The secret to good tone is...

matt1973

Changed me mind.

1) Gibson

2) Marshall

impmann

The secret to good tone is... listen to yourself, not a forum. :-)

jellyroll

ICBM said:

monquixote said:

A mate of mine was a big jangly Ric player and he always said a wound 3rd was really important for max Ric jangle.

He was right. Ricks just don't sound quite right with a plain 3rd really - it's too clangy.

Just to be clear then....jangly is good...but clangly is bad?

monquixote

jellyroll said:

ICBM said:

monquixote said:

A mate of mine was a big jangly Ric player and he always said a wound 3rd was really important for max Ric jangle.

He was right. Ricks just don't sound quite right with a plain 3rd really - it's too clangy.

Just to be clear then....jangly is good...but clangly is bad?

If your favorite bands are REM, The Byrds and The Smiths (as his were) then Jangle is a very good.

PolarityMan

steamabacus said:

I don't think any gauge of strings is inherently better tonally. I reckon it's more about how they interact with your picking/strumming style.

Yup, I agree, for me string gauge is far more about tension and the subsequent effect on performance.

Jeztone

In terms of my personal preferences. I grew up on cheap guitars. So I tend to have a medium to high playing action. I'm not fussed about heavy gauge strings. Iommi used 008-038 Picato if I remember rightly. I don't over gain the amp and I tend to try to drive the power stage if I can.

xSkarloey

...hearing in your head how you want to sound and having the right combination of technique and equipment to achieve that sound. More often than not it's about knowing what's required for a given song. 

I like players who keep it simple as far as equipment goes, but who get a lot of variety in their sound by sheer technique: Rory Gallagher, Johnny Marr, Angus Young, Jim Hall etc. 

Then again I like players who use a lot of effects, but who do so in order to create often unexpected tones that work well in the context of a song. I heard REM's "What's the Frequency Kenneth?" on the radio for this first time in ages the other day, and I thought that had good tone across the three main guitar parts: grainy distortion for the strummed rhythm track; thicker drive for the Huey helicopter stutter parts; and a nasally honk for the backwards Beatles guitar solo. Buck's no virtuoso, but I thought he played to the song really well, so that goes down as good tone in my book. 

p90fool

impmann said:

The secret to good tone is... listen to yourself, not a forum. :-)

The secret to good tone is...listen to the rest of the band, not yourself all the time.

markj

My PRS Sc58 through my H&K puretone. Tonal bliss.

imalone

Skarloey said:

...hearing in your head how you want to sound and having the right combination of technique and equipment to achieve that sound. More often than not it's about knowing what's required for a given song. 

This, knowing what sound you want to get and how to get it. I can do about half of one of those.

seany65

For me:

1) Short nails on both hands. On the left hand, this allows proper fretting, especially for chords. On the right hand it keeps them out of the way.

2) Play nearer the neck or the bridge (only really works when using open strings or fretted strings up to the 12th fret).

3) Change the angle of my plucking fingers. Straight 'classical' style (finger ends pointing at the floor) for a brighter tone, angled (fingers pointing more towards the lower horn of the guitar) for less bright tone.

These are most useful with an amp set 'clean'.

usedtobe

TheGuitarWeasel;204762" said:

I wear lucky underpants ... that helps :-)

I must wear unlucky pants, then. .

Jalapeno

Couple of observations.

Brain May's tone may be "small" - I'd describe it as shrill in isolation, but it fits perfectly with the band. But midrange it ain't.  Easiest way to get some Sir Brian tone is to crank up the amp, and scoop out the mids, and some of the bass with a graphic equaliser.

Gear - pretty much irrelevant. Black Keys/Jack White have proved that. See Jack White make music with 2 nails, a bit of wire and a pickup in It Might Get Loud - The Tone is definitely in him.  Gear does play a part though with players like The Edge - it's all about what he does with the gear though.

Keep it coming.

ToneControl

monquixote said:

Kerpunk said:

You wouldn't put 9s on an acoustic and expect to have good tone so why would you on an electric?

But then again unless you learn proper fretting, picking/plucking and vibrato you'll never have a good tone.

Because hundreds of tracks considered amongst the greatest tones committed to tape were done with 9s.

8s and 7s too

ToneControl

There was a very interesting article and discussion about using 8s here:

http://www.recordingreview.com/blog/electric-guitar-recording/guitar-tone-string-size-myth/

koneguitarist

seany65 said:

For me:

1) Short nails on both hands. On the left hand, this allows proper fretting, especially for chords. On the right hand it keeps them out of the way.

2) Play nearer the neck or the bridge (only really works when using open strings or fretted strings up to the 12th fret).

3) Change the angle of my plucking fingers. Straight 'classical' style (finger ends pointing at the floor) for a brighter tone, angled (fingers pointing more towards the lower horn of the guitar) for less bright tone.

These are most useful with an amp set 'clean'.

Sorry but disagree with most of this especially number 2.

Which pickup and where you play can have a huge effect on tones. For example if I want a gretsch tone I Would often use a neck pickup but pick hard close to bridge saddles. Where you pick with hybrid style you can use nails to get sharper clearer tone similar to pick attack, without nails you just cannot get the same attack. 

FWIW I keep all my nails short, but I know some guitarists who use long nails.

AxeWieldingBastard

Listening

GuitarMonkey

suspiciousminds said:

Simples for me:
Valve amp and p90's = monster tone.

Shh! Don't tell everyone!

Sambostar

Air temperature.

siraxeman

Jalapeno;219076" said:

Couple of observations.



Brain May's tone may be "small" - I'd describe it as shrill in isolation, but it fits perfectly with the band. But midrange it ain't.  Easiest way to get some Sir Brian tone is to crank up the amp, and scoop out the mids, and some of the bass with a graphic equaliser.



Gear - pretty much irrelevant. Black Keys/Jack White have proved that. See Jack White make music with 2 nails, a bit of wire and a pickup in It Might Get Loud - The Tone is definitely in him.  Gear does play a part though with players like The Edge - it's all about what he does with the gear though.



Keep it coming.

Hmmm can't say I agree with that! The Brian May sound is very mid rangey and thick with perhaps the exception of the screaming out of phase tones from the neck and Middle pups. And it's not small either. How very dare you....indeed .