This makes it easier on most amps to get the right level of overdrive compared to using the distorted channel of the amp which can sometimes sound a bit too much. If you can, use the clean channel on your amp and adjust the gain slightly higher. You can always adjust it slightly higher if necessary but avoid putting it too high otherwise you’ll lose the bluesy tone. You just want some very light overdrive to get that blues tone, so you’ll only need a little bit of gain here to begin with. The neck pickup in isolation usually will sound too mellow and warm so try to avoid this.įirst let’s talk about the gain. To combat this, use either both pickups in combination (middle position on the pickup selector), or the bridge pickup in isolation. The problem with regular humbucker pickups here is that they sound a bit too warm and mellow compared to the single coil pickups John Mayer uses. You’ll know if your guitar has this if you can gently pull the tone control up and it causes the tone of the pickups to change. This will help you achieve single-coil type tones. Okay but what if your guitar doesn’t have single coil pickups? Well things get a little more tricky here but you still have some options.įirstly, if your guitar has a coil tap/ split function then you should activate it. If you’re a bit lost on the differences in tone between neck and bridge pickups, check out my article comparing the two pickup positions. This will help increase the brightness and clarity so you can cut through the mix more, compared to using the neck pickup in isolation. When playing solos or lead sections, it’s likely that using the middle and neck pickups together on a 3-pickup guitar, or using the bridge and neck pickups together on a 2-point guitar will be more suitable. These selector positions which utilise the neck pickup are ideal for the John Mayer tone because they tame some of the harshness and brightness of the single coil and warm it up a bit and give it some more depth. a Telecaster then you’ll likely need to isolate the neck pickup or in some cases you can use the middle pickup selector position to activate both the bridge and neck pickups together. If you have a guitar with two-single coil pickups, e.g. I also recommend having the tone and volume controls set to maximum. In most cases, you’ll be using position 4 or position 5 on the pickup selector which means you’re either isolating the neck pickup, or you’re using the middle and neck pickup in combination. If you have a Stratocaster-style guitar with 3 single coil pickups and a 5-way pickup selector, then you’re like will be a bit easier here.
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