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A "tone is in the hands" story...
- Thread starter kesslari
- Start date
I had a guy wanting to buy my amp once, saying it was a great sounding amp. I knew the guy so i took my amp over to his place the next time his band was rehearsing so he could try it out. With a different bass and cab it sounded completely different. Then he wanted to buy my whole rig. I declined his offer but gave him a list of all the components.
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It reminds me of an article i read in a UK guitar magazine a while back. They were doing blind testing of high-end boutique guitar amps where the player was behind a curtain and played the same phrases through two or three different amps and the others had to score them. The comment that stayed in my mind was from one of the judging panel who said something along the lines of "It was difficult to separate the amps but you just knew who the player was each time"
GREAT FUNNY STORY <3
I've played gigs with less than 300€ in gear (old Peavey TNT+Zoom pedal+basswood kit bass) and still got people come to check out what I was using to "sound like that". Nobody ever comes and asks "how long did it take you to develop a tone/style/whatever like that?", no matter how obviously cheap the gear I'm using. It's become sort of a challenge to me, how cheaper can I go? Many times the cynical in me felt like handing over my bass and saying "yep, great gear, here you are, check it out, you'll sure sound great".
Anyway, don't want to sound like a virtue signalling creep, I still have some more expensive basses and gear which certainly make my work easier (nothing outrageous, couple Musicmans, a Warwick, a SansAmp RBI preamp -OTOH never owned amps other than cheap Peaveys or Hartkes-), but in no way it's something of such extreme relevance. Even at a bandmate level, only a few of my colleages get what it's about (exactly the ones that couldn't care less about the origin, price tag or brand displayed in the junk I play THRU').
Now, owning cheap gear is also a responsibility, not reliant on the "tone in your fingers" alone. You can't own cheap gear if you're not into also setting it up and working it inside out to make it play and sound good.
I've played gigs with less than 300€ in gear (old Peavey TNT+Zoom pedal+basswood kit bass) and still got people come to check out what I was using to "sound like that". Nobody ever comes and asks "how long did it take you to develop a tone/style/whatever like that?", no matter how obviously cheap the gear I'm using. It's become sort of a challenge to me, how cheaper can I go? Many times the cynical in me felt like handing over my bass and saying "yep, great gear, here you are, check it out, you'll sure sound great".
Anyway, don't want to sound like a virtue signalling creep, I still have some more expensive basses and gear which certainly make my work easier (nothing outrageous, couple Musicmans, a Warwick, a SansAmp RBI preamp -OTOH never owned amps other than cheap Peaveys or Hartkes-), but in no way it's something of such extreme relevance. Even at a bandmate level, only a few of my colleages get what it's about (exactly the ones that couldn't care less about the origin, price tag or brand displayed in the junk I play THRU').
Now, owning cheap gear is also a responsibility, not reliant on the "tone in your fingers" alone. You can't own cheap gear if you're not into also setting it up and working it inside out to make it play and sound good.
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All tone & sounds of nearly any instrument are coming out the player's hands, feet or lips, depending on basic controls & minuscule haptic adaptions; if you want tone, you've got to tinker along.
Around 1990, I had a guy try to buy my old fretless Jazz Bass for $2500 at a gig. Dang! I wish I had sold it to him
Gear doesnt solve all your problems? Blasphemy!
I realize that "the tone is in the hands" is an expression. Hands have no tone. Once we press a string down on a fret, the bass is making the tone. Now with a fretless, yeah, there might be some tonal difference with fat fingers vs bony little fingers.
The expression might be more accurate to say that, "the tone is in the personalty or style" of the player.
Another thought.
There is a big difference in hearing ourselves play bass and hearing our bass being played. Huh? I'm like playing my bass in the living room and as usual, I'm not totally happy with my sound or tone. Seems like I'm never happy with my sound or tone. But then, I hand my bass over to my son, volume, settings and everything the same (I pluck with fingers, he plucks with fingers). I walk off away from him or to the other room and WOW!!!!!!!...........my bass sounds fantastic! And it's not because my son's hands are radically different than mine. It's because I can hear my bass 100% with my ears and mind when someone else is playing my bass with my settings. My sound is great!
