OT: Guitar question...

[L84dinr]

Been watching Rush In Rio. Pretty darn good, if you are a Rush fan; actually even if you aren't, it's still pretty darn good.

Anyway, Alex plays a different guitar for every song. I understand that they prolly go out of tune. But every guitar has the same sound. Are the amplifiers or other electronics making each guitar sound relatively the same? ALso, how can Geddy Lee beat the snot out of the Rickenbacker and he will play the same guitar for the whole concert? Bass strings don't go out of tune as easy?

Being as I can only play the stereo; i haven't an idea if these are really stupid questions, but thanks for your indulgence.

[JohnS]

Maybe he was breaking strings. I remember seeing Rory Gallagher once. He broke strings all the time.

[skyflash]

I think some may be tuning issues, depending on the song. If there is heavy whammy bar use, he may switch up, and on certain songs the tuning is a half-step low to compensate fpr Geddy's voice. On 2112, Geddy is playing a different bass because of that reason.

Other than that, my guess is he is just having fun playing the various guitars.

[davids]

Couple possible answers:

1. "every guitar has the same sound"? Yeah, like every bike rides the same...

2. Performance artist conceit.

Honestly, I don't know. I suspect the guitarist is hearing something that we aren't, that doesn't come through a stadium PA very well.

I think Pete Townsend is probably a good archetype here: One the one hand he appears to revere the instrument. On the other hand, not so much...

http://www.morethings.com/music/who-pete_townshend/smothers_brothers_images/who-my_generation-1967-smothers_brothers084.jpg

And did you ever notice that his are numbered?

http://www.whocollection.com/wholive76two.gif

[93legendti]

Could be a sweat on the back of the neck issue; could be a a "feel" thing, different guitars can make a guitarist play differently-- even if they sound the same. i.e. Clapton, EVH and Allan Holdsworth have used a mess of guitars in their careers, but their sound has stayed consistent. Could be a tuning issue, could be he needed a guitar with a trem. As for bass strings, for me the thicker the string the longer it stays in tune. Bass strings are pretty thick.

[Fivethumbs]

Many guitar players employ alternate tunings depending on the song. A very common alternate tuning is to tune the entire guitar 1/2 step flat. There are other tunings as well. Further, the guitars most likely do have very different sounds; however this would likely go unnoticed by the majority of the audience during a loud rock concert. Alex probably notices the differences and chooses his guitars accordingly.

[pdxmech13]

them guitars are doing all sorts of different things imho

[ti_boi]

It is really easy to completely de-tune even the best guitar.
It is also easy to get a very specific sound from whatever 'rig' you are using.
Changing guitars frequently is essential to the live performer. Rather than 'tune-up' each song. It is really the 'bending' of the strings which makes them come out of tune.

A Bass has massive strings and you are not bending as much as thumping them. Geddy's touch may be light also which means that while Alex attacks the instrument like the brute that he is.....Geddy probably finesses his way through the song!

[L84dinr]

I realize all guitars do not sound the same. ie. I remember an old story about John Lennon and Paul McCartney stripping the finish off some type of hollow body guitar, like a gretsch or epiphone, (shrug), and they both liked the sound w/o the finish. I have seen Stevie Ray play once in houston and have been trying to remember how many times he switched guitars... if any, cause he definitely bends strings. Anyway, I found it interesting that Alex played so many different guitars. I have seen a few live perfomances and don't recall other guitar players changing out their instruments as often, if at all.

Thanks for the responses.

[Chad Engle]

I have seen Rush live twice, I don't remember too much guitar changing, for some reason, I don't remember much of anything....

[tch]

Lucinda Williams, she had an a$$kicking band -- I mean real players. After each song, a guitar tech would rush out on stage and exchange instruments with the two guitarists. Now I'm gonna say that this was done to get different tone/effects for each song, but whatever, the thing I DO remember was this Chinese-firedrill maneuver. I thought the guy had to be eating the beans cuz Lucinda was definitely not into talking between songs: sometimes they'd kick into the next one before the player even had the strap on over his head.

[justinf]

A lot of the guitar switching is fashion. Just ask Tom Petty. Also the guys in Rush undoubtably still use MASSIVE rigs, where the guitar's tone is but a very small and early piece of the puzzle, before the seriously pro-fessional effects switching and amping.

basses stay in tune quite well and I'll bet you his touch is indeed quite light. don't let the antics fool ya.

[Wayne77]

No disrespect intended, but The Rush in Rio DVD is possibly the worst mixed/engineered sound recording ever. It sounds like you're listening to the show inside the stadium restroom. I doubt one could tell a difference between a Les Paul through Marshall Plexi vs a Telecaster through a Fender Twin or a BC Rich through a POS practice amp with a recording like that. It's a great show, but joe-mullet in the back row could've gotten a better recording with his cassette player. ( ;) I'm a Rush fan too..)

Eagles - Hell Freezes Over. Now there's a reference quality concert DVD where one can hear the difference between different guitars. As a bonus, the video wasn't edited by MTV interns on crack, like so many others.

[3chordwonder]

I don't have that DVD but do have the newer 30th anniversary live DVD and noticed the same thing (i.e. Alex's guitar sounds the same on every track and he does change guitars a bit).

He must indeed just change guitars for different tuning setups, and to minimise the risk of going out of tune, since the sound seems like it was a standard case of being primarily created by a modern digital effects chain and amp setup. I couldn't hear any difference between his Les Paul and PRS, but then again, those guitars sound so alike anyway - they're effectively almost identical designs in the greater scheme of things. But having said that, it would almost not matter what you plugged into that kind of sound processing, it'll always come out sounding like whatever was dialled into the software.

That kind of setup is very polished as a tool, and I really like Rush, but that unvarying processed sound on the DVD was tiring to my ears after the first few songs. It chokes the life out of the guitar in my opinion ('atmo' I guess I need to say here).

[Fixed]

bro show off the collection imho
cheers

[cinelli]

1. Alternate tunings.
2. Repair, re-string or re-tune.
3. Different sounds from different guitars.
4. Different scale length for finger picking vs. strumming.
5. Outdoor venues play havoc with humidity factors causing a need for constant re-tuning.
6. Multiple guitars adds to the "way cool" factor.

[Big Dan]

I have 3 Strats 1980, 1991 and 2002.
All similar, but also different sound, feel and weight.
Sometimes I prefer one and other days I prefer another....

:)

[crossjunkee]

He's also in the business of selling guitars for Fender, Gibson, PRS, etc. They pay him to play their guitars...

Even guitars made to be identical will sound different. I just went through this a couple weeks ago when purchasing a new electric guitar.