An exercise in tonal possibilities

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hard2Hear
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I dont know what it is with me but I have never been satisfied with my tone. I will hear another guitar player and say wow thats great tone but if he hands me his guitar and I start playing its different. I'm not a slouch, I have played for 37 years and keep up and have owned many a combo of guitars and amps.
 
I hope it plays well and sounds good, cause it shure is ugly
 
I would definately wear pants while playing that monstrosity.
 
dragonworks said:
I dont know what it is with me but I have never been satisfied with my tone. I will hear another guitar player and say wow thats great tone but if he hands me his guitar and I start playing its different. I'm not a slouch, I have played for 37 years and keep up and have owned many a combo of guitars and amps.
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Funny. I think there's an aspect of listening to someone else that affects our perception of their playing. Maybe part of it is just not knowing where they are going and what their next note will be and being suprised by what it is. Maybe part of it is not concentrating on playing the notes while listening to them.

Here's a fun little exercise in such perception. Set a delay pedal to maximum delay, such as over 1 second. Set the dry mix to zero and the wet mix to 100% (thus, only the delayed signal is output). Start playing some phrases. It's almost as if someone else is playing and you can listen to the tone without playing the exact note that you are hearing.

Not really a big experiment, but kinda fun for goofing off.

Me
 
It's a joke, right? I coulda sworn Luke Skywalker was packing one of those in Retun of the Jedi :D
 
Going back to your playing and listening to others.

That is something it took me a while to come to terms with. When I play I never really like the tone or my phrasing that much. Others play and they sound so much better. If you record your playing you hear it in a different light and it sometimes even sounds good.

The fact is that your too absorbed in it; you never see/hear it like people externally do.

Kinda nice idea with the delay, nice gimmick.
 
Here's something I've learned. When you sit in front of your amp all alone, and try to mess around with your tone, you're never happy. Then when you're in a band and playing out, your tone sounds very different and usually WAY better. I think it's something about obsessing in front of your amp...probably like looking into a mirror really closely and seeing all the flaws in your face. If you look long enough, you'll want plastic surgery. Then you go hang out with your buds and realize they see you, not all the tiny hideosities on your mug. I think it's the same with playing guitar--you need to get out and play from time to time and watch people enjoy your music. Yeah, tone is great and we all want more, but keep it in perspective.
 
Sometimes when I'm playing, I'll get discouraged, like "what's the point - all I'm playing are toneless cliches". But hearing myself back via recording always seems to be better. Sometimes I'll have a basic backing track recorded and I'll simply record some leads over the top just to get a feel for the right sound, etc. When I play it back it often jumps out at me. Sometimes it'll be a little link run which you didn't even realize you were playing. Often, the tone sounds totally different. I don't think I've ever been totally satisfied with my sound while practicing one on one with an amp.
 
what flaws in my face? :D

I think you both are right. I think how much you like your tone is most often dictated by how inspired you are at any given time. Playing with a band, there is alot there to inspire you -- the sound of playing together, people there watching (ok, maybe only 1 or 2 sometimes). Also, turning your amp up sometimes is inspiring b/c it makes your amp sound better (tube amps) or just given the sheer volume.

At home, I find I LIKE my tone most when I am playing something interesting, working on a song, fucking around with an effect/technique. I HATE my tone when I am just not into it and playing the same old shit.

It is all about what inspires you.
 
My guitar playing sounds different everyday, recorded or live. I blame it on the changing state of my physiology and the atmospheric effects on my guitar. I’ve also noticed that accompaniments with others or myself (recorded) also affect the sound which I attribute to harmonics. When I used to play bass through a Fender Bassman 100 after it had been warmed up for awhile, not only did it sound and feel awesome, but the actual feel of the bass changed and was somehow better connected to the sound, sort of a natural atmospheric compression, which sort of enclosed and blended with the whole band in a big bass bubble. Time would cease to exist and a song would seem to last only seconds.
 
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