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Conference napalm::guitar

Title:GUITARnotes - Where Every Note has Emotion
Notice:Discussion of the finer stringed instruments
Moderator:KDX200::COOPER
Created:Thu Aug 14 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:3280
Total number of notes:61432

1473.0. "The Lowdown on Swamp Guitar" by STAR::DONOVAN () Tue Sep 12 1989 13:08

    I was listening to a Creedence Clearwater Revival "rock
    block" over the weekend and found myself wondering how
    John Fogerty got his tone.
    
    I know some guitarists detest it but I'm fascinated with
    that big, swampy guitar sound, particularly on "Grapevine"
    and "Green River."  As far as I know, he used to play Les
    Pauls straight through Kustom amplifiers but that doesn't
    really solve it for me.
    
    And of all the bands in the world that have covered "Proud Mary"
    (what, there must be a billion or so, by now) I've never heard
    anyone duplicate that sound.  It surely is identifiable.
    
    Any ideas?
    
    Brian
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1473.1They are heavy, thoughSTAR::KMCDONOUGHset kids/nosickTue Sep 12 1989 13:4812
    
    
    Hi, Brian.  If my guitar sound was even close to that of John Fogerty,
    I'd consider it broken and get it fixed! 8-)
    
    Those big Kustom amps were super clean and impossible to distort, so
    I'm pretty sure that John used some fx to get more bite.  The Kustom
    amps are pretty cheap in the Want Ads.  If you
    like glitter, those sparkling, padded amps are cool. 8-)
      
    
    Kevin
1473.2not much help here....HAZEL::STARRDJ Bag Man and the Condom CrewTue Sep 12 1989 15:0014
Well, if I remember correctly, I think a lot of it has to do with John's style 
of playing. I have the Musician with JF on the cover from when 'Centerfield' 
came out, and they talked about his equipment briefly (the mag is in storage 
right now - I'll have to dig it out sometime in the future). 

Anyways, John said he uses totally different equipment now than when he played 
in CCR, but he still gets pretty much the same tone. ("Old Man Down The Road, 
etc.) I think *part* of it is that he fingerpicks everything. I dunno what 
other secrets there are.

I have a live video of him from the Welcome Home Veteran's Day concert. I'll 
see if I can tell what guitar/amp he's playing there.

Alan S.
1473.3Every Guitar He Plays Sounds The SameAQUA::ROSTChickens don't take the day offTue Sep 12 1989 17:209
    
    I saw that Veteran's concert and just to confuse everyone, John played
    a Washburn Hawk series, basically a double cutaway/neck-through-body
    Les Paul type.  On "Centerfield" he used some custom made Strat copies
    with Danelectro pickups.  For a guy who uses so many different types of
    gear, he manages to get a pretty consistent sound.
    
    As far as amps, live he was a big Kustom man, but some studio shots
    (like the cover of "Cosmo's Factory") show him with a Fender Twin.
1473.4From the archive...NEWVAX::PHARMONWed Sep 13 1989 12:328
    I remember reading an interview with Fogarty back when Creedence's
    first album was news.  If memory serves, he said that he didn't
    really like effects all that much, and that whatever sound he got
    came from his 3/4 size Rickenbacker guitar and his Kustom amps.
    
    Hmmm...another grey hair!
    
    Paul
1473.5A couple of ideasXNOGOV::EVANSTue Nov 14 1989 12:5720
    
    About the time of Centerfield he had a couple of custom Kubicki
    guitars.
    
    With Creedence, he had a couple of licks and tricks which affected the s
    sound. The tricks: he used 3/4 size guitars, which meant that the strings
    were a lot looser. This apparently gave him a more slippery sound - you
    know what I mean... Another trick he used was to tune the whole guitar down
    a tone to D (that's DGCFAD - NOT open D) - this gave a similar effect, and 
    it's the set-up he used to play Proud Mary.
    
    As for licks, besides finger-picking, he did a lot of bending down near 
    the nut, and used open strings along with that. I'd also suggest that 
    where he picked the strings had something to do with it...
    
    There's an old GP with him on the cover, which has an Arlen Roth column
    on Fogerty's style - some good examples, if you can pick up a copy (plus,
    it's a great interview).
    
    Chris