Ask Larry something, in the VCB box below, with very little chance of a reply….just kiddin’ class!
965 thoughts on “Ask Uncle Larry – VCB”
Thank you Tom (for the Roman Gabriel memories)!
When he came to the Eagles my Filipino father and grandfather went nuts, they got season tickets and my grandparents had his picture on the wall. Well, after a couple games my frozen 10 year old ass had had enough; don’t think I’ve gone to an Eagles game since!
How do you monitor what you did for whom?
Do you keep a diary of some sort, or track sheets of each recording session, or gig, with all your instrument, amp and pedal settings?
Happy New Year. I’m curious how your practice routine has evolved throughout the years, particularly as you went from being a local musician in Cleveland, to coming to Nashville, to being on the road, to being back off it and back in the studio etc?
Tom, am watching Corona Lessons V.20 and am wondering if you ever used the Dusenberg Double Cat dual bender on any studio work? I gotta’ say, the stuff you were getting on this video was some of the best I’ve ever heard a guitar sound. Thanks again for doing all of this, you’re the man!
You are a gift. If it wasn`t for you I would propably end up in severe depression during First Covid wave. I watched Corona Lessons and Home Skoolin immediately after your video appeared on YT. I`m grateful especially for the video with ES335 in a studio – “Homeskoolin’ bonus “Session Man At Work”. It kept me inspired when I doubted myself while starting to record my first album. This one is definately on my music bucket list (songs to play). To this day audio from this video is my wake up call before going to my everyday boring job 🙂
Be the same as you are in 2024, please. Take care Champ. Because of you I can make everyone else sound better. I think… :p
PS. Cannot wait for your album with Guthrie. Will throw every ammount of cash to hav it on a vinyl.
Cheers, Luke (Warsaw, Poland)
Pick Please Podcast (Łukasz Wojciechowski and Jakub Polewka)
I am Juergen Heieck from Berlin/Germany.
Thank you so much for your “Homeskoolin” Series that I just discovered.
It is so refreshing to see and hear you on youtube.
You really seem to be one of the guys who have the heart on the right side.
Thanks a lot,
Best and take care,
Juergen
Today, I heard (on a vertex video) that you like one King of Tone pedal.
Maybe I could help?
Inside the pedal you could change the boost to an overdrive-setting or a distortion-setting.
Inside the pedal you could change the tone with the white-potmeters.
Inside the pedal you could see if your pedal is the normal-gain pedal or the higher-gain(=more compressed sounding).
Maybe youve got a King Of Tone with a buffer in it? You could see the buffer at the battery section.
Hey, thank you for not playing jazz scales when you start to run out of ideas, that seems to be the go to option for a lot of players, even very good ones. E.
Uncle Larry… Love love love PlexiSoul! I owned the (autographed!) CD version prior to the LP release. (It is in regular rotation in my truck.) Bought the vinyl as soon as it was available. LOVE IT!! Which facility actually pressed your vinyl? My band is looking at vinyl pressing options and we’ve heard some recent vinyl that is quite shitty. Trying to avoid that.
I know you hate it when we don’t do our homework, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen at least 130+ episodes, so hopefully I’m excused… 😉
I’ve also seen 45+ minutes of closeups of your pedalboard at liveshows, and that’s cool. It tells me that we all have our ways, and we try to sound good on stage, without making the FOH-peoples lives miserable by keep our levels predicable and so on.
But could you talk a bit more about playing live? I think I saw a video, where you talked about having a handful of overdrives going from slightly hairy to all-knobs-at-5pm. Or something like that. But do you do that too when playing live?
I currently have 4 od’s on my board, but it continuously change which pedals are playing nice and which ones are playing dirty.
Have you settled, or does it also change for you?
Love that gold top you just picked up! If one can’t afford a golden era gold top would you recommend buying a new one? Sounds like the years from the 70s on weren’t great.
