Electric Guitar is the most difficult find good tone instrument?

[BluesNRock87]

Re: Electric Guitar is the most difficult find good tone instrument?

yea violin is really hard to find tone, also HARP, i have a friend that plays both and ive never heard her once say she was somewhat happy with her tone (also cello), just about any stringed, non electric instrument id say,

[kill your scene]

Re: Electric Guitar is the most difficult find good tone instrument?

why violin itīs a difficult instrumet to get a good tone?

Non-fretted instruments are notriously finicky. Not only do you have to worry about tone, you also have to worry about PITCH. Guitar players and any other player of fretted instruments has a very defined area in which to manipulate the strings. Players of violins, violas, cellos, etc, need to develop better ears because whether or not they're even playing the correct note depends entirely on their listening abilities and musical talents.

Also, a guitar is manipulated simply by strumming. You can apply many, many different right-hand techniques, but it's nowhere near as subtle and nuanced as a violinist's. If you don't know what I'm talking about, listen to a new violin player who doesn't even know how to rosin their bow. Then go and listen to first chair violin player in the London Philharmonic. It's obvious that it takes a LOT of skill, time and patience to play a violin.

Don't get me wrong, it takes a lot of skill, time and patience to play a guitar, too, but it's really a different ballgame.

[Jonny R]

Re: Electric Guitar is the most difficult find good tone instrument?

Also, with Violins and other instruments in the same family Dime is right, there is less to tweak.

However, they still chase the holy grail of tone.

Look at how much gets paid for Stadivarius or Guaneri (sp?) violins - and they get played too, not just stored.

Yehudi Menuhin received a Stradivarius worth $60,000 as a gift at one stage

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Electric Guitar is the most difficult find good tone instrument?

People worry too much and play too little

[Jono_L]

Re: Electric Guitar is the most difficult find good tone instrument?

Also, with Violins and other instruments in the same family Dime is right, there is less to tweak.

However, they still chase the holy grail of tone.

Look at how much gets paid for Stadivarius or Guaneri (sp?) violins - and they get played too, not just stored.

Yehudi Menuhin received a Stradivarius worth $60,000 as a gift at one stage

$60K for a Stradivarius is very cheap. I saw an violin expo that had 2 Strads - each was valued at USD$3.4million. No joke either. I've never seen a guitar rig that cost a couple million as of yet

As a violin player, its definitely a lot harder to get a good tone out of it. Pitch doesn't worry me - the longer you play, the easier it becomes, and you can always make quick alterations to get it perfectly in tune, and it gives very good ear training. Tone is a different issue - no matter how good your pitch may be, how good your instrument is, if you have bad technique, you have bad tone. Besides right hand technique, left hand technique also very much affects tone - the best tone is achieved by lightly pressing down the strings, but not all the way; you need a fairly light touch. Vibrato is around 20 times harder than on the guitar (and after playing for a good 11 years, I still dont feel that I'm techincally proficient when it comes to vibrato on the violin). Bowing technique makes a world of difference too.

Violins CAN be tweaked to a certain extent - it is up to the skill of the tech (or in my case, my teacher) who works on the instrument. Ever wonder why the bridges are in the funny shape that they are in, with teh various carvings? Various bits can be carved away ever so slightly, depending on the players taste, to give an audibly different frequency response. No, it wont turn a $60 pawn shop violin into a Strad, but you can tailor your tone. Definitely a lot less to tweak than a guitar rig though, and requires a lot of skill to tweak - instead of turning knobs, you're using a knife on the bridge, and if you screw it up, you'll have to start on a new one.

Being a rather serious Violin/Viola/Guitar player, I'd definitely say that its a lot harder to get good tone with a Violin/Viola.