Our friend J is very astute.
It’s tough to get beginning players to stop worrying with technique issues and to get to that point where the instrument is transparent and the player is shining through. There’s a great deal of “over-learning” that has to take place (IMHO) and not every neophyte survives this trek up the mountain.
Guitar players are guilty of the charges more often than other players because there is more of them. Also, more stuff being sold to them. Technique and tone. Faster and fatter. You take a walk around the various guitar-centered blogs and it gives you a good idea of what guitar players think about. TONE is king. All the gear they are selling carries a promise of the ultimate tone. It’s to the point now where tone seems to be more important than the notes you choose to play.
We all talk about tone for a while then somebody says something like; “well, really tone is in the hands”, and we all say, yeah you are right and call it a night. But, tone isn’t all in the hands, or the instrument, or the amp, or the heart. There are other factors that aren’t part of the general discussion. You look at the big guns, the big tone guys that everybody is trying to emulate, say for instance Eddie Van Halen or, Stevie Ray, or Joe Satriani etc. All of the music around them, what players are playing to support them also enables them that fat tone. And, the microphone, compressor, engineer who equalizes the mix you are hearing have as much to do with the guy’s tone as all of his gear does. So, if you are chasing some guitar sound you hear on a record, and you go buy that guy’s guitar and amp, you still don’t have all the components because you can’t afford to have Eddie Kramer hang out in your living room. And, unless your band is totally in to giving you the right of way, even if you had that tone exactly, it isn’t going to sound the same.
You are better off grabbing a instrument and playing until you have some stuff that you can play so well, that it doesn’t matter what gear you are using. If you have a couple of things that work all the time, licks that you own, then you can do something with ‘em.
How come I don’t hear anybody talking about rhythm tone? That’s what you will be spending most of time doing. All of this tone talk is about soloing. It’s all about “look at me” tone. It’s not about ensemble tone.
There is a finite amount of a given mix. There is 100% of a mix available to all of the cats who show up on a given day. There has to be some effort to leave everybody some space. Think about an instrument that is a single note instrument, like a trumpet. It has a limited range compared to a guitar or piano. Matter of fact, all single note instruments have a limited range compared to guitar and piano. So, when the trumpet is taking a solo, you have to give him the tonal room, his place in the mix. If you are cranking out Eddie’s brown sound, or SRV’s mondo-Dumbleator, stuff that was made to fill up space that wasn’t normally filled by a guitar, you aren’t going to hear that trumpet even though it’s loud as hell.
That’s why John Bonham’s massive kick drum sound only works on certain stuff. If you get that kind of kick drum going, which is one that requires property rights on a bunch of mid frequencies that are inherent to acoustic guitars and piano chords, in a country band, the mix is muddy. When you have Bonham’s big ol’ kick and Jimmy Page’s saturated power chord frenzy going on, the only tonal place left for a singer to occupy is a high pitched nasal place. Most guys that sing high notes with a nasal timbre sound like total crap. Good luck finding that guy because, even though you got a big kick sound and a ginormous power chord going on, nobody wants to hear your rock and roll without a singer.
Maybe, we can tune down to D, sing lower and then we will be able to use these rectifiers to there fullest advantage and still be making popular music. Is it just me or, is anybody else disturbed that all current rock music is exclusively perfect fourth and fifth intervals? Maybe, the odd flat five but, for the most parts guitar music has turned in to the same stuff that monks were singing 1,000 years ago. Everybody got bored with that right? This isn’t going to take a thousand years is it?
I look at these “boutique” amp manufacturers and they all base their products on amps made decades ago that have a narrow frequency range. If you went out and played through a vintage Deluxe with no stomp boxes, it’s going to sound boring to most of you. It doesn’t have near the frequency range or tonal possibilities that you can get with a cheesy multi-effects unit/amp simulator run through your computer and headphones. Just a boring sounding, little tone. But, that’s the “Holy Grail” according to many amp makers.
You got to find gear that works, doesn’t break and you got to learn how to play some stuff. You got to figure out licks or chords that work with other musicians and find a tonal place that fits in to the mix. Whoever is running sound, needs to realize that the old thing about making a smiley face on the EQ, was an idea that was in style before digital and you don’t need to have 20K at a higher level than any frequency. That’s why your stuff is always feeding back, especially your monitors. You don’t need to be giving the biggest part of your mix to dogs. Matter of fact just pull that 20K down past all the others. And, if you are playing with a guy that has a five string bass and, he insists on honking that low B every chance, go find another bunch to play with.
So, this means I’m still the grasshopper…?
