tone is in the fingers?

[tim098]

Im gonna pick up guitar soon because i love it and i want to make TUNES, something that i cant with drums. (although drums is and will be my first love)

So, people have advised me to go slowly look/lsiten at what i want and all then slowly decide what guitar and amp to get. What i wanna know is how true u guys think the statement "tone is in the fingers" to be? thanks!

 

[dir]

Real tone comes the heart, but that's the crazy in me talking. To a certain extent, tone does come from your fingers, since you are using them to fret, and you can train them to produce the kind of tone you want. but tone also comes gear, your picking style and a lot of other factors. Just because you have short or fat or only 3 fingers doesn't mean you can't play guitar, or play well for that matter.
be prepared to practice a lot.

*cue youtube vid of handless man playing guitar*

 

[THOA]

Skill is in the practice, tone is in the equipment and style is in the soul.

 

[Gates]

Skill is in the practice, tone is in the equipment and style is in the soul.

/claps

I agree with this chap. Well said.

 

[dir]

I just want to point out, and as many good folks have shown, that you can actually have good tone with less than ideal equipment. knowing the limitations of your gear and how to work around/with them is integral to finding your tone.

 

[tim098]

thats what i ve always thought and believed myself, after meeting people with excellent gear but horrendous playability, and also people with the most basic of gear but amazing sound. Haha.

But yes i do agree that good gear can possibly take u to the next level

 

[dir]

yes, but only if you need to go to the 'next' level. Ask yourself if you are ready to go the next level first. Some people blindly buy stuff and think it can give them 'godly' tone, but in the end they're not really capable of utilising its true potential. (most of these guys are rich anyway, so whatever..)

if you think you're ready, then go get that '62 jazzmaster and a twin reverb reissue and don't look back!

 

[RoRK]

Sound is what you hear. Tone is what you feel.

Tone should not be seen/heard from a single note but from overall playing. How hard and at what angle and with what you hit the strings is important from the right hand. From the left-hand, it depends on where you fret the string, how hard and how you apply vibrato. Then there are pull-offs and hammer-on techniques.

Gear can be bought but finger/hand techniques has to be nurtured. Always look towards getting 'feel' into your playing - I guesstimate that only 5 out of 100 guitarists can play with feel. The others just stream across the notes. And it all boils down to having good finger/hand techniques.

If you can translate your emotions to your instrument well then chances are that you will have good to very good tone - because people can 'feel' your playing - your emotions.

Cheers
RoRK

 

[hifi_killer]

if you care too much about tone, you'll never be able to feel your playing.
Tone is overrated

 

[RoRK]

Having sex with someone you love has more feel.

 

[dir]

sometimes having sex with someone don't care about has more feel too
wait what are we talking about here

 

[THOA]

Unlike most people, I like to define the word "tone" in the literal sense of it, I guess:

tone - Definitions from Dictionary.com

If the term "tone is in the finger" is true, then we all would settle for a starter kit unit already.

Instead, we spend hundreds and thousands to hear a certain sound come out of our guitar. To me, that is TONE. Tone is the signature sound that a guitarist make with his guitar. A guy playing the same song will have two different sound when played on different equipment. Whatever sound that comes out will be subjected to preference you will like one sound more than the other.

That is why there are guitarist out there (and in this forum), no matter how good they are, is forever searching for that ever elusive "tone" ie they embark on a "tone quest".

As a drummer, I believe you should understand what I am talking about: material used for the set, the skin, the stick, cymbals etc all factors in to that certain tone. Maybe it is not as predominant in drums (I wouldn't know, though) but I for sure know a couple of guitar peeps here who are very meticulous with tone. Why do you think the modern guitar greats want certain customisations done for the instrument they play? Cos they want to hear good things from what they play. That is tone.

You can be a great player; every nuances, picking and bending you do is tip top, you are as SKILLED as Satriani, but a 10 watt amp isn't gonna Give you the TONE as much as a full stack tube marshall would. You listen to a nice song, it takes you through many emotions. You hear a nice tone, you will feel it and that will certainly give your playing the extra edge in SOUL.

SKILLS + TONE = Signature SOUL

$0.02

 

[RoRK]

I can assure you that if you bought the same gear as Eric Johnson that you will sound unlike Eric Johnson if you don't utilise the same fingering techniques as him.

