finger tone

heres one for you, most people agree that tone comes firstly from the guitarist, and that good guitarists can make crap guitars sound good.
sooo... who reckons they've got it? what do you think makes your tone great(or not) and what tips do you have to achieve 'that' feel.

well my crap tone mainly comes from my amp. Also my incredibly retarded picking style also helps make it sound worse. The fact that i am using destortion from my px4 and amp at the same time give me pleanty of buzz so you cant really actually hear any of the notes i'm playing anyway. My half decent pickups help get rid of any sqeeking that i originally got from my old guitar. Oh, i shouldnt forget to say my stings are an important part of my tone too. They really help make it 10 times as bad due to all the rust over them that stops them vibrate properly.
Overall my tone is so bad i usually feel ill after playing guitar for a while. I still enjoy playing though... i dont know why !

Originally posted by pricklepuss
good guitarists can make crap guitars sound good.

I wouldnt say my guitar is crap but i would say my setup overall is crap. Not even a great guitar guitarist could make it sound good.

Originally posted by Death55
Oh, i shouldnt forget to say my stings are an important part of my tone too. They really help make it 10 times as bad due to all the rust over them that stops them vibrate properly.

How long has it been since you changed them? I once went two years without changing mine...they weren't rusty or anything, but I definately noticed an improvement once they were changed.

Depends on some stuff. I've actually doen a test with two identical sets of strings treating one well (like washing my hands before playing) and the other set just playing, and the difference in life was completely scary.

Tone from fingers..a lot of it is figner strength, and there's also gentleness in the mix(or digging into the music), there's overall control over the strings you develop with skill and strength, and as soon as you're at the point where you can hear your tone you'll probably just start playing in a way that makes your gear sound better to you. Unless you're rich, then you buy new gear. :)

First of all some good gear can help improve your playing. IF your amp sux, you wont sound good either way.

I do have a cheap guitar and a more expencive one, I can get a realy nice tone out of the cheap guitar now :)
all in the fingers :)

It definitely helps to have a rig that lets you hear subtle changes in hardware and technique.

My [u]style[/u] is recognisable regardless of what equipment I'm playing. My [u]tone[/u] is good when I have gear that accurately presents [u]my[/u] input to the audience. My own rig (Ampeg amps and carefully selected/customized guitars), does that. Other setups are not as well suited to me, and then something gets 'lost in the translation'.

Part of 'finding your sound' is a matter of choosing what kind of sound is best able to convey your feelings. That means choosing material for your repertoire as well as selecting guitars, amps, and effects that suit you.

Very few of us find that we are fulfilled by just one genre of music. That means that we need to select gear that will enable us to express ourselves clearly in whatever kind of music we play. And as our tastes evolve, our equipment choices shift accordingly.

I have come to a point where 'my sound' has a very strong 'presence'. And no, that doesn't mean turning up the Presence knob on the amp. I look for a very specific balance of warmth and clarity. I use very little distortion, except to convey strong emotion. And that can only be effective if it is [u]not[/u] over-used. I choose gear that sounds like a great guitar. That may seem kind of obvious, until you put it into context by comparing that statement with (for example) recent discussions on this forum of Brian May's sound. I really enjoy listening to Queen's music, because it's nothing like [u]my[/u] style.

Advice? Learn from others, but don't copy them. What sounds 'right' to you may not be what's selling Big Time in the mainstream. Unless you're actively pursuing a career as a 'ROCK STAR', that shouldn't matter to you.

If commercial success is your focus, then you can hire a consultant to tell you what sound is likely to generate big sales. Or you can sign on with a major label, who will tell you what to play.

Me. I've had several successful careers outside of the music scene (and I ain't done yet!), so I can afford to reserve music as an outlet for my creative and spiritual energy. As they say, "Your mileage may vary." :)

Originally posted by Leedogg
I once went two years without changing mine...they weren't rusty or anything...

Oh God , Two years without getting rust or even breaking the high e ... You must have preserved it in the refrigerator ;).

The max time I had the same set of strings before breaking one of them was about 3 or 4 months , and that was because I didn't play guitar oftenly in that period.

Originally posted by Leedogg
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Death55
[B]How long has it been since you changed them? I once went two years without changing mine...they weren't rusty or anything, but I definately noticed an improvement once they were changed.

I havnt changed them for about 3 weeks but i try to change them every 2 weeks. My hands rust string very quickly. Also i think my house i very damp which cause my strings to rust a lot quicker.
I know this other guy that had to change his strings almost every week and then he moved house and hasnt had to change his strings for a few months.

I'd have to agree that the player IS the tone, as I've never been able to sound anything but the way I sound, no matter what guitar I'm playing. You do tend to get tired of the same tone after a few decades, but if it's the thing that distinguishes you from other players, then it has to be a good thing, I guess. I often get players asking me "how do you get that tone?" and I have to reply "I can't help but get it?".

I do use the slide though, so that instantly trade marks me as player. Slide sounds are REALLY individual, because there are so many ways of getting the sound out of the string: the vibrato, string gauge, metal/glass slide, attack, tuning, intonation, etc.

Here's an example of that slide sound (will stream):

http://thatllteachyou.com/mp3s/rock_ballad.m3u

This was a track that a certain Jim Heidinger posted as a backing track at another forum. A few of us overdubbed a solo part. This was done on my Strat, a Boss Overdrive pedal, straight into the computer.

That sounds kinda nice. There's no way in hell I'll ever sound anything like that, but I can certainly appreciate it.

I have a fairly unique sound. I dunno how I developed it, for the most part I was never able to listen to any music until like middle high school, which means I have pretty much no influence on my music.

I think the player has a lot to do with the tone you get, but it also has to do with everything else. In short, everything is important to your tone. Changing one small thing will mess up your sound big time. (If mess up is the right word)
I have some pretty cheap stuff, just because of the fact I'm a teenager inn the middle of nowhere with no job. It sucks, but I've come across some deals and I have a sound that I'm happy with, or was rather. See, I used Earnie Ball strings up until now. They are the nicest sounding sting I've used so far, but I go through strings a lot, so I tried some of theose plastic coated Elixer Strings, and they do outlast Earnie Balls, but the tone is so thick and harsh, it sounds like I'm using .11 guage strings when I'm actuially using .09's, so I think I'll go back to my Earnie Balls.
Anywhoo, thats just an example of how changing one little thing can really change your tone. It changed for the worse in this case :rolleyes: