10 Tele Tones You Should Know If You Own A Telecaster
I’ve a used a no frills 2013 Fender Classic Telecaster for a lot of different sounds for the bands I’ve been in over the years, so I thought I’d make this post showing some of my very favourite telecaster tones and how to get them. Enjoy!
Country Twang
I like to use the middle pickup position the classic country twang sound on a telecaster. With both pickups selected you get that lovely mid scooped clean Fender sound. You could certainly use the bridge pickup if you want a harder more aggressive mid focused tone though. A clean american amp and a vintage style OTA type compression pedal like the MXR Dyna Comp will work great because these have a nice fast attack for evening out the dynamics from all that hybrid picking and chicken picking and they often cut a little of the harsh high end too.
2. Jazz Tone
For a jazz tone it’s got to be neck pickup, and I recommend rolling the volume down just a little bit so it’s not wide open, that softens the dynamics and cuts a tiny amount of very high end without losing clarity. I find that’s all I need but you can use the tone control if it’s still too bright. Heavy strings really help, because when you start to play a bit harder they don’t plink or go sharp like thinner strings can. You could use flat wounds strings if you really want to go the extra mile.
Use a clean amp, or you can push the amp a bit if you want to move into more of a jazz blues territory. Take your pick of reverbs, spring reverb is bright and lively, room or hall work well. Plate reverb is an excellent choice too, which is the type of reverb Rudy Van Gelder used in his studio for all those classic jazz recordings in the 50s and 60s.
3. 50’s Rock’n’Roll
For a 50’s rock’n’roll sound use the bridge pickup for a harder sound with more output to push a clean amp into slight overdrive. Add a fast slap back tape delay. Ideally a 16th note speed, not too many repeats just one is fine and you’re good to go.
4. 60’s & 70’s Rock
I remember when I got my Gibson Les Paul and being absolutely horrified when I found out that Jimmy Page’s solo to Stairway To Heaven was actually played on a telecaster. It’s such a great sound though, for that 60’s and 70’s rock sound it’s all about pushing a vintage amp to its limit, a british or american amp tone both work well.
5. Arpeggiated Chord Accompaniment
There’s something about the openness of the telecaster, it’s not quite as thin, clean and qwuaky as a strat can be but it’s also not as compressed and mid focused as a Les Paul can be. It’s that sweet spot in the middle. It makes it a great choice of guitar for gentle picking parts that need to sound open and dynamic like Jeff Buckley’s version of ‘Hallelujah’.
6. Indie & Alt Rock
I think it’s fair to say the telecaster had a bit of a lull in popularity in the 80s but it came back with avengeance with 90s and 00s indie and alternative rock.
With distortion and fuzz there’s a brightness and abrasive edginess to the pickups that can make an Les Paul humbucker sound too smooth, controlled and clinical. For this type of sound use plenty of drive and fuzz and feel free to get creative with modulation and delays effects.
7. Punk Rock
For the bright aggressive punk rock tone that Wilko Johnson and Joe Strummer from the Clash got from their telecasters, you almost want to remove any hint of smoothness to the sound. So bridge pickup, clean solid state amp, transistor distortion and you want to attack the listener with that sound!
8. Vintage Blues
The telecaster doesn’t have the mid scoop that strat blues players have and it doesn’t have the creaminess and sustain of Les Paul humbuckers either. When you’re on a telecaster it’s all about blues with an aggressive bite to the tone. Albert Collins, Muddy Waters and Albert Lee are all good examples. Simple natural tube amp breakup and letting the players sound shine through is the name of the game.
9. Funk Tone
A telecaster does a great job at funk, Prince is the obvious example of this but they crop up on other players too. I’ve seen them used in James Brown’s band and you can’t really get a better endorsement than that. I like the middle position on the pickup switch, crystal clean amp, a little compression helps smooth out any harsh transients and you can add other effects like wah, envelope filters, phasers or chorus if you want.
10. Tele's with Humbuckers
Telecasters with humbuckers are great in my opinion. You get many elements of the Gibson sound with smoother hi gain sounds but with a tighter Fender scale length that feels firmer, sounds a little brighter and is slightly better suited to drop tunings. There’s also the appeal of having the primitive Telecaster body shape that can be strangely satisfying. You can now get all those classic hard rock and metal sounds with ease on a telecaster with humbuckers.