playing *to* the TONE

[mentoneman]

i'm not sure, but i think this may be one of those elusive skills that people react to, and yet not realize is happening.

i noticed it big time when i had zachman's fuchs ods100 for a while and let my friend play through it.
he just clobbered it and strummed chords and really defeated everything the amp was capable of in how he approached it. he tried to impose his will on the amp instead of suss it out and realize what it was all about, and failed.

he didn't make it speak because he did not understand the idea of those boutique dynamics which folks pay big money for.


mike landau and robben ford totally get it, like you can hear on their performance of mike's tune "rascal balls" here :

for the record mike used the suhr OD 100 classic and some pedals and a lexicon rack processor,
and robben used a super and a twin, and a zendrive on the floor and a boss rv3 for delay

allah hinds gets it too--notice how he controls the note dynamics with his left hand:

my friend danny donnelly is also a tone milker:

ej also masters that "thing":

and one thing in common with the heavy tone guys i admire is lower preamp gain for a thicker single note, lighter touch and economy of left hand motion, restraint on when to play fast and for what reason, an impeccable internal clock and control over meter, and unique improvisational phrasing which presents a personality on the instrument, not repetition just for the sake of an easy autopilot lick that falls under your fingers.

i'm totally inspired to improve my tone and musicality when i hear these guys.
peace!

 

[Beardyman]

Lol at the kids running around in Danny's video

 

[Bob Savage]

Danny Donnelly, there's a blast from the past. I knew him as a kid, we both lived in La Palma...

 

[amiller]

Excellent post.

I believe that tone is a combination of equipment AND the artist's ability to "milk" the equipment to express the tone they hear in their minds "ear." When folks say "tone is in the fingers" I think what you described is what they're trying to say...my two cents.

 

[mentoneman]

Lol at the kids running around in Danny's video

that's my daughter and one of her best friends running around after church..kinda adds to the joy of his playing!
what's with it with kids going nuts in big empty buildings?? the younger ones add screaming to the equation

 

[mentoneman]

Danny Donnelly, there's a blast from the past. I knew him as a kid, we both lived in La Palma...

he is so good. at a wide variety of styles. he has a nice studio up near sacramento? and is just a great human being period.

 

[Bob Savage]

Danny Donnelly, there's a blast from the past. I knew him as a kid, we both lived in La Palma...

he is so good. at a wide variety of styles. he has a nice studio up near sacramento? and is just a great human being period.

He was a great player even as a kid and yeah, always has been a really nice guy. I think he's about 4-5 years younger than me. He hung around me for a bit, trying to get to my sister.

 

[Anonymous]

I dunno... I feel like more of a man when I impose my will on the amp. The sense of power is intoxicating...

Steve

 

[Bob Savage]

I dunno... I feel like more of a man when I impose my will on the amp. The sense of power is intoxicating...

Steve

No doubt. I love really taking it to the amp, then standing over it and yelling "OH YEAH, WHO'S YOUR DADDY!!!! WHO'S YOUR DADDY!!!!"

Though, the wife asked me to stop it because it scares the leapard gecko.

 

[degenaro]

Yup, playing to te amp...the very reason why I never could make a Dumble work for me. That said playing to the amp has IMO more to do with how hard you hit than anything else. And I had the same issue with say a vibroverb with choking the snot out of the notes as I had when I played friends Dumbles with the exception of SSS or Dumble style amps. Now that I'm back at fingers with no pick I can actually work a vibroverb.

 

[Gainiac]

finger tone!!!! it's all about the fingertone!!!

 

[mentoneman]

I dunno... I feel like more of a man when I impose my will on the amp. The sense of power is intoxicating...

Steve

you know as well as anyone that corralling a peacemaker to bend to your will is not easy, but doable, and you are still left having to develop some "mojave fingers" to really extract the goods.

and the fight actually makes for great tone.

 

[mentoneman]

I dunno... I feel like more of a man when I impose my will on the amp. The sense of power is intoxicating...

Steve

No doubt. I love really taking it to the amp, then standing over it and yelling "OH YEAH, WHO'S YOUR DADDY!!!! WHO'S YOUR DADDY!!!!"

Though, the wife asked me to stop it because it scares the leapard gecko.

high gain chest hair tone is always fun, but in all seriousness, even the heaviest tone is better with some finesse using the right tubes, pickups, speakers, wood choice, and experienced TOUCH.

when you play your deliverance 60 i relate to your playing more and i sense it's because you enjoy the tone more and let it breathe a little more.

my *personal* taste gravitates to guys with great dynamic tone that vocalize with it more than fire off streams of high gain auctioneer-like muscle twitch solos.

 

[mentoneman]

Yup, playing to te amp...the very reason why I never could make a Dumble work for me. That said playing to the amp has IMO more to do with how hard you hit than anything else. And I had the same issue with say a vibroverb with choking the snot out of the notes as I had when I played friends Dumbles with the exception of SSS or Dumble style amps. Now that I'm back at fingers with no pick I can actually work a vibroverb.

good point.

i definitely don't picture you being a dumble guy due to your heavy attack.

it's definitely always been my goal once i knew what i was doing on the guitar to play dynamically with tones and setups that respond to soft or hard touch, so i instinctively gravitate to players that use that element.
i had the advantage of starting on acoustic things like ukelele and classical guitars around the house, which are very responsive to things like picking with your nail versus the flesh of your finger for tone and volume, using lateral classical vibrato versus string bending, etc.

 

[Anonymous]

In Mentone, you don't play amp....amp play you!

 

[degenaro]

Yup, playing to te amp...the very reason why I never could make a Dumble work for me. That said playing to the amp has IMO more to do with how hard you hit than anything else. And I had the same issue with say a vibroverb with choking the snot out of the notes as I had when I played friends Dumbles with the exception of SSS or Dumble style amps. Now that I'm back at fingers with no pick I can actually work a vibroverb.

good point.

i definitely don't picture you being a dumble guy due to your heavy attack.

it's definitely always been my goal once i knew what i was doing on the guitar to play dynamically with tones and setups that respond to soft or hard touch, so i instinctively gravitate to players that use that element.
i had the advantage of starting on acoustic things like ukelele and classical guitars around the house, which are very responsive to things like picking with your nail versus the flesh of your finger for tone and volume, using lateral classical vibrato versus string bending, etc.

Yup, been playing a lot of acoustic and ditched the pick again so the dynamics thing is something I've been messing with lately.

 

[Meathead]

Agree!
That's why I ditched the Pod stuff...no playing for the gear there, just all glide.
I set my amps up similar enough (JTM45, Vox, Polaris...) so the feel, frequencies and gain are very similar.
I basically try to make all my amps sound like the same amp. That's why I see no point in buying anymore amps...I just have a flavor I like no matter what.

But I must say, getting on someone else's rig, that you're not used to, can be a nightmare for sure.

 

[Telephant]

Pat... Good taste... You haz it.

I agree completely.

 

[Skirmish]

I totally agree with your first post but imho all of the tones in the vid suck (some due to recording/video quality). This is a much better example me thinks:

 

[Anonymous]

I dunno... I feel like more of a man when I impose my will on the amp. The sense of power is intoxicating...

Steve

No doubt. I love really taking it to the amp, then standing over it and yelling "OH YEAH, WHO'S YOUR DADDY!!!! WHO'S YOUR DADDY!!!!"

Though, the wife asked me to stop it because it scares the leapard gecko.

Steve