{"id":3011,"date":"2012-03-20T13:00:37","date_gmt":"2012-03-20T18:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/?p=3011"},"modified":"2012-03-20T13:00:37","modified_gmt":"2012-03-20T18:00:37","slug":"the-signature-sound-of-blues-guitarist-robert-cray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/the-signature-sound-of-blues-guitarist-robert-cray\/","title":{"rendered":"The Signature Sound Of Blues Guitarist, Robert Cray"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Robert Cray has had many successful crossover hit songs due to his signature blues and R&B sound. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most interviewers have asked Robert Cray if he considers himself a blues guitarist.\u00a0 The answer that I have been able to find is that Cray draws inspiration from the blues, but also incorporates Soul, R&B, and Gospel into a lot of his own music.\u00a0 This mash up of music styles have helped Cray define his signature sound.\u00a0 And whether or not you are a fan of Robert Cray’s music, it’s difficult for any blues music listener to not recognize Robert Cray once he plays his Fender Strat or Tele and steps up to the mic.\u00a0 Robert Cray has written and recorded several blues and crossover hit songs during his career and continues to encourage music fans all over the world to listen to the blues.\u00a0 I found a few of Cray’s “bluesier” performances on YouTube that I would like to share with you.\u00a0 I hope you enjoy the videos because I had fun putting them together.<\/p>\n

The first video comes from a performance at the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival.\u00a0 Robert Cray performs his soulful song, “Time Makes Two.”\u00a0 Check it out at http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=h53va2AIuYU<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[youtube_sc url=”http:\/\/youtu.be\/h53va2AIuYU” width=”420″ rel=”0″]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This next live performance features one of the songs from Robert Cray’s hit album, “Strong Persuader.”\u00a0 The song is called, “Right Next Door,” check it out at http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GcpH4k0iugk&feature=related<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[youtube_sc url=”http:\/\/youtu.be\/GcpH4k0iugk” width=”420″ rel=”0″]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The last performance I found for this post features a live jam with Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughan in Dallas, TX 1987.\u00a0 Unfortunately, there isn’t a video of the performance, since it’s from a live radio broadcast.\u00a0 Check out this great version of the song, “New Blood,” at http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qoHvs6_2KmA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[youtube_sc url=”http:\/\/youtu.be\/qoHvs6_2KmA” width=”420″ rel=”0″]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

GuitarWorld put together a great article about Robert Cray back in 1989 when he was really hitting the music scene hard.\u00a0 If you get the chance, I encourage you to follow the link to read the whole article, but I pulled the last little bit of it because it features some information about Cray’s rig.\u00a0 If you’re a gear hound like me, check this out at http:\/\/www.guitarworld.com\/robert-cray-discusses-albert-collins-gear-and-his-new-album-1989-guitar-world-interview?page=0,0<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Robert Cray Axology<\/strong><\/p>\n

FOR HIS FINE debut album, Who’s Been Talkin’<\/em>, Cray played a Gibson 345 stereo guitar. It gave him a darker sound than he’s currently getting on Stratocasters.<\/p>\n

“I had a real deep sound on that album because of all the low end I’d get with the humbuckers, and from the fact that I’d play a lot on the bass pickup. But then maybe a year after that record was recorded, I switched to a Stratocaster. The Gibson was cool ’cause it had a six-position switch, but it was really too much on the low end and too bright at the high end. And I especially like that Fender sound for rhythm playing. I’ve been a Fender man ever since.”<\/p>\n

His main ax is an ugly green ’64 Strat with jumbo frets. He recorded most of Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark<\/em> with that one, alternating with a ’57 sunburst Strat (pictured on the cover of last year’s Grammy Award-winning Strong Persuader<\/em>). On tour, he also carries a new American Standard Strat that contains the pickups from another ’64 Strat he had. He also has a red Japanese reissue Strat with low-impedance pickups. The American Standard Strat has a maple fingerboard; the rest of Cray’s guitars are fitted with rosewood.<\/p>\n

Live, Cray plays through two Fender Super Reverb amplifiers. In the studio, he uses a set-up of a Super Reverb and a Twin Reverb. On stage, he sets his volume on five, the treble and middle on 10 and the bass at about four. The bright switch remains on and the reverb is set at about three, though he says, “I’m looking for a different reverb sound now … maybe an SPX90 or some Lexicon system.”<\/p>\n

Until then, the guitar roadie will continue to walk out on stage and crank up the reverb during Cray’s solo on “I Can’t Go Home,” then turn it back down to three before heading for the wings. It’s a primitive method, but then Cray hasn’t yet gone in for any pedals or effects whatsoever. “I’m just a plain o1′ guy,” he laughs. “Just straight to the amp for me and I’m off and running.”<\/p>\n

He uses D\u2019Addario strings, fairly heavy gauge — .O11, .013, .018, .028, .036 and .046. He plays with extra heavy tortex picks and will occasionally reach in with his third or fourth finger to pull at the strings, a la Albert Collins.<\/p>\n

Cray doesn’t use the wang bar, but shakes the strings pretty nicely with a natural vibrato he’s developed. “I worked that out a long time ago from listening to B.B. King stuff,” he says. “And also, I used to play with real heavy strings, like a .013 on the high E. I didn’t know they made lighter strings for the longest time, so I just kept struggling with these heavies. Now, if I ever pick up a guitar with light gauge strings and really let loose on a .009, it goes right off the neck.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Robert Cray is one of the current blues sensations that is still touring the world, so look out for him in a show near you.\u00a0 Cray always has a great band backing him up and puts on a great live show.\u00a0 I hope you enjoyed this feature about Robert Cray; be sure to stay tuned for more artist features like this coming your way!<\/p>\n

Thanks,<\/p>\n

Griff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most interviewers have asked Robert Cray if he considers himself a blues guitarist.\u00a0 The answer that I have been able to find is that Cray draws inspiration from the blues, but also incorporates Soul, R&B, and Gospel into a lot of his own music.\u00a0 This mash up of music styles have helped Cray define his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3011\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}