BIlly Gibbons Playing The Gibson Les Paul Pearly Gates #8 Unplugged Pt 1

[750tblack]

7s,9s 10s, 11s whatever....if it works for you it is right.Nice to hear Mr Gibbons pickin a bit of blues here!

[mickthebandit]

Why the fuck would anybody use light strings. I use elevens and they are awesome. Get some nuts and BEND thicker strings.

[Maafa1619]

@mickthebandit Why work that hard. Thicker strings don't sound any better than thin strings on a solid-body electric guitar. On an acoustic guitar (where the strings have to move the soundboard, back and sides) I'd be more inclined to give that believe some credence. All of that tone-chasing nonsense is marketing bullshit. The only possible issue with thinner strings is if you are hamfisted and can't play without pulling them sharp. If you have any kind of touch, they are magic.

[TheThepurplebird]

hahahahaha literally unplugged

[amast3rMind69]

.8's are the shit for a les paul

[LabelBob]

@amast3rMind69 you are right they are total shit on a 24 3/4 scale length...must have 10's

[amast3rMind69]

.8's are the shit

[gunforhirenz]

Most of his guitars now are strung with 7's but i don't think the joe average guy could make a set of 7's last.. haha. Billy gave me a set of his new dunlop 7's backstage at a show recently and I don't think i am gentle enough to put them on any of my guitars I'm too heavy a player.. He was testing out an amp we built for him a few weeks ago and not having any of his own guitars in auckland for his holiday he played my buddies tele with 10's on it and after 20 minutes said, "dang there heavy!"

[hawg427]

SRV did use 12 & 13's but he tuned down 1/2 to a whole step on his tuning. He never played 13's in regular tuning. He had huge hands and could have but he didn't. Most Blues players use 11's. I use 11's and do not tune down any. Ya just get used to it.

[Carthsgtr]

@hawg427

Nothing feels better than 11's. When you are playing SRV with anything heavier than that unless you have monster hands your fingertips will bleed.

[aflockofmusic2]

I love how he just ignores you guys while he plays, especially when one of you guys start making that weird noise.

[treatb09]

billy just bluesing away in an ocean of chairs

[TheGibsonman59]

Yeah true, i've only played 12s 1 time on one of my electric guitar's and i got used to it pretty quick nd they had a great sound, but ima just stay w/ 10s for now, and mby when i get out of my cast in 3 months, ima try and start plyn w/ 12s and mby 13s . . . . and yeah, tuned down, that sound was so unique and that chunk sound.

[GCRonL]

Billy does use 8's and sometimes 7's. This guitar in the videos, Signed #8, as well as the other 11 that he signed that day was indeed strung with 8's. I tuned and played all 12 of the guitars.

[stratmaniac]

@GCRonL you lucky bastard

[Maafa1619]

@GCRonL There is a video on Youtube where his guitar tech does a gear rundown backstage. He said that all of Rev. Willie G's guitars were strung with 7s.

[Maafa1619]

@GCRonL Dude's name is Elwood Francis, and the video is "Rig Rundown - ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons." Now, I'm not saying that there were not 8's on some guitars that Billy Gibsons played for a bit and signed to give away or sell. However, his longtime guitar tech says that he really plays with 7s.

[dbbubba]

You guys are on crack

Billy plays heavy strings as does BB KIng as did Stevie Ray...

Once you play enough years bending 11s is as easy a bending an 8.

Tone is in heavier strings.

Soul is in your fingers. (I have played GTR for 45 years at least... I know.)

[5150zombie]

@dbbubba I'm pretty sure vaughn played really heavy 13's and king and gibbons were on the lighter side. I don't think they're doing 8's, maybe 10's. They'res a gibbons vid on here where he tells how king told him to take it easy and play lighter strings cause you'll still get a big sound. I thought it was weird cause I got the heavier is better mentality too.

[TheGibsonman59]

@5150zombie Yes, SRV used 13s and 12s when his fingers hurt

[unabonger777]

@dbbubba wrong.

[gyselboy]

@dbbubba lol I love it when people say I've been doin it this way for thirty or forty years has the thought ever crossed your mind that you might have been doin it wrong for thirty years or forty years haha just sayin.Im not saying there is wrong way whatever works for you. tone is whatever you think it is and yes the soul comes from your hands.

[greenstrat2112]

@gyselboy "when people say I've been doin it this way for thirty or forty years has the thought ever crossed your mind that you might have been doin it wrong for thirty years or forty years haha just sayin" I said the same thing to our Bass player a couple of months ago

[standad445]

@dbbubba look up premier guitar video!!!! it is an interview with billy gibbons guitar tech!!!!!! you are right he doesnt use 8s at all!!!!! he uses 7s!!!!!!!! research shit old man before you open your fucking mouth!!!!!!!!! look up the video then respond to me!!!!!! idiot!!!!!!!!!!!! premier guitar billy gibbons!!!! look it up!!!!!!!!!

[CMalburn]

Is that future blues he's playing?

[clean3]

Billy uses 8s?......that's extraordinary given the bite he gets out of his guitars!!

[bowslap]

@clean3 yup, it's true that he plays .008's....B.B. King turned him on to those.

[ToneChaser4Life]

@bowslap Dude, I think he uses .007s!! I even heard that his tech tried to get him up to .008s or .009s and he didn't dig it...

[1Doz]

@bowslap

That would have surprised me a few years ago but not anymore. Lighter strings have lower tension and sound loose and soulful. If you've ever wondered why your guitar sounds so good when you tune it down a whole step, that's why. The looser tension makes it respond differently. Light strings give you that looser tension at concert pitch. If you want your guitar to sound chimey and stiff, put heavy strings on it. If you want soulful, use light strings. It works.

[TheGibsonman59]

@1Doz Well, what about SRV . . . . he used heavy 13s and 12s on a night when his fingers hurt, and he was the most soulful blues guitarist of the 80s, he was uncomparible and still after 20 years . . . noone has come close.

[1Doz]

@TheGibsonman59

The fact that SRV was able to sound soulful despite using heavy strings proves what a talent he was. Of course it helped that he tuned down a half step which takes a lot of the stiffness out of them.

[627257stingray]

@TheGibsonman59 never a more truer statement said,right on mate,spot on brutha spot on,no one gets near him,no one

[conejojolivet]

Great Buelman! Thank's for this private playing!