IMO, it's like the difference in hearing yourself speak from your mouth vs hearing a recording of your voice.
Nice thread! Great story about the doumbek (Arab goblet drum) and the impression you made on that fellow. Thanks for sharing.
The expression might be more accurate to say that, "the tone is in the personalty or style" of the player.
Another thought.
There is a big difference in hearing ourselves play bass and hearing our bass being played. Huh? I'm like playing my bass in the living room and as usual, I'm not totally happy with my sound or tone. Seems like I'm never happy with my sound or tone. But then, I hand my bass over to my son, volume, settings and everything the same (I pluck with fingers, he plucks with fingers). I walk off away from him or to the other room and WOW!!!!!!!...........my bass sounds fantastic! And it's not because my son's hands are radically different than mine. It's because I can hear my bass 100% with my ears and mind when someone else is playing my bass with my settings. My sound is great!
IMO, it's like the difference in hearing yourself speak from your mouth vs hearing a recording of your voice.
Nice thread! Great story about the doumbek (Arab goblet drum) and the impression you made on that fellow. Thanks for sharing.
My wife reminded me. Many years ago I was playing doumbek (Arab goblet drum - lots of fun) in a Middle-Eastern band, as well as in a World Music fusion band. Both were playing at a festival in Santa Barbara, on consecutive days.
We finished our set, first day, and a guy comes out of the audience and says "I want to buy your drum". I tell him there's a store literally 2 blocks away that sells them and he can buy one brand new. He says no, he wants to buy *mine* because he likes how it sounds.
I tell him I really don't want to sell it because I'd have to go buy another one. He's insistent.
I say "It costs $110 brand new just down the street. If I sell you this one I'd charge you $125. It's really not worth the extra, just go buy a new one." He remains insistent and counts out the money.
OK, two blocks for $15 - at that point in my life, a good deal. I took it.
Next day we're performing - finish our set, same guy comes up and says "how much for THAT one?" I ask what the problem was, he says "I took yours home but it doesn't sound as good"...
Sigh... and
What really drove this the point home to me was when my son starting to play bass. Same bass, same EQ, same rig, plucking at the same spot, both plucking with our index and middle finger, same song, his sound is more round and fuller, mine is more pick like. It is a distinct difference. Neither is bad, it's just different.
Maybe because he is younger, he has more padding at his finger tips, and as an adult he is is 4" taller and out weighs me by 35 pounds has something to do with it.
Good thread.!
You are completely discounting the way your plucking hand interacts.
Someone once said of Thelonious Monk (one of my all time favorite musicians) that "he could make a new Steinway sound like a barroom spinet". (or something similar)
Somehow I can identify with this, as a guy that could play an Alembic and it would sound like a Rogue.....
You are correct! I didn't even think about the plucking hand. Yep, it can be a big factor in sound! Thank-you!
I knew a really good drummer and when approached on a break and was told "Those drums sound really good" he put his ear up to a tom and(he might have ripped this off someone) replied "I don't hear anything".
Good post. It's very well thought out and well explained.
Having a son that is an accomplished bassist as well, I can assure you there is a distinct difference having recorded our session.
I'll also agree that a fretless bass will give you more expression that a fretted instrument, however articulation, punctuation, dynamics, and where you land on the beat doesn't doesn't show up much as tone per se as an individual instrument, but in the ensemble it does make a huge difference how it's tone is perceived.
I'll also agree with your statement about sensory tricks your brain can play while processing information. It just maybe when you listen to your tone while playing, the stimuli is routed a different way. Very interesting input.
Thanks for posting.
LOL!!
Felonious Punk... Brought to a precinct near you... if you still have police in your neighborhood.
Obviously knowing what you are doing playing give you a huge leg up, and true, a Peavey TNT can be had cheap currently, but those were really good sounding amps. I will say this, with my first bass amp cir 1968, a Lafayette (A vanity line for an electronics store long out of business, and who knows what company actually made it), there is no way you were going to get a respectable sound out of it Compared to my Eden gear regardless how well you play. JMO.
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