This past weekend a buddy and I got to attend a really cool event. JHS Pedals held a Tone Workshop here in the Metroplex. Mr JHS himself and a guitar player named Stu G hosted it. They talked gear and tone and gave away a whole bunch of pedals. It was a LOT of fun.
They announced it a week and a half out, and tickets were free. I figured they would go quickly, but it seemed to take a couple days for them to announce it was sold out. Guitar Sanctuary and the The Tone Shop seemed to be the sponsors. I thought that was really cool because those are my two fave stores in the this area. They held it at a church whose name I have already forgotten. Turns out, it was a convenient location because Josh’s brother-in-law is the pastor there. I’m sure everything was done on pretty short notice because of Josh’s recent bike accident. Which I’ll quickly add, reading his substack where he descibes the accident and his injuries, it was really good to see him up and about.
Neeways, I had not heard of Stu G. He apparently used to play with the band Delirious? and is now playing with Michael W Smith. I vaguely remember in the late 90s hearing a song or two announced on KSBJ in H-town by his band, but, until Saturday, I couldn’t tell you anything he had played or any of their songs. Listening to him and some of what he was doing to demo his rig, he definitely has that modern, Edge-inspired worship sound. He never just took off and ripped, but, if he’s playing with someone on the level of Michael W Smith, you know he’s a killer player. Seemed like a down to earth kind of guy too.
I don’t really remember that much about his rig. He played a Strat style (I don’t think it was a Fender, and had like 4 drives, a fuzz, delays, and reverbs on his board. The one thing that stood out to me during the workshop was that, being a world famous player and the player in arguably one of the biggest CCM acts of the last 40 years, he never made the “show” about him. When answering questions, he would give open, honest answers from his life without being a name dropper, and when it came to the jams, he very much played to the song and didn’t overshadow anything else that was being played.
It was really cool to see Mr JHS on stage and hear him talk about the history of JHS and the rig he was playing and generally just be himself. I’ve always thought that he seemed like a really cool dude and a class act through his youtube and socials. He didn’t change that impression on Saturday. He seemed approachable, answered questions, leaked a couple of things coming out, and generally was the same guy you see in his youtube vids.
My buddy and I went up to check out his board during the break. I wish I would’ve gotten a pic of it. I remember he had a KTR, a Morning Glory, and at least one other drive on it. He had a fuzz of some variety. But the thing that stuck with me is that he had a Dan Armstrong Green Ringer clone that he ran in conjunction with his fuzz that made it sound really good.
I’ve got 2 or 3 fuzz pedals, but I never use them. To me, I can never get them tamed. He was using a Land Devices Domino with it. So, while we were sitting there in the workshop, I hit Reverb and bought one. Figured I’d give it a try.
Other than buying the pedal while it was going on, I picked up 2 or 3 things from the workshop. No, I wasn’t lucky enough to be one of the pedal winners, so that wasn’t it. Although, the guy sitting to my right won one. So congrats to him.
First thing that stood out was something that Stu G said. It’s something that I’ve heard Griff Hamlin (the Maestro) say for year, but it was kind of cool to hear someone else say it. At one point, Stu played a riff, stopped, and said, “be sure you can sing it. If you can sing it, you can play it. Or at least you’ll know if you’re not playing it right.”
Next thing was something that Mr JHS said. And, coming from him, I thought it was super interesting. It’s something some buddies and I have talked about, but Mr JHS is in business to sell pedals, so I really wouldn’t’ve expected for him to say it. He said to find your sound without your pedals, and then use your pedals to season your sound. And then he and Stu G spent the rest of the workshop trying to decide what pedals were salt, what were pepper, what were garlic, etc.
In saying to find your sound first, he was coming from the perspective that so many of the great players in years past, you could tell that it was them playing just from the sound of their guitar. He said too many of us get a pedal and decide to build our sound around that when what we should be doing is getting our sound and then complementing it with whatever the pedal is. He then went on to talk about how your sound is so much more than just your amp as well. In fact, he said, he had been disappointed in the past when he got to play one of his hero’s rigs only to hear that he still sounded like himself.
The last take away for me was something that Griff has also told me in the past and that I struggle with. A lot of us guitar players struggle with it. If there’s space in a song and a moment with not much going on, we’re going to fill up. Play a riff. Lay down a line. The silence must be filled. At one point, Mr JHS complimented Stu G for always playing to the song and not always filling every moment with sound. Stu G said not to be afraid of the silence. Sometimes the breaks in the melody are what the song needs. Sometimes not playing anything is as loud as playing a flurry of notes. Play to the song; don’t be afraid to let someone digest what you just played before you continue.
All in all it was a fun workshop! The fact that tickets were free was a bonus. If they do it again, I’ll try to go back. Educational, informative, and just an absolute kick in the head. I’m pretty sure my buddy totally dug it too.