Is Eric Johnson a liar?

[Dave Paetow]

I'm an EJ fan. One thing he certainly has going for him is individuality, you can tell it is him playing right away. I happen to like some of the thick, woody lead tones he gets. I saw him live many years back and he sounded good then.

 

[Les Paul DICK!]

I saw him live about 3 years ago and his tone was killer. Marshalls were all I could really see from my vantage point.

 

[DLHelfand]

I saw EJ on the G3 tour too. I was very dissappointed. He wore the headphones, stood completely still (when he wasn't tweaking gear) and looked unhappy. His tone sucked and was almost exactly as was described above. He is extremely talented but totally off the wall. He might be a nice guy, but I think he needs to spend less time worrying about the wiring in his studio (he once had an entire studo rewired during the recording of an album...because he didn't like the tone) and more time focusing on songwriting. That is not an attack. I love Vai, his playing and his tone but he needs to work on songwriting as well. He lost me after Alien Love Secrets (my favorite) and EJ lost me after Venus Isle.

 

[jcs]

just my opinion and i talked with his crew a little 2 years ago after a kansas city show,but eric loves to play really loud and likes the cream style tone eric clapton got with his sgs and 335s for leads.....it is a dark tone indeed....IT IS WAY LESS painful at very loud volumes to roll back some highs....no it is NOT the brighter beano or gary moore style tone others use....it also is not a les paul style tone lacking the bite of the pauls we all love around here.....eric has been there and done it with about any kind of holy grail guitar and amps around...dumbles,fenders,voxes(in the studio) real bursts,50s strats.......this is where he is right now,but who knows what tomorrow will bring...............jcs

 

[Siegler]

I saw/heard Eric's last show at the Bitter End this past Wednesday - I did find it perplexing, on the one hand, that he has such a compressed tone - even more perplexing to see such a midrangy thing happening off Strats exclusively

On the other side of the coin, though, it does make sense that he'd want that longer Strat scale to help the notes be individually audible through all that thickness

So I'd consider his tone disappointing, if separated from his particular playing, but it seems to be a great medium for his super-burning blindingly fast playing style

And his jazz chops, chordal as well as lead, are pretty great - what a monster vituoso - and, within the blink of an eye, this guy's left hand posture goes through 3 versions of text-book awful (in the academic sense) to textbook perfect - I can only conclude he can do any damn thing he wants when it comes to physically playing that thing so he's probably choosing "how" to play stuff based on some higher understanding of how to get the best sound - awesome player

I think of him as a Texas, modernized, rockified version of John Mcglaughlin, who I totally love

 

[Johnny Q]

I'm the only one around here that will blast this guy. It's no surprise he has bad management and or agents. Also, it's no secret, he dosen't use anything manufactured before 1970.

Personally, I think his live tone on the G3 DVD is awful. It's so muffled and delayed. He has all that vintage horsepower up there and it sounds like he's plugged into a Crate. I don't get it. Must just be me.

:wtf

It's funny, but when I saw him a few years back with Joe Satriani locally, I was shocked how "muffled and delayed" his sound was - not good at all. His playing on the other hand...was simply world class.

JQ

 

[garywright]

and up through the ground come-a bubblin brew.

 

[Elmore]

That playing and tone on Last House On The Block on Alien Love Clild is like Clapton Cream era 335 squared. I find no fault with Eric and am glad he enjoys the guitar so much. Get his first instructional DVD from 1990 or so. No one has ever done so much homework. You could spend years with that one instructional DVD.

 

[zombiwoof]

What I heard is that when he uses a Marshall, he turns the bass and treble down to zero and puts the Mid at 5 or 6 to get that sound. I forget with channel he uses..might be II.

Actually, that is similar to how Robin Trower and Clapton set their amps. Trower turns the bass and treble all the way down and cranks the mids. I also read that when Clapton first met with Denis Cornell to try out his amps, Cornell reported that Clapton did the same thing. It seems that's the way many of the British players set their Marshalls in the old days (although with Cornell it was a tweed-twin type amp). I've read of others doing the same thing. I think EJ must be trying to replicate those old Marshall tones.

I heard him play live on a morning radio show here in L.A. a few years ago with his band on a tour when he was into the Gibson/Marshall sound, I don't know what he was using in the radio station studio, but it was amazingly close to the old Clapton Cream sound. I can't believe he was using a bigass Marshall in there, but it sure had that sound. I liked it much more than his heavily processed sound that I had heard on his records. I'd love to know what amp he was using.

