Okay, I admit it: I have a slightly obsessive personality. I completely lost track of time, and realized that I’d been practicing over three hours, trying out various riffs that have been running through my head for the past few days. Both my hands are numb, and the tip of the middle finger on my left hand is bleeding. I didn’t notice that until I started typing an e-mail and saw that my computer keyboard had little red fingerprints on the “e” and “d” keys. Yuck! But hey! I don’t mind. It was worth getting the licks down.
So what drove me to this single-minded, totally focused state where I lost all track of time? Simple: Developing vibrato and sustain using as little distortion as possible, or none at all; in other words working the strings with my fingers to achieve sustain and expressiveness. After listening to some of my favorite guitarists the past few days while on vacation, I realized that even though they use distortion, it’s very, very light; a lot lighter than what you’d think at first blush. But what makes them sound so expressive, even though they might be shredding is the subtle nuances they add to their solos employing several types of vibrato to eek out every bit of tone from their strings. It’s not easy! Not easy at all! And I’ve got the bloody finger and aching hands to prove it.
That’s not to say that I haven’t done this at all. But in all my years of playing, this was really the first time that I really focused on it. I’ve been a big promoter of playing as few notes as possible to get my point across, partly because I can’t really play all that fast, but also because some of the best solos I’ve ever heard don’t have a lot of notes – they’re just entirely expressive. Horn players know the value of a long-sustained note. It may start out as a plain old Bb – whatever – but as you apply vibrato to sustain the note, it changes color over time. Just listen to some Miles Davis, and you’ll see what I mean.
I’m now a true believer that 90% of your tone comes from your fingers.
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