Notes and tone.

[Tony M.]

Let me start by saying I am not a dazzling guitar player but
when I play out I consistently get complemented on my tone.
I care a lot about what I sound like because it sort of makes up
for the deficiencies in my playing.

If you sound good people will think you play better than you actually do.

So on Friday night I went to see a band.
(Some guy I crossed paths with during
my dealings with the world in general.)

The lead player had a beautiful LP Custom that cost a pretty penny, probably around 4K.
He played it well, got all the song parts right, played everything he was supposed to and
nothing he was not supposed to. He was OK and there were no surprises from him.

The problem was that he played all those perfect parts on that beautiful guitar through
a sub $200.00 made God knows where solid state amplifier which gave his tone all the
magnificence of a Honda Civic horn.

His notes were good but his tone was...lacking.

Why do people do this? Why did he not spend
1K less on the guitar and 1k more on the amp?
If he did that he would sound like a God.

 

[Kerry Brown]

It may not be the gear. I have a friend who lives on the other side of the country. He’s on this side of the country every couple of months and likes to sit in on jams. He has a Squier Bullet Stratocaster with a Roland 20x Cube amp that he leaves here with a friend. His tone is incredible. I tried his rig and it sounded like crap. He tried mine and surprise, surprise sounded great.

 

[iblive]

Let me start by saying I am not a dazzling guitar player but
when I play out I consistently get complemented on my tone.
I care a lot about what I sound like because it sort of makes up
for the deficiencies in my playing.

If you sound good people will think you play better than you actually do.

So on Friday night I went to see a band.
(Some guy I crossed paths with during
my dealings with the world in general.)

The lead player had a beautiful LP Custom that cost a pretty penny, probably around 4K.
He played it well, got all the song parts right, played everything he was supposed to and
nothing he was not supposed to. He was OK and there were no surprises from him.

The problem was that he played all those perfect parts on that beautiful guitar through
a sub $200.00 made God knows where solid state amplifier which gave his tone all the
magnificence of a Honda Civic horn.

Hey now. I drive a Civic. And I have to say..... it’s actually embarrassing to hit the horn button. I guess maybe I made your point. Hmmmmmm.