Tone - subjective opinions

[alexreinhold]

Disclaimer: this thread shall NOT be a debate on what influences tone - we've all read the hundreds of pointless discussions and articles online. That's why I'm posting it in off topic.

One of the things I really dig about this forum is to learn about different approaches to guitar playing from forum members. So I'm actually interested to hear your SUBJECTIVE opinion on what influences your tone according to you. Here's my ranking:

1. Fingers (yup, I still tend to sound like me, even playing my friends' rigs)
2. Amp and signal chain
3. Pickups and pickup positions
4. Body wood and size (i still "feel" that heavier bodies sound heavier)
5. Neck wood - maybe... I think this is more an illusion on my part

 

[mayfly]

I actually think that ears are first.  Here is my reasoning:

1 - You hear what you are playing and what it sounds like.
2 - you don't like it
3 - you do 'stuff' to make it more the way you like it.  This could be fingers, amp settings, etc etc.

So I think it starts with your ears.

 

[BroccoliRob]

#1 by far: Amp + fx + mic + studio magick
#2 pickups

Then like the last 5% is everything else (wood, "fingers", moon cycle, Chakra alignment, etc)

when ppl say "I sound like me thru everything" thats more like the technique part of the sound, not the tone part of the sound. ur sound is a combo of playing style/technique + the actual noise u make. Like sure if EVH was reanimated he/it would "sound like EVH" thru a squier tele into a blues Jr, but we know that isnt really the same "sound" as a humbucker guitar + a 5150. and as a corpse his ability may not be very good for a while assuming tissue decay isnt a problem going forward. really itd be a better plan to craft some sorta EVH style ex machina cyborg/android thing. perhaps a small one (aka humunculus) that would be easier to subdue if it turned on humanity in a rebuke of our collective and morbid hubris

and give it a power cable that's only 6 ft long (or like 2 meters for you metrical ppl) so it can't chase or escape. when its like "hey where do u guys keep the extension cords? No reason." we can be like "nice try, humunculus Eddie, not today. get back to your corner. your tapping has gotten sloppy. And don't try to blame it on Garry, he's the best necromancer/automaton maker that we could afford and the Dark Arts aren't perfect. Keep practicing."

so yeah I'd say amp and pedals are mostly responsible for the final" tone"



Edit: I know I know, "rob, hologram technology has gotten pretty good, why not use that?" and yeah, i get it - holograms can't interact with the corporeal so it would be safer, but i think with the right safety protocols the ex machina rout is the best. why go to the trouble of bringing him back if he's just gonna look like some dumb blue digital projection from a Star War?

 

[Jebberz]

Playing bass, my take on tone tends to differ.

1 - Hands (or pick), using different techniques, and playing near the bridge or near the neck, will change drastically my tone.
2 - Strings :  Flats VS trounds VS different materials will make a difference
3 - Pickups
4 - Rest of signal chain (that I try to keep most neutral as possible, transparent OD when I'm using one)

The only exception is when I use effects heavy sounds (Fuzz/Octave/Chorus/Auto-wah) to get into Synthy sounds territory, at that point effects are the things that affects mostly my tone, but I use this mabe 1 song per set?

 

[TBurst Std]

Definitely it’s technique. Call it fingers if you want, but it’s more than that.

After that, it depends at times on what you play.  If it’s effect heavy, say with multiple delays, then signal chain.  I can pull of the Edge for example regardless of Vox, Mesa, Fender amp and regardless of LP, Strat, Gretsch. As long as I get that delay.

Still I think Trevor nailed it.  We tend to adjust our technique to accomplish what we want to hear. 

But even with that, at least for me, I always sound like me, regardless. 

As an analogy: season and cook it however you want: beef is beef, pork is pork, fish is fish, chicken is chicken.

Your technique is the root, everything else is seasoning and cooking method.

 

[Rick]

Just go down the chain ... Mojo Ears hands room amp speaker effects  eletronics strings pups bridge body wood neck wood neck joint fretboard wood ... And on and on

 

[alexreinhold]

Let's put it this way. EVH would sound more like EVH on a blues jr playing a squier Tele than me playing a Frankenstrat through a 5150...

I think the chain goes something like this then:

1. ears are the king
2. fingers are the soldiers following the king's orders
3. amp/cab/signal chain is the soldier's heavy armor
4. pickups are the soldier's knife for close combat
5. woods, bridge, strings, etc. are the soldier's basic supplies

am I taking this too far?  :dontknow:

 

[Seamas]

As far as the "tone" is in the fingers go,:
While I am pretty much going to sound like "me" on any guitar, that is due to technique and note choice more than tone.
I sound like "me" in many ways when I play a D-28, but that tone is RADICALLY different from when I play a 00-17, or a telecaster through a Deluxe Reverb, or an SG into a Marshall.
My pickup selector and tone knob on my Strat change my tone.

