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Too locked up on tone?

Silenced Fred

By Silenced Fred
in The Gibson Lounge

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Artie Owl

Artie Owl

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It's the same on car forums.

 

So many people there are talking about all the crap mods they make to their sunfires or civics that don't do squat, or very little squat and brag about it like it's something.

 

-blackened out lights

-Ugly Spoilers

-Annoying Fart Cans on exhaust

-NEW AIR INTAKE +3 HP

-Took the seat belts out of my mom's Cavalier now it goes faster

 

They're annoying no one talks about the actual driving. Me personally I like the tone I get off my guitar and amp, I've never really felt the need to swap this or buy that, but some people can't be happy with what everyone else has.

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Silenced Fred

Silenced Fred

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When it sounds good.

 

But, what I'm talking about is the people who complain about the gear they have, and can never seem to get "that sound"

 

At what point should you just play, and let the sound transfer to you.

 

It's hard to describe, but I'm having this problem

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RichCI

RichCI

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what sounds good today might not sound good tomorrow [blush] even the BEST of the BEST have tones that evolve with time

 

Yup, but not a lot. I've been playing for around 30 years and my tones still vary now and then. I say "tones" because there are a few I use with my band and then there's what I use at home. But, I don't fiddle with my gear when it sounds good to begin with and, after playing for all this time, it doesn't take long for me to adjust my gear when something seems a little off.

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RichCI

RichCI

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But' date=' what I'm talking about is the people who complain about the gear they have, and can never seem to get "that sound"

 

At what point should you just play, and let the sound transfer to you.

 

It's hard to describe, but I'm having this problem[/quote']

 

If you're happy with your sound, then there is no problem.

 

For me, it's less about how the guitar sounds but more about how it reacts to my playing. Sure, the actual sound is important to me, but the guitar has to perform well with the amplifier so that it feels a certain way when I play it. If it doesn't feel right, I don't care how it sounds until it does feel right; it's a balancing act.

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Silenced Fred

Silenced Fred

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If you're happy with your sound' date=' then there is no problem.

 

For me, it's less about how the guitar [i']sounds[/i] but more about how it reacts to my playing. Sure, the actual sound is important to me, but the guitar has to perform well with the amplifier so that it feels a certain way when I play it. If it doesn't feel right, I don't care how it sounds until it does feel right; it's a balancing act.

 

Well said.. [blush] It makes a ton of sense actually. Thanks

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Silenced Fred

Silenced Fred

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Im happy with my tone. Your tastes change as you get older. I used to love gain' date=' but as I aged I backed off on it

and now keep it to a minimum. Thats when your true tone comes through.[/quote']

 

Yup, I hardly ever use gain, just the amps volume, and playing with the pickup volumes as well. I go through phases

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RichCI

RichCI

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Well said.. [blush] It makes a ton of sense actually. Thanks

Cool. To elaborate, it's kind of the amount of tension or resistance I feel from the strings and the way the neck vibrates. It's a combination of things including pickup height, preamp and poweramp overdrive and compression. It all adds up and my band rig has several points where overdrive/compression occur that I can adjust when it feels a little off (usually due to humidity effecting the speakers) but, even then, I try not to fuss with it too much - especially when first firing it up - because I know that after playing for a while it'll settle in after everything is warmed up.

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RichCI

RichCI

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I love gain, always have. At home,I usually play fairly cleanly with just a little bit of dirt, but with band... YAAAAARRRR!!!

 

At home I can't go for power tube dirt because I live in an apartment and you can't go blasting a 15w Blues Junior but the Blues Junior sounds fine at low level using gain for dirt.

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Silenced Fred

Silenced Fred

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I likes me my gain....and yes i am constantly tweaking my tone but i'm not a modder...it certainly has changed as I have aged and it will continue but i will say....i REALLY like my current tone i'm working with right now!

 

I am finding for of a balance in gain and its uses. Before, it was crank up the gain, and never back down. Now I find that the swells, the differences, that's where the music is. It's just as much an art to play, as well as to find when to play what.

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Notes_Norton

Notes_Norton

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Tone is a very subjective thing.

 

What I think is perfect tone, will probably not be what the next person thinks is perfect tone.

 

After all, who has/had perfect tone? Hendrix? Slash? Pass? Les Paul? SRV? Terry Kath? Lukather? Vai? Page? Gale? Remler? Jim Hall? Beck? Burrell? Santana? ____? (add your own name). And with which gutar/amp?

