Neil Jones

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow
Me..
UK born Left handed guitarist from Hertford, Hertfordshire. Playing the guitar since the age of 11 and piano before that. Working as a session guitarist and teacher for over 10 years now and more recently as a Musical Director and Tour Manager. Spending most of my spare time working on movie theme compositions and solo guitar arrangements AAaannnnddddd when im not doing that im on the water kitesurfing or training in a R22 for my Helicopter pilots licence! ;-)
My company website is now up!! www.njtouring.com
Inner Sound:
One of the questions i get asked a lot with regard to guitar playing is about tone and guitar choice. I think the most important thing to understand about tone is that 90% of it lies in the players fingers and NOT the instrument itself. If you gave your guitar to your favourite player and asked him/her to play it you would still recognise the tone entirely as theirs. Nothing frustrates me more than "gear heads" who spend all their time buying exactly the same guitar/amp setup as their favourite players in an attempt to sound like them. The truth is they are totally missing the point! If you want to sound like a given guitarist then you must listen to and study the way they phrase, the dynamics in their playing, their pick attack, even down to the picks they use! Have you ever tried just changing gauge of strings or pick thickness? The tonal impact can be far, far bigger than spending £xxxx on a new amp/guitar. As a session guitarist I’m often asked to "sound like" this person or play in a certain style. Adapting to mimic a particular style or tone can easily be compares to the job of an impressionist. The average Joe can do a roughly recognisable job of imitating someones voice but the ones that really stand out go that little bit further, studying the, tone, volume, phrase dynamics and expression. and just like music, there are some that are just pure naturals at it!
If you really want to start developing tone and feel then take a really simple four or five note guitar phrase/riff and try to adapt it to as many different styles of music as you can. How can you make a rock phrase fit in a jazz style for instance? what are the subtleties you need to make it gel into that style and sound really different from another style? Play the same phrase in as many ways as you can, slow fast, soulful, dynamic, replace bends with slides or v/v.. try to phrase it in a way that you think your favourite guitarist would.
"And breathe out...."
OK this may seem a little out of place but i have to mention it....breathing! This is just one of those things that Ive noticed as a teacher over the years and is quite often unnoticed: Have you ever stopped to focus on your breathing during playing? This may seem like an odd thing to mention but i have seen many guitarist holding their breath or breathing irregularly whilst playing the guitar. This can really mess with your timing and groove, no joke! Ive seen everything from inhaling per riff to breath holding during long runs! Your breathing should be as regular and even as your time keeping during your playing. Stop and have a think about it next time you pick up the guitar....are you doing it? if so...Relax!
What i will say about guitar choice is this:
Don’t judge a guitar by its colour, weight or cost! Every guitar out there is going to be different as every guitar is made from a unique piece(s) of wood. Play as many as you can before settling for that final purchase. When i try out a guitar I’ll usually take home the one that feels like its been in my collection for years, it just feels right and easy to play instantly. For example, my session work-horse is an old Mexican Fender Squire. I’ve owned a range of strats in my time from top enders to cheapies and this one just felt and sounded so good i couldn’t put it down, so i left the store paying just £60 for it! This guitar has played on most of my sessions and gigs and is a friend for life...
Also, don’t write off a guitar just because it may feel horrid to play, it most likely requires a setup. I spent Three years working as a guitar tech and nothing would please me more than customers returning to say how they had fallen in love with their guitar again since having it set up. Most decent setups will cost around £40-£60 and the transformation in some cases can be huge. At the very least i would take a guitar to be assessed by a professional before giving up on it. No matter what the cost of the guitar, if its not playable then it might as well be expensive wallpaper!
Your perfect match is out there, keep an open mind and you’ll find her!
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