Tone

[thor666]

i'll just put my 3 cents of what i feel about the term tone to us guitarists here.

often, i hear the argument "tone is all in the fingers".

on the other hand, some people also loosely use the term to describe a guitar's sound - "the guitar's tone is too harsh!"

and then you also have the dubious "tone" pot.

imo, these are different types of tone we're talking about.

the first one refers to tone using a technique. The way we do our vibratos, slides and bends can make up for a more appealing sound. I liken this to vocalists having different singing techniques. Since all these techniques affect the overall soundwave we hear, it's considered as a part of tone.

the second one imo, refers more to the timbre. Well, not exactly, since we do plug in our electric guitars to cables, pedals and amps. More accurately, the tone we refer to is the sound produced from the sum of all the equipment.

the last type of "tone" imo is more towards frequency. A capacitor installed at the tone pot shunts high frequencies at 0 and as u turn it up, shunts less of it.

so having said all these, i think each and every guitarist must look for his/her tone in a mix of all 3 types. A good balance is needed for the right tone for the individual

Any thoughts on this?

 

[glblues]

imho, there may be too many sub-categories you have there.

for me, there are only 2 categories:

- tone from your fingers (skill, composition, feel)
- tone from your equipment (strings, pups, amp, effects, etc)

the one thing to be concerned about is whether the sound that is produced is musical or not. is it tasteful? does it sound, played nice? and so on.

if what is produced is good, you have "tone" dude.

players like SRV used a combination of equipment and skill to pull off what he did.

put a crap player through SRV's exact equipment and of course he will not have tone.

i think alot of players overlook the fact that even with crap equipment, SRV would have gotten a good sound out of it, not just bec of his skill, but really listened to his sound and knew what to tweak.

those with good equipment and skill can still sound crap because they have no idea how to use their equipment. how much effects to use, how much eq, when their guitar is sounding bad from bad strings, low action, pups being too high, etc....

 

[thor666]

i can't agree more :wink:

 

[Mr_X]

I remember reading once on a website, interview with george lynch. He said there are 2 kinds of players. Like glblues said, from the 2 categories. He said some people get good tone from good gears, w/o it, they will not sound like themselves.

He also mentioned people like zakk wylde and EVH. He said these guys will still sound good even if plug into junk.

So in my humble opinion, there are 3 kinds of players out there. Some depend more on gear and others depend more on playing. Some are a mixture of both.

Just find something u feel that sounds nice playing that song. And if u like it, good tone for u. Just my 2 cents.

 

[BlackMoo]

I remember reading once on a website, interview with george lynch. He said there are 2 kinds of players. Like glblues said, from the 2 categories. He said some people get good tone from good gears, w/o it, they will not sound like themselves.

He also mentioned people like zakk wylde and EVH. He said these guys will still sound good even if plug into junk.

So in my humble opinion, there are 3 kinds of players out there. Some depend more on gear and others depend more on playing. Some are a mixture of both.

Just find something u feel that sounds nice playing that song. And if u like it, good tone for u. Just my 2 cents.

From my experience as a French Horn player, a good player with lousy tone is not as good compared to a technically poor player with nice tone, but that only applies to orchestral music, in guitar world, much technicality is required. Tone is just a flip of a switch away. So therefore, If you can play well, no matter how you sound like, you'd shine.

This is mainly the reason why I dun use effects unless I'm jamming or gigging, so you can focus on technical prowess, once thats good, pedal effects can further improve the tone produced.

Ok im talking alot of cock I'd just wanna say, dun rely on efx, its the basic tone thats more important than processed tone (amps, efx). Yeah i think thats what i wanted to say. :smt017

 

[Newbie]

BlackMoo: But its true. I do practise without amps and effects, in other words, not plugged in. Play my strat as though an acoustic, then keep playing till i can hear it loud can clear and the notes are accurately pressed down.

However, you tend to pick a little harder, and when you go guitar shops to try out guitars, when they turn up the volume for u, your sound will be very sharp and loud when you're playing clean. Lol depending on your settings though.