With due deference to all the talented guitarists/forumites who all sounded great in last Thursday's gig, I'd like to give due credit to perhaps one of the more under-rated and not-so-talked-about blues players out there..
I'm referring to none other than Arie Hipolito, our very own Guitar Doctor..
(well, at least to most of us)
I've always enjoyed Arie's mini-lessons on tone during my few visits at his shop, but none have made as much impact as hearing him play with his band
Sure, we can all agree that it's his 'killer' Tokai tele that does the trick, but he's got a lot more in his bag of tricks that even the most seasoned players can learn from.
Touch, taste, vibrato, economy of playing ... man, all I can say is that the guy practices what he preaches ..
And his tone! Wow, is all I can say .. amazing clean tones and 'tunog bote' overdriven neck pickup tones!
Now here's an interesting sidelight: I texted him later that night and on through the following day, asking him about his pedal settings.
Most of us know that he only used one pedal that night: his modded TS-9..
I was surprised when he told me: "Did you know that I kept the TS-9 on thoughout our set?"
And I remembered his previous tips about how he could get a very decent clean sound even with an overdrive on, just by cutting the guitar's volume.. apparently, he's a very devout believer in getting a whole range of varying tones just by tweaking the guitar's volume control ..
A short but power-packed lesson in Tone 101 - straight from the guitar doctor himself ...
