The Police sound

[terryt]

This has probably been asked and answered before, but how does one get the chord tones that Andy Summers of the Police used on their recordings? Is it achieved through pedals/accessories, open tuning/alternate chords, or some other technique? I've been told that it takes a particular sequence of effects pedals. Can anyone enlighten me?

[Dr_simon]

Chorus and a little delay / verb I think.

[rockonn91]

yeah reverb is good and i can get that sound with a touch of chorus in there too, in addition to a slight delay in some songs.

[Tele Master]

......wooooooooooooooooooooooooo............woooooooooooooooooooooo....


"sir, get out of the vehicle"


another way to get that police sound is too make pig noises from time to time...


I know this doesn't help you one bit so I guess I'll give a bit of advice...I beleive Andy Summers used Telecasters alot. Since they were an 80's band, delay and chorus are big parts of the sound.

[Ian Rossiter]

Andy Summers is one of my favorite players of all time!!!
The BASIC ingredients of his sound are;
Telecaster-compressor-chorus-delay-Marshall stack set clean.
He DID use a Strat on some Police tracks but that Tele custom with the neck humbucker/preamp/phase switch.....you know, that double bound sunburst with the Maple neck, was his main guitar.
You can get close to his 80's tone with;
-MXR Dynacomp ( or other compressor, I use a VS Rt-66)
-Boss CE-2 chorus (I go between this and a VS H20 CH/delay)
-Boss DD-3 Delay ( again, I go between this and the VS H20)
( can you tell I like Visual Sound pedals???)
-any amp with a decent clean tone; Fender,Roland JC,Boogie,yada yada yada.
-Telecasters and or Strats (Message in a Bottle is ALL Tele bridge pup, while Every Breath You Take is cool with the br/n combo. Walking on the Moon sounds cool on a Strat with the br/mid pup combo.ect,ect,ect.)
-those cool "sus" chords that stretch five frets.

Andy Summers is one of the most underrated players of all time.His influence on guitar is often overlooked and that's a crime!!!!
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