One of the lesser-known guitarists in the last entry is Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham. Newer guitarists may not be familiar with Buckingham, but his style and sound inspired generations of guitarists. He’s probably best known for his signing, songwriting, and production skills, but his guitar playing was instrumental in the success of Fleetwood Mac, so it’s worth checking out. I’m going to take a look at its sound and give you an idea of the type of setup that is required to reproduce some of its signature sounds.
The first thing that makes Buckingham so unique is the fact that he wears a finger style. Lindsey Buckingham, who originally played banjo, made the transition to guitar, and her virtuoso performances are a signature Fleetwood Mac sound. Buckingham plays the bass lines with his thumb while using his other fingers to express sweeping melodies and arpeggios. The resulting music is truly original and inspiring.
When looking at its setup, one thing you will notice is that it has a truly unique ax. His Electric Turner is not a very famous guitar outside of Lindsey Buckingham. Its shape, clearly similar to that of a violin, is one of the most unique characteristics of the guitar. You will also find Buckingham playing acoustic on various tracks. There is nothing particularly important to say about your acoustics, other than the way you play the instrument.
There is a specific performance that I would like to analyze. During a private Fleetwood Mac meeting, back in 1997, Buckingham performed the song “Big Love”, playing a Gibson Chet Atkins guitar with nylon strings. The reason I chose this one is because of the unique sound you got with that particular guitar. In fact, you can recreate this sound, even if you don’t have this particular axis. Using your acoustic electric guitar, I’ll show you how to simulate this sound using your guitar and some simple effects.
To simulate this sound, you will need delay and reverb. If you have an amp with these built-in effects, you’ll be fine. For the delay time, you’ll want to set it around 125 milliseconds. You should be able to adjust the mix in the delay, setting it to be primarily the direct signal. This is important because when you’re soloing and playing complex melodies, you don’t want the delayed notes to muddy the sound you’re trying to create. If you’re using a delay unit, like the ones built into some amps, that only allows you to adjust the delay time by touching a button, you may find it difficult to get the exact sound I’m trying to teach. You can play around with the settings to see if you can get a similar sound or just use this guide as a way to get ideas for new sounds.
Another setting you may want to consider, if you have a nice delay, is to remove some of the treble from the delayed signal. Again, this is to make sure your original notes actually sing. As for your reverb, you’ll want to reduce the size of the room to around 35 percent. If you can’t resize the room, don’t worry, just know that this will be more of a creative exercise for you, rather than a total recreation of the original Buckingham sounds. Finally, you’ll want to deploy a good chunk of your amp’s midrange (or board if you’re going straight to one). This will keep things crisp and clear when you actually jot down your notes.
While the use of built-in effects is limited, you can get a unique sound with this guide. For those with a nice effects board or pedals that allow them to adjust all of these settings, they will find a deep and airy sound as a result of these settings. This is great for adding some depth to a track where the main part of the guitar is played on an acoustic. If you haven’t heard the version of “Big Love” I’m talking about, go online and look for videos or recordings of the ’97 Fleetwood Mac reunion show. It’s really worth your time and it’s a great performance! Good luck and happy guitar player!
