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This question goes out to all the members and lurkers of the Inner Twangdom.
So much is made of the Gretsch "Twang" and/or "Jangle". (No arguement from me).
This brings to mind: How much of twang comes from the guitar vs technique vs your inner twang? Is it the combination? Is it something else? If I can get it out of a violin, what does that mean?
I couldn't find the answer in my Mel Bay book so I thought I'd ask you guys.
Twang does not come from the guitar, the player, nor technique. It wasn't supposed to be announced until next week at the press conference. But, your random post in a guitar forum has forced our hand.
We, at the Society of Tonal Researchers and Unified Musicians (STRUM), have isolated the fundemental source of Twang, the sub-atomic particle, we call the Twuark. Much like the Quark, there are 'flavors' of Twuarks. Instead of the Quark's up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top, we have named the Twuark's flavors: Country, RoBilly, Sorock, Gretschie, Tele and Chet.
Different combinations of Twuark's are responsible for different twangs. Some people like Chet, we theorize generated MASSIVE amounts of Twuarks naturally. Some people, like those at Nocturne have found ways to enahance existing Twuarks, accelerating them and in some cases changing their flavors. Certain Guitars are better able to Focus existing Twuarks in the universal ether when played (see the Gretsch effect in the upcoming paper). Certain amplification techniques can also enhance and focus Twuarks within their circuits, as well.
At any rate, the research will be published next week after the press conference.
Too much time on your hands cyber. As a matter of urgency, go find the front door and leave by it as soon as possible. In the outside, you will hopefully still be able to re-locate your life.
Let me know how you get on, I'll be here by the computer.
Too much time on your hands cyber. As a matter of urgency, go find the front door and leave by it as soon as possible. In the outside, you will hopefully still be able to re-locate your life.
Let me know how you get on, I'll be here by the computer.
As ususal, nor appreciated in my time, WOOOAAH is me.
Ha! I drew you out and exposed your operation! But the question is... is a supersecretscientificcabal explanation enough?! We're talkin' about TWANG here.
I think the guitar has somewhat to do with it, and the player. I can play my hotrod, and do some rockabilly type licks, and it will twang. If I change the tone on the amp, I can play some blues, and the twang, although still gretschilly there, is not so prominent. Kill the treble, and play softly, and jazz comes through, although I feel anything I lay on the hotrod, will always have the hot rod sound. If James Burton played his hot licks on a Strat instead of a telecaster, it would still sound hot countryish, but the twang might be a bit less. So, I am guessing its a combo nation of both. I have been wrong before.
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Never pet a dog that is foaming at the mouth.
Twang does not come from the guitar, the player, nor technique. It wasn't supposed to be announced until next week at the press conference. But, your random post in a guitar forum has forced our hand.
We, at the Society of Tonal Researchers and Unified Musicians (STRUM), have isolated the fundemental source of Twang, the sub-atomic particle, we call the Twuark. Much like the Quark, there are 'flavors' of Twuarks. Instead of the Quark's up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top, we have named the Twuark's flavors: Country, RoBilly, Sorock, Gretschie, Tele and Chet.
Different combinations of Twuark's are responsible for different twangs. Some people like Chet, we theorize generated MASSIVE amounts of Twuarks naturally. Some people, like those at Nocturne have found ways to enahance existing Twuarks, accelerating them and in some cases changing their flavors. Certain Guitars are better able to Focus existing Twuarks in the universal ether when played (see the Gretsch effect in the upcoming paper). Certain amplification techniques can also enhance and focus Twuarks within their circuits, as well.
At any rate, the research will be published next week after the press conference.
You have blown our cover for the last time, be prepared to return to Planet Transylvania. Riff Raff will accompany you, while Magenta holds down the fort.
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Never pet a dog that is foaming at the mouth.
Recently, (well .. Wednesday) on Telecaster.com (TDPRI) I posted a very similar question regarding Telecaster TWANG VS Gretsch TWANG, jangle, call it what you will ... the identifiable sound that we conjour up from these wonderful instruments. General concensus was that the Tele was the superior TWANGER ... however, there was still quite a bit of love for the Gretsch as well.
