Lesson 1
Spacious Clean Tones
Overview: I'm basing these sounds on Andy Summers' tone when he was with the Police. As the only guitarist in the three-piece, he managed to get a big sound - I say big, not loud. Using modulation effects can put across the idea of space. Thinking about it, I'd have to say that U2s 'The Edge' borrowed a thing or two from Andy Summers - again, he was the lone guitarist in that band. It's important to know when to use what effects, and when to use no effects! But for now, we'll have a look at some of the more common modulation effects, how to set them up and what kinda sounds they produce. Hopefuly some MP3 clips will follow!
Guitar: I used a Nashville Deluxe Tele when working out these settings. It's basically a Strat for Tele-lovers. It has a Strat pickup in between the usual Telecaster neck and bridge pups, and has a five-way switch. For these sounds, I used the second position, the neck pickup and middle pickup together. These are wound out of phase and cuts down on the single coil hum.
Amp: I used my Marshall TSL 601, but a half-decent solid state will do the job. Andy Summers was actually one of the few who persevered with solid state technology, and as we're going for clean tones, we don't need the oft-talked-about natural overdrive of a tube amp.
Effects: This is what it's all about. Andy Summers had a pretty unique Telecaster; as well as a PAF humbucker in the neck, he had a custom phaser built into the body of the guitar. As well as the Phase effect, another sound we'd associate with The Police is the Chorus effect. Love it or hate it, it's been used by the good and the great. Andy Summers used an original Boss Chorus Ensemble for his trademark sound (see pic below). We'll also be delving into the addictive realm of digital delay and discussing the black art of compression.
I like Boss pedals...they're relatively cheap, good sounds and are pretty much indestructible.
Tone 1: Walking on the Moon
This is a great example of how The Police 'gelled' as musicians. Stu Copeland's drumming is as innovative as ever, and Sting's bass fills provide the framework for Andy's reggae-esque guitar playing. The latter is comprised of chord stabs overlayed with rich delayed guitars. I was going for the guitar tone found during the song's bridge.
The effects are all run through the amps FX loop; that's where I put modulation effects, but you do have to turn the effects level right up for them to have any bearing on your sound (at least I do, depends on your amp).
Here are my suggested settings:
Phaser:Rate - 12 O' Clock, Depth 2 O' Clock, Resonance 12 O' Clock, 8 Stages
Chorus:Level - Max, EQ - 12 O' Clock, Rate - 2 O' Clock, Depth - 2 O' Clock
Delay: Time - 400ms Feedback - 3 Repeats
Amp Settings:
Treble: 8
Mid: 6
Bass: 4
Reverb: 6
Prescence: 7
Tone 2: Every Breath You Take
One of the most famous guitar riffs ever. As the story goes, Sting originally wanted to play this on piano. Andy Summers added his guitar, in one take, to what he thought was an already finished song. It's just a great example of the strength of the arpeggio technique. I use a compressor to smooth out my picking and it also gives the guitar sound a bit of punch. The Chorus effect is really what 'makes' the guitar tone instantly recognisable. I usually run the Compressor through the front of my amp, first in my chain after the Wah
(wah not used in this!).
Compressor: Level - 12 O' Clock, Tone - 9 O' Clock, Attack - 2 O' Clock, Sustain - 2 O' Clock
Chorus: Level - Max, EQ - 3 O' Clock, Rate - 9 O' Clock, Depth - Max
Amp Settings:
Treble: 7
Mid: 7
Bass: 5
Reverb: 10
Prescence: 7
Tone 3: Message in a Bottle
This riff really hurts my hands! The guitar is quite simple, but it's up-tempo. Bring the phaser and delay back in for this one, but be careful! The delay can make things sound cluttered, so keep the repeats down to 1 and the cut back on the other 'rates' of modulation. Everything back in the fx loop for this one.
Phaser:Rate - 10 O' Clock, Depth - 3 O' Clock, Resonance: N/A, 8 Stages
Chorus:Level - Max, EQ - 3 O' Clock, Rate - 6 O' Clock, Depth - Max
Delay: Time - <200ms, 1 repeat, reduce wet signal output.
Amp Settings:
Treble: 7
Mid: 6
Bass: 5
Verb: 5
So there you have it, 3 sounds that I personally would associate with The Police. Most effects pedals also have stereo ouputs, where you can balance the dry sound with the wet sound if you have a second amp. Pretty useful considering we're going for space. The trick is to know when enough is enough - if a song sounds good without Chorus, then leave it as it is. Also, if you've a keyboardist who loves his chorus, then avoid adding it to your guitar, otherwise you'll get this awful 'chorus-orgy'. But if you're playing with a bassist and a drummer and need to fill out your guitar sound, grab your pedals/pod/VSTs and take a look at the techniques I alluded to above. Hope this helps!
So let's all bring something to the table.
