The Pursuit of Tone
Beginner
Basic Tone: Guitar, Amp, & How You Play
In this series of lessons, Anders Mouridsen will be examining basic tone using your guitar and amp. Anders will start by talking about tone, then look at basic amp controls. How to use gain and how much to use is next up, then we'll look into amp-based reverb and tremolo. We'll then examine guitar c...
Rock
Rock Tone: Guitars
How can you try guitars in your local music store when that kid keeps butchering Smoke On the Water next to you? Let us do the dirty work for you and help you think it through before you get there! We'll give you a good listen to what the most common guitar models sound like - SG, Les Paul, Strat, a...
Rock Tone: Amplifiers
This tutorial is better than trying to fight your way through the crowd of weekend window shoppers at your local music store. We take a look at how different models of amplifiers sound. These amps are a good cross-cut of the main models your will choose from in the market today. Also, we pair each m...
Rock Tone: Effects
In these lessons we'll give you an overview of several FX pedals commonly used in rock. We'll start with overdrive and stacking overdrives, then examine distortion. Next we'll compare overdrive, distortion, and fuzz. After that we'll look at delay, chorus, and the wah pedal; followed by compression,...
Rock Tone: Miscellaneous
In these 5 lessons, we'll learn how other miscellaneous factors influence your rock guitar tone. We'll first hear how using a pick affects your tone, then the contrast from playing with just your fingers. Next we'll hear how a slide affects your tone in a rock context. A capo is sometimes used in ro...
Rock Tone: Setups
This is a series of non-playing lessons that give you a look at the guitar/amp/effects setups that make rock actually ROCK. You'll be surprised at how simple most setups are (some literally guitar and amp only). Most legendary players use a "less is more" principle. By using the models we give you h...
Country
Country Tone: Guitar Setup
In this tutorial we'll give you an overview of the Telecaster, Strat, and Les Paul tone controls and pickups, plus getting tones from an acoustic guitar. Each of these guitars are commonly used in country music, and in these lessons you'll get an idea of how they sound and the role they play in coun...
Country Tone: Amplifier Setup
In these lessons we take a look at amplifier setups in order to achieve great country tone. We'll introduce you to both tube and solid state amps, then learn about EQ controls and how equalization affects your tone. We'll demonstrate volume controls and how volume changes tone as well, then look at ...
Country Tone: Effects
Yes, effects are used in country music! Here we'll travel down a chain of commonly used effects in country music and hear how each can affect your tone. We'll teach you some ways you can use and tweak overdrive, compression, chorus, delay, tremolo, phaser, and a volume pedal to achieve killer countr...
Country Tone: Miscellaneous
This tutorial contains lessons on some miscellaneous components that will affect the tones to get in your country playing. We'll hear how using a pick affects your tone, then how things sound when you play with your fingers. We'll get into the sound of the slide next, then look at the use of a capo.
Blues
Blues Tone: Guitars
In this tutorial we'll walk you through the sounds and electronic configurations available on the most popular guitars in the market: semi-hollow body, Les Paul, SG, Telecaster, and more. You will have a great idea of what guitar will give you the sound you want, to become the blues player you want ...
Blues Tone: Amplifiers
There are many different kinds of amplifiers to choose from. These are 3 primary amp styles on which most models are based, and here we'll look at 2 tube amps and a solid state amp. Use this demonstration by a pro to get a good idea of what kind of amp best suits your style.
Blues Tone: Effects
This tutorial will give you the know-how to identify and put together great gear to get the tone you want. With these lessons, we hope to take away some of the work it takes to find the right effects and make the most of your hard-earned dollars. We'll look at overdrive, distortion, tremolo, delay, ...
Blues Tone: Odds and Ends
Blues Tone: Getting the Right Setup
These non-playing lessons will do a side-by-side comparison of guitar tones, amp tones, and the difference in tones created by the most common effects used by blues guitarists. We'll look at several tone configurations to give a good overview of the variety of choices available to get killer blues t...
General Gear
Parts of the Electric Guitar
Parts of the Acoustic Guitar
Restring & Tune Your Acoustic Guitar
Every guitar player should have a working knowledge of how to change his/her guitar strings. What happens if you break a string on a gig? You should know how to put on a new one. You become a better player if you know your instrument better. This tutorial will help you do that.
Guitar Parts & Functions
This tutorial covers the functional aspects of various parts of a Stratocaster style guitar. Topics covered include the pickups, selector switch, knobs, vibrato system (block, bar, springs), and body shape and style. A Gibson style guitar is also included for comparison and contrast.
Necks And Fretboards
Project Guitar
In these 13 videos, I'll show you how you can build your own custom guitar. You'll get a listing of all the parts you'll need before you start, then we'll go step-by-step through the assembly process: attaching the tuners to the neck, then the neck to the body; installing the claw plate and vibrato ...
Urban Legends About Guitar Tuning
Tuning







