Very Odd...

[charlie brown]

Well, it's happened, yet again...I find that things that used to sound "awesome,"

sound less so, now...for some odd reason. I'm not doing anything different, than

I've always done, but sometimes, for no particular reason, pedals, and even amp

settings, don't sound the same, as they did, and are therefore, much less satisifying.

WHT??? I don't know WHY this happens, but it just does, from time to time. Even

when I was playing (out) as a "kid," I used to experience the same odd experiences.

 

Does this happen to any of you, at all??? :unsure: And, if so, what

(beyond waiting it out) do you do, about it?! If anything...

 

CB

[AlanH]

I put it down to variations in my own "form." If you subscribe to the view that 90% of tone comes from your fingers then this could well explain it. Sometimes I do knock my favourite settings on pedals/amps which can also affect things but, on the whole, it's when I'm playing poorly or very well that I notice changes in tone the most.

[Riffster]

I notice it too like when the amp speakers have more humidity and you can't dial anything good.

 

But I think what Alan mentions may explain a good part of it, frankly when I am having a day when I can't dial anything I simply do not play, but then again I have that luxury.

[quapman]

I have heard this one come up before. And I expect there will be the plethora of physical reasons regurgitated yet again that humidity, temp and lunar pull on the pup magnets all affect tone,, but I think it is just a simple phenom.

 

You know how sometime you look at a word, and it is spelled right,, but it just looks foreign? And no matter how hard you look at it it still looks weird?

 

Well I think sometime that same phenom happens to our ears.

 

Then again,, maybe sometime I just drink too much wine ;)

hehe.

[charlie brown]

Yeah, it's like some days, I can sit for hours, noodling away, and loving the sound of things,

including my pedals, and amp! Other times, like today...NOTHING sounded right, and I haven't

bumped or changed A THING!

 

I DO know what you mean, about "off days" playing wise. I have those, too...like anyone else.

Moods, bio-rhythms, "whatever!" But, I don't know whether to laugh, scream, or cry...when this happens,

as there's no "warning," really...so, I can't really prepare for it. So Frustrating!!

 

Of course, it's much better, that it happens at home, and not at a gig! But, I've had that experience,

as well. NOT GOOD!!

 

CB

[Bender 4 Life]

the human brain NEEDS change to remain active....and making us think a normally satisfying event is no longer as satisfying is how it makes us bring about the change it needs to grow.

 

if not for this "phenom" we'd likely still be huddled around a campfire in our cave entrance, naked filthy and wondering where our next meal would come from.

 

some of us would even still be using tube amps..........

[stein]

Is that like having a "bad tone day"?

 

I hate bad tone days.

 

I have NO idea what the cause is. I know there are so many possibilities, and that on any given bad tone day, it could be any one of those, or a new reason I never knew.

 

Generally speaking though, a bad tone day DOESN'T mean I have bad tone, it just means I THINK I have bad tone. The question of wether or not I actually DO have bad tone is subjective. Maybe I do maybe I don't.

 

That is to say, I believe I have good tone nearly all of the time. A bad tone day is when it doesn't live up to my expectations or hopes.

 

To join the fun, here's some possible reasons. I don't say 'to help' because they won't- there is NO CURE:

 

HEARING DIFFERENT: maybe the day before you hammers your ears with noises, or maybe it was quiet when it usually isn't. Maybe a cold. Day to day hearing is seldom the same each day, we don't always takes notes when we do things to our ears.

 

PERCEPTION DIFFERENT: maybe the hearing is exactly the same as yesterday, but we are unusually perceptive and paying attention.

 

CHANGE IN REFERENCE: maybe just heard a band, or another rig. You didn't really pay attention or judge it, just took it for granted. But if it sucks, you come home and all of the sudden yours sounds amazing. Or the other way around.

 

SOMETHING ACTUALLY DID CHANGE: maybe you did nothing, but perhaps the quality of electricity is bad (it does fluctuate), maybe a cable needs cleaning. Maybe a tube is acting up. Someone mentioned humidity. You perhaps COULD be hearing something is different because it is. You just have no clue what.

 

MAYBE YOU CHANGED SOMETHING: maybe you haven't noticed that the one black cable that looks like the others isn't like the others. Or a pick DOES make a difference.

 

YOUR MOOD: I have heard it said that humans actually have no capacity to remember sound, but we rather remember feeling associated with it. Or notes we keep in our head, like remembering something had a lot of bass or was bright, but we can't reproduce bass or bright in our head. So, reproducing the EXPERIENCE you had with the tone you were having yesterday is not hitting you the same today.

 

UNKNOWN REASON: haven't leared this one yet.

