Posts Tagged amps
Does Tone Really Come From The Hands?
Posted by Jed in Advice, Gear, Technique And Practice on January 18th, 2010
I have heard this phrase since I was a teenager first learning how to play a D and G chord. People would talk about the great Stevie Ray Vaugh or Jimi Hendrix and how their tones moved there souls and it came from there magical hands.
“It’s all in the hands” repeated in my brain. So instead of buying a tube amp I would practice scales. Instead of getting a Tube Screamer I stuck with the Boss Super-Overdrive. Instead of looking into better guitar manufacturers I kept looking at my fingers and wondered why they sounded horrible.
I was in shredder mode. And that was the last thing my church needed. What my church needed was someone who could just play the solo for “God of Wonders” as it was written with a good quality tone (i.e. gear) behind it.
Back to the Greats and their Magical Hands. Sure Stevie Ray’s sound is amazing if you are a Texas blues player who loves gauge 14 strings, but I’m not. Sure Jimi’s tone was amazing for it’s time, but I’m pretty sure if I rolled into my church with a Marshal Stack cranked to ten, no, eleven and a Fuzzface, people would give me a weird stare (or grimace…or look of complete anguish).
Do you remember that scene from John Mayer’s concert DVD where he is playing on a bluff overlooking LA?
When I first saw this I couldn’t believe his tone, neither could my buddy who said “Man that guy’s tone is amazing. How do I get my hands to sound like that?” It was a rhetorical question so I didn’t draw attention to Johnny’s Signature head that goes for $8500.00. Even the Greats use great gear.
I think the core message the phrase, “tone comes from the hands” is trying to convey is that technique makes good gear sound great.
Any guitar rig is just going to sound better in the hands of a seasoned player who listens to Eric Johnson and Joe Bonamassa than it will given to a teenager whose idea of a good guitar player is Billie Joe Armstrong. But I would also bet that the seasoned player will sound better playing through a Dumble ODS-100 than a Marshall JVM.
Now tone without technique is useless so please don’t misunderstand me. There must be a solid foundation of technique and skill to support any guitar rig; however, don’t tell yourself that just because you are not a virtuoso that you don’t need or deserve good gear. If you can play the riff to “Hosanna” smoothly to a metronome and you play in front of your church then you and your congregation deserve the best gear you can get your hands on.
Does tone really come from the hands? I guess it’s true, but don’t let that be an excuse from getting good gear. If the “Greats” need it, you do too.
Love you guys, keep sharp,
-Jed
Taking Tone To The Next Level: Pt. 1
This is the question that is on my mind most of the time and I’m guessing on yours as well. No matter where we are on the tone hierarchy we are always trying to get to the next level.
Getting to the next level can often feel like inventing the light bulb. You try a thousand things and nothing seems to work and then one time you flip on the power switch and better tone is coming out of your amp. You don’t even play better, but you feel like you do. You crossed over to another level of tone.
Yesterday I crossed over to another level of tone. I am so excited. You guitar players know what I mean.
A couple of weeks ago a friend who we’ll call Jason (which is convenient seeing as his name is Jason) crossed over to the next level in tone.
He plays through a 15 watt 1×12” Trainor Combo. He has had it forever (God said let there be light and there was Jason with his Trainor) and it has always been a decent little amp.
Then a couple of weeks ago we were hanging out at his house and the discussion veered towards gear. His face lit up (which happens a lot when we talk about gear), “Jed, you have to see what I did.”
We went to his “rehearsal space” where he had his guitar, pedalboard and amp set up and ready to go. He handed me the guitar like a kid on Christmas afternoon, turned everything on and told me to play. So I did.
There is no expletive I could say to describe what I felt at that moment. It was one of the most humongous tones I had ever heard coming out of a little 1×12 combo. The low end had an amazing tight response and everything just sounded clearer and bigger.
I turned to Jason to enquire what was making the difference. He began to tell me that he had replaced the speaker with a speaker from warehouseguitarspeakers.com.
I was impressed. It was the kind of tone that kept me from putting the guitar down. It is amazing how good tone inspires faster playing.
Since that day I have completely rethought tone, amps, pedals and even guitars. For exploratory research I have bought a speaker from the same company that Jason bought his from, and am planning on putting it into my Rivera R-55.
The next post will be an update on this tone trek and I hope to have it up in a couple days.
Until then, keep sharp.
-Jed