If you are a singer...
 

Are you as fussy about tone and balance as you might be if you were primarily an instrumentalist?

As an instrumentalist who dares not sing in public my guitar's sound is all I got. So I'm super fussy about the tone, balance and projection and am unapologetic about it. And so I'm wondering that if you are primarily a singer who uses guitar as accompaniment, is simply "good" good enough?

I sing and play and while I'm not a virtuoso on guitar by any means, I do like my guitar to sound natural. I don't fuss with a lot of different pickups and preamps, but I've found the tone that works for me and that's what I go with. I like JJB pickups because they're nice and balanced and less trebly than a similar K&K and I can plug them directly into my amp and get very good tone. If I need to preamp to the board a Para DI works nicely.

Definitely - maybe more important to me, as I see many instrumentalists plugged in and relying on most or all of their signal from an internal pickup and no external miking. Many also use effects on their guitars - chorus, reverb, looping etc.

I want to sound as close to my guitar being played acoustically, and if it doesn't, it hinders my playing/singing/performance. I'm hyper critical of that. I use 60-70 percent external mic (sE electronics X1 S) and the rest from the K&K with a preamp.

I'm a singer, but I also play instrumental pieces. I like a good sounding guitar whether I am singing or playing an instrumental piece. But the ideal guitar for instrumental work, one with clarity and excellent note separation, may not necessarily be the optimum for accompaniment for singing.

For example, my Santa Cruz FS is perhaps my best instrumental guitar, but I don't care for it as an accompaniment guitar. It seems to demand too much attention in the mix! :D It just seems to stick out too much.

On the other hand, my Olson SJ and my Sheppard GA Ave Maria are both excellent guitars, at least in my mind, for instrumental playing, but they are also excellent accompaniment guitars. Pete Huttlinger used his Collings OM1A for almost all his instrumental work, and it had a lovely, clear sound. My Collings OM1A (deep body) also has that same characteristic sound, but this guitar also works beautifully for accompaniment.

My old 1967 Martin D-35 is really a good guitar for both accompaniment or instrumental work. Same for my Gibson AJ.

Come to think of it, I have used every guitar I own for instrumental playing. The only one that does not work particularly well for accompaniment work is the Santa Cruz FS.

- Glenn

I have no idea what I’d like as an instrumentalist because I’m not. Of course tone is important, but getting a studio quality sound out of every venue or gig is an exercise in futility. So yes, I suppose “good enough is good enough”; but that’s on sliding scale and what suits one might not suit another.

I'm fussy about everything - even the figs in this morning's Red Mill Oatmeal. It's how I roll.

I rarely find a situation where something is "good enough." Mind you, I'm not recommending this as a philosophy. I think sometimes we don't get to choose for ourselves.

I was reading an article in Finewoodworking about the incredible number of hours it took to make a particular chest. The reviewer started with considering that was a lot of hours but concluded, "Nothing's too good for me." I have adopted this.

I find that I feel comfortable singing with a wide variety of instruments. How I play and string choice do have influence on my choice for any given event. Sometimes, song choice is a consideration.

Your voice is your primary instrument. Guitar choice is secondary.

If you perform primarily instrumentally, then concern for instrument choice will be different.

Well first of all, I am a singer who plays guitar rather than a guitarist who sings. I have been working to bring both skill levels up so my guitar accompaniments really work to support the song. I have pretty sensitive ears so I like a guitar to sound good and I like it to come across naturally when it is amplified.

I liked what Glenn shared about his different instruments. I have two rosewood guitars and one sounds slightly better with my vocals than the other. The other guitar seems to come forward almost too much and seems almost to compete with my voice. Maybe if I was a better guitar player I could control it but I don't know.

Earlier this year when I was ordering a custom instrument from Sparky Kramer, He had me sing and play with both my spruce/rosewood guitar and his spruce/mahogany guitar of a similar size. A guitar playing singer songwriter friend of mine was there listening as well. We all thought that the mahogany guitar supported my voice better because the more fundamental tone did not compete with my natural vibrato. That was an interesting experiment because I really could hear that while I was playing. We did the same experiment with her voice and hers was about equal with a slight edge for liking the sustain of the rosewood because her vocals are very pure and light and they benefited from some fullness of tone in the air around her voice.

Like so many things related to guitar it is so personal and subjective that I imagine it differs from singer to singer and what their ears tell them.

Best,
Jayne

Although no one is going to mistake me for Pavarotti, I'm a singer that plays (working hard on being adept at both).

I'm more concerned with string-string balance and how a guitar compliments/works with my voice than the guitar sounding totally natural. My biggest bugg-a-boo is being out of tune and intonation issues, I wish my ears weren't so picky in this regard.

That said, I play more electric than acoustic, so the acoustic tone is secondary for me. If I was a true acoustic act I would want a dual source, high quality pickup system in my guitar.

I'm definitely a singer who plays guitar.
I do want my guitars to be EQ'd correctly when playing live and not overpowering the vocals.
The best case scenario is they sound like acoustic guitars only louder.

Of course.

The human voice is 10X more important to a song than the support structure.
I started singing 10 years ago. I even had a period where I sounded decent. I wish I was Tina Turner or Leon Russell but maybe in my next life.

If you're talking songs the vocal can be nuanced but it just needs to be right and fit. Not unlike feathering your right hand to make acoustics sound great.
Having a monotone even works for some tunes. I suggest record and hear if it works. Playback doesn't lie.

For me the guitar is just as or more important while singing. When you find the right one it enhances your presentation, even with something as trivial as appearance.

For instance I have a Pono parlor that is a country blues fingerstyle machine, but I never feel right playing 30s depression era songs on it. It's just too elegant. LOL

If you play Neil Young, you need something that has enough bass you can palm mute like he does and still have the lower string volume. I guess for me it's having the right tool, and it's a whole package to create the right vibe.

Take Chris Stapelton's LG2. It matches his music and his persona. The right guitar for you is the right guitar for you.

I’m probably more picky about my guitar sound than i should be.
I’ve been singing since i could talk. Someone made me lead worship before I was a teenager, and we grew up a cappella.

Now I generally sing in my car and while i’m working around the house.
I was going to say that good enough was good enough.
Then I remembered the Sunday, that I plugged in and dialed the tone I like. Halfway thru the first song, I was playing with the sliders trying to get my tone to my preference again.
No sooner than I got it “right” again, it changed again.
The entire service was like that. I was knob twiddling for the whole thing.
Later the guy running sound and I were talking, and he said that he’d been wrestling with my tone for the whole service! He get it perfect in the mix, and then it would change.
After that, If he was running sound, I just set my guitar flat and let him put me where he wanted me in the mix.

We play with In-ear monitors these days, and what I hear, and what’s coming out of the house speakers is sometimes quite different.

both must work well together otherwise one or both are lacking.

play music!