 

UNKNOWN REASON #2: space reserved

 

UNKNOWN REASON #3: space reserved

 

UNKNOWN REASON #4; space reserved

 

UNKNOWN REASON #5-10: space reserved

[badbluesplayer]

My perception of my "tone" is constantly changing and I almost can't trust it anymore. I always could make things sound differently by "squinting" my ears, and now my brain does it by itself.

[D-poland]

Is that like having a "bad tone day"?

 

I hate bad tone days.

 

I have NO idea what the cause is. I know there are so many possibilities, and that on any given bad tone day, it could be any one of those, or a new reason I never knew.

 

Generally speaking though, a bad tone day DOESN'T mean I have bad tone, it just means I THINK I have bad tone. The question of wether or not I actually DO have bad tone is subjective. Maybe I do maybe I don't.

 

That is to say, I believe I have good tone nearly all of the time. A bad tone day is when it doesn't live up to my expectations or hopes.

 

To join the fun, here's some possible reasons. I don't say 'to help' because they won't- there is NO CURE:

 

HEARING DIFFERENT: maybe the day before you hammers your ears with noises, or maybe it was quiet when it usually isn't. Maybe a cold. Day to day hearing is seldom the same each day, we don't always takes notes when we do things to our ears.

 

PERCEPTION DIFFERENT: maybe the hearing is exactly the same as yesterday, but we are unusually perceptive and paying attention.

 

CHANGE IN REFERENCE: maybe just heard a band, or another rig. You didn't really pay attention or judge it, just took it for granted. But if it sucks, you come home and all of the sudden yours sounds amazing. Or the other way around.

 

SOMETHING ACTUALLY DID CHANGE: maybe you did nothing, but perhaps the quality of electricity is bad (it does fluctuate), maybe a cable needs cleaning. Maybe a tube is acting up. Someone mentioned humidity. You perhaps COULD be hearing something is different because it is. You just have no clue what.

 

MAYBE YOU CHANGED SOMETHING: maybe you haven't noticed that the one black cable that looks like the others isn't like the others. Or a pick DOES make a difference.

 

YOUR MOOD: I have heard it said that humans actually have no capacity to remember sound, but we rather remember feeling associated with it. Or notes we keep in our head, like remembering something had a lot of bass or was bright, but we can't reproduce bass or bright in our head. So, reproducing the EXPERIENCE you had with the tone you were having yesterday is not hitting you the same today.

 

UNKNOWN REASON: haven't leared this one yet.

 

UNKNOWN REASON #2: space reserved

 

UNKNOWN REASON #3: space reserved

 

UNKNOWN REASON #4; space reserved

 

UNKNOWN REASON #5-10: space reserved

 

 

I see in myself, that this too happens, the more I continue on in this journey I notice that shortly after a bad day and maybe a little break that in some way my abilities have made some sorta progress/ improvement!not really an earth shattering event, but it is a welcome event none the less! so has any one else observed that, and made that connection too?

[jdgm]

It's like Stein says, the mental gears are meshing different on a given day. I think the way to get over it is to unplug and play acoustically so all the tone is in your touch.

[lazarusvt84]

"I see in myself, that this too happens, the more I continue on in this journey I notice that shortly after a bad day and maybe a little break that in some way my abilities have made some sorta progress/ improvement!not really an earth shattering event, but it is a welcome event none the less! so has any one else observed that, an made that connection too? "

 

 

 

I too have 'bad days'...which tend to discourage me to the point of taking a day or two off....and when I come back....WOW! It's very gratifying!

[surfpup]

Interesting thread...

 

As for day to day changes... there are certainly times when the set up that sounded great yesterday just does not sound great today - especially if you are in a different room. I view that as a great reason to have a lot of options (pedals particularly). Something will work... hopefully

 

If after trying a few things you find you are still fighting your sound, walk away. It may sound good again tomorrow. If you are at a gig, however, you just gotta suck it up. Maybe it will sound better after a beer or two.

 

However, the OP though makes me think of longer term changes... The sound I had 10 or 20 years ago I thought was great. It wasn't great (and I have the recordings to prove it) I like to think each year my sound gets better. Part of that is having the "this sounds like $hit" moments" to make changes and move on. Maybe you are having one of those, CB?

[charlie brown]

Interesting thread...

 

As for day to day changes... there are certainly times when the set up that sounded great yesterday just does not sound great today - especially if you are in a different room. I view that as a great reason to have a lot of options (pedals particularly). Something will work... hopefully

 

If after trying a few things you find you are still fighting your sound, walk away. It may sound good again tomorrow. If you are at a gig, however, you just gotta suck it up. Maybe it will sound better after a beer or two.

 

However, the OP though makes me think of longer term changes... The sound I had 10 or 20 years ago I thought was great. It wasn't great (and I have the recordings to prove it) I like to think each year my sound gets better. Part of that is having the "this sounds like $hit" moments" to make changes and move on. Maybe you are having one of those, CB?

