How do you get that twang?

Which pickup(s) on the Tele are you using? I think of the really twangy Tele sound coming from the single coil bridge pickup, with no tone control. Your amp needs to be running very clean, on a low enough gain level that it won't compress or clip the pick attack. Needs a good bit of treble and presence on the EQ.

I'm sure others will chime in here. :D

I thought the twang came from a steel guitar or a slide guitar?

As does any timbral component, twang comes from several places: fingers, guitar, amp ...

First the guitar: While a Tele is a good start, not all Teles twang the same. The bridge, pups, woods and strings make a difference. As some on GN have noted, some Teles sound tinny without really twanging. That is the difference between having a full Tele-twang attack characteristic due to the bridge, string anchoring, pup placement/mounting, pup design and simply having pups that emphasize the highs. A twangy Tele will sound twangy (and nice!) even on the neck pup. It will sound twangy unplugged. Many country players choose the neck or neck+bridge pup combo tone over the bridge-only pup tone. This might seem counter-intuitive; but it's because the twang starts with the basic guitar mechanics.

The amp: Fender and a number of boutique type amps help get one to clean twang, but this is not the most important factor ...

Most important: Player's technique. You control the amount of twang right at your fingers -- both fretting and picking techniques are part of it. Think and play percussively. If you really want to learn to do this, get a non-twangy guitar (LP or 'bucker type with stop tailpiece and ToM bridge) and learn to make that sound twangy with only your fingers. Practice firm picking, finger picking (pop those strings!); learn to hit harder on attack and release your fretting fingers to get a faster decay of the note. Then go back and try it on a Tele or even a Strat. You will learn to twang.

Hi :D

While I'm not a country player by any means, and have never tried to set up my equipment to sound 'twangy',
I do play Strats.... And Greg is right; Some just sound twangier than others for various 'acoustic' reasons
specific to that guitar.

Sometimes my 88 Strat twangs without me trying, and sounds twangy even unplugged.

So - Yeah Strats and Tele's are mostly the twangy types.... Twangers also prefer Gretsch Hollow Bodies as well as
Gibson Hollow Bodies (ES-295's and Scotty Moore come to mind).

Single coils work better than Humbuckers - Though (and I know Greg will agree), you can twang with a HB loaded SG.

So - He is right about the fingers as well.
When I actually do want to twang (I play with my fingers), I'll 'snap' my index finger and thumb with the string in between.
This also makes it decay faster, as well as adds a touch of 'pinch harmonic'.

Cleaner tube amps (like higher watt Blackface Fenders/59 Bassman) are also desireable.
Try turning down the mid, while boosting the high/low on whatever amp you have now though.

Ken

I thought the twang came from a steel guitar or a slide guitar?
The lap steel I got yesterday twangs like crazy! :mrgreen:

My Ibanez RG4EXQM1 Quilted Maple Top "twangs" something awful! :mrgreen:
Humbucker at bridge & neck; single coil middle; I had purchased it with intentions for use as a metal axe, but this thing sounds more like a twangy fender than anything! I plan on swapping the pickups out on it eventually.

A friend told me that all Ibanez's have a tendency to sound like this. I can't confirm if all do, but I can vouch for this one. I would guess in your case that a pickup swap would be the answer, if you are looking for true country twang sound all the way.

re: tele classic twang. I have read in numerous places that the ferrous(iron) bridge works with the magnetic field around the bridge pickup that creates the 'platform' for twang. some teles have non ferrous (brass) the result is ...what ? less deep twang?
I have a Hwy 1 tele. it has all the correct parts (meaning ferrous bridge, three saddle steel etc...). at the store where I saw it hanging I gave it an unplugged strum. the sustain was very good and it had twang from the get go.
the structural and tonal complexities of twang is interesting.
I think gnease says it well.

It also helps to use a very short delay, often called "slapback delay".

Here is an actual video on YouTube that gives advice on getting the classic "Tele Twang" :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k59mHPe-AP0

Good point, Wes. Slapback is classically associated with twang.

This thread got me thinking about the differences among my Teles. My cheapo "Beatercaster" with unidentifiable body, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard, had never quite had the plugged-in snap of my Lite Ash Tele, even though the two sound only slightly diff unplugged. Plugged-in, the Beater aways sounds more like a Gibby on the neck pup -- a little too indistinct and midrangy to be a true Tele. So last night I played around with the neck pup height to see if I could make any improvements. No joy. Then on a hunch, I made a change I've been thinking about for some time: Removed the decorative chromed-brass ring from around the uncovered GFS alnico neck pup. (Originally, I put the ring there to hide the copper-shielded pup cavity when I tossed the pickguard.) Guess what ... now it has a clear and spanky high end! That ring is gone-baby-gone for good!

A few nights ago I looked up a table of some common pickups' electrical characteristics like inductance, capacitance, resonant frequency with various parallel capacitances, and Q. I was amazed at how much the Q is decreased when the metal cover is on the Tele neck pickup. Or when the "ashtray" is over the bridge pickup.

(Higher Q = peakier frequency response curve.)

Right. And high Q can be good or bad -- all depends upon how high and where in frequency that main resonance peak occurs. In the case of the Beatercaster, I suspect mostly capacitive loading ... but it is possible that as this trim piece is a ring, eddy currents are induced => mucking up the net magnetic field and aperture or simply lowering the Q through eddy current losses ... or a complex mixture of this and that. One down side is the ring really did help reduce 120 Hz hum. But I put up with hum for the love of P90s, so I can live with this.

I'm thinking induced eddy currents through the resistance of the metal cover would have to be the explanation for dropping the Q. I'm thinking Fender's tonal advisors liked the flatter response of the covered pickup better than the peakier response without it. But a big peak can sound pretty cool. It's like a wah with the pedal fixed.