Guitarist and the elusive "tone"
Created | Updated Dec 13, 2004
Finding your "tone" is as much the challenge of the electric guitar as learning to play it. After all the work of learning your barre chords, open chords, pentatonics, harmonic minors.... comes the search for individuality, the sound that people can say .... "you".
Tone is a byproduct of so many factors, the room you're in, the amp you use, the effects you use, your guitar, your pickups - and most importantly your fingers.
Imagine you had the chance to play guitar with your idol. You'd pick up their guitar, plug it into their amp and play. And you would still sound like you.
With that in mind, the journey (and learning any musical instrument is very much a journey) becomes even more treacherous, even more difficult. Your own tastes change over the years and most guitarists find they never ever come close to the "tone" they are looking for.
For some, the sound of a Gibson Les Paul through a Marshall is "it". But which Marshall? Which Les Paul?
Strats, Gibsons, Ibanez, Washburn...all makes are part and parcel of one person's search for tone.
The truest factor often is, money doesn't buy you tone. Often tone is when you reach deep in your heart, expose your soul...and play. The most emotive sounds in guitar are from the gut. Regardless of genre, there are guitarists out there who can play the guitar and the heart at the same time.
So experiment with your tone, change it - try new effects, and new ways of playing. Listen to music you don't really like, and try to imagine playing it.
Your guitar, with its 100+ notes, holds all music locked away inside it. It takes YOU to set it free.
Tone is a byproduct of so many factors, the room you're in, the amp you use, the effects you use, your guitar, your pickups - and most importantly your fingers.
Imagine you had the chance to play guitar with your idol. You'd pick up their guitar, plug it into their amp and play. And you would still sound like you.
With that in mind, the journey (and learning any musical instrument is very much a journey) becomes even more treacherous, even more difficult. Your own tastes change over the years and most guitarists find they never ever come close to the "tone" they are looking for.
For some, the sound of a Gibson Les Paul through a Marshall is "it". But which Marshall? Which Les Paul?
Strats, Gibsons, Ibanez, Washburn...all makes are part and parcel of one person's search for tone.
The truest factor often is, money doesn't buy you tone. Often tone is when you reach deep in your heart, expose your soul...and play. The most emotive sounds in guitar are from the gut. Regardless of genre, there are guitarists out there who can play the guitar and the heart at the same time.
So experiment with your tone, change it - try new effects, and new ways of playing. Listen to music you don't really like, and try to imagine playing it.
Your guitar, with its 100+ notes, holds all music locked away inside it. It takes YOU to set it free.
