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#Post#: 100--------------------------------------------------
How to get a good Ventures sound
By: oldflogger Date: December 30, 2011, 9:11 am
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1st start out with an American made Fender Jazzmasters, Jaguar
or Strat, although I have several Japanese Fender Strats with
Fender Noiseless pickups in them that sound great too . Then
you'll need a good Fender amp. I have a early Fender Vibrolux
amp that sounds terrific.
Of course you'll need a few fans of The Ventures to help you
make great music too. Perfect pratice makes for a perfect
performance.
You can never have enough time to practice. I can't rememebr who
said this but it goes something like this, " If I don't practice
for 1 day I know it, if I don't practice for 3 days the critics
know it, if I don't practice for 1 week my fans know it." It
makes a lot of sense.
Many great sounding guitar runs are actually quite easy to play
once you put in the time and practice. It also helps to have a
great picker, such as Walt Stagner to help walk you through the
part.
#Post#: 112--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to get a good Ventures sound
By: wstagner Date: December 30, 2011, 10:15 am
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Whose he? Neva herda him. :o
#Post#: 114--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to get a good Ventures sound
By: oldflogger Date: December 30, 2011, 10:25 am
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you are the man
#Post#: 400--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to get a good Ventures sound - but which one?
By: abstamaria Date: January 28, 2012, 12:41 am
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I think the problem is that there is not one Ventures "sound."
Even if one were to focus on the "early" Ventures, one would
find I think a wide range of very different sounds, not to
mention styles. There's Bob Bogle's Jazzmaster sound, then
Nokie playing I am not sure what, and then the odd session
guitarists using whatever guitars they had. This is quite
different from the Shadows, whose early years had clear eras
defined by the guitars and amps used. For the Ventures, one
almost has to listen to each piece, as the sound can get get
very different, even among selections in the same album.
In general, and with due respect to the Ventures, it seems the
Shadows were more careful about their sound and also their
recording (after all, they recorded at Abbey Road). This has
made chasing the Ventures sound more elusive and sometimes
frustrating. It is like to trying to get the sound of seberal
different bands.
The book "Walk Don't Run" is very helpful and tells us what was
used for the original recording of Walk Don't Run. But there
seems very little discussion out there on technique and gea -
for instance, how Bogle played, what strings he used, what amps,
and so forth. The best discussion I've read on the Ventures
sound is in the Telecaster forum -
HTML http://www.tdpri.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-196587.html
Having been playing Shadows for a while, our amateur band is
going to try to play the early Ventures pieces/ Since we are
severely handicapped by my playing skills, we hope at least to
get the "sound" of a few of the early pieces. While capturing
Hank Marvin's sound may technically be more difficult, I am
daunted by the marked differences between the Ventures pieces.
And the sheer lack of information! Perhaps someone can point
out some leads.
Wish us luck.
Andy
#Post#: 408--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to get a good Ventures sound
By: wstagner Date: January 28, 2012, 5:36 pm
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You don't need any luck, Andy. I've heard you play. ;)
Just record some stuff and post it. You're right. Lotta
variation in Ventures stuff. Hank's sound is much more
structured.
#Post#: 491--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to get a good Ventures sound
By: Noel Date: February 4, 2012, 12:29 pm
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Great question. I think the case is that the Shadows intended to
have a distinct and consistent sound. The Ventures had a
different business model. As they "venturized" everything from
Lawrence of Arabia to Telstar to The Lonely Bull to Paint it
Black, I don't think just one sound would have worked. Plus, as
Nokie has pointed out, the switch to Mosite guitars just made
their sound much more over-driven. And, they've used all sorts
of different amps and other gear through the years. Reverb tanks
have come and gone. Fender, VOX, Peavey, and I don't remember
what else all have different tonal properties that end up on
their records. And not the least contributor is that Nokie, Bob
Bogle, Bob Spalding and Gerry McGee don't sound exactly the same
on lead, irrespective of their gear. All these factors can give
every performance a different sound.
One of the things I like about them is that they don't just
cover their own material. The same tune listened to from
recordings made over the last 50 plus years always has something
new to hear.
#Post#: 495--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to get a good Ventures sound
By: wstagner Date: February 4, 2012, 5:18 pm
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I don't think today's Ventures make a conscious effort toward
achieving any particular sound.
Especially when you consider which era's "sound" would you be
talking about.
I fact, I'd say that their "sound" has more today with the
individual players. You can easily tell the dif between
whomever is playing lead. Don's rhythm style is unmistakeable.
Mel had a unique sound. Leon can sound like Mel, but he has his
own character as well.
#Post#: 639--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to get a good Ventures sound
By: geoff1711 Date: February 15, 2012, 2:28 pm
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As a new member here, although long time member on the Shad's
sites, it's probably best to remeber that the Shadows became
very family acceptable quite early in their careers, having
started out as rock and roll.
But from my side of the Atlantic the Ventures were a Surf band
along with The Surfaris, Beach Boys etc, it was only much later
all instrumental bands got lumped together as a genre.
I was at school in the early 60's when all of this started and
many considered The Ventures as much cooler than The Shadows.
As for me, I find quite a lot of Ventures recordings we get over
here as not great, a lot seems just fast for the sake of being
fast and the tune gets a bit lost, having said that a lot of
people regard The Shadows later offerings as "lift music" nice
enough but just instrumental covers of famous vocal numbers.
But I think all of the 60's instrumental bands in the USA and
Europe had good and bad, probably all down to the record
companies demanding another record when the bands had nothing
much to offer, you can't just whistle up brilliance on demand.
So to try and say one band was better is a bit like trying to
compare say Dylan with Cohen, Vai to Satriani, or even Sinatra
to Davis all have similarities but have their own identity.
But for me long live guitar music, coz whilst the fingers still
move OK the voice is getting - lets just say err weaker??
Geoff
#Post#: 640--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to get a good Ventures sound
By: wstagner Date: February 15, 2012, 2:35 pm
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We like your attitude, Geoff and we welcome you here. ;)
#Post#: 3291--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to get a good Ventures sound
By: mustwrite Date: July 24, 2019, 6:17 pm
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In my opinion: 70% of the sound come from the player himself.
For sure, an old Fender Jazzmaster of the L Serie and an old
febder Super Rever or an Deluxe reverb 1964 to 1966 will help a
lots. You have to FEEL IT.
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