The BIGGEST Myth About John Frusciante’s Tone

[@HarryAndAGuitar]

What is your favourite tone John Frusciante has ever got? What do you think is the most important thing to replicate his sound? Let me know below!

[@TheUlesifah701]

Great video! You’re no slouch yourself!! I’ve been listening to Frusciante for 30 years… for my favorite tone, I gotta take it back to 1991 and the Blood Sugar album … that mxr dyna comp w a DOD FX65 chorus through a marshall is my favorite….. that MAX dual compressor pedal of yours is pretty legit! Rock on !! 🤘🏼once again … fantastic playing

[@ECooks]

best tone is from 05-07

[@haze_playzRB]

dani california solo by far

[@matthewmorter7803]

It's hard to pick a favorite, but Turn it Again on Stadium Arcadium is so good, the tones on Stadium Arcadium are so good. But I also love his first album with the band, Mother's Milk, Subway to Venus anyone? The tone on that song is killer. You also can't forget BSSM, like the heavy tones from Suck My Kiss, or the funky and sometimes trippy sounds in Mellowship. God I love those musicians

[@countstoneula]

The preamp in the CE-1 is probably the most important thing to nailing it IMO after the DS-2.

[@nickcds3419]

Hands down, my favorite guitarist OF ALL TIME. Let’s not even start about his incredible harmonies , which imo is the chilis secret weapon.

[@netyn]

I’d say the compression on californication(the album) is really everywhere and it’s one of the examples of the „loudness war mixes” where there’s no instrument that’s not heavily compressed. Also on Californication, Otherside(and some parts on This Velvet Glove) John has used Gretsch White Falcon through a Fender Showman Blackface so that has made the tones pretty different to the silver jubilee&major + strat combo

[@nightrider7417]

That is exactly what I was thinking

[@socalsp3]

Not everyone has hollow body lying around. I thought he did a good job with a strat

[@novicenoodler2467]

your not wrong regarding the loudness wars thing, but that is a different beast altogether from a mastering pov than the type of compression effect to the guitar tone that is being discussed here

[@jaycole4691]

I think johns classic tone was developed from the blood sugar era and he got it put together when he did Californication. Stadium Arcadium is the point where ge just mastered all of it and became a full on jedi with his tone and playing and overall sounds

[@LennonStephens]

What? By The Way was when he perfected it.

[@IdoBerg]

John was the reason i started to learn guitar, Flea was the reason for Bass and Chad for drums. legends!

[@matthewmorter7803]

same, except drums, I just can't get it lol.

[@BorgesFam-th9wb]

Nice video! Much of the compressed and slightly crunchy sound comes from the CE-1's preamp. Another determining factor is that the album BTW is known to have a very high compression load in the mix and master.

[@-rubbersoul-]

not true at all man, Bssm’s set up not included ce1 pre and jubilee,however clean tine and chorus are outstanding

[@J.Shambles]

I think another thing that is important to note is that even though John has used the dynacomp in the studio since BSSM, it didn’t appear on his live board until 2022.

[@kevind3094]

Loved this video! Validates my use of compression when playing their songs at home at low volume since I don’t want to go deaf!😂. Wet Sand has such a killer sound clean and dirty. That solo. But BSSM has some wicked squashed clean goodness!

[@HarryAndAGuitar]

Of for sure, their best album imo!

[@clove-splintered-shards]

Very nicely done my friend!, compression is definitely a major part of his tone, and this is often very much overlooked in approximating that tone. You certainly nailed that great, compressed Marshall semi-driven clean tone! Great video and great stuff as always. By the way, that Strat you’re playing is really awesome! Wow! Great tone as always! Take care!

[@jakubborczuch7543]

He made me pick up the instrument. Californication was the first album of theirs and it got me into listening to music overall after my first listen, and I never looked back after that moment.

[@reservoirfrog1]

Damn, same.

