les paul? And what amp?
Absolutely no disrespect to JB, but if I was watching with my eyes closed, I'd swear it was John C Reilly talking.
Boats and Joe's!!!
Great advice
This is excellent advice.
All great advice here. I just want to add that your results should be specific to players and styles, gear choices and overall sound you want for your band. Ideally the whole band is not only dialing their tones with this in mind but even how you write your songs. Maybe being on 10 and hitting a boost might absolutely work. J Mascis has his Big Muffs dialed in to actually cut volume for his rhythm sound. I ride my volume knob a lot since I prefer single channel amps but I might use an octave pedal for a lead that stands out. The big take away is don’t get too married to your sound playing alone unless you make every other instrument adapt to fit and compliment you but that’s kind of a jerk move.
I do live sound for a 500cap venue, and if you think you can't be heard with a 25 watt amp at the edge of breakup - you are deaf. I have guitarists every bit as good as joe show up with a simple pedalboard a Princeton or Deluxe Reverb and sound fantastic. Loud enough for stage volume, and far far easier to get to sit in the mix for the audience through the PA than trying to get 50watt combos or half stacks to sound good
Every musician needs to invest in an EMOTIONAL equalizer, and give their emotions a real hearing.
Absolutely ✌🏻
That’s pretty much the Steve Vai’s aproach in a nutshell 🎉
Boost your mids and dial back the bass and treble and you will sit better in the mix in a live or studio situation.
Great. Now the value of 31 band eq's are going to skyrocket
That’s why he lives in Nerdville
That's weird. I don't know how it started, but I have talked to other musicians in Hertz without thinking about it for as long as I can remember. They sometimes look at me funny.
I play with an 8 string bassist. I’m now gonna start calling his bass a mudd blower.
Drummer here. Guitarists just constantly turn up, so please listen to the advice in this video.
Just don't get lazy on the ride cymbals eh mate. Those things are terrible when drummers get tired. And smash all light and shade.
The guy interviewing Joe is a cheesy YES man, and should just close his trap so Joe can inform us.
Yes,,,.....,,,,,,while young,,i bought( after hearing one),,,a Clarion Equalizer for my car stereo,,8-track 😮,....play the stereo without it on,,,,then,turn the equalizer on,,,...night & day,,.....a 31 channel equalizer for any musical instrument,,,,,epic,......tnx,,Joe.
It’s not weird… It’s science.
Two words: Group Dynamics.
How many of us dial up volume when we can't be heard 😂
For some reason I expected his advice to be, "Hoarding is Good. Invest in....400 amps & guitars". - Great guitar player. Terrible role model.
Guess you were, and still are, WRONG!
When I was growing up the bands I was in we were practicing with full stack Marshalls both guitarists and Full PA system. Im so deaf now lol at 36, The practicing I think killed my ears, Not even recording, mostly Practicing or Preforming live! In the studio we were using Smaller Fender Amps and Mesa Boogie and Roland!
I play a small AMPS now only. ORANGE all day! 20-35 watts all day. Max I play is a 100 watt Combo with the volume Low and the Gain Low. Low Gain gives the best cleans. I learned that from some old school Blues artist Interview I forgot who, maybe Clapton.
Well, invest into a 31 band eq and then learn where every single instrument, drum, cymbal, lives. Thousands i suppose. But John, my wife isn’t as patient as your hand is with you. 😮
My advice is to stop believing the hype that if it costs more it ounds better.
Get what you like and dont listen to the internet
You mean terms like “fizziness”, “honky” and “muddy” aren’t intelligent?? Whoa!! 😂
Absolutely nobody is using amps anymore dude man
When my wife yells at me, I have her do it through a 31 band EQ so I can hear her properly..
The new MXR Rockman X100 Pedal does what Joe's talking about! 😎
Get a DAW ?
Experience teaches wisdom ... hire a good sound engineer !!!
Dinesh is a great host.
He's great! Thanks for watching !
Only a Gibson is good enough
Joe Bonamassa's ONLY gear advice for guitarists: "Buy one of my 200 Epiphone models"
TU-2 tuner
9 string mudblower !!! 🤣
after reading some of the comments... and I do not like joe.... his set up is made up of people and instruments that have similar frequencies .. BASS, Horn Section, 2 Guitars, Backup Singers, KEYBOARD/ORGAN .. that's low to hi and everything in between.. and he needs to sing and play and hear everything ... Drums that has Bass drum and snare and Brass .... OH! single coil Fender and Gibson Humbucker .. and a gazillian amplifiers ...
the only gear you need is the Boss Metal Zone pedal into a dimed Pignose amp