Dick Dale's Surf Tone
Today I was asked to record some surf guitar tracks, including a pass of double-picking (or classically speaking, tremolo picking) -- basically your picking hand is set on "rapid fire". A common technique used by mandolin and oud players, it was made popular by the legendary Dick Dale, and has become a staple of the surf-rock sound. Dick Dale's big hit, "Miserlou", was recorded back in 1962, and immortalized in recent years as the theme song of the film "Pulp Fiction".
I wanted to get as close to the authentic surf sound as possible, so I did some research on the 'net. There was a great article stating that "Miserlou" was originally a Greek folk tune (!), and that for the 1962 recording, the guitar was tuned up a half step. It also talked about Dale's amp-of-choice and his use of reverb. I also learned alot about Dale's unique sound from this picture I found on his website:
OK, first off -- he's playing left-handed, with his guitar strung right-handed! That essentially means he's playing the guitar UPSIDE-DOWN! Now if you look at the pickup selector, he's using the bridge pickup. And notice his bridge pickup -- it's naturally slanted on a Stratocaster, but because the strings are backwards on this guitar, it's slanted the wrong way -- giving him an even more biting, splanky sound on his low E (now F!) string. Also, his picking hand (which you'll notice is a blur!) is waaaaaaaaay back so that he's picking extremely close to the bridge -- giving the notes a very bright, biting attack. With the retuning, the pickup placement, and that pick technique, you just can't get a more aggressive tone than that.
My tracks came out sounding great, but that wasn't the point of this entry -- I just wanted to pay tribute to the King of Surf Guitar, DICK DALE!!!
I wanted to get as close to the authentic surf sound as possible, so I did some research on the 'net. There was a great article stating that "Miserlou" was originally a Greek folk tune (!), and that for the 1962 recording, the guitar was tuned up a half step. It also talked about Dale's amp-of-choice and his use of reverb. I also learned alot about Dale's unique sound from this picture I found on his website:
OK, first off -- he's playing left-handed, with his guitar strung right-handed! That essentially means he's playing the guitar UPSIDE-DOWN! Now if you look at the pickup selector, he's using the bridge pickup. And notice his bridge pickup -- it's naturally slanted on a Stratocaster, but because the strings are backwards on this guitar, it's slanted the wrong way -- giving him an even more biting, splanky sound on his low E (now F!) string. Also, his picking hand (which you'll notice is a blur!) is waaaaaaaaay back so that he's picking extremely close to the bridge -- giving the notes a very bright, biting attack. With the retuning, the pickup placement, and that pick technique, you just can't get a more aggressive tone than that.
My tracks came out sounding great, but that wasn't the point of this entry -- I just wanted to pay tribute to the King of Surf Guitar, DICK DALE!!!
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