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fenderbender9

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Well I think all musicians care about what their instruments sound like. But only guitarists seem to be so obsessed with "tone". I've never heard a keyboard player or drummer even use that term.

 

 

On an electronic instrument, maybe not so much, but on a piano, it's the main reason people spend so much money to get a good instrument.

 

It's the third area of piano service (pitch, touch, tone) so I hear about it every day.

 

The tone of a new keyboard sample is the main selling feature of my S70XS.

 

Drummers are concerned with tone, and again, it's the reason they're willing to spend more on a trap set that would otherwise look the same.

 

For the purposes of this discussion, try to get a sound out of your axe that is appropriate for the music you're playing, but don't get obsessed with it to the point where you neglect the actual notes you're playing.

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On an electronic instrument, maybe not so much, but on a piano, it's the main reason people spend so much money to get a good instrument.


Like I said, I think all musicians want their instruments to sound good. Keyboard players are always in search of better sounding patch.

 

But the word "tone" is one that seems reserved for guitarists. And I don't see keyboardists/pianists and drummers changing gear all the time in search of better 'tone'. Every guitarist I've ever worked with seems to be trying out a new amp or speaker cabinet every few months.

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Like I said, I think all musicians want their instruments to sound good. Keyboard players are always in search of better sounding patch.


But the word "tone" is one that seems reserved for guitarists. And I don't see keyboardists/pianists and drummers changing gear all the time in search of better 'tone'. Every guitarist I've ever worked with seems to be trying out a new amp or speaker cabinet every few months.

 

 

That's because the financial outlay isn't nearly what we're looking at . . . .

 

Do you own a piano?

 

I sold a Lowery T1 portable organ because it sounded awful. The Farfisa Duo was much better, but when I had the money for a B3, I bought it for one reason . . . TONE.

 

There were lots of reasons I recently upgraded from the SY77 to the S70XS. The quality of the patches - tone - was right up there.

 

Anyway. . . .

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That's because the financial outlay isn't nearly what we're looking at . . . .


Do you own a piano?


I sold a Lowery T1 portable organ because it sounded awful. The Farfisa Duo was much better, but when I had the money for a B3, I bought it for one reason . . . TONE.


There were lots of reasons I recently upgraded from the SY77 to the S70XS. The quality of the patches - tone - was right up there.


Anyway. . . .



Didn't you just say that was a guitar player's mentality and that it was something that was largely out of your control? I THOUGHT I was AGREEING with you. :idk:

Whatever. I just never hear keyboardists or drummers sitting around talking about "tone". That's a guitarist's word.

Thread crap over.

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I love just sitting and tone hunting. I have a mesa boogie f-50 which is a rad and very versatile amp. Add effects and you've got a field day. I can tone hunt all day and never run out of options. Find who YOU are as a player. Look at a guy like Danny Gatton. INCREDIBLE player who got a bit of recognition but he never did anything that was innovative and set him apart from others. He sounded and played like most others. Though he could play faster and cleaner, He was never a household name.

 

Moral of the story: Find who YOU are as a musician. Find your sound, your licks, your personality with your instrument. You'll get much further.

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Also, there will always be someone better than you. But, if everyone is playing the same style and licks, we'll all be stuck in a box. Mix the feeling of the styles you like. If you were to compare SRV and Van Halen, you would never be able to compare them truthfully because they're doing different things. It doesnt make what the other person is playing any less important. We're all on a team basically. We're working together to advance the greatness of music.

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I love just sitting and tone hunting. I have a mesa boogie f-50 which is a rad and very versatile amp. Add effects and you've got a field day. I can tone hunt all day and never run out of options.



Also, non-guitarists should realize that many lead guitarists live inside their guitar. :poke:

(Meat Loaf said it, not me. :))

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ALWAYS look like you are having a great time performing. It will translate to the audience. Look at it like playing a part in a play. Be able to switch that persona on when your are performing even if your mood is 180

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Within the band, everybody's got to be getting something out of it. If they're not getting laid, paid, or creatively fulfilled, they won't last long.

WRT performing, the best advice I've ever heard was: don't complain to the people who DID come about the people who DIDN'T. In a slight variation, don't complain to the people who STAYED about the people who LEFT.

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Look at a guy like Danny Gatton. INCREDIBLE player who got a bit of recognition but he never did anything that was innovative and set him apart from others. He sounded and played like most others.

 

With all due respect...like HELL he did. Ever listen to Danny Gatton and Joey Di Francesco? How many guys combined country licks, blues and bebop jazz on a tele?

 

[YOUTUBE]PiX1kqBORaA&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]

 

[YOUTUBE]BR0grs9joy0&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]

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what's that supposed to mean?

 

 

80% or more of their mental bandwidth is devoted to their guitar at all times.

 

The remaining 20% may or may not be available at any given time.

 

I don't believe this myself... well, not entirely... but there may be a core of truth in there somewhere.

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Well the thing is that he may have been well known to players, but the thing that seperates the greats from the groundbreakers are the guys that do something that really sticks. For me, Gatton is one of my idols. The man could play like noone's business but when you listen to a record, there wasn't anything in his playing that you could listen to a clip and be sure that you were hearing Danny Gatton. That's the case with BB, SRV, Albert King, Clapton, and all of those players.

 

Gatton could play just as well as any of them and he indeed did make a living from it, but as far as being a true groundbreaker in a way that stuck around, it doesn't seem to have happened that way. For me, I'll always be influenced by his work and enjoy learning it, but his effect wasn't the same as Clapton, SRV, etc.

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More to do with style, I think.

 

 

True. But it's the style that plays into the lack of hit singles, I think.

 

The players mentioned above--Clapton, SRV, Van Halen, Hendrix---would all likely just be known only to other serious players and not be the major "name" legendary players they are today without having had hits.

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Well maybe i'm wrong. Tell me this then, why didn't he ever have the name that Clapton, SRV, Hendrix, Van Halen, and all those other guys have? What is it? He didnt have that name. BTW, I'm not arguing. I'm debating. lol

 

 

Ask Clapton, Van Halen and all those other guys what they tought of Danny Gatton and you'll get nothing but admiration, respect and "I could never do that in a million years'' comments. It was precisely because Danny Gatton was so different that he couldn't become popular. He was Beluga caviar to a world used to corn dogs.

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