Whats with Mike's recent LP love affair?

Dogman3 · July 2008

It seems thats all he plays with now and its sad. Alive sounds off with a Les Paul toned solo.

ianvomsaal · July 2008

His ear has matured . . .

Pappas · July 2008

songs like alive, evenflow and black should ALWAYS be played by his sunburst strat imo

Red Burrito · July 2008

Pappas wrote:

songs like alive, evenflow and black should ALWAYS be played by his sunburst strat imo

Agreed!

All Those Yesterdays · July 2008

Dogman3 wrote:

It seems thats all he plays with now and its sad. Alive sounds off with a Les Paul toned solo.

Maybe his back is feeling good, so he is up for the added weight of the Paul!

bootlegger10 · July 2008

All Those Yesterdays wrote:

Maybe his back is feeling good, so he is up for the added weight of the Paul!

Could be. For the short tours he plays the Les Paul since he thinks it sounds better and on the long tours he uses the Strat so he isn't as sore (this is probably wrong, but a guess). Maybe he just wants to mix it up. It seems like Stone is always changing the guitars he uses for every tour.

Jam10 · July 2008

Yeh it looks like Stone is using Strats more often and Mike is using LP's more often. The beauty of being a rock star......you can play any guitar anytime you want! I personally love the sound of both Lp's and Strats.

Drew263 · July 2008

Dogman3 wrote:

It seems thats all he plays with now and its sad. Alive sounds off with a Les Paul toned solo.

he's balancing out Stone's recent Stat obsession.

Stone playing Alive and EF on a strat in Columbia was downright disgraceful.

xtremehardy388 · July 2008

Pappas wrote:

songs like alive, evenflow and black should ALWAYS be played by his sunburst strat imo

and Ledbetter

Anon · July 2008

Pappas wrote:

songs like alive, evenflow and black should ALWAYS be played by his sunburst strat imo

damn straight.

lucylespian · July 2008

Werl, it's like this kiddies.

He has a genuine 1959 Les Paul burst. These things are widely regarded as the absolute gold standard for guitar tone.
When you play a nice LP, it just gives you things effortlessly, that you either fight to get from anything else, or you don't get at all. The tone is substantially different to a Strat and IMHO, an LP is much more reactive wiht the amp.
There is a subjective pleasure to this that is easily experienced, and impossible to explain.
Need proof ??
Well, there is MIke up there preferring his LP to his Strat.

StuffnJunk · July 2008

well, he has one less LP after the Who Rock Honors show

its funny, in the Ten liner notes it says "stone gossard plays gibson guitars, mike mccready plays fender guitars"....i guess at that time it was somewhat set in stone (pun intended)......now they mix it up, if anything now stone has basically become a total strat player

xtremehardy388 · July 2008

StuffnJunk wrote:

well, he has one less LP after the Who Rock Honors show

its funny, in the Ten liner notes it says "stone gossard plays gibson guitars, mike mccready plays fender guitars"....i guess at that time it was somewhat set in stone (pun intended)......now they mix it up, if anything now stone has basically become a total strat player

Especially with those Fishman's...

Dogman3 · July 2008

xtremehardy388 wrote:

and Ledbetter

Wrong. I don't mind older songs on the LP, such as EF and Alive, but Ledbetter? Thats like, a tribute to Hendrix. Strat is essential for the Ledbetter.

I just wish I had the dough for a LP though. But I don't, hence why I'm a Strat guy. Not that its a bad thing. If I had cash like Stone and Mike, I'd have LP's, SG's, and whatnot too. I did notice on the last tour that Stone was using more Fenders than usual. So you're right, it does balance out

xtremehardy388 · July 2008

Dogman3 wrote:

Wrong. I don't mind older songs on the LP, such as EF and Alive, but Ledbetter? Thats like, a tribute to Hendrix. Strat is essential for the Ledbetter.

I just wish I had the dough for a LP though. But I don't, hence why I'm a Strat guy. Not that its a bad thing. If I had cash like Stone and Mike, I'd have LP's, SG's, and whatnot too. I did notice on the last tour that Stone was using more Fenders than usual. So you're right, it does balance out

I meant Ledbetter should only be played on the strat...

Pappas · July 2008

whoops sorry i forgot to mention ledbedder. yes of course that should be strat only too

i dont think mike would ever play that with anything but a strat anyway. same with evenflow and black, as both are his 'tributes' to the great stevie ray vaughan!

slightofjeff · July 2008

StuffnJunk wrote:

well, he has one less LP after the Who Rock Honors show

According to some dude on the main board who talked to Mike this week, that LP he busted on VH1 actually belonged to Stone ...

xtremehardy388 · July 2008

Pappas wrote:

whoops sorry i forgot to mention ledbedder. yes of course that should be strat only too

i dont think mike would ever play that with anything but a strat anyway. same with evenflow and black, as both are his 'tributes' to the great stevie ray vaughan!

Black was played on a tele during a recent (past couple years) show. There's a video of Ledbetter being played on an LP that was discussed earlier. Nothing known on other than a strat on Evenflow.

Pappas · July 2008

xtremehardy388 wrote:

Black was played on a tele during a recent (past couple years) show. There's a video of Ledbetter being played on an LP that was discussed earlier. Nothing known on other than a strat on Evenflow.

mikes strat must have been in the shop

ianvomsaal · July 2008

Hey, Mike helped write these tunes, so he can bloody well use whatever guitars he
wants to express the tunes (in whatever way he deems fit).

There are no set rules, so why should anyone be asked to limited themselves to only one
tonal pallet (to suit "your" idea of what sounds best to you or me or him or her, etc, etc . . .).

