OK. Just joined a 70s Retro group which plays exclusively disco. I need to somehow recreate that Fender sound using my existing equipment. My guitar is pictured in my avatar, a Schecter Elite. The thing has a nice, fat tone for power chords and wailing out Rock Jams. I have a Crate Amp with 3 channels for clean, rhythm, and soloing. It also has effects presets.
Getting new equipment is out of the question. We just dropped a ton of cash on repairing 3 vehicles.
The good thing about the Schecter is the tap coil switch activated by pulling out the tone knob. It makes the tone sleeker when playing clean but I do lose a few DBs. I'm thinking maybe tweak the volume upward on my clean channel, but I am wondering about adjusting Bass-Treble-Mid. Any hard and fast rules here?
if you like the sound of your guitar the way it is. and especially are happy and comfortable with the tweaks you can do now.
then why not add a pedal or two. a chorus, very appropriate for disco, can add a sweet high end that cuts through any mix.
it sounds like you understand your rig. it's always good to stick with something you know works. and that's a good reason to add a pedal.
Chorus? That is one of the settings on my amp's effects channel. I'll give that a go and start from there. Thanks
A lot of disco guitar was done with a wah pedal on full choke.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
you'll use more small partial chords and single note riffs. there's a lotta funk influence. i don't know your guitar, but on my strat, the bridge pickup sounds better for funky stuff.
Took some suggestions from here and worked it thus:
1. Engaged my Cry-Baby and left it on full treble
2. Pulled the tone knob out from my Schecter which taps the coil and disables the normally fat tone for something jangly
3. Left the amp in the clean channel
4. Put my pickup switch in the middle position. I felt that might be necessary to keep things from getting too tinny.
Ran through the songs I needed to work on and it sounded much more in line with what I am trying to accomplish. However practice at home never sounds the same as rehearsal with the group. So I will know for sure in a few weeks. Thanks to everyone for the input.
Hey didn't they kill Disco years ago?
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Indeed I thought they had.
This group that I just joined, the organizer has been trying for years to get me to join. Finally I did give it a go just to shut him up. I was very surprised to find that I was enjoying myself quite a bit.
I remember back in '77 when I first started doing gigs and we couldn't get hired anyplace because of disco, which left a very bad taste in my mouth for years. Maybe now, even though it's disco, it's still Live Music, which is a cool irony.
Hey i don't blame you for having a bad taste, back then I was just hitting the bar scene and all I wanted to hear was rock n roll and it was next to impossible to find a club that had rock bands, it really suxed.
Now I will admit there were a lot of women at those places though :D
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