Hey Tom, love your blog. I was wondering if you saw and played a god awful looking no name guitar and i sounded great would you buy it or play it? How important is brand, model and year to you? Just curious. Thanks
if i found something that sounded truly unique of course i would buy it and use it in the studio…but on a live gig i’m just fine with an old sg special…lightweight, great sound and comfortable
Hey Larry, I already sent this question on youtube, but in case you didn’t read there here is my question for a VCB, yesterday I bought a piano, and for a guitarist who wants to play piano, any advice on how to learn? How did you learn to play piano? It was before the guitar? And what do you think plays piano help us on guitar? Thanks!!!
Greetings Tom and Merry Christmas! Just finished episode 266 and was really affected by what you played on that beautiful, toneful Gold Top. Your playing is always both a joy to hear and equally inspiring… Something really struck me today, however, and I hope I’m wrong, but I would swear I heard pain. I believe we, as players, whether intentionally or not, express our emotions in our music and I believe some (like my good ol Uncle Larry) do it even more than most. Just hoping all is well with you, not trying to be a downer or pry further into your personal life than you already offer us at Home Skool. FWIW, I believe in prayer and I pray for God’s blessing of peace, health and happiness for you and your boys.
Merry Christmas
Jimmy D
of course you heard pain jimmy…I have it in spades…lots of people do…. in fact nothing bores me more than a musician who doesn’t know shit about pain….it’s a key component in any music that is worth a shit.
Dear Larry. Happy belated birthday, and merry christmas to you and the boys. You’ve been a colorful and wonderful bright spot in the everyday battle this year. Keep it up! Love from Norway
I’ve been spinning the TTW album nonstop in my workshop for the past month – what an incredible album, great work. Just wondering who has the final solo on Black Light/Reclaim my Time – you or Dean? It’s so fresh and keeps you guessing. And the part where the 2x bend w/vibrato phrase is repeated – so simple but so powerful. Keep rocking & Happy Holidays!
Hey Tom,
Happy Birthday to you a day late and a dollar short.
Just want to say that me and the wife really enjoy your videos. Thanks for inviting us into your pretty damned amazing world.
Cheers!
Happy Birthday Tom! You’ve been a true inspiration that has re-sparked my flame for guitar, and I really appreciate you. If you’re like me, birthdays get a little more bittersweet the older I get, but I hope you really enjoy this one.
Hey Tom,
Is it just me, or do you also differentiate between ‘tone’ and ‘sound’? (for a lack of a better word)
When watching gear demos (I know! – I promise to quit soon! ;-)), you’ll quite often see well-meaning folks says stuff like: “Check out the tone I’m getting from this hip new thing”, and seconds later, you’ll hear some over-processed guitar riffs with a ton of effects on it. To me, that’s not ‘tone’ anymore. That’s ‘sound’
When – in your opinion – does tone end and sound begin?
Oh, I just saw the tonetalk episode with Friedman, Thorn etc., and heard you already had touched upon this topic – and that it can be very controversial, so just forget I asked 😉
Thank you Tom (for the Roman Gabriel memories)!
When he came to the Eagles my Filipino father and grandfather went nuts, they got season tickets and my grandparents had his picture on the wall. Well, after a couple games my frozen 10 year old ass had had enough; don’t think I’ve gone to an Eagles game since!
Juan
He Tom,
I saw your ‘Blues For Paul Hornung’ video, where you introduced the Citadel pedal.
Do you like the Citadel more then the ZVex Box Of Rock ?
And do you use the Box Of Rock ?
Best
Lex
i remember liking the box of rock pretty well way back in the day…the citadel is awesome
How do you monitor what you did for whom?
Do you keep a diary of some sort, or track sheets of each recording session, or gig, with all your instrument, amp and pedal settings?
are you kidding? i forget about it before my ass even fully exits the door
Hey Uncle Larry!
Happy New Year. I’m curious how your practice routine has evolved throughout the years, particularly as you went from being a local musician in Cleveland, to coming to Nashville, to being on the road, to being back off it and back in the studio etc?
Stay Well!
i just do the same thing i always did, play constantly.