Al

 

[TheBloodhound]

Oh my! I bunch of intahneeet wannabees dishing a famous pro...

 

[modoc_333]

elevator music.... i do everything i can to NOT sound like EJ. sorry!

 

[spidey]

Never seen EJ live but would really like to. Never really liked his clean chorus, delay tone but love his overdriven tone on CDs.
Agree with the earlier post re last house on the block outro - very cream like! Comes across as a great guy to me.
There are some killer clips on yt of him on the Experience Hendrix tours. Brilliant stuff!

 

[zombiwoof]

elevator music.... i do everything i can to NOT sound like EJ. sorry!

You're probably referring to that early sound he was using, that was all processed. That tour he did with the Gibsons through Marshalls was pure Cream tone, totally different. I'm not an expert on him, or really buy his albums, but I was impressed with the sound he was getting at that time. I don't know what kind of sound he's into now.

Al

 

[joemags54]

I own an EJ Strat. I am not embarrassed to say, that I never heard of him, until I asked local players, when I wanted to add a Strat to my family. It is a great playing guitar. I love the neck profile, it's body shape fits nicely against me, and the alder body is lightweight. As well, it's perfectly mated to the amp I use. I guess if he can make a couple of extra bucks endorsing a few products, more power to him. I don't reckon that makes him a liar, maybe it was a poor choice of words, or maybe he likes a couple of different amps a lot. At the end of the day, humbly, your personal taste and style should guide your purchase, (not somebody's name). I know great players that consider Les Paul's, heavy, overrated, and too expensive. (Not my words)..... Sazeech his own. Again, it should always be a personal choice, as much as playing ANY instrument, seriously, is a personal journey.
Just my .02 cents.
However, I do love the passion, in this forum.

I'll add a couple of pics here, if you haven't seen them.

 

[bluesjuke]

My guess is that Eric is basically just a nice guy trying to help these builders out. The amps they're building are all nice work and at the time who's to say it wasn't the "best new amp" he'd heard. I can appreciate him as a guitar player and some of his tones are great. Whether you dig or appreciate all the tones he gets or not the guy walks on glass practically to get them.

Well, one thing we do know Mark, is here and on other forums any amp anyone buys is the "best amp ever" and the next one is too.

........I seem to recall the last one was as well.

 

[rufes]

Well, one thing we do know Mark, is here and on other forums any amp anyone buys is the "best amp ever" and the next one is too.

........I seem to recall the last one was as well.

Well, Mark wrote that 9 years ago. Maybe he has changed his mind some zillion times. :rofl

 

[ajay taylor]

Eric has been a big fat liar for a long time. He even says that He's a good guitar player! What a steenkeeng liar! Liar liar guitar case is on fire! If it's one thing I hate it's a geetar player who lies all of the time! Eric, face facts. You lie like a rug!

 

[Born Late '58]

I guess I just don't get flamed out threads like this. Even the title of the thread is trollsville. To be honest, I seriously, and I mean seriously, doubt if any of the flamemeisters here are worthy of holding Eric's johnson while he took a f:dangcking piss.

I totally get a serious discussion of how EJ's tone has changed over the years (and I, too, don't really get the "mud" I've heard either)--but why do the mods even allow such a flamethrowing thread title to stand?

It's just mean-spirited ya know? Necessary? Not that I can see.....

Attention-whore indicative and pathetic? You decide.

 

[Beano Geno]

A necro-diss from 2002....lame.

 

[Professortwang]

I guess I just don't get flamed out threads like this. Even the title of the thread is trollsville. To be honest, I seriously, and I mean seriously, doubt if any of the flamemeisters here are worthy of holding Eric's johnson while he took a f:dangcking piss.

I totally get a serious discussion of how EJ's tone has changed over the years (and I, too, don't really get the "mud" I've heard either)--but why do the mods even allow such a flamethrowing thread title to stand?

It's just mean-spirited ya know? Necessary? Not that I can see.....

Attention-whore indicative and pathetic? You decide.

+1

There is no age limit or IQ tests on the forums. We receive commentary from nasty little twelve year old kids, the ill informed, and internet trolls. Tones stands as one of my favorite all time albums and Eric's performances on Austin City Limits are stellar. I agree the thread is nasty and mean spirited and lacks any meaningful information. My vote would be to delete it.