How Good Should You Be Before You Care About Tone?

[Rog]

I believe that one's personality has a lot to do with it. Every time I've met a guitarist with string ends hanging all over the place & jangling as they play, I've found them to be not so worried about tone, in much the same manner as they don't seem to worry about other things in life, such as personal hygiene or cleaning their car, looking after their gear etc. OTOH, when I've met a guitarist with all his strings neatly clipped, I've found the reverse.

Thus, one conclusion that could be drawn from those experiences is that anal people tend to care more about tone and sloppy pricks care less. Another observation I've made is that those who seem to have less cares about their tone (the untidy, slobby, pisshead, smelly, greasy bastards) also tend to be rather excellent guitarists who amaze me with their playing.

Of course, my observations could be based purely on working with a bunch of smelly, booze-ridden, drug-addled amazing guitarists who care only about the music.

[Jenesis]

Tone is in the hygiene.

[Rog]

Tone is in the hygiene.

LOL - of course!!

[calling card]

Err.. I have neatly clipped strings. Also a pisshead & the car is dirty.
Spend some time on a really good amp, you will sound like YOU & not the axe wielding god of your imagination. The tone quest begins...

[DSilence]

Didn't start caring about tone until I had jammed with various people & discovered things I like about their tone more than mine. Then I started looking at gear to improve it & through trial an error I have discovered what I like, for the most part, or for now

[shinenz]

+1, get a good amp...Valve.... Guitar choice is personal...seen some awesome guitarists on some pretty average guitars.... amps are awesome....start collecting!!

[hamo]

It's a sad fact: there are no pedals that make you play better. Some of them might make you sound better, but you know you're fooling yourself. It only takes one trip to a music shop where some pimply kid is playing an Epi through a Marshall MG and smoking you to realise it.

On the other hand, if you've got bad gear it can be really hard to get songs to sound right on bad gear, often because it's not versatile at all, or it's just the wrong sound. Also, cheapo gear can often be bad to play, going out of tune easily or just being harder to play because of manufacturing defects. So there's something to be said for having good gear from the word go.

[Rog]

So there's something to be said for having good gear from the word go.

We've had the discussion before, with split options, but if I was starting again, I'd be spending as much $$ as I could afford, then triple it, to get the best guitar I could find. Then if I had to play through some Samick amp until I could afford a decent one, at least I'd be wanting to play. IMO, crap instruments = major disincentive to play. Additionally a decent instrument can stay with you for life. A crap one is like a Toyota ....it'll always go, but you wish it wouldn't.

[Andy_Chandler]

Tone is completely relative..

What might sound amazing for one style or tune, might sound dreadful for another. It's all relative to the task at hand, for example, a breaking up AC30, has a distinct sound, and its great - but that's basically useless for a metal band. I'm speaking tonally here not size/power etc.

It also depends on the mix - take some of the guitar lines from mastodon for example, standalone they sound pretty nasty, but in the full spectrum of the band, they suit the track perfectly. So IMO as far as tone searching goes, you also have to know what you're looking for, and what application. Practice, practice, practice will also help with this - you can have the same setup for a year, not change a thing, but your sound will be different as your technique changes.

YMMV and all that jazz.

[hamo]

So there's something to be said for having good gear from the word go.

We've had the discussion before, with split options, but if I was starting again, I'd be spending as much $$ as I could afford, then triple it, to get the best guitar I could find. Then if I had to play through some Samick amp until I could afford a decent one, at least I'd be wanting to play. IMO, crap instruments = major disincentive to play. Additionally a decent instrument can stay with you for life. A crap one is like a Toyota ....it'll always go, but you wish it wouldn't.

I'm just going on my own experience to be honest, that my buzzy hummy Soundtank practice amp was pretty offputting, and when I got the Kramer and the Marshall it was just so much easier to get a good sound from that I played more, so improved more. But the carrot was knowing that I could plug in, and if my fingers were doing everything right, the result would be good, rather than getting lost in the amp noise.

[Some Bozo]

As soon as you're good enough to realise your current tone blowz, you should look around for upgrades. Hard to stay motivated if your rig sounds like ass and you know it. You want something that sounds good enough that you can't wait to play it.

[Rog]

As soon as you're good enough to realise your current tone blowz, you should look around for upgrades. Hard to stay motivated if your rig sounds like ass and you know it. You want something that sounds good enough that you can't wait to play it.

I'm told that some people like ass ......

[Jenesis]

John Stagliano, for one.

[rickenbackerkid]

I don't think it's ever too early to be thinking about and improving your tone.

However, if your primary focus is your tone, and you never work on timing, technique, theory and taste, then you'll be crap, and no one will want to play with you.
Tone has to develop, alongside and in conjunction with the rest of your skill on the instrument.

[Capt. Black]

Reputedly awesome tone here. Can't play for shit.