T
he dream of infinite sustain is one
dream common to nearly all electric
guitarists In the beginning of the
electric era, when amplified guitars were
still clean and big bands ruled popular
music, our people longed for sustain in a
desire to mimic horn players, who through
the power of highly trained lungs are able
to hold notes for extended periods of time
(potentially even infinitely, if they have
command of circular breathing techniques).
By the ‘60s, various electronic devices had
been contrived in the pursuit of this goal,
offering guitarists much greater ability
to hold notes at length. Players like Jimi
Hendrix and Carlos Santana used these
devices, as well as feedback generated from
the recently developed high wattage, high
volume amplifiers, to magnificent effect,
creating what seemed like near infinite
sustain to fans and fellow musicians. All
thoughts of mimicking horns were long
forgotten at this point, and the dream of
everlasting, liquid perpetuity of musical
notes became an obsession peculiar mostly
to electric guitarists in the rock realm. The
game was officially afoot.
Today the sustain chase is still definitely in
progress, though it probably holds somewhat
less importance than it once did to the
average electric guitarist. With all manner
of distortion and compression tools readily
available, a lot of players are feeling pretty
satisfied with their ability to hold a note for a
good long time. Some have even begun to
question the need for all this excess sustain.
As Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard and
Tomahawk once said, “ . . . the quest for
sustain is misguided. I want the notes to
fade.”
Mr. Denison’s esteemed opinion aside,
however, there are still plenty of sustain crazed
six-stringers lurking in all the dark corners
of the Internet, googling their brains out in
hopes of finding that magic technique or
piece of gear that will put instant and infinite
sustain at their callous-hardened fingertips. As
a Tone Report Weekly staff member, I have a
sworn duty to help these sustain chasers to the
best of my abilities, so in service of that goal,
let’s take a look at some of the best modern
options for summoning a note on an electric
guitar and holding it for all of eternity (or at
least until you expire of natural causes).
ToneReport.com
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