how do you tell your fellow guitarist to fix his tone????!!!???

[Gr8Scott]

I do it by showing them what alternatives are out there. I let them play my gear (under direct supervision).

[sosomething]

sounds to me like the problem is more firmware than hardware.

[crusty philtrum]

Evil Roy Slade always knows how to use a gun to get a proper musical performance from someone ....

[formula73]

I've been in this situation. Let him get lost in the mix. I used to run the same kind of tone when I was a bit younger. He'll learn.

[Markk]

...a practice break, it was awesome. For 80's pop/dance; Horrible.

All he had to say was "Listen to the song. Is that how your guitar sounds?"

I got the pict...

This is pretty good advice.

I guess the hard part with that is that him, the bass player, and drummer are brothers. He's the sole writer. So, they just listen to what he says. Don't get me wrong, he's not an ego****** a$$hole... and we all get along great. Its just this one hump we can't seem to get passed.

Band of brothers huh? And you expect them to side with you?

All the other members are siblings, and they don't have a problem with his sound?

Dial in your sound, record the band rehearsals and play them back to the group, and gently, gently suggest how to improve. If they agree, fine. If not, drop the subject and look for another band.

More good advice.

My suggestion would be to talk to his brothers separately, and try to explain the situation to them. Say that this is about tone and making the band as a whole sound good, and is not a personal attack on him. If you can get them on on board he's more likely to listen to his own brothers than the new guy in the band.

In my opinion, this is the worst advice ever. But only because the band is 3 bro's vs one outsider. Bro's talk. Even when you think they won't because the bro may be your best friend...they (still may) talk. No matter how you look at it, it's like trying to recruit his brothers against him. And if the brothers are smart, they won't let that happen because it might come back and bite them in the arses.

Tell it to them straight, suggest a change because you think it's the proper direction for the band to go in.

[Rich_S]

b) if anywhere else in the world, poke him repeatedly with the pointy stick.

I think that's kind of severe. Shouldn't you attack with a banana first?

[Warheart]

Playing too loud and too trebly is a sign of lack of experience.

i once got a rude shock in the recording studio. At the time i had a half stack all wired up with the latest digital midi fx send/return etc etc. and i thought it sounded epic. Then one day, the producer played me back my guitar track in the headphones. it was just buzzy nonsese.
It was a blow to the ego, but i learned a lot from it.
Next day i got all new tubes and ditched all of my effects.
After that, the band, the recording enigineer and also live sound engineers also started saying how good i sounded.

Sometimes we just need a good look in the mirror.
Perhaps you guys need to book a recording session - not self produced- and get a pro producer that the whole band respects. If nothing else, you will end up with some good recordings. Make sure the engineer knows what your band's goals and influences are beforehand. You wont need to mention anything about tone to anyone, because the engineer will notice right away if anything is out of whack. He will know how to get the best out of you as a group and the band members (including you) will work hard for a result that works for all of you.

+1
I was gonna type all this out myself...but man, you're on it!
I'm agreeing a lot with you lately!

[SteveAlysis]

Its not just me not liking the tone, but a matter of it killing our live shows. We get people coming up to us saying they loved it, but couldn't hear me or he was too loud.

Anyway, we had a little sit down today and I eased my way into the subject. Said weve been getting a lot of compliments, but they also say you're too loud and they can't distinguish your notes. This is coming from non musicians. His response was a high pitched "REALLY???? nahh.... I don't think that's it. You're just too loud... I think my tones fine. They venue acoustics just suck".

Haha ill have to give it a try again while we record this week.

[crusty philtrum]

I think that's kind of severe. Shouldn't you attack with a banana first?

I like to get straight to the point

[Markk]

Its not just me not liking the tone, but a matter of it killing our live shows. We get people coming up to us saying they loved it, but couldn't hear me or he was too loud.

Anyway, we had a little sit down today and I eased my way into the subject. Said weve been getting a lot of compliments, but they also say you're too loud and they can't distinguish your notes. This is coming from non musicians. His response was a high pitched "REALLY???? nahh.... I don't think that's it. You're just too loud... I think my tones fine. They venue acoustics just suck".

Haha ill have to give it a try again while we record this week.

Oh, he's ignorant Don't waste too much time on it. No sense in trying to 'correct' something that doesn't want to be corrected. Might as well find another band that will have 'the tone' if this one doesn't want to work to improve.

[Snoogles]

YOU GOD DAMN SONOFAB!+C# !!! you don't like my tone? You are OUT OF THE BAND !!!!

hahaha, just kidding. you can stay

seriously, i'm surprised i'm the only one who's thought of this.
what you do is, when nobody's looking you set his amp to how you think it would sound better
then you remove the knobs and put them back in the position that he had them originally set.
if he's so clueless about his tone to begin with, he probably wont even notice.

other than that, tell the sound guy at your next gig to tell him how much crap it is

[Aceman]

At some point, you'll need to make this call:

a) They are a bunch of prima donna ego driven wankers who care more about themselves than the audience
b) We are gonna work together, grow, change, improve, and get awesome.

The "A" guys will say they already awesome, not do things like listen to the tape and discuss "Is this tone/performance/song choice good enough?" as Bill mentioned. Almost ANY of those things can be overcome, but you have to accept that since you are not signed and making millions, it's probably not there.

The "B" guys won't be perfect either, but you can tell they are at least trying. When you tell me I played it wrong, it sounded too distorted, or that the song doesn't work, I will probably argue with you once or twice. But I will also change the settings, practice, reconsider.

Bob Rock showed up and told Metallica their tone sucked. And on "In Justice, it did. Of course, they already wanted something better and different and were asking. If Metallica/Motley can do it - you have no excuse.

If they are butt brothers like VH, look where you are headed - VHIII. and they were a lot better than you will ever be to start with. If that's how they are, sit down and lay it out for them: YOU want the BAND to get better. YOU ALL have things you need to do.

Tell them they don't have to have secret butt brother meetings about "maybe I need to go" that they can say yes right now, or you are walking. That's where it may likely end up.

We should have a doing business with family talk sometime....

[aleclee]

if you have said something already and it didnt make a lasting change that is pleasant to you you have to decide if you are going to quit over it, try to get him thrown out over it, or put up with it without further b!tching

any other way forward is just not respectable, imo .. becoming a nagging harpy over it is not cool - say it once and that is all

Wisdom