 

Could be, surfpup, could be??! Very odd weekend, tonally. I've use the same pedal board, and Amp,

often...not "always," because it depends on veune, but often.

 

Used it this weekened, at a rehearsal because I wanted a bit more "clean" headroom. Big mistake.

I should have taken my small Solid State Japanese Fender "Sidekick 35 Reverb, as this otherwise

awesome tube amp I was using, sounded fine absolutely clean, but with any type of overdrive, it was

"Ka, Ka!" My reaonable assumption, at this point, is that it couldn't be cranked up high enough,

volume wise, to not only get the warmer, and richer "clean" tones, but to have enough compression,

to get the nice tube saturated overdrive, to which the pedal then accentuates. The way it was, it

sounded anemic, and quite "harsh," even with the tone control on the overdrive/distortion pedal all

the off (which I never do), normally. So, it was another, in several disappointing days lately, tone wise.

Maybe I'm just getting too old, and "cranky" that way, anymore? LOL Who knows?!:unsure:

 

Not a very satifying feeling, I can tell you.

 

Edit: However...the good news was, that I got to play with my oldest and dearest friends

musically speaking, or otherwise, who are all of the right "attitude," and on the same page

musically, and who are also very good vocalists, lead and harmony. So, the vocals sounded

awesome..."goose bump" awesome! I'm sure, I'll get my "tone" thing sorted out, eventually.

So, it was still worth the time and effort, just to be playing with those great folks, again!

All of which, I've known, and played with, whenever possible, since High School. We don't

very often have that opportunity, as we all live in different states (local wise, that is..LOL),

these days. We DO seem to be in the same "state," in other regards!

 

CB

[RaysEpiphone]

Music does and will always convey emotion to any one in ear-shot, I will effect one in a few different ways depending on your mood when you hear it.

[milod]

Sight and sound are pretty complex senses.

 

Aside from environmental variables, we have to take what hits our eyes and ears and translate it into a sort of "streaming" through our brains.

 

I can't speak so much for hearing, but I can guarantee that color is as affected by the brain as it is by environmental variables. The difference is that it's pretty easy to run a given color through a machine to see if it's the same or different aside from either the environment or one's eyes and brain.

 

Sound... I think it's a little more difficult to handle even with those nice little realtime moving graphics we now have.

 

All kidding aside, I think that I'm less concerned about some "gotta be this way guitar tone" than most who've been picking a while. It's not that I don't care, it's just that within certain parameters for what I figure I'm doing, it doesn't really make any difference as a whole to a "piece" I might replay or that others might hear.

 

Technique? Definitely. Whether a traditional classical guitar or a given electric, the range of "tone" can be huge depending on our technique.

 

Our mental environment? Yup. There's also no question in my mind that what our brain has been translating from our ears will affect how we perceive a given color - Oops - tone.

 

I guess I just don't really worry about it. I do know that I did three pieces for Youtube a few years ago 'cuz guys here talked me into it. All three are with the same guitar, same amp, same settings. Each of the three sounds quite different to me. It's just how I played 'em and... Okay, that's what came out? That's what came out.

 

m

[charlie brown]

And yet, we all know it, when it happens...great tone, that is! When we have it ourselves,

and when we hear it, in other's, as well. That's why it's so frustrating, to have it

one time, and not have it the next...when NOTHING perceived, has changed. Technique?

I can see that, as being somewhat of factor, time to time...but, unless your technique

is so uneven, as to alter drastically, that doesn't (to me) account for it. Subtle

differences, sure. But, nothing like I've been witnessing, these past few days.

 

There is one possible explanation...line voltage. Both places, I've been in recently, are

old, have old ("original") wiring. Not being an electrician, I don't (truly) know how much

that really effects things, but I've been told, by amp techs, that it can "possibly" be

a factor. And yes, we all use surge protectors. But, what if the voltage is too weak?

For example, both my band mate, and myself, have experienced the exact same "flubby" speaker

noise (sounds like a blown speaker), in two seperate amps, but in the same overall location,

and wiring environment. However, plugged in, in other locations, doesn't always yeild the

same results. Sometimes it's "perfect," in one (other) location, and then it will do the

same thing, as in the rehearsal studio, in a yet 3 or 4th location. Now, is that the amp,

the wiring, both, or neither?! I've had all my amps checked, by a revered amp tech, regularly,

over the last 3 years, and they were all found to have NO issues, at all, over a week long,

daily trial, for hours at a time, at different times of day. We then concluded, as you might

expect, it "must be the voltage irregularities at the house, or some of the other locations.

But no once seems to be able to tell me, anything in that regard, for sure! "To many variables!"

 

;>b (Heavy Sigh)

 

CB