Tone is of course a function of equipment and fingering technique. But so is sound. Have you ever heard anyone mention, "That's a very good sound you have" or "I love that sound from your guitar".

Chances are ziltch. They'll always use the word tone instead of sound. And no one has ever mentioned "good tone" after hearing a single note being played.

It's elusive and not clear cut. LIke all artforms, there are many ways to go about it. We all know that what we eventually hear, ie sound, is made up of equipment and technique.

It's the getting there that is the BIG QUESTION. But to get there, one must first define the term/word.

Defining the term/word hence forms one of the most important aspects because it then sets the stage for a goal to be achieved.

So, do you want to get lost even before the battle has begun or do you want to try to find a good answer from which to work with? Or there is always the option to disregard the question altogether.

Regardless of which instrument you play, if no one mentions that you have a good tone or that you play with feel then it is time to introspect and look at ways for improving your tone. ANd tone to me is intertwined with playing with feel.

That's how I like to define it and I'd like to think that it has served me well.

Cheers
RoRK

 

[THOA]

Lol. Ok let's put it in that context:

A skilled lover choosing sex with Angelina Jolie and sex with err.. Barney. Who do you think he will pick?

(Rhetoric question. PLEASE do not answer that )

Same with guitars: between a Suzuki SG with SX 10 watter and a Fender anything with Ceriatone equipped Vox.

So when someone tells you to "slowly look/lsiten at what I want and all then slowly decide what guitar and amp to get," that is the best advice to get. In fact, that's the advice nearly all of us give when some unknown newbie say "Hi. I'm a newbie. What guitar should I get?", right?

 

[THOA]

It's the getting there that is the BIG QUESTION. But to get there, one must first define the term/word.

Well, I guess that the definition of tone is just too subjective to be defined. Threadstarted wants to know how true is that statement. Answer is that there are too many schools of thoughts. Like Rork said it is a matter of what you want to achieve out of your guitar.

I think best is to NOT even ask that question, because when you start out, you basically just wanna play. Tone/sound/style/whatever means squat to you.

But yes, get a good amp and a guitar you feel comfortable with.

Cheers!

 

[RoRK]

Er, thread title says "tone is in the fingers". It's a two-part question in the first post.

IMHO, it's not a question of right or wrong really BUT how best to get to where one wants to go. And in this case, where one wants to go is elusive.

There will be differing views other than that tone = gear + technique. While the gear part is quite scientific the technique part isn't. So it is imperative to look into the technique side of things and see what it entails and to see how technique can lead to better/good tone.

To me, that means playing with feel. To you it may differ. To someone else, their thoughts may differ from ours.

To each his own but one shouldn't discount playing with feel because without it, music can become mindless and tiring.

 

[THOA]

To each his own but one shouldn't discount playing with feel because without it, music can become mindless and tiring.

No, bro, I am not discounting feel at all. Of course technique and feel is important. I think what I am trying to define is the word "tone" itself; and I define tone as what you hear when you strike that note on different equipments. That is not the right answer, perhaps. But that is MY answer.

Speaking from personal experience, I didn't really sit down and really push myself with my guitar for the first 8 months, all because I don't like what I hear and I don't feel the mood to practice. In fact I barely touched it. Not that it's a bad guitar, it's a good one. It's only after I changed my pick ups and got myself a pedal that I'm finally motivated to play (took me that long to acquire them cos I was putting money in for other things taht are equaly important).

When I finally put it all together and started playing around, I stopped procrastinating my practices, heh.

I know that this is an invite to be flamed, but I am just recounting what I honestly went through.

 

[dhalif]

i dont really care about tone, got sound can already.

 

[RoRK]

Haha, dhalif got a funny bone.

Hmmm, me thinks - what if???

With these two premises

1) Sex with someone you love has more feel
2) Tone isn't important, got sound already can

What could be a probable conclusion ? ? ? ? ?

 

[lester_music]

Tone is in the equipment....but feel is in the fingers....

But that does not mean u have to spend lotsa money on equipment....

As long as the equipment has decent tone..it is fine...

A cheap amp and a cheap guitar can can produced good music if played with good feel....

Many pros I know locally used normal(not high-end) stuff after going thru a series of GAS....many said...do u think the audience will be able to tell the difference...hell no..why should I spend on my equipment...just decent sounding equipment will do....