Tom, am watching Corona Lessons V.20 and am wondering if you ever used the Dusenberg Double Cat dual bender on any studio work? I gotta’ say, the stuff you were getting on this video was some of the best I’ve ever heard a guitar sound. Thanks again for doing all of this, you’re the man!
use it all the time man….on those morgan wallet records, anything you hear that sounds like steel is actually me
Dear Uncle,
You are a gift. If it wasn`t for you I would propably end up in severe depression during First Covid wave. I watched Corona Lessons and Home Skoolin immediately after your video appeared on YT. I`m grateful especially for the video with ES335 in a studio – “Homeskoolin’ bonus “Session Man At Work”. It kept me inspired when I doubted myself while starting to record my first album. This one is definately on my music bucket list (songs to play). To this day audio from this video is my wake up call before going to my everyday boring job 🙂
Be the same as you are in 2024, please. Take care Champ. Because of you I can make everyone else sound better. I think… :p
PS. Cannot wait for your album with Guthrie. Will throw every ammount of cash to hav it on a vinyl.
Cheers, Luke (Warsaw, Poland)
Pick Please Podcast (Łukasz Wojciechowski and Jakub Polewka)
thank you mate
Dear Tom,
I am Juergen Heieck from Berlin/Germany.
Thank you so much for your “Homeskoolin” Series that I just discovered.
It is so refreshing to see and hear you on youtube.
You really seem to be one of the guys who have the heart on the right side.
Thanks a lot,
Best and take care,
Juergen
thank you, appreciate the kind words
Hi Tom,
Today, I heard (on a vertex video) that you like one King of Tone pedal.
Maybe I could help?
Inside the pedal you could change the boost to an overdrive-setting or a distortion-setting.
Inside the pedal you could change the tone with the white-potmeters.
Inside the pedal you could see if your pedal is the normal-gain pedal or the higher-gain(=more compressed sounding).
Maybe youve got a King Of Tone with a buffer in it? You could see the buffer at the battery section.
I use the King Of Tone on 18 V
yeah man i tried all that….i think some just sound different than others. thanks
ok.
Im going to try another dual-opamp chip in my KingOfTone, like Mike Piera suggest in this KingOfTone manual.
Hey, thank you for not playing jazz scales when you start to run out of ideas, that seems to be the go to option for a lot of players, even very good ones. E.
you won’t be hearing that from me bro
Hey Tom,
Love the show.
I drive an old pickup truck and road noise drowns out CDs making them unpleasant to listen to above about 40.
I popped in Joshua Tree by U2 today and the drums, vocals, and guitar all poked right out. Pretty cool. Why is that?
lot of midrange on those mixes bro
Uncle Larry… Love love love PlexiSoul! I owned the (autographed!) CD version prior to the LP release. (It is in regular rotation in my truck.) Bought the vinyl as soon as it was available. LOVE IT!! Which facility actually pressed your vinyl? My band is looking at vinyl pressing options and we’ve heard some recent vinyl that is quite shitty. Trying to avoid that.
i used Third Man in nashville
I know you hate it when we don’t do our homework, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen at least 130+ episodes, so hopefully I’m excused… 😉
I’ve also seen 45+ minutes of closeups of your pedalboard at liveshows, and that’s cool. It tells me that we all have our ways, and we try to sound good on stage, without making the FOH-peoples lives miserable by keep our levels predicable and so on.
But could you talk a bit more about playing live? I think I saw a video, where you talked about having a handful of overdrives going from slightly hairy to all-knobs-at-5pm. Or something like that. But do you do that too when playing live?
I currently have 4 od’s on my board, but it continuously change which pedals are playing nice and which ones are playing dirty.