A key problem is term overloading. “Tone” means the sound of the instrument. “Tone” means how the fingers control the fretting. “Tone” means how much high-end is rolled off by the potentiometer. “Tone” means the amp, the cables between the amp, the effects between the them, and the settings on each. “Tone” can also mean the type of mic, the placement of the mic, the room it’s placed in, the type of mixing board, the knobs of that, the medium (the warmth of tape vs the crispness of digital) and all that, as you say. One word meaning everything, it’s very Malcovich, and until we start using other terms, people are just gonna be confused.
Part of the problem is, of course, how we play. When we go to the music store, much of the time we’re testing the instruments without other instruments around. Then, when we play, if we’re not just hanging around at home, we’re next to drums and bass and singers, like you said, or if you’re an acoustic guy, fiddles and mandolins and banjos. Grassers talk about how their dreadnaught is a banjo-killer, but very few can even compare. When my Ibanez acoustic had a functional neck, I knew the Fender dread was a better instrument and all, but the simple fact is that the Ibanez had the high end. It cut through for lead. It’s the same when you plug in. The tone that you loved, that was warm and full and happy in your bedroom sounds like poo-gas with others because, as you said, you’re competing for range. Back in the bedroom, the tone that works sounds high and shrill.
But you know all this, so I’ll just say “I agree with my friend Jack Pribek on the problems of tone”. Sounds like a How To Not Suck post is needed.
Man, what a great post! I must say that I rushed into writing a post on my blog right in the middle of your article, I am guilty of not having the patience to wait until the end. I came back to your post and finished it after writing mine.
You are so damn right, you need to work with the rest of the guys, to sound good as a whole, to have space for each and every instrument there, otherwise it won’t sound good no matter ho much you spend on gear for your guitar.
Also ….
It’s to the point now where tone seems to be more important than the notes you choose to play.
I can get a sunburst Strat, just like Stevie. I can get big thick strings, just like Stevie. I can get a Tube Screamer and a Vox wah, just like Stevie. I can scrape off the sunburst finish and put letter decals from the hardware store on it, just like Stevie. I can get replacement overwound pickups that are supposed to sound just like Stevie. I can get a left-handed tremolo bridge and put that up in there, just like Stevie. I can get a Fender Vibratone amp, just like Stevie. All it takes is a credit card.
Playing the notes Stevie played, then turning it around and maybe maybe maybe making the notes that Sans plays even remotely as identifiable? You can’t buy it. You have to spend the time in the woodshed, which makes it really priceless. Which makes it hard to put in a page in a guitar mag.
So, down on the River Walk in Old San Antone, how do the Mariachi bands do it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POZEBFdTNJ8
Is it the ponchos? Or maybe the hats — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fd-MVU4vtU ??
or fervor? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvKf6-fSM08
or practice? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TncXqhR95jQ
By the Way, IMHO — Very outstanding post and comments from a lovin’ spoonful bunch of expanded brain performers, you guys…
Yes, I got riddem’ tone. Nothing else will do!!!
Twoo! Twoo! It’s all Twoo!!!
There’s nothing I can add here– good thing, huh!
Golly-thanks for the positive vibes everyone.
Sans-I got to agree with everything you said as well and I love the idea of a banjo killer.
Ovidiu-Wow man, glad you came back and thanks for the mention.
PD=That first video there has almost got me convinced that I got to come visit.
Col-I’ve said this before; the world needs more riddem’ guys so, keep fighting the good fight.
Stratoblogster!-glad you stopped by and feel free add anything anytime, nothing more appreciated around here than bunches of opinions, wisdom, thoughts….
Hey Jack someone has stolen your little “pick scrapes…” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DINshgL8vkk
young whippersnappers… okay anytime to visit… your fan club awaits in Old San Antone.
Funny you mentioned rhythm tone. I hit a song on my playlist, “Natural’s Not In It” by Gang of Four, and while I didn’t particularly like the song, the guitar, hitting a staccato Joe Strummer-meets-Keef tone, is just great, and I sent it to a friends saying “Great rhythm tone!”
Dude-that Dude didn’t steal nuthin from me he’s breathing his own stylized air.
I like Gang of Four, thought they were on to something. I was big in to the Clash (and Keef goes without saying) and all of that talk brings something to mind. Bands built on good rhythm guitar have a better shot at sounding unique. And that’s some sort of Hindu/Zen/Scriptural magic going on because, think about it; how many different ways to play rhythm guitar are there? I mean it’s a pretty well defined set of parameters as far as musical thinking goes. Rhythm guitar players just dial in the tone that’s going to work-they aren’t trying to stand out and when you got a cat that’s solid, the rest of the stuff often falls in place and pretty soon you got a unique thing going without all the suffering.