[@SharlsRS]

Compressor after OD and preamp, or in the effects loop? How does he use the compressor live? I tried it in the loop and I think its a little more controllable on a live situation. Great channel, your playing was on spot here!

[@nightrider7417]

He gets most of his compression from his boss ce1 chorus, which has a pre-built into it this is how he gets his “dirty clean tone”

[@evanblanchard5675]

Dave Simpson has a Bunch of run downs on his channel of almost everything you need to know about frusciante if you’d like to know more

[@nightrider7417]

@@evanblanchard5675 Dave Simpson is amazing, he’s helped me so much with my tone.

[@justinclark9088]

Love it, chili peppers are my favourite band but I've always scratched my head a bit around replicating some of the compression use, so this is very helpful. I do also need to take this opportunity to request a cover of emotion sickness by qotsa. The songs amazing!

[@brows.]

An all time favoutite band for me, with my favourite guitarrist and artist ever. The more I hear and learn from them the more I'm sure of this :)

[@pere5145]

i love so much your content, still getting better! ☘☘

[@biggcustomz8583]

Awesome. You are the only other musician that i've seen play and sound like John F. Nice video. Thanks for the tunes and knowledge 👍

[@glebrao]

Very nice video man!

[@spectralwhale1683]

Hi there, i love this video, it shows why compression has such a big influence on the sound. Maybe you can help me out on some element of his sound i'm trying to recreate, it's this kind of "howling" tone on the lead guitar that he uses in so many chili songs. It's very prominent on the album version of desecration smile but u can also hear it in the outro of scar tissue (less prominent, but definitely there) and so many others. How does he get that tone? I found a specific EQ-Setting that points in the right direction but i think that doesn't give you more than the right basis. To really get it it must be some type of filter, but i'm not very experienced with them. Maybe you can tell? Would be a big help!

[@adrobestia262]

Still there ? Got the answer : its a slide !

[@Pnco]

Migh sound kinda cliche but i think the tone comes from the playing technique and style. Having a silver jubilee / plexi and the effects will round up the tone. But if you have all the hardware and not the technique it wont feel like frusciante's style. Amazing video, i've never payed attention to the compression and you are absolutly right on how it influences the tone

[@HarryAndAGuitar]

It certainly does, his sound is quite simple really, but because of that, each element really makes a big difference

[@iandope]

he was using a semi hollow 1955 gretsch white falcon for californication. i thought you would know.

[@BRZguy]

I think another one of the biggest myths is how overdriven his tone actually is. It really isn't overdriven. It's pretty much clean, but the CE-1 clips when he's hitting the strings hard which makes it sound overdriven. So you just have to really play hard and it will sound right.

[@federicoresendiz3617]

This is sort of what Dave Lee said in the famous emails. But he said his amps were set “as clean as possible” which for sure in the case of the Jubilee is not really clean (I’ve played them and their cleanest, even with vintage pickups is kind of an edge of breakup tone). I don’t agree with Dave Simpson that it’s “more distorted than you think” necessarily (though it is more distorted live than it is in studio). But it is true those amps just don’t stay clean at the levels he plays. And as hard as he plays on songs like can’t stop, etc. I’m sure the CE-1 plays a role with the gain. But so do the amps’ gain structure.

[@fndzyi]

@@federicoresendiz3617 Amps are set that they are mostly clean, they break up when he hits the strings harder. Both Jubilee and Major have a biiig headroom. CE-1 preamp isn't really set that it creates much distortion, it just pushes the amps preamp. Use Dave Simpsons tone advice only if ur getting the tone on a budget with some overdrive pedals, otherwise it doesn't make that much sense. Read the mails more, Dave Lee talks about Johns "amp theory" that he explained to Josh K. and how he sets up the amps before shows - to stay clean to play songs such as the Zephyr song and still break up a little when he plays Cant stop. Johns dynamic picking really does the trick. Also the CE-1 preamp adds a decent amount of compression. But depends how its set... Afterall all the stuff changes trough the time. +The live rig has to be set so it can play all the songs. The tone in this guys video sucks btw. Overall it just looks like a pedal promo....