Have you settled, or does it also change for you?
just get a couple overdrives you like and then step on a boss ge-7 when you take a solo
Larry,
Love that gold top you just picked up! If one can’t afford a golden era gold top would you recommend buying a new one? Sounds like the years from the 70s on weren’t great.
if that’s all you can swing then yes of course….but just play a million new ones first til you find a decent one
Hey Tom, love your blog. I was wondering if you saw and played a god awful looking no name guitar and i sounded great would you buy it or play it? How important is brand, model and year to you? Just curious. Thanks
if i found something that sounded truly unique of course i would buy it and use it in the studio…but on a live gig i’m just fine with an old sg special…lightweight, great sound and comfortable
Hey Larry, I already sent this question on youtube, but in case you didn’t read there here is my question for a VCB, yesterday I bought a piano, and for a guitarist who wants to play piano, any advice on how to learn? How did you learn to play piano? It was before the guitar? And what do you think plays piano help us on guitar? Thanks!!!
i started playing piano when i was about 13…self taught…it’s just as hard as guitar, there are no shortcuts
Greetings Tom and Merry Christmas! Just finished episode 266 and was really affected by what you played on that beautiful, toneful Gold Top. Your playing is always both a joy to hear and equally inspiring… Something really struck me today, however, and I hope I’m wrong, but I would swear I heard pain. I believe we, as players, whether intentionally or not, express our emotions in our music and I believe some (like my good ol Uncle Larry) do it even more than most. Just hoping all is well with you, not trying to be a downer or pry further into your personal life than you already offer us at Home Skool. FWIW, I believe in prayer and I pray for God’s blessing of peace, health and happiness for you and your boys.
Merry Christmas
Jimmy D
of course you heard pain jimmy…I have it in spades…lots of people do…. in fact nothing bores me more than a musician who doesn’t know shit about pain….it’s a key component in any music that is worth a shit.
Happy New Year, Tom! Here’s to the great music far outweighing the pain. Thanks for all the fun and inspiration!
Jimmy
Dear Larry. Happy belated birthday, and merry christmas to you and the boys. You’ve been a colorful and wonderful bright spot in the everyday battle this year. Keep it up! Love from Norway
thank you bro happy holidays
Hi Tom,
I’ve been spinning the TTW album nonstop in my workshop for the past month – what an incredible album, great work. Just wondering who has the final solo on Black Light/Reclaim my Time – you or Dean? It’s so fresh and keeps you guessing. And the part where the 2x bend w/vibrato phrase is repeated – so simple but so powerful. Keep rocking & Happy Holidays!
thank you bro, i appreciate that. if it was good, then it was probably dean playing it haha
Hey Tom,
Happy Birthday to you a day late and a dollar short.
Just want to say that me and the wife really enjoy your videos. Thanks for inviting us into your pretty damned amazing world.
Cheers!
thank you bro
Happy Birthday Uncle Larry.
thank you so much bro
Happy Birthday Buko ;May you have many more. Also Happy Birthday Leo.Thanks again for all you share with us.
thank you sir
Happy Birthday Tom! You’ve been a true inspiration that has re-sparked my flame for guitar, and I really appreciate you. If you’re like me, birthdays get a little more bittersweet the older I get, but I hope you really enjoy this one.
thank you bro
Good Article about ZZ Top you would like
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/couldnt-transport-snakes-cattle-trailer-013800311.html
Hey Tom,
Is it just me, or do you also differentiate between ‘tone’ and ‘sound’? (for a lack of a better word)
When watching gear demos (I know! – I promise to quit soon! ;-)), you’ll quite often see well-meaning folks says stuff like: “Check out the tone I’m getting from this hip new thing”, and seconds later, you’ll hear some over-processed guitar riffs with a ton of effects on it. To me, that’s not ‘tone’ anymore. That’s ‘sound’
When – in your opinion – does tone end and sound begin?
you’re taking this all waaaay too seriously mate….
Oh, I just saw the tonetalk episode with Friedman, Thorn etc., and heard you already had touched upon this topic – and that it can be very controversial, so just forget I asked 😉
Tom,
How do you deal with musical burnout? Also how do you deal with the day to day pressure of being a studio musician?
Wishing you and your boys a great Christmas!
Billy
i just think to myself….”well, no matter how hard today is, it’s still way easier than being an airport bathroom attendant.”