Rant: Sound & Tone

 

It seems to me that in recent years, a lot more people are paying attention to the discussion about “sound vs. tone”. And thats a good thing. Before I go on, lemme explain what I mean by that, though. A lot of people confuse or mix up the terms “sound” and “tone”, while many others define them like this:

Sound: The part that the gear is responsible for. The way your amp and your guitar sound etc.
Tone: YOUR tone. You being a factor of what your playing sounds like. The mysterious “its in the hands of the player” factor.

For more on that, you might wanna check out an article I wrote several years ago for Ibreathe Music, “The Quest For Tone“.

I see proof that those things are not the same, see that every day. Whenever I have a fellow player over for a visit, or teach, I often experience that… for example, I might sit around with a friend, and he might play his guitar through one of my amps. Then, I ask him to hand me the guitar, and I play through it… same guitar, same amp, same EQ settings, maybe even the exact same notes.
Also, hanging out with other players backstage at events like Jemfest, or at trade shows always is not only a humbling experience, but also a great lesson in tone. I remember standing right next to Michael Landau when he plugged into some little solid state practice amp, and sound awesome through it, with that typical Landau tone. Or the 101 lesson I had with Paul Gilbert at the MI… in between, he checked out my guitar and played through it, and he sounded just like himself, while I sounded like myself playing through his PGM, both of us using little practice amps.

And its undeniable that there IS a “players tone”. Unfortunately, a lot of people tend to believe that by buying the same guitar, same amp as their favorite players, it will make them sound the same way. And if that doesnt work, it “must be some modifications about the amp, some hidden gadget in the players rack and all that”.
Thinking that, ultimately, is a dead end street.Of course, the whole signature series stuff builds on that, and of course you’ll prolly sound more like Steve Vai with a JEM than you would with a vintage style Tele.
However, statements like “Ah thats not true, if you have the same amp, some good effects and enough distortion, you wont hear any difference” just deny the fact that there are so many factors to tone and sound, and that the hands of the player, and the way he plays, DOES make a big difference.
Attack, vibrato, intonation, pick position, amount of strength applied with the fretting hand etc.
And to me, thats nothing that should discourage you, but inspire you. Because you do have your own tone as well, and its well worth working on developing that! Pay attention to it, embrace it, and try to shape it to your liking. Try to find out what you like, and what you dont like about your tone, and try to work on that.
Its one of the things that sets you apart from other players, its your voice, more so than the type of amp or effect you use.
Sorry for that rant… =)