Members 2pacHendrix Posted September 12, 2009 Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 I know, like we haven't heard that one before :poke: Well anyway, last week I was at my dad's friend's sister's house and she told me her daughter had a guitar, but it was missing two strings and probably out of tune. I told her it was fine and asked her to bring it out. Turns out it was a Pink Daisy Rock acoustic missing the G and high E string. Being the genius I am, I tuned it oddly so I could play chords with the four strings. The 6th string was tuned to an A, 5th to D, 4th to G and 2nd to B. Ok, I'm not a genius, I tuned it that way on accident, but it sounded good. I could play a C, E, Am, Em, and any others you could do with the middle four strings. The daisy rock surprisingly didn't suck. I was actually digging the finish and how good the neck felt. I was playing it for a good hour and so many people were complimenting how good I was making a cheap acoustic sound and I heard someone say "I guess the tone is in the fingers, right?" Then, I had a lightbulb moment... Oh yes, he was right. And did I mention, I REALLY liked the pink finish? It may be my next guitar purchase when I get the money, or not Anyway, I know many people here agree that the tone is in the fingers and I never really cared either way, but now I definantly agree with it because It was a cheap-o acoustic and I'll admit I can be a corksniffer sometimes /Pointless story and now you can carry on with your lives. I just wanted to share that experience with you guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mazi Bee Posted September 12, 2009 Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pink freud Posted September 12, 2009 Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 Tone is in the electrons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benzem Posted September 12, 2009 Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 Kinda tootin yer own trrombone there aen't ya? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamdogg Posted September 12, 2009 Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 dude that's old news. this is what captain hitop says @ TGP (and i agree): I jam reasonably regularly with a guy who says 'your amp sounds so much better than mine' so i swap leads and play through his amp. i then fiddle with the tone and volume on my guitar (sometimes a tele sometimes a lp) and then he says ' your guitar sounds so much better than mine' so we swap guitars and i fiddle with the tone and volume on his guitar (varies). Then we repeat the process ad nauseum. I've now played for 20 years and i'm becoming convinced it's in the ears and then the fingers. Hope you all find your tone . Sorry if off topic. CH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ColoradoFenderB Posted September 12, 2009 Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 The OP is my hero! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MichaelSaulnier Posted September 12, 2009 Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 Sorry to bust your bubble dude... But EVERYONE KNOWS... Daisyrock guitars... they sound great. So it was the guitar, NOT you... M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jelloman Posted September 12, 2009 Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 I believe that while a percentage of tone is in the equipment, alot of that tone is due to experience...the longer you play, the better you practice...that experience contributes to the development of touch and the ability to wrestle usable tones out of any guitar... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 2pacHendrix Posted September 13, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Sorry to bust your bubble dude... But EVERYONE KNOWS... Daisyrock guitars... they sound great. So it was the guitar, NOT you... M The truth hurts, sometimes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lennontv Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 dude that's old news. this is what captain hitop says @ TGP (and i agree): this is very true.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members newbuilder Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Tone is in my bone. But I touch my bone alot with my fingers, so I think it's rubbing off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cade Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Tone is in my bone. But I touch my bone alot with my fingers, so I think it's rubbing off. you stoled my responze... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Tone is in my bone. But I touch my bone alot with my fingers, so I think it's rubbing off. I just spit Pepsi on the floor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cade Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 I just spit Pepsi on the floor! Pepsi...yeah, we know the truth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SuproSuper Man Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 TONE IS NOT IN THE FINGERS ! it all depends on how you define tone, and what you consider tone as opposed to voicing , note articulation, note phrasing , attack, etc... even if you have lets say a distinct slur in your playing when you play your favorite jimmy page riff that slur will still come threw no matter what.., that is just your style of playing that riff, its your own way of voicing those notes, whether you play that riff on a strat, or a tele or a les paul or a banjo your voicing will still most likely shine threw always no matter what stringed instrument you play,,, but lets be very clear here, the tone of a strat and a banjo are totally different , so even though your style of play and the way you voice the notes will shine threw on a strat or a banjo, the tone of that riff will sound different on a banjo than it will on a strat....if the tone of a strat or banjo or tele or humbucker or single coil didnt matter at all and if tone was just a matter of how you played with your hands or fingers, then nobody would be able to tell if eddie van hallen was playing eruption on a electric guitar or if he was playing it on a banjo since as you say tone is in the fingers. BUT since the "tone" of eddies electric sounds much different from the "tone" of a banjo we could probable therefore tell the difference, and as well some of the sounds eddies fingers can create on his electric may not be able to be reproduced on a banjo ,,, ah maybe thats why he chose the equipment he plays and not a banjo after all......could it be eddie likes the tone of his gear over the tone of a bango or even a stock gretch..? instrument type , pickups, amp, length of cable , etc all are tone makers. While your hands and your finger attack and timing are what contribute to your own unique voicing of the notes , your personal signature so to speak , your voicing will most likely come threw no matter what string instrument you play ,,,just as i can recognize BB kings voicing shining through if he plays his electric or if he plays an acoustic,,,even though the tone of those two instruments is vastly different his voicing of the notes is his own , and is unique.... people on these forums for some reason tend to use the word TONE as a broad brush to encompasses