I honestly can't understand why so many players are obsessed with duplicating someone else's style and tone and incorporating it as their own. Now I'm not talking about trying to replicate whatever tunes as faithfully as possible for personal and/or performance satisfaction, that's separate and apart. I'm talking about those who are obsessed with outright basing their personal playing lifestyle around sounding and playing like say, Van Halen and his "Brown Sound", Gilmore with his live "Wall Sound" or Clapton's "Brownie" and "Layla Sound", just to name a few of virtually endless examples. We've seen and heard mountains of discussions, dissertations testimonials and even heated arguments on all this stuff. And then there's the serious money these players continually spend on equipment and components for the same ends. In the final analysis, at best, someone may sound very much like "So and So" but surely, someone will not play like "So and So". Moreover, these pseudo clones will never be able to innovate like "So and So" because simply put, they are not "So and So" and at best, will only be 'popular' (for lack of a better word) as long as the player (s)he is stylistically feeding off of remains so. This also segues to yet a secondary question: If someone has the chops to do a realistic rendition of even some of the material their idol does, wouldn't it make more sense to concern her/his self with getting her/his own thing together? Surely, if one complacently feeds off of "So and So", (s)he will never rise to be the next "So and So". It just doesn't make any sense to me. Does anyone else feel this way?

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You dig?

I agree 100%. I only want to sound like me, even though it's not very good.

Yeh- I have a friend who is obsessed with Ty Tabor or whatever his name is in King X. Buys all the junk and all that.
I will say Kings X kicks some serious butt live. Great sound.

It drives me mad, I don't get it either.

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In a lot of cases it's not all there fault. There simply isn't any (ME) in them yet. They simply haven't evolved that far. Give them a little time and a lot of that will disappear. in a lot of casses it's nothing more than fear to show themselves.
Danny,

Over the years I've taken bits and pieces of tones and styles of players who have influenced me and incorporated them all to make up my own style.You can hear the influences in my playing but not enough of one particular one to say that I'm copying someone's particular style.My rhythm playing is very much influenced by John Lennon, Chris Britton-of the Troggs and Pete Townshend.My lead playing is very much influenced by Jimi Hendrix,Albert King and George Harrison with a bit of Scotty Moore thrown in.

I know what you mean though,some guys go so far out of their way to emulate their heroes that they become obsessed that they must sound just like them and even go so far as to buy all the gear they used.That is pathetic and shows that a person has no ability to make a style of their own and consequently must copy someone else.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I understand and there's BIG money in the gear of people's heroes nowadays....it seems that nobody wants to be themselves,but will buy anything to sound like "so and so".
I learned solos by copying Duane Allman and Dickey Betts and to some extent Clapton,but then I never sounded like them much in my ears,so I figured that whatever I did sound like I should make the best of it and I've been working on my tone ever since.
Here in the Nashville area there's great guitar players everywhere,but rarely do I hear a true inspirational player who I would want to learn from,Jack Pearson is the only one I know of right now....he is unique and really doesn't sound like anybody else....he's a fantastic player.
Let all the others be SRV and Mayer wannabees,I hear it everytime I can muster up the gumption to enter a Guitar Center store.

I personally play my own personal style. Sure, I've drawn inspiration from other musicians, but everything I've done musically has been the means to an end of achieving 'the sound in my head'. I thoroughly enjoy playing other artists songs and spinning them off in my own direction, I get more enjoyment from the music that way. If someone feels like basing their entire sound and style off of another's I think that's kind of pointless, and if everyone played with that thought, music would never progress.

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Check out my new FB music page!

https://www.facebook.com/TheDevilandMe.Music

My work requires that I approximate the hallmark tones of many different players -- from Tom Johnston (Doobie Brothers) and Gary Richrath (REO Speedwagon) to Martin Briley and Tom Petty. Do I nail them exact? Nope. But I get as close in phrasing and timbre that I can and our audiences seem to enjoy what I come up with. At least nobody's shot me......yet.



I know a lot of players who get "wrapped around the axle" trying to chase down 'the Cray tone' or the 'Slash tone' or the 'SRV tone'. They spend inordinate amounts of money and time diddling with their gear then seem to forget the purpose for it all. More power to them I suppose....but all they usually accomplish is to enrich the sales staff at their local GC.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Imitation is the sincerest form of flatulance and it wont get you anywhere, is that right ? each to their own I suppose I prefer fresh air

Personally I have an idea of how I want myself to sound as an accomplished guitarist in the future. Do I want to sound like Clapton? Well no but there are parts of his playing and songwriting I like and take inspiration from. Sometimes emulating someones playing style is a helpful step on the way to learning what you want to learn.

However chasing tone is not something I'm too keen on, sure I like to be able to make it sound similar but I can get the basic outline with amp settings, I don't care if it's not exact I'd rather sound like me.

Saying that if someone wants to play SRV covers all day everyday and that makes them happy, who are we to tell them thats not ok? Gotta do what you love!

It's a symptom of society actually. There's been a fundamental shift in the thinking of our young people even if we/they aren't aware of it or admit it. 50 years ago you were only cool if you were different from everyone else. Most people were "square" and only a few people were cool. Now you aren't cool unless you have the right clothes, the right car, the right girl, the right guitar, the right amp. Everybody want to be cool and now most people are cool and only a few are different only now we call them weirdos or names to that affect. There is some room to express individuality within these cool rules, you can by these jeans or those jeans but people are still conformists now instead of rebels. Everybody wears jeans for example. Wear slacks and people will question you on it. When we see people who are truly different we mock them or we fear them. Most young people THINK they're rebels and they even pride themselves in being rebels but in reality they're still conformists. And in their defense, it's hard to be an individual these days without also being a laughing stock. Everything that was ever cool has already been done.

My 2 cents.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I've been tryin' to find my own sound and tone for years. My Guitar heros keep popping in my head and fingers, please make them stop. Wish I could sound as good, but in my own way.

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2012 American Vintage Telecaster 1958
09 Fender american deluxe strat.
97 Gibson les paul special P90's double-cut
65 Princeton reverb re-issue
2010 Guild Gad-F40e

The guy I wrote about is 57 years old-- he doesn't have any "me" yet and we have given him about as much time as possible!!!

I agree to an extent, but I must admit that I do occasionally find myself thinking "I wish my guitar would sound like that."

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Rated "M" for meaty.