The Guitar Magician

Almost every interview or article I have ever read dealing with a guitarists work, eventually leads to the subject of “Tone”. And rightfully so.

Definition
Tone [French. ton; German Ton; Italian-Spanish tono]:(3) the character of the sound achieved in performance on an instrument (The Harvard Dictionary of Music).

In other words it is the way the note sounds, the quality of the sound, the color that it has, the pleasantness or harshness or fullness, the brightness or bite that the note might possess. It is what makes you either like it or hate it.

It has been argued that you can take fancy licks and lightening speed and that they will fall by the wayside when compared with Tone. Tone is what makes an artist instantly recognizable from the first note that you hear. Tone is the signature sound of your favorite guitarist. It is why some guitarists play vintage Fenders and others love their Rickenbackers.

You can directly influence the Tone of your playing regardless of the type of guitar set up you own, Acoustic or Electric. Of course if you play an electric guitar their are the tone and volume settings on the guitar as well as the numerous settings on the amp. And you can spend hours and hours experimenting with them and having a blast.

But beyond that comes the way you pick the notes, where on the guitar you pick them and your decision on which note on the neck to play.

When picking the notes try different methods such as different thicknesses of flat pick. Instead of using flat picks use your thumb and fingers. Use your fingernails or a plastic thumb pick and metal finger picks (banjo or lap steel style). You can even slap them the way a Bass player does. (This works great for playing harmonics). Each of these picking methods produces it’s own ” Tone” .
Now try picking the notes at different locations on the guitar. Pick the strings up against the bridge of the guitar. Pick the strings directly over the sound hole (on an acoustic guitar) or try picking right up against the neck to body joint of the guitar.

The difference in Tone is amazing.

Now try combining the different picking methods (flat picks / fingerpicking styles) with the different locations ( bridge / neck joint etc.)

Doing this you will find new “sounds” that you really like. Welcome to the world of Tone.

Part of the subject of “Tone” that is important enough to take up on it’s own has to do with which note at which position on the neck you choose to use at any given moment in your playing. The guitar is interesting as you can play a particular note at numerous places up and down the neck of the guitar.

All the great players seem to have a knack or talent for hitting the exact right note ant the exact right time. You can only play something on an instinctive level if you “know” it to begin with.

Learning all the notes up and down the neck of the guitar is of vital importance in creating not only an awesome piece of music, but in developing your own signature sound or Tone!
I have researched and found an easy to use system for learning all the notes of the guitar very quickly. I highly recommend that you use this system. It will jump start your guitar playing. You will become a better guitar player very quickly.

Click here and Get started now.

Have fun playing and remember Tone is King !!

The Guitar-Magician.com

Playing guitar, Guitar basics, Learning guitar, Guitar Tone,Guitar Playing styles, Finger style Guitar, Flat picking,

Tags: Guitar Tabs, Guitar Chords, Becoming a Better Guitar Player, Guitar Basics, Learn To Play Guitar, Playing Guitar and Tone

Technorati Tags: Playing guitar, Guitar basics, Learning guitar, Guitar Tone, Guitar Playing styles, Finger style Guitar, Flat picking,

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 at 5:46 pm and is filed under Guitar Tabs, Guitar Chords, Becoming a Better Guitar Player, Guitar Basics, Learn To Play Guitar, Playing Guitar and Tone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.