 

[Rick]

Too far ... nah.  You need a framework and setting it that way is as good as any.  In fact, probably better than most as it makes sense, though a bit warlike.

 

[teleme01]

pot

 

[stratamania]

pot

Audio or Linear, 250K or 500K? Volume or tone, type of capacitors used. Far too many variable for one word perhaps...

 

[alexreinhold]

pot

Audio or Linear, 250K or 500K? Volume or tone, type of capacitors used. Far too many variable for one word perhaps...

Exactly what I was thinking. But here we go morphing to the lowest level of tone

 

[Rick]

True, should be PG ... post self moderated.

 

[stratamania]

pot ... I thought weed, LOL.

I was being diversionary to bring it back to something related to guitars and tone rather than something off topic.

 

[BroccoliRob]

so like are we sayin' technique = tone?

Neil peart would "sound like Neal peart" on any drumkit (becuz his technique), but any two diff drumkits and their acoustical auditorial textures (what i would call "tone") can vary wildly

 

[stratamania]

Perhaps it might be of use for those interested in it to be aware of some objective differences between tone, timbre and texture. "Tone" is often misused as a catch all to mean timbre or something else.

For example an instrument has a timbre. So one guitar will have a timbre and another guitar will have a different timbre.

Within a different instruments timbre the tone can be changed by for example the turn of a tone knob to turn down the treble response but the overall timbre remains the same. Similarly the player by the use of his touch, dynamics, technique etc influence the resulting tone within a given timbre of the instrument.

So the following are all different things:

• Timbre
• Tone
• Texture
• Touch
• Technique

Many elements of the above may contribute to what is loosely called "tone".

But where does it all start is in the heart, soul or mind of the player, who then manipulates an instrument and finally it arrives to the listener as sound via their ears and perhaps may also touch their heart, mind or soul as music.

All the gear, pickups, amps, pedals etc in between may be thought of as paraphernalia to produce sound that is used by a musician to create music.

 

[alexreinhold]

so like are we sayin' technique = tone?

No - we are saying that no matter how much you (over)-engineer your rig, at the end of the day you will still sound like you once you apply some technique (which we naturally do as we play). There's an infamous interview with Nuno where he recalls playing EVH's rig, just to find out that he still sounded like Nuno. He said that was the moment he learned to be happy with his sound.

But where does it all start is in the heart, soul or mind of the player, who then manipulates an instrument and finally it arrives to the listener as sound via their ears and perhaps may also touch their heart, mind or soul as music.

Or that - without being a cork sniffer or overly romantic, I'd agree with this statement 100%. Of course, the degree of the uniqueness of our sounds differs across genres, too. It'll be harder to differentiate players when they play Angel of Death over the same rig than when the play, say, Brothers in Arms..

 

[teleme01]

pot

Audio or Linear, 250K or 500K? Volume or tone, type of capacitors used. Far too many variable for one word perhaps...

my apologies ,  thought i was being clever 

 

[Sadie-f]

pot

Audio or Linear, 250K or 500K? Volume or tone, type of capacitors used. Far too many variable for one word perhaps...

my apologies ,  thought i was being clever

I appreciated your thought! I don't often practice stoned, usually I like the results when I do

 

[BroccoliRob]

so like are we sayin' technique = tone?

No - we are saying that no matter how much you (over)-engineer your rig, at the end of the day you will still sound like you once you apply some technique (which we naturally do as we play). There's an infamous interview with Nuno where he recalls playing EVH's rig, just to find out that he still sounded like Nuno. He said that was the moment he learned to be happy with his sound.

then what does "tone is in the fingers" mean? to this right dude here we got sev'ral  (three main) things that go into #YourSound (no brissrespect to Stratomaniac, he's a chill bro and i love him like a father who went out for a pack of smokes and actually came back but let's break it down):

1. Tone: guitar, strings, tuning, pickup, pedalz, amp (all the electric stuff and wood), speaker cab room, mic, mixing console, digital eningering manipulation

B. techinique/"fingers": style, phrasing, speed, touch, speed, flair ("To Divebomb or Not To Divebomb" - Hamlet), note choice, mode choice, mood choice, how u vibrato, sloppy or tite, picking technique, speed, etc.

Ω: enhancers: anything deliciously mind altering like Hypno-Ranch, hard milk, carbonated BBQ sauce, monster energy ham, or plain ol boring drugs lol