Eric Johnson

• The tone lives in the pick angle — Johnson holds the pick at a steeper angle than most players, which produces a different attack character
• Alkaline batteries only in effects — Johnson has said he can hear the difference between battery types. Whether or not this is measurable, it is genuine to his approach
• The Strat neck pickup is used for most leads — the smooth, creamy character comes from this pickup position. Bridge pickup is too aggressive for the Johnson lead tone
• No gain beyond what the amp naturally produces at medium volume — there is no external distortion pedal for the main tone. The Dumble or Plexi provides all the saturation
• Vibrato is wide, slow and immediately applied — study "Cliffs of Dover" for the benchmark. It is deliberate, ornate vibrato, not frantic
• Thumb-over-neck grip — Johnson wraps his left thumb over the neck for access to lower strings, similar to Hendrix and SRV. This affects the reach and feel of chord voicings
• Practise scales over backing tracks at very slow tempos — Johnson has cited slow practice as the foundation of his technique. The melodic sophistication requires hearing every note
• The Boss CE-1 chorus adds width on solos — a very subtle rate and depth adds dimension without making it obviously "chorus"
• Pentatonic plus major scale hybrid — Johnson moves freely between pentatonic minor, major, and modal scales within the same phrase. The sophistication is in the note choice, not the scale system

Eric Johnson is obsessive about tone at a level that few guitarists reach — he can hear the difference between battery brands in his pedals, insists on vintage tubes, and produces a creamy, singing lead tone that represents the absolute pinnacle of Stratocaster tone.