Jimmy Day's tone

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 7 Jul 2002 10:02 pm

Can anyone comment on how Jimmy Day picked his strings. I'm not interested in the guitar or the amp but how he picked and where he picked. It sounds to me like there's a place on the neck that he often picked from that wasn't near the bridge, but further left, but not too far left. It's like a vocal or a vowel kind of sound he coaxed out of the strings. It's so distinctly him when you hear it. How'd he do that?

Anyone??

Brad Sarno
St. Louis, MO

Gene H. Brown · Post by **Gene H. Brown** » 7 Jul 2002 10:12 pm

Hi Brad,
By the way thanks for answering my thread, I appeciated your input.
I believe, if I am not wrong, just from my experience playing in the same era as Jimmy, that back when most of his material was recorded, that the Amplifiers of that time did not have a Mid Range on them, at least I don't remember mine having one. So when you take the mid range out of a sound, it sheds a completely different light on the sound, and I knew Jimmy Day and watched him play a few times, and he played, position wise, about 2 to 3 inches to the left of the bridge in what most of us call the sweet spot. If you pick too close to the bridge , the sound gets harse, too far to the left of the bridge and it gets too many overtones. Hope this helps a little.

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If You Keep Pickin That Thing, It'll Never Heal!

[This message was edited by Gene H. Brown on 07 July 2002 at 11:14 PM.]

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 8 Jul 2002 6:32 am

Brad,
Whether you want to hear it or not

part of it is the voice of a Sho-Bud. Jimmy epitomized the Sho-Bud sound.

Those lovely old push-pulls of yours sing with a different timbre. You may come close, but the Bud has a more mellow, wooden tone. Excellent advice from Gene.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 08 July 2002 at 07:37 AM.]

Jody Sanders · Post by **Jody Sanders** » 8 Jul 2002 8:47 pm

One thing that contributed to Jimmy's tone is that he did not use any effects except for the reverb on the amp.Jody.

Mike Cass · Post by **Mike Cass** » 8 Jul 2002 11:46 pm

& a hell of a set of hands & ears

Ron Whitworth · Post by **Ron Whitworth** » 9 Jul 2002 2:48 am

AMEN Mike; 'nuff said!!!!!!!...Ron

Susan Alcorn · Post by **Susan Alcorn** » 11 Jul 2002 10:21 am

Beautiful tone, Jimmy Day. Obviously his right hand was important. A lot of dynamics. Some people play hard all the time, some play soft. When Jimmy played a jazzy tune he picked with more force and really honked, but when he played a ballad, he touched the strings very lightly especially at certain parts. I remember seeing him once and couldn't believe that what he was playing came from the steel guitar and not twin fiddles.
Also just as important and unique to his tone was the way he used the volume pedal.

-- Susan

Lem Smith · Post by **Lem Smith** » 11 Jul 2002 7:30 pm

According to a tip in an email from Bobbe Seymour, the best tone comes from picking halfway between the bar and the changer fingers. Perhaps this is where Jimmy found the tone you are referring to???

In regards to the Sho~Bud being an inportant part of Jimmy's tone...I am more familiar with his playing when it was on a Sho~Bud. Was his tone very similar after he switched to a Mullen? I haven't heard much of Jimmy's playing on the Mullen.

Lem

Frank Parish · Post by **Frank Parish** » 12 Jul 2002 5:57 pm

Somebody correct if I'm wrong but when I seen Jimmy play he had a right hand technique that from where I stood looked a lot like Buddy Emmons. At least the little finger was over the strings and about average distance from the bridge say maybe picking at the 12th fret. Excellent touch and a master of the volume pedal.