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Tone is all in the fingers

#22
beans-on-toast said:
I know what you mean. I feel the same every time I put my card into a bank machine. You never know who's been in there before you.
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"Uhh... huhuhuh, bank machines are sl*ts."
"Heheh, uhm. Yeah!"
 
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#23
I'd agree that a lot of your tone comes from the way you place your fingers on the fretboard and the way you strike the strings with your fingers or a pick. It also comes a lot from the way your fingers turn the dials on your bass and your amp.
 
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#25
JimmyM said:
It does not mean that all gear sounds identical. It means that your style of playing is way more important to the overall sound than the gear you use.
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It seems to me that a lot of folks here would agree that:

(1) "Your fingers" and technique are a big part of your tone, moreso than the average player probably realizes; and

(2) Gear is still a noticeable part of your tone, although much less so than the above.

I think the collective wisdom that a lot of rational, thoughtful TB'ers want to impart is that bassists would be better served by focusing more on their own playing rather than trying to improve their tone and playing through buying new gear. That's all great stuff.

That being said, there are also folks here who constantly interrupt threads on every conceivable topic to suggest that the topic is meaningless because tone comes entirely or primarily from the fingers. Those types of posts have no effect other than to spread negativity and needlessly rain on the parade of posters who are trying to have a discussion of things they are interested in discussing.

If this thread is in reaction to a different thread, I have not seen that one and cannot comment on how the issue arose there... but I have seen plenty of threads here in which posters essentially try to shame an OP for daring to suggest that there is a meaningful distinction between using one type of gear and another.
 
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#26
I wouldn't say fingers have more effect on tone than your entire rig. Actually I would NEVER say that. Try getting a ric through a GK sound ANYTHING like a P through an Orange 200ab. I would like to see how that turns out. Your fingers do affect tone but not that much. I think many of us just like to talk up it's effect because it makes it seem we are all more unique playing bass than we actually are. Again, not that we don't all sound different, just that many of us like to over emphasize that difference. Honestly I think the whole "your fingers are the most important part of your tone" thing is just ridiculous. Your "fingers" (technique really) are just a small piece of the pie.
 
#28
Wai said:
I wouldn't say fingers have more effect on tone than your entire rig. Actually I would NEVER say that. Try getting a ric through a GK sound ANYTHING like a P through an Orange 200ab. I would like to see how that turns out. Your fingers do affect tone but not that much. I think many of us just like to talk up it's effect because it makes it seem we are all more unique playing bass than we actually are. Again, not that we don't all sound different, just that many of us like to over emphasize that difference. Honestly I think the whole "your fingers are the most important part of your tone" thing is just ridiculous. Your "fingers" (technique really) are just a small piece of the pie.
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Geddy Lee just played the R40 tour with a big bunch of diverse basses... whose tonal differences where mostly imperceptible to everyone that wasn't a bass player. It sounded like... Geddy.
 
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#29
sotua said:
Geddy Lee just played the R40 tour with a big bunch of diverse basses... whose tonal differences where mostly imperceptible to everyone that wasn't a bass player. It sounded like... Geddy.
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Not surprising. Technique doesn't completely equal tone. They're different. Attack is the only thing that overlaps, that I can think of at least. The way in which we slide and bend is also technique and gives our playing an unique character, but that is not tone. But because people think of it as tone we start getting this "tone is all in the fingers" overstatement.
 
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#30
There are a lot of factors that affect tone, but to the OP's point...have you ever let another player play your bass through your rig? I've done this a number of times over the years and when someone else is playing my bass, through my amp, with all settings exactly the same, I do notice a difference in tone. The slight (or not so slight) differences in technique from one player to another make a big difference on tone IMO.
 
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#31
dincz said:
Yes, I've tried it and I'm not surprised. My problem is "all".
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yes. Fingers are very poor basses amps or cabs. It's a figure of speech you may not understand as 2nd language. When we say ''it's all in the way you hold your mouth'' it's not literally that either but that's the form.

Eg baking scones. It's all in the working of the dough with a light touch. It's all the other things too but if you beat up on the dough you get rocks.

Why bother with the saying ''it's all in the fingers''? Because so many less experienced players have no idea how much tone they have in their digits. It's even good for experienced players to be reminded regularly, here in the land of GAS.
 
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#33
Your tone will be effected by your technique which obviously comes from your fingers but pickups, types of wood, hardware, pots, capacitors, strings, cables, amps, type and size of speakers, cabinet configurations, equalizers, compression all effect tone.
 
#38
This is a semantics argument. Many seem to be confused in believing that "tone" is something created by the player and channeled through the instrument. In reality, tone is the inherent sonic quality built into the instrument as a result of components and construction. As it's thrown about on TB, the term seems to be a misnomer for the character of one's playing - a very different thing. This is what makes a player unique, often combined with the tone of a specific instrument to create a signature sound. A player's character accounts for everything that they bring to the instrument such as finger placement, attack, playing style, etc. These traits manipulate the tone, but a tone they do not create.

Of course Jamerson playing an Alembic won't sound like Stanley Clarke - it'll sound like Jamerson...playing an Alembic.
 
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#40
Tyso said:
This is a semantics argument. Many seem to be confused in believing that "tone" is something created by the player and channeled through the instrument. In reality, tone is the inherent sonic quality built into the instrument as a result of components and construction. As it's thrown about on TB, the term seems to be a misnomer for the character of one's playing - a very different thing. This is what makes a player unique, often combined with the tone of a specific instrument to create a signature sound. A player's character accounts for everything that they bring to the instrument such as finger placement, attack, playing style, etc. These traits manipulate the tone, but a tone they do not create.
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Wikipedia and several other sources disagree rather vehemently with you, FWIW. Link Removed
 

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