Guitar Lesson of the Day- Tone Can Make All The Difference

The Importance of tone cannot be understated. Tone plays a major role in the way you, as a guitarist, communicate with the audience, and connect with your instrument. Its quite the same as how the tone in your voice affects the way you are recieved when talking to someone, the tone of your guitar is essencial to the nature of the message that you impart to listeners.It also has a huge effect on you as a player, and will often dictate what you are motivated or compelled to play. Getting a great tone will do nothing less than inspire you to play your absolute best. I know it isnt easy to get a great tone, it can take HOURS of time spent to accomplish. Guitarists like Eric Johnson, a tone freak, is always looking to get a "better" tone, as if his tone wasnt great sounding already. You can accomplish finding a tone that is right for you through experimentation and patience. Just keep one thing in mind, guitarists often hear a player who has a great tone, and they want the same sound, but, just because you love the way he sounds doesnt mean that tone will particularly FEEL good to you, you really have to feel the sound, and find a tone that suits YOUR playing.

Now not just the amp is responsible for your tone, strings play a major role in it as well. Speaking of string, it seems that the make or break you string is the G string, if it retains some bottom end, and has a nice quality, then you've got a nice set of pickups in a nice guitar. If the G string sounds too think, then the other unwound strings are going to be too bright sounding. You need to have balance all the way through, from the highest notes to the lowest.

One trick you can try with a Les paul for example is to wrap the strings around the tailpiece instead of threading each string through the back of the tailpiece, as is conventional, thread them from the other side, between the tailpiece and the bridge, so that the string wraps around over the top of the tailpiece. If your not familiar, this is an old Jimmy Page trick, if you've ever noticed a picture or seen a video of him with his strings wrapper, I used to think he was just lazy, not at all. This can result in more sustain due to more transference of the strings vibration to the body of the guitar. Also, you achieve less of an angle as the string passes over the bridge saddle, resulting in less string breakage.

String guage also plays a role in your tone, players like Stevie Ray Vaugne used .011 guage strings for a lot fatter lead sound, where as guys like Billy Gibbons has been known to use .008 guage strings. String guage is not a test of manhood, you have to be comfortable with the strings you have on your guitar, so experiement and find what FEELs good and SOUNDS good, it might take awhile, but if your serious about your tone, its well worth the effort, you will be a much better player in the long run.

Also, dont be afraid to play with the volume and tone knobs on your guitar, thats what their there for. So many players just turn the tone knobs and volume knob to 10 and go, adjusting their tone strictly through their amp, you are limiting yourself. Its like anything else with music, experiment, dont be afraid to try new things. Its those things that take us out of our comfort zone that make us better players, just like playing your first gig!

Hope you got something out of this lesson, it was brought to you by the help of Joe Bonamassa, if you ever get a chance, give him a listen, he is a great blues player. I will be back soon with some more lessons, all the best, and Keep Rockin!!
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