I think it depends on the look you want. Use can use coloured grain filler, or a darker tone of dye and sanding, or some sort of penetrating oil. Grain filler might not work as well on a tight grained wood like maple (you might be able to enhance that more a wire brush but I've never tried).
If you're going for a light colour I'd not use black. I'd go a darker tone of the colour you want to end up with. Try raising the grain with some water and then rub in the dye to try and get the colour down into the grain. I know that some people say not to wet wood whereas others say specifically to do it. Hard to know which way's right.
After dying (possibly a few times to really get the colour in) then sand back to lighten, hopefully leaving some coloured grain. I saw a video which did a faded denim colour basically like this.
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