You can check out the conversation over there if ya like. Just search "Telecaster TWANG VS Gretsch TWANG" as the thread title. Thats my 2 cents on that ... personally, I love 'em both I don't think it's any one thing that gives either animal it's sound, tone, twang, jangle ... it's just the nature of the beasts. They're as individual as the individuals playing them. -IMHO
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“Most things I worry about never happen anyway.”~T.P.
If you can get twang out of a violin, I don't think I ever wanna hear you play it.
But really, twang is usually the last thing I'm going for in my own personal crappy "sound" but my Gretsch es (can't believe it's plural) have got the twangin jangle goin' on unless I tweak settings considerably
And I don't, because I love the twangle, it's sure not my playing style or my soul bringing it out, it's alive in those guitars and also a little bit in my baby Vox.
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"It's gettin pretty psycho analytical in here. I need to go listen to some ramones before I start thinking too much."
-LUCKY13
Not a Gretschie in public, nonetheless a card carrying member of cybermjk's intergalacticscientificsupersecret Twang cabal is one Junior Brown. Not at his Twangiest (probably to sooth the nervous systems of those who can't handle the true twang), but a respectable example AND I happened to stumble accross (OK, it was in a bar) it last night, so what the hell, I thought I'd include it on this thread.
This is the first ProJet I've heard with real twang. To me it oozes twang - you probably have to hold it back. Starting at about 35 secs my God and shortly after the boom chicka boom chicka - I could easily envision Luther Perkins and a guy dressed in black saying "Hello I'm Johnny Cash".
To me it isn't the Tele twang but a deeper richer twang - it is the sound I'm looking for in a Gretsch and as nice as the blacktop filtertrons in my new ProJet sound they - in my experience cannot do what this ProJet just did.
This is the first ProJet I've heard with real twang. To me it oozes twang - you probably have to hold it back. Starting at about 35 secs my God and shortly after the boom chicka boom chicka - I could easily envision Luther Perkins and a guy dressed in black saying "Hello I'm Johnny Cash".
To me it isn't the Tele twang but a deeper richer twang - it is the sound I'm looking for in a Gretsch and as nice as the blacktop filtertrons in my new ProJet sound they - in my experience cannot do what this ProJet just did.
My white Corvette with custom wound HiLoTrons is the twangiest guitar I own. More so than my Tele (with TArmonds). It's a TeleGrersch.
I freakin love this guitar. The twang takes some taming, but it's a tone monster.
It loves a good dose of OD too!
Marlin
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The Marlin
The love of money is the root of all evil.....damn, I could use some really rather naughty right now.....
This is the first ProJet I've heard with real twang. To me it oozes twang - you probably have to hold it back. Starting at about 35 secs my God and shortly after the boom chicka boom chicka - I could easily envision Luther Perkins and a guy dressed in black saying "Hello I'm Johnny Cash".
To me it isn't the Tele twang but a deeper richer twang - it is the sound I'm looking for in a Gretsch and as nice as the blacktop filtertrons in my new ProJet sound they - in my experience cannot do what this ProJet just did.
I think that twang is a natural product of a string that is plucked, amplification and effects. What happens between the string and the speaker determines how much twang we hear. If the pickup is a humbucker with wide spacing between bobbins the harmonic differences between the sampling point over the two bobbins causes some cancellation which reduces the highs, IOW, twang. That's why single coils are brighter than Filtertrons but Filters are still brighter than Gibson 'buckers (or Gretsch-buckers).
Tone circuits work by shunting high frequencies to ground so they are the natural enemy of twang. IMO, the dreaded mud switch on Filter-equipped Gretsches is a reason that Gretsch guitars are known for twang. When the mud switch is in the center position the tone cap is out of the circuit entirely so no high frequencies are shunted to ground.
Cables are capacitive so the longer the cable the more highs bled off. IMHO this isn't really a problem until cables get fairly long. I use 10' - 12' cables routinely and never give it a second thought.
The tone circuit in the amp will have obvious effects on twang as well as the rest of the amp, up to, and including, the speaker(s).
Technique plays a role as well. Good solid pressure on the fretting hand and a decisive stroke of the pick can only help. Heavy picks help as well.
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