everything. and at times confuse tone with other aspects like the the individual players personal dynamics of playing the note phrasings that impart that individuals own unique guitar voice ... Im sorry but i laugh when i hear people say pickups dont matter, and that tone is all in the fingers...the way you voice slur and attack the notes is whats in the fingers that give you your unique musical voice, ,,,the tone on the other hand comes from the tone of the equipment one uses like pickups and amps etc....just try and tell EVH or brian may or santana that you want to take their gear and pickups away from them because all they need is their fingers and a banjo to keep on sounding the way they sound and see what they say...lol... I'd love to have santanas equipment so i could have his tone , but i play differently than him, so although i can steal and have his tone i can most likely never naturally have his unique voicing of the notes..we each have our own guitar voice or identity and can express it using guitars and gear that have a variety of different tonal textures to them.. classical violinists seem to have a better grasp on the terms , but they have been formally analyzing and picking apart the factors that makes up there sound for the last couple hundred years now, while the electric guitar community and the jargon we use to describe what produces our sound is only about half a century old ...we need to work on getting the terminology straightened out still... tone vs voicing the notes... so what, does what ive said make any sense or do you all think im way off base here ??? ...just curious..? wow that was a short concise post/reply :blah: sorry.. cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Echad Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Nice one, SuproSuper Man... This thing reminds me of Leo Fender, calling his vibrato unit tremolo, and everyone still keeping the wrong label. It adds to confusion even more when there are real tremolo effects around... Oh, and what about guitars with bolt-on necks, which never had any bolts in? They are mounted by screws. Guitarists are just like that. But... Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWl0YJN5Xf4 Speaking about several generations of kids in music shops playing it the wrong way. It hurts my ears every time I hear it being played wrongly. Well, it's his tone. Ritchie Blackmore sounds like he always sounds, even with a mandolin... Yeah, maybe the voicing term would be more correct here. To add to everything, the fingers depend on the gear much more than the gear depends on the fingers. You won't get squealing pinch harmonics, infinite sustain and heavy palm-muted chugging on low gain with no extra equipment (sustainers, preamp, etc.), you won't do a dive without a whammy (be it a physical, or a digital one), and so on... Fingers are useless by themselves. People who say that a good guitarist can play on everything need to try out some Soviet guitars. At least their acoustics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Carbohydrates Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 This thing reminds me of Leo Fender, calling his vibrato unit tremolo, and everyone still keeping the wrong label. For sure. For a while, I decided to call it a vibrato, but then nobody knew what I was talking about. Also, "definitely" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mnhhngbfs Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 if tone is in the fingers, are open notes considered toneless? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Echad Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 For sure. For a while, I decided to call it a vibrato, but then nobody knew what I was talking about. I usually call it whammy when speaking about the bar itself, and vibrato when speaking about the effect it does... But I still refer to non-fixed-bridge guitars as the tremolo-equipped ones. And I won't call a bolt-on construction screw-on. Ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Spike Li Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 if tone was just a matter of how you played with your hands or fingers, then nobody would be able to tell if eddie van hallen was playing eruption on a electric guitar or if he was playing it on a banjo since as you say tone is in the fingers. haha priceless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ihavenofish Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 so what, does what ive said make any sense or do you all think im way off base here ??? ...just curious..? way off base. youve taken the argument and twisted it to mean something it doesnt to prove what noone was arguing in the first place.... well, noone sane anyhow. the way you pick, what you use to pick, the position on the string do indeed have dramatic effects on tone and simply changing picking style can have as much or more impact than many other so called big tone sources on the guitar. wood species for example. it is certainly not the only factor, but it is very high on the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Help!I'maRock! Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 For sure. For a while, I decided to call it a vibrato, but then nobody knew what I was talking about. Also, "defin itely" i always call it a vibrato. because that's what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jamdogg Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 way off base. youve taken the argument and twisted it to mean something it doesnt to prove what noone was arguing in the first place.... well, noone sane anyhow.the way you pick, what you use to pick, the position on the string do indeed have dramatic effects on tone and simply changing picking style can have as much or more impact than many other so called big tone sources on the guitar. wood species for example.it is certainly not the only factor, but it is very high on the list. Yes. Guitars do not play themselves. And every player plays differently yet can sound worlds apart on identical gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members hellion_213 Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 so what, does what ive said make any sense or do you all think im way off base here ??? ...just curious..? cheers. Totally agree. I think you covered the fact that fingers and playing style do contribute and voice the guitar. There are so many things that can make a difference, ever how slight they may be: I mean everything from the wood used, to the cap, the neck, the pups, the bridge, the nut, the strings, the elecs., hell maybe even solder type, jack, cable-type/size/gold/etc., amp, cab-wood/open-closed back/etc./speaker type/etc., pick, fingers, humidity, blah, blah, blah. It's undefinable IMHO how much each affects 'tone'. But, a crappy amp, combined with crappy pups isn't going to help one acheive tonal nirvana, no matter who's fingers are playing the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members prolog Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 if tone is in the fingers, are open notes considered toneless? Only if one doesn't play fingerstyle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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