“You don't need a wall of Marshall stacks in order to really be dark": Tom Morello on how acoustic music can be just as ‘hard’ as metal

Tom Morello and Joe Bonamassa - two modern-day masters of the guitar. What they have to say about the instrument is usually worth listening to and indeed they’ve each been dispensing some sage advice this week.

First up Tom Morello has been talking about his acoustic folk rock project The Nightwatchman on an edition of the Poltrocast podcast and how singer songwriter-style material can be just as forceful as metal.

"I was always drawn to hard music,” he said. “And first, that was metal, and then it was punk, and then it was hip hop. And it wasn't until, really, my 30s where I discovered those first couple Bob Dylan records and (Bruce) Springsteen's 'Nebraska,' and digging back into Woody Guthrie and Joe Hill and Phil Ocks."

"And I was just like, 'This music is hard as anything, man.' Like, you don't need a wall of Marshall stacks in order to really be dark."

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Meanwhile Joe Bonamassa was a guest on the Zak Kuhn Show. The blues maestro was reflecting on the urge that many guitarists have incorporate larger and more elaborate rigs. In his eyes you don’t need tonnes of gear to find the right tone.

"You're gonna sound like you,” he told Kuhn. "You don't have to spend a lot of money. A Peavey Classic 30 will get you home. It doesn't have to be bourgeois."

“I'm the king cork sniffer, I'm telling you that. And I've seen Robben Ford play rented Twins and sound like Robben Ford. You're gonna sound like you. I've also seen him use the Dumble and it sounded amazing. But he also sounds amazing to a rented Twin. He's Robben Ford. And that's really the bottom line."

He then went on to talk about the abundance of online advice when it comes to gear and how for many newer players it may be confusing. "My thing is, don't read…” he insisted. 

“You could read, but don't take as gospel internet information written by people that don't have gigs to play. In my experience, those are the loudest voices and also the most uninformed because the people that don't chime in are actually too busy gigging and figuring it out.”

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"And there's no right and wrong," he added. "You do whatever you want, however you want it, when you want. That's the beauty of this all. And it's all subjective."

"If you're happy with your sound, you're happy with your playing, and you're inspired, and you're making music and you're playing - what more to life is then at this point?"

In other words, block out the noise and just listen. To yourself... and your guitar.