“Tone is in the fingers” my ass. (RANT)

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rsm said:
ok, so I'm envious.
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He had Chad Wackerman and Paul Williams singing the Road Games stuff that tour.
Saw him a year later with no singer and Gary Husband on drums.

Was weird. Someone asked him early on when the next album would be out
and he replied that Warner Bros. had just cut him so he didn't know. Groan.

That and the fact Husband was hitting the drums way too hard all night kept
it from being as great as the previous show.
 
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My take on that is that for high gain there is no tone anywhere other than the amplifier mostly but never in the fingers. But below that certainly there is some tone in the "fingers". It is hard to get the exact tone of some guitar players even if you use his own gear with his own settings set by himself. There is a video of a professional session player playing live with Paul Gilbert, Paul always invite guitarists on stage, same gear but the guy got a very bad tone in comparison to Paul and thought Paul had cheated him just to realize later the gear and settings were the same for both. His humble conclusion was that a big part of the tone was from Paul's skill to control the tone thru' his playing.
 
I saw this thread on TGP and read most of it.

I agree, but I say that tone comes from technique, which isn't too different than style I suppose.
 
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My playing is the same as it was 30+ years ago but my tone is better after getting higher end amps. Also, I am much more discerning on what sounds good or bad in tone the more experience I get from different “concoctions” of gear. At least in my ear.
 
Tone comes from every part of the signal chain (guitar, cables, amp , speaker, etc…), including the fingers and ears. They all play a part.
 
Phrasing, vibrato and style comes from the fingers and the swagger of the player. Tone comes from equipment and the player's ear. No finger will make a Crate sound like a Bogner XTC.
 
psychodave said:
Style comes from the fingers, not tone.
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Fingers= Pronouncing.

Tone PULLS from your ASS.
When it all comes down to the strike..getting
up under it..comes right outta how much ass
YOU got on the line at that nano-second.

My man here..with THE FIRE.
You’re fucking welcome.



 
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I can tell you haven't been on this forum long because us old timers wouldn't have put the words "Fingers" and "My Ass" so close together in a post title, because it is like sharks to blood...

All joking aside, I believe in some of the "tone is in the fingers" idea, but not always to the extreme.
 
romanianreaper said:
All joking aside, I believe in some of the "tone is in the fingers" idea, but not always to the extreme.
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Yeah I’ve seen too many horrible players make great rigs sound like shit and too many great players make shitty rigs sound fantastic not to believe some of it
 
I will say tone is at least 75% in the fingers. My teacher will give me something to play and I may nail it I'm my mind but he will tell me to slow it down and make sure every note sounds good. If I played either of my amps through either of my cabs the average listener won't be able to tell the difference.

Change the player on the same run with the same equipment and while we both might play it technically correct it will sound different more so than changing amp/guitar. To me its player then type of pickup ie single coil vs humbucker then cab/speaker then the amp.

Having said that, everything matters in your signal chain.
 
romanianreaper said:
I can tell you haven't been on this forum long because us old timers wouldn't have put the words "Fingers" and "My Ass" so close together in a post title, because it is like sharks to blood...

All joking aside, I believe in some of the "tone is in the fingers" idea, but not always to the extreme.
Click to expand...
I gotta admit, when I first glanced at the post I thought it said- "Tone is fingers in my ass".............
 
heavision said:
Does this phrase bother anyone else?

I broached this topic on another online forum and was surprised at the response.

* * * *

I gotta get this off my chest. Lemme get on the soap box for a minute.

When we’re discussing shit like GBs vs V30s, Strats vs Les Pauls, or whatever and someone says “it’s not the gear, tone is in the fingers” I find that annoying. As if the tonal differences between two types of speakers are an illusion.

They may elaborate on how the way one holds the pick, vibrato, right and left hand dynamics etc massively affect tone. And I agree completely. But I’d call that technique, touch, a player’s style, I would not call that “tone.”

To me tone is something inherent to the rig, its potential. Great players harboring great technique, touch, talent can coax a great tone out of a given rig but the potential tone must be there, in the rig, first. So when someone says “yeah sure gear is part of it but tone is in the fingers, because they have the greatest impact overall.” I’d say I agree that fingers can have the greatest impact on tone. And it is precisely because they are two different things that fingers can have such a huge impact.

When someone says they’re a tone-chaser I never assume they mean that they are chasing something in their fingers.

And so on and so forth.

Wutchall think?
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Sorry but as much of a gear whore as I am, I cannot contest the fact that touch, technique, phrasing, etc. have a heck of a lit to do with tone. I've heard lousy players make the best amps sound bad, and have heard good players make cheap gear sound good. I hate having an incredible amp that can't express itself because of bad technique. Even between guys that just strum chords and play thythm, there's a massive difference in tone between good players and lousy ones.

I recently came across this dude, and he pretty much exemplifies today's top players. His technique is impeccable, but not only does he play very fast and slow with a high degree of articulation and clarity, he has great phrasing and feel. The fact no one can deny is players on that level will sound good on a solid state Peavey or a $5,000 amp (not as good but musical and appealing nonetheless).

 
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Killer tone comes from your brain and your technique to get the sounds you are going for but the sound is the gear running. Not everyone speaks the same through the same PA....everyone has their own voice.
 
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