It doesn't matter. The band as a whole is basically playing whatever they think sounds best
to them at that moment (not you) - remember that one's ear matures over time. Remember
that they're the ones playing the tune, and overall what we think is fairly insignificant.

If you don't like how he played it - go play it that way yourself - see if you get the crowd
they have - they play what they want because the overall majority of people don’t care,
they're just happy to be at a PJ show.

- Ian

xtremehardy388 · July 2008

ianvomsaal wrote:

Hey, Mike helped write these tunes, so he can bloody well use whatever guitars he
wants to express the tunes (in whatever way he deems fit).

There are no set rules, so why should anyone be asked to limited themselves to only one
tonal pallet (to suit "your" idea of what sounds best to you or me or him or her, etc, etc . . .).

It doesn't matter. The band as a whole is basically playing whatever they think sounds best
to them at that moment (not you) - remember that one's ear matures over time. Remember
that they're the ones playing the tune, and overall what we think is fairly insignificant.

If you don't like how he played it - go play it that way yourself - see if you get the crowd
they have - they play what they want because the overall majority of people don’t care,
they're just happy to be at a PJ show.

- Ian

Cool down, man...it's a matter of opinion and how we like it. There's no doubt is sounds AMAZING either way... No one is bashing Mike or questioning his artistic ideas.

ianvomsaal · July 2008

xtremehardy388 wrote:

Cool down, man...it's a matter of opinion and how we like it. There's no doubt is sounds AMAZING either way... No one is bashing Mike or questioning his artistic ideas.

Naaa, I'm cool - I wasn't mad at all (there are no exclamation points or angry faces).
I was just matter-of-fact - it's Mikes tune and he can play it how he wants . . .

xtremehardy388 · July 2008

ianvomsaal wrote:

Naaa, I'm cool - I wasn't mad at all (there are no exclamation points or angry faces).
I was just matter-of-fact - it's Mikes tune and he can play it how he wants . . .

haha, all right man

jcmark611 · July 2008

Except playing Yellow Ledbetter on a Les Paul will make Jimi and Stevie roll in their graves.

ianvomsaal · July 2008

jcmark611 wrote:

Except playing Yellow Ledbetter on a Les Paul will make Jimi and Stevie roll in their graves.

Jimi Hendrix also played a Les Paul, an SG, and Flying V . . .

PJim87 · July 2008

I kind of agree with ian, this is pointless to even discuss really. Everyones ear is gonna hear stuff differently anyways. So it is possible that what sounds phenominal to you might just be middle of the road to someone else. But at the end of the day its their choice, and who are we to be like ( It should only be played on this. Or only played like this. Because thats the way i like it). How bout how they like it? But then again thats why we all come here, cause we aint got anything better to do. So why not question it? Just keep in mind its a friendly discussion, I though ian seemed a bit testy myself

xtremehardy388 · July 2008

ianvomsaal wrote:

Jimi Hendrix also played a Les Paul, an SG, and Flying V . . .

Did he record Little Wong with an LP or a white SG?

StuffnJunk · July 2008

here's a thread i started a while back - a video of mike playing yellow ledbetter on a gibson hollowbody

http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=286503&highlight=mike+ledbetter+strat

ianvomsaal · July 2008

PJim87 wrote:

I kind of agree with ian, this is pointless to even discuss really. Everyones ear is gonna hear stuff differently anyways. So it is possible that what sounds phenominal to you might just be middle of the road to someone else. But at the end of the day its their choice, and who are we to be like ( It should only be played on this. Or only played like this. Because thats the way i like it). How bout how they like it? But then again thats why we all come here, cause we aint got anything better to do. So why not question it? Just keep in mind its a friendly discussion, I though ian seemed a bit testy myself

Sorry if I sounded a bit "testy" - I think it just came out that way (as I've said before, I'm not known for being the most tactful person - especially when I keep reading how certain songs should only be played with certain guitars) - but for the record, no my post wasn't meant to sound incensed.

xtremehardy388 wrote:

Did he record Little Wong with an LP or a white SG?

Strat, though he played the tune with all four (Strat, LP, SG, and V).
Hendrix seemed to use Gibson's later in his career (most likely because he liked the set necks resonance and sustain, and the fullness/thickness of the humbuckers).
Hendrix with LP: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3865/1712/1600/111jimihendrix.gif
Hendrix with V: http://www.classicvintageguitars.com/link-library/link-library/files/jimi_hendrix.jpg
Hendrix with SG: http://www.joetheguitarman.com/Hendrix%20SG.jpg

Jam10 · July 2008

ianvomsaal wrote:

Sorry if I sounded a bit "testy" - I think it just came out that way (as I've said before, I'm not known for being the most tactful person - especially when I keep reading how certain songs should only be played with certain guitars) - but for the record, no my post wasn't meant to sound incensed.

Strat, though he played the tune in with all four (Strat, LP, SG, and V). Hendrix seemed to use Gibson's later in his career (most likely because he liked the set necks resonance and sustain, and the fullness/thickness of the humbuckers).
Hendrix with LP: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3865/1712/1600/111jimihendrix.gif
Hendrix with V: http://www.classicvintageguitars.com/link-library/link-library/files/jimi_hendrix.jpg
Hendrix with SG: http://www.joetheguitarman.com/Hendrix%20SG.jpg

Those are really cool pics of Hendrix. Thanks for sharing Ian!

Pappas · July 2008

ianvomsaal wrote:

Naaa, I'm cool - I wasn't mad at all (there are no exclamation points or angry faces).
I was just matter-of-fact - it's Mikes tune and he can play it how he wants . . .

yeah its cool, we're just being annoying elitists

Whats with Mike's recent LP love affair?

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