[@AntConHer]

Easy and cheap way to get the Fru tone: Zoom G1on and choose the MS1959 amp with a 4x12 cab emu, neck pickup of a good strat and that's it. Line out to a pair of monitors. If you want something more "sofisticated": irig hd2 + garageband + ds2 + grobert effects the one chorus + Ibanez wh10 + a pair of studio monitors. IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO GET A HOME TONE WITHOUT CRANKED A VALVE MARSHALL AMP, so it's imperative a digital emulation on the chain to crank the amp on a home volume. Other way your neighbours are going to call the Police and you're going to go the jail for the rest of your life.

[@criscaires6713]

Great video, thank you very much!

[@jakubborczuch7543]

White Stripes tone would be a cool idea for a vid...

[@HarryAndAGuitar]

Got that coming soon! :)

[@jakubborczuch7543]

@@HarryAndAGuitar Yes Sirrr.

[@regandunn4850]

Hevpkays old school guitar and always starts with a clean sound

[@waynegram8907]

HARRYANDAGUITAR< which compressor and other pedal did frusciante use for the song under the bridge?

[@HarryAndAGuitar]

Dyna comp

[@waynegram8907]

@@HarryAndAGuitar dyna comp with the boss CE1 preamp and mxr booster pedal?

[@sikamicaneko]

Dyna comp and DOD fx65 chorus for the outro

[@waynegram8907]

@@sikamicaneko I didn't know he used a DOD chorus pedal. I thought he used a boss CE-1 70s chorus pedal

[@rickdaniels1000]

He didn’t use a strat on Californiacation or otherside. You can hear the guitar tone on those tracks is much deeper.

[@A.J.1656]

Being on the under-informed side of things, it would have been helpful to hear with and without the compression to hear the difference. I think I understand the concept, but I'm not totally sure.

[@TSTBand]

Great vídeo!, except for one thing... why are you pretending to play while recording when you are actually faking it?... the song is not difficult at all , at 01:23 you can clearly see that you press the note with your pinky but that note never sounds when you hit the chord...

[@HarryAndAGuitar]

Hahah, I’m not faking, I sometimes record the guitar before making the video to save time, I then play along again to the song for the video part, it’s very common, how could I fake the guitar when I’ve done the drums, bass etc from scratch?

[@bengworldwideadventures]

Rick Rubin was their producer and he compresses the shit about everything

[@Liam.2000]

‘Blink if you love John Frusciante’ Harry:

[@HarryAndAGuitar]

Hahahaha

[@bigandy234]

Hi Harry got to be Scar Tissue love the delicate sound.

[@giioooo_08]

I love this channel. Do Plush by Stone Temple Pilots next

[@HarryAndAGuitar]

Thanks mate!

[@davemish4163]

Personally, I like his more recent tones better than his past tones. I'm not a huge fan of his super saturated and super compressed lead tones. In fact, I find his rhythm playing far more interesting than his solos.

[@favouriteworstnightmare3413]

Californication's sound ' !)

[@Emanuelsilva-7725]

Good

[@pantaloneshexagonales3760]

They basically made me pick up bass and guitar, both flea and frusciante are amazing musicians and players

[@DenisBurbach]

Frusciante 🫶🏼🎸

[@kingsecho3351]

Snow was played way too fast 💨

[@m-baka]

This tone is really bad and thin. No oomph. Really missed the mark

[@Jerkwilkesbooth]

Love your content, but please clip your fingernails!

[@Motownisyourtown]

He's a good songwriter and a lot of his lead work recorded is good, but his live playing is sloppy, messy, his phrasing is poor and pretty derivative. Love the Chilli's but he's not godlike as some suggest.

[@gabsguitarvlog]

imperfection is what makes it intetesting and artistic.

[@_leopold_butters_stotch]

Myth? What a tool.