Jump to content

Sorry, but tone is definantly in the FINGERS!


2pacHendrix

Recommended Posts

  • Members

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.

 

sorry if you think i twisted the argument , alll i was trying to do is make the distinction and differentiate between the use of the word "tone" and the word "voice" ....imo tone gets miss-used in ways that are not so much about tone and are more about the players personal style and technique...

 

if a famous acoustic player stuffs a towel into the hole of his acoustic guitar and plays it, the tone of the guitar will change to a muffled tone, yet his style and the way he voices his notes with his fingers or pick will remain the same , yet the "TONE" will be much more duller with that towel stuck in the guitar hole....

 

so if fan of that famous guitarist says i like the dull tone of that guitar player , then the response would be for him to go stick a towel in his guitar and he will get the same "Tone" as the famous guitar player,,,but on the other hand if the fan says i want to sound exactly just like the famous player then thats a matter of trying to copy that players personal guitar voice or style and the answer to that is that no towel in the sound hole or change in tone alone is gonna help you get that,,,,only many hours of studying that players voicing will or may get you close to copying his style...tone id easy to copy just buy the same gear and set it up the same, style and voicing on the other hand take a lot of hard work and practice to emulate...

 

so if the original poster implys that his guitar voicing and playing style come threw no matter what guitar he plays then that makes sense, but you can not make a one guitar , or pickups or amp sound like another simply by the way you use a pick or your fingers, thats all tone related stuff ,,,the tone of brian mays guitar is different than hank marvins strat, yet brian mays guitar voice will probably still shine threw on either guitar ...

 

 

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

 

 

lol...:lol::lol::lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 


so if the original poster implys that his guitar voicing and playing style come threw no matter what guitar he plays then that makes sense, but you can not make a one guitar , or pickups or amp sound like another simply by the way you use a pick or your fingers, thats all tone related stuff ,,,the tone of brian mays guitar is different than hank marvins strat, yet brian mays guitar voice will probably still shine threw on either guitar ...


 

 

thats not the argument though, which is why you are off base. voicing and style are not the issue - or at least only a small part of it. TONE can be changed dramatically with just fingers.

 

you wont make humbeckers sound like singles by changing picking technique, but you can make more difference than wood type, or even the tone knob and some simple eq-ing.

 

i think the core argument is the players tonal manipulation, added to the style overrides everything else in making the guitar sound "good". and there IS tonal manipulation though in the fingers - quite alot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

thats not the argument though, which is why you are off base. voicing and style are not the issue - or at least only a small part of it. TONE can be changed dramatically with just fingers.


you wont make humbeckers sound like singles by changing picking technique, but you can make more difference than wood type, or even the tone knob and some simple eq-ing.


i think the core argument is the players tonal manipulation, added to the style overrides everything else in making the guitar sound "good". and there IS tonal manipulation though in the fingers - quite alot.

 

then we must differentiate between tone derived by hands on strings from that of tone derived from gear such as guitar material , body type, pickups, amp etc...

 

a persons style their guitar voice can be manipulated by say plucking the strings near the bridge or closer to the neck, as well as various other physical methods of playing technique, but still even if they do that the gear the guitar itself has a set tone and frequency range characteristic. so therefore no matter what the player does to manipulate the tone of attack the instrument is set in its limits of what it can do,,,if a cheap playwood body acoustic guitar has a limited frequency range then no matter what the player does he can not make it sound like a 5000 dollar martain that has a full bodied full range frequency response...the player may mimic some of the tone but in the end he must find the gear or guitar that is capable of a better range of frequency response...that is if they want to sound like or have the expressive range of the martin....

 

yes we can manipulate tone output of an instrument using various hand technique, but all that technique in the world wont enable you to have the same tone you had on a Stradivarius violin when you then go pickup a 50 dollar plywood violin...

 

can we or you please not use the word argument i prefer the word discussion...and this is a very important discussion in that it helps us all to get deeper into what factors combine and are at play to create the final sounds we hear coming from a guitarist..

 

saying that fingers are the end all to all your tone woes is not correct, as is saying that a simple pickup change alone will make you sound and play like EVH...what all the factors do and what they all contribute to the final outcome must be better understood and defined so that players better understand what role each part plays....

 

what is tone ?

what is finger created tone?

what is instrument and gear created tone?

what is your guitar voice?

what factors make up your unique guitar voice/identitiy?

what factors make up your unique gear tone?

 

 

and there is the gray areas of over lap that can occur in between all the above ...:eek:

 

sorry to OP didnt mean to hyjack your thread...and im not arguing this stuff just trying to bring out more perspectives and ways of how we look at what makes up the final sound.. so if i sounded argumentative sorry all..im in good spirits :)

 

cheers later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Tone is in the pick!
:p

 

...this is correct...

 

...for a broader axiom...perhaps

 

....Tone is also in da picking material ....or anything contacting the strings on either hand in the production of music/tones

 

...be there fingers ...or plastic picks...or coins/pesoes....or...brass slide...etc etc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

...this is correct...


...for a broader axiom...perhaps


....Tone is
also
in da picking material ....or anything contacting the strings on either hand in the production of music/tones


...be there fingers ...or plastic picks...or coins/pesoes....or...brass slide...etc etc

 

 

Yeah, May got a bit of his sound from using a coin... I originally learned bass-like fingerstyle and nail-strumming playing. Only then came the picks. So I'm quite familiar to to how the picking hand does affect the tone. More than most people think...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

thats not the argument though, which is why you are off base. voicing and style are not the issue - or at least only a small part of it. TONE can be changed dramatically with just fingers.


you wont make humbeckers sound like singles by changing picking technique, but you can make more difference than wood type, or even the tone knob and some simple eq-ing.


i think the core argument is the players tonal manipulation, added to the style overrides everything else in making the guitar sound "good". and there IS tonal manipulation though in the fingers - quite alot.

 

 

Exactly. Take one guitar, one amp, two guitar players same settings between them and there will not only be a difference in their voicing (vibrato, slurring, note duration characteristics, etc. or where they play the notes on the neck) but the spectral content will be different. As you mention their manipulation of the tone will be different from each other and can be unique to the individual. For any given guitar tone is something that can be shaped by the player. Hence, tone is in the fingers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...