I think the interpretation of the song material should sound authentic, independent of the gear used.
The violines used at Bach era was not Stradivari but Bach composed some very impressing compositions for the violine.
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Tone is all in the fingers
- Thread starter dincz
- Start date
The violines used at Bach era was not Stradivari but Bach composed some very impressing compositions for the violine.
I never noticed Flea changed rigs.
I am with Jimmy. Different amps still sound more like me than anyone else and other players on my rigs sound like them.
You don't hear style, you hear the tonal evidence of how the the fingers struck or pulled and muted the strings, after it is amplified.
I remember being shamed by my violin teacher taking my cheap student violin and making it sing after I complained about it. Of course she wasn't as toneful as on her own fine instrument but point was made. All the complications of our electrified instruments don't change the basics.
Hopkins
Commercial User
You cannot compare acoustic instruments where tonal differences are much more nuanced than electric instruments who's tonal differences can vary wildly
Hopkins
Commercial User
You definitely hear style. Style is the way notes are produced, tone is how the notes sound. You can drastically change your tone by stepping on an effects pedal, there is no technique that can change tone as dramatically. That in itself proves that gear influences tone more than the player.
Flea's rig change changed his tone dramatically.
in roughly speaking, may be
but look closely, the answer is no
if you were generally right I'd just give up play music
The double bass players are falling over laughing at this thread.
Style is ALL in the fingers. Better? With the sound off you can see the player doing his thang with his sig instrument and his sig rig but you can only know from the TONES what any of it sounds like.
A great big hunk of flavour in those tones came from how the bass was played. That is all anyone means by tone being in the fingers.
Style is ALL in the fingers. Better? With the sound off you can see the player doing his thang with his sig instrument and his sig rig but you can only know from the TONES what any of it sounds like.
A great big hunk of flavour in those tones came from how the bass was played. That is all anyone means by tone being in the fingers.
Hopkins
Commercial User
Again, comparing acoustic instruments to electric.
You haven't given me a single reason why I am wrong. The fact that you are going to have a different tone using different gear does not say anything about you as a player.
Hopkins
Commercial User
So your saying that there isn't a larger tonal variance between electric instruments than there is in acoustic instruments? Have you ever switched between a neck and bridge pickup?
I think every instrument needs to have a distinct flavour for attack, decay and sustain.
The better the instrument follows the players intenton for interpretetation then the better the instrument fits personal needs. I don't understand the confusion, sorry!
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Hopkins
Commercial User
What does that have to do with the fact the argument that tone comes more from the player than it does from the gear?
Hopkins
Commercial User
What does that have to do with the fact the argument that tone comes more from the player than it does from the gear?
What else are you hearing but a sound which is the sum of its harmonics? These are collectively known as timbre on acoustic instruments.
It doesn't matter a fig that we are playing an electified bass. Just the same, there are infinite variations of the one note according to how it is struck. Then it gets toneified by the electronics and we could get started on how a tube amp reacts to the input giving it instrumental qualities.
IMHO, there are some basic premises missing. If ever heard a child learning to play violin. Before they have control of the bow and can feel the way the bow can manipulate the tone, the noise is bad. Over time they develop control and feel. Things start to improve. It is the same for bass. Go to a GC and listen to the beginners...
After that, quality of instruments and gear makes a difference only if you have sufficient skill to discern the shortcomings of lower quality stuff.
After that, quality of instruments and gear makes a difference only if you have sufficient skill to discern the shortcomings of lower quality stuff.
This is a navel-gazing argument about semantics and the definition of tone. Of course a given player sounds like himself/herself through any rig, but that's because of note choice, dynamics etc. The "tone" of each note is partly affected by technique (where the string is plucked), but far more influenced by strings, pickups and eq settings. If you don't think so, compare a dimed bass control with a soloed neck pickup through an overdriven SVT to a soloed bridge pickup with the bass turned to minimum through a Euphonic Audio head.
There's nothing in the fingers there, unless you want to count the fact that they were used to make the adjustments, LOL.
There's nothing in the fingers there, unless you want to count the fact that they were used to make the adjustments, LOL.
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alexclaber
Commercial User
I'm a huge believer in tone being in the hands - but maybe a better way to put it is to say "music is in the hands?"
Hopkins
Commercial User
This 100%. No matter what kind of mystic properties you try to apply to it, a bass is a mechanical/electric device and the sum of its parts plays a bigger influence on its tone than the person playing it. When you combine a bass, amp and effects its not even close.
Not to offend anyone, myself included, but maybe most of us do not have an actual "signature" sound. Signature style, yes, so we sound like us on any amp we play with some tweaks of EQ, pedal setting etc. I can get my "tone" on any decent amp I play. And when I'm playing covers, I'm trying to cop the vibe and the tone (if possible) of the bassist I'm covering. As I mentioned earlier in my Chris Squire reference, if you listen to him on "The Yes Album" or "Fragile", it's way different than on "Big Generator" or "Union". The syle is unmistakably Squire, but the TONE is DIFFERENT.
And after this post I am no longer going to post on any "Tone in the Hands" threads! LOL!
And after this post I am no longer going to post on any "Tone in the Hands" threads! LOL!
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The whole "I sound like me no matter what I play" rhetoric doesn't make sense to me. Who in the Sam Hill do you expect to sound if YOU are still playing the instrument? As if you are going to switch basses or amps, etc and all of a sudden develop an entirely different musical vocabulary.
Tone starts in the mind, is manipulated by the hands, and is voiced through your gear.
Tone starts in the mind, is manipulated by the hands, and is voiced through your gear.
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