Goth Guitar Tones – Crafting the Perfect Guitar Tone

The distinctive guitar tone of post-punk and goth music is crucial in shaping the genre’s dark, atmospheric, and often distorted sound. This guide will explore the essential techniques and equipment for achieving this iconic sound.

Core Elements of Goth Guitar Tone

This article is for you if you want to recreate some classic Post-Punk and Goth guitar tones.

With these genres of music, we are looking at creating ethereal and sometimes angular guitar tones. If you love players like Robert Smith of The Cure, Geordie Walker from Killing Joke, or John McGeoch of Siouxsie and the Banshees and Magazine, this article is for you.

Here are some recommendations on approaching these genres, what to look out for, and how to combine them to create your voice on the guitar.

Guitar Selection

Single-coil pickups are ideal for the genre’s bright, jangly, and often distorted sound. Popular choices include:

• Fender Jaguar: Renowned for its versatile sound and distinctive offset shape.
• Fender Jazzmaster: Offers a shimmering, tremolo-heavy tone.
• Fender Mustang: A more affordable option with a punchy, mid-range focused sound.

The Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster is an excellent, affordable guitar that works well and covers a lot of ground.

Don’t forget P-90 pickups, which have a fatter single-coil tone. Killing Joke’s Geordie Walker was famous for using the Gibson ES-295, which had a pair of P-90 pickups.

Humbucking Pickups are generally warmer and can be used to great effect when there is more space in your music. John McGeoch used a Yamaha SG1000 with humbuckers for many of his guitar parts in Magazine and later in the Banshees.

• Yamaha SG1000
• Gibson SG
• Gibson Les Paul Custom

UK bands, including Fields of the Nephilim, used Gibson SGs and Les Paul Customs on many of their albums. They gave the band’s sound more power and drive, yet they stayed well within gothic music’s realms when combined with atmospheric effects.

Specialist Guitars

Sometimes, you’ll want to experiment further, and we suggest you try 12-string guitars (think Wayne Hussey in The Mission), the Fender Bass VI (a favorite of Robert Smith), and Squier makes a nice one of these, which is very affordable.

Also, consider models like the Danelectro Sitar, which produces a faux sitar tone with the playability of an (almost) standard guitar.

Or you may want a shred guitar to go full-on Temple of Love!

Effects Pedals

• Chorus: Adds a swirling, ethereal quality to the sound.
• Flanger: Creates a more pronounced, metallic, and phase-y effect.
• Delay: Adds depth and space, particularly with longer delay times.
• Reverb: Creates atmosphere and space, especially with long decay times.
• Distortion: Adds grit and edge. A low-to-medium gain distortion pedal is often ideal.

Many players of the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s used BOSS pedals, which are renowned for their build quality, and they also made a great selection of effects. MXR is another pedal brand from this era that was used a lot by players in these genres.

Both brands produced amazing modulation effects, combined with delay and reverb, which can create movement and space in the music.

Older analog delays, tape delays, and analog modulation pedals helped these genres create space. Then, as the 1980s started to kick in, the 19″ rack units also began to leave their mark on these genres. Combining analog and digital effects can yield some fascinating results.

Of course, plenty of boutique guitar pedals replicate the classics or put rack-based 1980s effect units into a pedal format. This means we are spoilt for choice when choosing effect pedals.

Amplification Choices

Tube Amps: Offer a warm, organic tone that can be easily pushed into overdrive.

• • Vox AC30: A classic choice for its clean, chiming tones and overdriven capabilities.
  • Marshall JCM800: A high-gain amp for a wide range of distorted tones.

Essentially, many British amps were used as that is what was available then, so many UK-based bands could afford them.

Geordie Walker is also renowned for using the now-defunct Burman amplifiers and, later in his career, used the Framus Dragon to help him create his tone. We suggest that you choose an amp that can take effect pedals well to layer modulation and delay effects, combine them with reverb, and use this to create a wash of sound.

You may not want to crank the preamp gain of your tube amp, as you could be looking more for clarity of notes and definition when you arpeggiate chord sequences.

Technical Considerations for Achieving the Perfect Tone

• String Gauge: Thicker strings can provide a fuller, more sustained tone, while thinner strings offer a brighter, more jangly sound.
• Altered Tunings: The late great Geordie Walker is a prime example of this, as he used very heavy strings but tuned down a whole step to DGCFAD.
• Pickup Height: Adjusting pickup height can significantly impact your tone. Higher pickups produce a brighter, more aggressive sound, while lower pickups produce a warmer, more mellow sound.
• Amp Settings: Experiment with different amp settings, such as gain, volume, and EQ, to find your desired tone.
• Room Acoustics: The acoustics of the room you’re playing in can also affect your tone. Experiment with different room placements and microphone techniques to find the best sound.

Putting it all together

Understanding these key elements and technical considerations allows you to craft the distinctive post-punk and goth guitar tones that elevate your music. Remember, the journey to the perfect tone is a personal one.

Think about space and leaving room in your music for your guitar effects to breathe. My number one example of this would be Bela Lugosi’s Dead by Bauhaus, as it has a vast amount of room for the guitar to weave around the minimal drum part and bassline. Their guitarist, Daniel Ash, knew when not to play and created lots of abstract guitar string noises, which were then enhanced by his use of delays and their repeats.

This approach to the music leaves space, and space is good, as it creates tension and angst and makes the track sit above its peers.

Experimentation, practice, and a deep understanding of your equipment are essential for achieving your desired sound.