What does it mean to have your own "tone"?

Arjen

I knew you would respond. :D

I agree with you about Clapton and Santana. Some would say Clapton always sounds the same, but he is far more versatile than Santana. But that is clearly a choice of Santana, that guy has awesome technique, he could play other styles easily. I do think he needs to change it up a little, get's a little boring IMHO.

I wouldn't know how to describe my personal style. When I started, I copied guitarists that I really liked. I especially copied Hendrix, he was my favorite. After a few years I realized that I sounded just like Hendrix when I played and this bothered me. So I quit copying other guitarists and just played the way I play, whatever that is. :roll:

I still have a lot of Hendrix in my playing, but I have other sounds as well. And I will still copy a great lick if I hear it and it really turns me on.

So, it is good to copy others to a degree. I wouldn't copy just one guitarist though, you will end up sounding just like them. I think John Frusciante (sp?) sounds too much like Hendrix, you can tell Hendrix was his favorite. Stevie Ray Vaughn could sound just like Hendrix when he wanted to, but he had his own unique style as well. That is a pretty incredible thing really.

For solos Frusciante does a lot of Hendrix-esque licks but he also has a lot of funk influences.

To me, "tone" (in this case) is another way of saying "feel."

There are certain guitar players who I can identify even when they're using an axe that's different from their usual. And most of the guitarists I enjoy make me "feel" something (besides envy). While I admire technically excellent players, my favorites are generally the ones who say more in one note than in an entire solo.

On the other hand, there are certain guitarists who always seem to use the same "tone." Tom Scholz comes to mind and, although technically good, he makes me feel nothing.

Tom Scholz comes to mind and, although technically good, he makes me feel nothing.

Ok, Here I'm thinking is an appropriate spot for me to insert the word "OUCH". I personally really like Boston and wish I knew half what they do. :(

It's all down to sematics, but after playing for decades, I use tone more narrowly, and think of it as only one component of one's overall playing style or individual voice which more broadly includes

tone or timbre: sonic nature of the notes -- Attack/Decay/Sustain/Release (ADSR) dynamics, harmonic/fundamental balance, much of which is determined by fingerboard touch, picking/plucking/slapping/banding/popping/pinching/sliding etc. There is also an instrument/amp/effects component to this, but it is amazing what a good player can do for tones using only the hands and fingers to vary its nature.

phrasing: how notes are placed (or not placed) within the timing structure of the music

phrasing dynamics: loudness characterics over a series of notes

melodic/harmonic structures -- choice of scales, intervals, chords, point and counterpoint

modulation: in the frequency sense -- vibrato, bending

frilly stuff: all that hammering on, pullling off, filling, muting strokes, grace notes, passing tones

and more...

No law against varying one's style, but a lot of it gets "built into" one's muscle memory, so it often takes thinking to break out of the familiar.

Here is a good explanation I found:
I think "Tone" in someway is too broad a term, and people mean many things.

There are things that come purely from the players fingers, heart and mind, like:
- Phrasing: finding the "right" note to play and at the right time and with the right spacing. and playing certain types of connected notes. For example, Satriani will often play different modes in fast legato, and Clapton will do short, very bluesy fills between the phrases he sings (listen to the electric version of "Before you accuse me" to hear what I mean).
- Articulation: making a note sound a particular way, with a particular feeling. For example, David Gilmour will often do very long, slow, dreamy bends. BB will do very beautiful sounding single note vibratos; a perfect single note placed at the right place with the right feel. To me, the very first note he plays in "The Thrill Is Gone" sounds just perfect for the song and sets the mood, before he has done anything else. I can play that same "B" note on the 2nd string 12th fret all day, and it just does not feel anywhere close..

Then, there is the sound itself that comes from the equipment and how it is setup, and that can be very different. For example, Hendrix really plays with a very different sound in "Wind Cries Mary", where he uses a very clean tone, and "Purple Haze", which is very distorted and uses Octavia effects, I believe. (But in both cases, he does certain style of chord embellishments, which is more of phrasing..)

I am really trying to see if I can get better at phrasing and articulation of my notes, and then I can worry about the sound more ... but that's just me. YMMV.

We need to invent a better word to describe ALL aspects of a player's sound, phrasing, tone, equipment, timbre, style, etc...

I kinda look at it this way, so I don't confuse myself(easy to do) :)

I'll use examples for what I mean

Tone:

SRV played blues based music so he needed a good blues tone...he devoloped it, but so have a lot of people, I've heard good blues tones on Youtube.

Tony Iommi play's metal/hard rock, he needed that kind of tone, he devoloped it, but there are a lot of metal players out there with that kind of tone.

Vince Gill play's country, he needed that kind of tone, he has it, so do other people....

So whats the answer(for me)...I don't know what you call it, but I call it VIBE or MOJO, these players can reach out and grab people with thier playing, I don't see that on Youtube very much, it's the artistic part of it, you can watch someone like that play something and go WOW, that was awesome, or you can hear someone else reproduce the same thing and say hmmm, ya that sounded like so and so, but was missing something, thats the mojo part.

Just my opinion :)

Scott

A lot of youtubers are just sitting in their bedrooms playing toward a webcam. That alone will make it more difficult to play something that really grabs the audience. It's like when Bing Crosby revolutionized recordings by singing to the mike like it was the audience.