You don't HAVE to use a strat or other single coil guitar to emulate the surf sound, but it may help.

It can be done on just about any plank, even those with humbucker pickups, such as the Gibson SG, Les Paul Junior, etc.

I remember one cat who did a great job on his Gibson ES-335.

The "RECIPE" is as follows:

*Bridge Pickup

*The longer the string length, the better. This means that even if you can play certain note in higher positions, if you can play that note down closer to the nut, by all means play it there.

*Lose every bit of any studied articulation you may have worked on, such as the kind of picking used for Jazz runs, try to avoid Circle Picking, instead use a slightly more flexible pick and hit the strings darn near perpendicular for both up and down strokes.

Most Important Part:

*Pick some target players or songs, Dick Dale readily comes to mind, and internalize them. Learn to play them. That will give a beginning 'pallette' of phrases, devices and whatnot that can translate into the beginnings of emulating the style in other songs and places.


--Mac

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