I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

[Agileguy_101]

You know that phrase we toss around often, something to the effect of "If X player plays through any rig other than his/her own, they will still sound like themselves"?

It's not because they've reached some unattainable level of skill that lets them sound awesome no matter what gear they play. It's because they're playing the same notes and using the same phrasing, inflection, and other techniques that comprise their personal style that they would on their rig.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that tone isn't in the fingers. I'm just saying that a lot of what we think of as tone is actually just personal style.

 

[DarkMatter]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

True dat.

 

[Archer250]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

True, but that style affects tone. How you hold your pick, how hard you pick, where you pick: they affect tone and not by a little.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

You're both right.

 

[jumble jumble]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

It would be nice if we could get away from "how to sound like X" as being a catch-all term, and split it out into the two. How to get Hendrix's tone? Strat and a Marshall (I'm simplifying for the purposes of this post). How to play like Hendrix? That's a harder one.

But sometimes you might want to know how Hendrix got his tone, because you like the tone and you want to use it for your own playing style. In these situations, "tone is in the fingers" is a singularly unhelpful thing to read.

 

[voggin]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

Whenever I think of "tone is in the fingers," I think of Eric Clapton. Are there people out there who truly believe Clapton has the same tone on his ES 335 as on Blackie? (I like both of those tones, by the way...not wanting to turn this into an EC should never have switched to strats thread)

He may play in the same style, and he sure sounds better than me on either instrument, but it is fair to expect that you can better approximate Clapton's seventies tone on a strat and a fender type amp than on an SG thru a mesa.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

Whenever I think of "tone is in the fingers," I think of Eric Clapton. Are there people out there who truly believe Clapton has the same tone on his ES 335 as on Blackie? (I like both of those tones, by the way...not wanting to turn this into an EC should never have switched to strats thread)

He may play in the same style, and he sure sounds better than me on either instrument, but it is fair to expect that you can better approximate Clapton's seventies tone on a strat and a fender type amp than on an SG thru a mesa.

I bet that Clapton could better approximate Clapton's seventies tone on an SG through a mesa that I could on the exact strat he played through the Fender amp he played.

Gear makes some difference to how you sound, no question. I'd argue that your playing style matters more.

 

[CTN]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

I wasn't aware that this was a misconception....

tone is totally at least 80% determined by how you play the guitar... your technique, phrasing, etc etc...

The other 20% is a how the instrument translates your playing into a sonic realm, ie it's a product of the materials and construction of the instrument.

 

[DreX]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

I think it's funny that people are giving percentages in this thread and the other thread like it in the amp section, first to suggest that there would be consistency in the proportions regardless of the player, and then to imply some kind of precision in the first place.

 

[voggin]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

I bet that Clapton could better approximate Clapton's seventies tone on an SG through a mesa that I could on the exact strat he played through the Fender amp he played.

Gear makes some difference to how you sound, no question. I'd argue that your playing style matters more.

I agree. But that just demonstrates the differences between how people are using the word "tone." A strat through a twin has a certain tone. Clapton on a strat through a twin has an individual "sound". If you are using the word "tone" to describe the whole sound, then "tone is in the fingers". If you are talking about the inherent characteristics of specific instruments or pickups or amps or whatever, then gear is very important to that use of "tone."

So sometimes the question "how do I get Robert Fripp's tone on David Bowie's Scary Monsters" is better answered with "a les paul through pedal x" than "Robert Fripp could get that tone with a Precision bass through a transistor radio." I don't think the second answer, however true, is awfully helpful to a guy in a cover band seeking help for his 80s set.

 

[Big Flannel]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

I think it's funny that people are giving percentages in this thread and the other thread like it in the amp section, first to suggest that there would be consistency in the proportions regardless of the player, and then to imply some kind of precision in the first place.

Hey man, put your thesaurus down and try to form a coherent pragraph. Scratch that: type one sentence, one sentence of 8 words or more that actually contributes to this thread.

Why don't you start a thread of your own, buddy? Put forth a topic that we can all derail.

 

[phred]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

I remember an article in a guitar mag about Dimebag playing through Eddies gear before a concert in Texas. Afterwards he commented on how it did't sound anything like EVH.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

I think the problem is more misnomer than misconception. People use the word 'tone' too generally when they are sometimes talking about something else.

With regard to style providing the identity, I think it isn't just a matter of using your unique style when faced with the wrong gear. You can't just execute the same licks on different gear and still sound like yourself in all cases. A seasoned professional has learned how to adapt to the gear and still find their voice even when the current equipment they are forced to use is limiting their normal palette of expression. They know which things they do will work and which won't.

Below is one of my favorite examples of this (sorry, could only find a Russian vid site that had it). When Hendrix played "Hear My Train A Comin'" on The Dick Cavett Show, he was playing straight through an Ampeg flip top backed by Dick Cavett's house band. Not an ideal tone situation at all for him. It certainly restricted what he could do. No feedback or vibrato dive bombs, no fuzz pedals or wah-wahs, the guitar was mostly clean with little grit, but he had enough vocabulary to adapt and still have a wealth of things he could do to express himself uniquely. He even chose an arrangement and style to the song that was closer to the King Curtis/bandstand work he did prior, rather than how he might do it with the Experience at the time, because adapting was necessary given that situation.

Jimi Hendrix - Hear My Train A Comin' (The Dick Cavett Show 9 September 1969)
http://my.mail.ru/inbox/ironer/video/3542/3473.html

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

Tone is now and has always been in the gear...style is now and has always been in the fingers.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

Tone is now and has always been in the gear...style is now and has always been in the fingers.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hmmm . . . So you don't hear any tonal difference between picking over the neck pickup and picking way back at the bridge? Because the tone of the guitar completely changes to me when I do that.

Or the difference in tone between fingerpicking a part and using a plectrum? Same tone as well?

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

How about: tone = gear, style = player?

off u see did MRSAge, I m on tapa talk and auto correct is hating on me

 

[CTN]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

Tone is now and has always been in the gear...style is now and has always been in the fingers.

so you can hear the tone of a guitar idly hanging on the wall?

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

so you can hear the tone of a guitar idly hanging on the wall?

See, I can hear the tone of my fingers. In fact, sometimes they're so loud, they wake me up in the middle of the night.

 

[DreX]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

Tone is now and has always been in the gear...style is now and has always been in the fingers.

Maybe it's more than a misnomer, maybe people mistake style for tone. Like they think if you twist the knobs just so, you could pluck your guitar any which way and it would sound the same as when Santana plucks a note, not knowing how so much of what they hear is in the nuances.

 

[CTN]

Re: I Want to Clear Up a Misconception

Maybe it's more than a misnomer, maybe people mistake style for tone. Like they think if you twist the knobs just so, you could pluck your guitar any which way and it would sound the same as when Santana plucks a note, not knowing how so much of what they hear is in the nuances.