Affects on Tone

Its all in the fingers, or is it?

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MakoGat
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Affects on Tone

Post by MakoGat »

Im gonna start a keyboard war.... hehe....

A while ago I began thinking on. "What Affects Tone".... Its all a little bit tongue in cheek...

How you pick, or use fingers (its all in the fingers LOL), nails
What type of pick, thickness, shape, material, coin
Alternative methods string vibration / pickup of sound - Drill, Ebow, teeth, voice (ever tried talking into a pickup!), bow
Fretting location and force
Type of guitar, design, materials, timber, finishes, scale length, frets, weights, age
Paint type, thickness, or not
Nut material, fretboard material (the old Rosewood / Maple war)
Neck join, neck plate material thickness
Bridge, block, springs, trapeze
Strings, materials, gauge, wrap, age
Pickups, age, type, output, magnets, location, height settings
Setup of guitar, action, intonation
Wiring, vintage or modern, wire used
Electrics, pots, values, tapers, caps, treble bleed, materials used
Cable, impedance, length
Effects, cable run lengths, bypass, voltages, positioning
Amp, solid state, valve, EQ, wattage, components
Amp Cabinet, materials, open or closed back
Amp Speaker db, magnet, size, wattage, age, materials
Room i.e location all this is being used

Ive probably forgotten a few things, my brain hurts from thinking, feel free to add anything relevant.

My intention I guess is, just think of everything involved, for example, those $300 pickups to sound like SRV sorry just wont do. You can attempt to "sound like" ... sound like YOU, make your own sound, experiment, learn, research, enjoy.

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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by Slowy »

Mood.

Actually, there's one thing that colours the tone equation for me:
I'm lucky enough to have friends who are fearless, capable and distinctive players.
I've also been privileged to enjoy evenings where a track is laid into the Trio and one guitar is passed around for everyone to say something. (Often, it's my 54 Strat).
In each person's hands, the guitar sounds distinctive. It sounds like the player.

And yes, an old ES125 sounds different to a Strat which sounds different to a Les Paul Junior; we've done these and many more.
But in each case, the guitar sounds like the person playing it.


And one more thing:
A lifetime of tone chasing in your lounge means squat the moment you hit a stage. Unless you're lucky and significant enough to be in the hands of a talented producer/engineer, stage sound is all about survival; finding that space where you can hear and be heard.


IMHO of course. :lol:
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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by harveysj »

Slowy wrote:But in each case, the guitar sounds like the person playing it.
This! 100% this

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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by Bg »

Yes and no....
Having spent an hour or so chasing a tone this afternoon- with the same gear and patch on the Helix. I'd say guitar/pickup type and selection make a great deal of difference. If you think they don't then you should just own one guitar.
Tone is in the fingers? No, style is in the fingers, tone is in the gear - especially the tone pot if it doesn't have t-m-b.

I'm guilty as we all are of confusing style with tone.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by Slowy »

Bg wrote:Yes and no....
Having spent an hour or so chasing a tone this afternoon- with the same gear and patch on the Helix. I'd say guitar/pickup type and selection make a great deal of difference. If you think they don't then you should just own one guitar.
Tone is in the fingers? No, style is in the fingers, tone is in the gear - especially the tone pot if it doesn't have t-m-b.

I'm guilty as we all are of confusing style with tone.
Interesting.................. :think:
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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by jeremyb »

Picks were a big surprise to me, but everything has an effect on tone, even the temperature in the room!
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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by MattH »

Bg wrote:Yes and no....
Having spent an hour or so chasing a tone this afternoon- with the same gear and patch on the Helix. I'd say guitar/pickup type and selection make a great deal of difference. If you think they don't then you should just own one guitar.
Tone is in the fingers? No, style is in the fingers, tone is in the gear - especially the tone pot if it doesn't have t-m-b.

I'm guilty as we all are of confusing style with tone.
I'm not sure I agree. Tone also includes things like how clean you hit the note, how hard you hit it, where you pick in relation to the bridge, whether or not you use fingers - all that jazz has an effect on tone. The gear helps, for sure, but in the end it's polish for the turd!

Anyway, it's semantics. Why not have all the gear AND the skills?

:)
All the gear... absolutely no idea...

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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by Bg »

MattH wrote:
Bg wrote:Yes and no....
Having spent an hour or so chasing a tone this afternoon- with the same gear and patch on the Helix. I'd say guitar/pickup type and selection make a great deal of difference. If you think they don't then you should just own one guitar.
Tone is in the fingers? No, style is in the fingers, tone is in the gear - especially the tone pot if it doesn't have t-m-b.

I'm guilty as we all are of confusing style with tone.
I'm not sure I agree. Tone also includes things like how clean you hit the note, how hard you hit it, where you pick in relation to the bridge, whether or not you use fingers - all that jazz has an effect on tone. The gear helps, for sure, but in the end it's polish for the turd!

Anyway, it's semantics. Why not have all the gear AND the skills?

:)
I'd argue that is more the players style not tone.... yes it will affect the tone but its still a particular individuals style.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by willow13 »

jeremyb wrote:Picks were a big surprise to me
yeah I got a shock the other day when I was recording and was struggling with a clean part that was sounding to bright and punchy. I use steel picks so my thinking was to try various "plastic" style picks that I have and i'll find one that sounds "softer" .. but to my surprise they were all brighter than my steel one :shock:

By going through this process I was amazed at how different each pick sounded...obviously it isn't as noticeable when using a decent amount of gain but it is still there


Re OP ... all I know is regardless of what I am playing through amp wise I still sound the same, but I do find that using different style of amps (and pickups to some degree) makes me play differently...but I do still sound sort of the same

I think of it this way ... Guitars have a sound ... amps have a tone :thumbup:
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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by willow13 »

MakoGat wrote: ... sound like YOU, make your own sound, experiment, learn, research, enjoy.
this is the most important thing you typed ... this is ALL that it should be about. The research part should be real physical research not staring at you tube videos for 8hrs a day chasing "tone" with your eyes. To know what an amp sounds like you need to be in the room with it because tone involves air movement and environment not just the noise coming out of the speaker
Last edited by willow13 on Wed Feb 19, 2020 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by hamo »

You're all wrong. There's only one thing that affects tone: how much money you spent on your rig.

Ok two things. There's also what people on the internet say about your gear.

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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by Olderama »

Dont forget hearing fatigue



i said

Dont forget hearing fatigue
:mental:

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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by willow13 »

hamo wrote:You're all wrong
I'm never wrong
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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by MakoGat »

That moment when the hair stands up on the back of your neck, the air / sound pushed by the speaker is felt in your guts, creation seems to flow and all thing outside that moment seem to disappear . . . .

. . . sorry, was dreaming there. Yes theres a lot to it, a mood, a moment - try a rig & setting today and go back to the exact same thing in a weeks time, is it the same.

Oh and on picks, try a silver sixpence!

The main post was things to consider / be conscious of, thanks for the comments.

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Re: Affects on Tone

Post by godgrinder »

jeremyb wrote:Picks were a big surprise to me
Even the angle you're holding the exact same pick makes quite a bit of difference. This sounds much chunkier than the usual way but also impossible to play fast. Not a problem in doom bands though. :rofl: I've been using it a lot in the past 2-3 years.
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