 

Plus I change my tone from song to song according to the needs of the song. If I'm covering a 50s song by Elvis or Muddy Waters I'm not going to use the same pickup configuration or setting on my multi-fx box that I would doing an Eagles or Grateful Dead song. I don't have one tone, nor do I want one tone.

 

Since there are so many variations of guitar tone, odds are what I think is perfect tone will not be considered perfect by the majority of the audience members who actually care.

 

So I figure as long as my tone is "in the ball park" for the kind of music I am playing, and as long as it allows me to express what I want to express, it's good enough.

 

Speaking of expression, I think expression trumps tone any day. After all, how many singers have become famous, and thrilled millions of people even though they had a voice that would be considered poor to adequate by most people? I couldn't count them all.

 

So does that mean we shouldn't care about tone? No, that's not what this means. We are musicians and we listen with "different ears". The majority of the public will never hear what we hear and tone is important to us -- as it should be. But it has to be put in perspective, and we have to know it is secondary to musical expression.

 

As far as I'm concerned, "The pursuit of perfect tone" is a marketing slogan to get you to become overly obsessive about tone, and buy more gear than you need. Of course you have the right to disagree.

 

Jimmy Page will probably always sound better on that cheap Danelectro he played that I could ever sound on any guitar ever made (but I bet I play better saxophone than he does). It is up to me to practice, work on the fundamentals so that what is in my head can be transferred to my fingers, get the best tone I can with the equipment I have to work with, and most of all, connect with the audience and try to convey an emotion from my soul to theirs.

 

Insights and incites by Notes ?

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Twiz

Twiz

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This might sound weird but, for me, I just try to get my tone as close to Eddie Van Halen's as possible. I guess my sound is some variation on his idea of a good tone. -Maybe some Billy Gibbons and Matt Pike mixed in there too. I like just enough gain to give my tone some oomph, but I also like to be able to hear all the notes I play if I hit a chord or something.

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Thundergod

Thundergod

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I'm happy with my tone.

 

I usually buy a guitar only after playing it and knowing it's what I want.

 

I don't really worry about changing pickups.

 

IMO if you buy a guitar you have to like how it sounds. If you don't like how it looks you can always change stuff (plastic, pickguard, hell you can have it refinished or put an AXEwrap on it), most aestetically "upgrades" can be tried using photoshop first and you'll know if you will end up liking it or not. But if you don't like how it sounds there's no way of telling what's what you don't like. Maybe you'll change pickups to some hand wound wonders to end up not liking the sound anyway, and nobody's gonna pay you more for your used guitars because of electronics upgrades IMO.

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Shnate McDuanus

Shnate McDuanus

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Jimmy Page will probably always sound better on that cheap Danelectro he played that I could ever sound on any guitar ever made (but I bet I play better saxophone than he does).

 

Sorry Notes' date=' I'm gonna have to disagree with you there.

 

[img']http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/ae23/Jospa1126/Random%20Silliness/pagesax.jpg[/img]

 

See...not many people know this, but Jimmy Page was also an accomplished saxophonist. [blink]

 

EDIT: Here's Page using his famous "violin bow" technique:

 

pagesax2.jpg

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Riffster

Riffster

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I agree with Rich, except I have been playing only 5 years so I will borrow from his wisdom on the subject.

 

At this point I am really happy with all the gear I have and tweaks are minimal or just to add variety to my sound.

 

On a side note here is something funny, I play with some guys that love 90's music, rock and pop. That is my only opportunity to play in a band situation currently. Although I like the music my heart is not into this music but it is cool to play with them.

 

I just feel I don't put 100% effort.

 

A few weeks ago another guitarist was invited and he had fluid playing and was a lot more into 90's music. I thought I was done or at least would drop in the line to 3rd guitarist.

 

Not so, he was not invited back. I was surprised so I asked, the guys told me the solid state Crate amp and LP copy the other guy was playing almost pierced their eardrums, I was sort of behind his amp so I thought he sounded OK. The guys cumplimented my tones and overall sound...gear saved the day.

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charlie brown

charlie brown

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Posted

Well, for me...the better player, you become, the easier it is, to get "great" tone!

Regardless of guitar and amp...beyond what You love, in those combinations, anyway.

I suspect, that a lot of the "tone chasers," we experience, on this forum and others,

are chasing someone else's tone, that they happen to like/love, but aren't concentrating

enough, on actual technique, or their own chops, instead. And, we all know, that developing

"chops" is a continual learning process. Dissatisfaction (with tone or otherwise), comes from

impatience, frustration, and boredom...IMHO. Plus, let's not forget, or underestimate "Marketing,"

by the manufacturers. ;>)

 

CB

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