Tone Comes From Touch

Ok, it’s been months- but I’ve been thinking about this topic. The first blog about this was simply a realization, this one is more about specifics.

If you’ve ever been to www.guitargeek.com you’ll notice how many people with totally different sounds use very similar gear. Even acoustic guitars sound totally different depending on who is playing. A luthier friend of mine was talking about how some guys talk about gear and even own great gear and cant get a decent sound out of it. He’s said, “It’s cause they don’t have these” wiggling his fingers. There are guys who buy thousands of dollars worth of gear and are surprised they don’t sound like good guitar players. There is a reason.

The main way you develop great sound is with time on the instrument. Don't buy into all the marketing hype that you have to buy certain stuff to sound great. Tone comes from primarily from touch. Think about these signature aspects of tone… for better or worse.

-The vibrato of B.B. King holding a note.

-Stevie Ray Vaughn sawing all the strings at once and muting every note except the one he is focused on.

-The way Jimi Page’s guitar sound lives in this weird world between precise and sloppy to get that distinct feel.

-The brute force of the chords attacking by Angus Young on “Back in Black”.

-The attack of a really hard pick on really light strings going really fast of Yngwie Malmsteen

-That distinct way Jimi Hendrix rolls from one note to the next and then slides up like on “Wind Crys Mary”. How many guitarists have copied that feel?

- The way The Edge can make the amp chirp in a way no one else playing an AC30 can.

-How much John Mayer varies the intensity of the attack to add subtle funky rhythms.

This could go on forever with Jef Beck, Van Halen, Clapton, Chuck Berry, Brian May, David Gilmour, ect.

The point is you develop tone as you develop touch. Touch is the greatest asset to any player of any instrument. I don’t care if its Joshua Bell or Yo-Yo Ma in classical, Herbie Hancock or Jamie Cullum on piano, or Weird Al on the freaking accordion, (ok maybe not) it’s all about people who have developed the touch.

How much clarity and character can they get out of playing hard VS playing soft?

How can they pull you in with shifting dynamics?

How good are they at making you feel like you are inside the instrument?

How natural does the riff come to them?

Why is one player so smooth and clean while others are so rhythmic?

You even notice that some guitarists sound great no matter what they are playing?

That isn’t something you get by buying the right gear but by spending enough time.