Joe Heller True story, Word of Honor: Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer now dead, and I were at a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island. I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel ‘Catch-22’ has earned in its entire history?” And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.” And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?” And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.” Not bad! Rest in peace! — Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 2005
Greetings earthlings,
I am a guitar player, and the currency of guitar players is, apparently, tone. We chase tone like the tycoons chase money.
To chase tone requires a disposable income. How else are we to sample all the flavours of overdrives? How else are we to sample all the flavours of pickups?
Take me. Over the years I have owned a TS-808, a TS-9, a Keeley-modded TS-808, several BYOC Classic Overdrives, a Hot Cake, a Daddy O, a Catalinbread something-or-other, a Centaur clone... I’ve also purchased many different pickups: PAFs, Duncan Distortions, Bareknuckle Nailbombs, Suhr Thornbuckers, JBs, P90s, Jazzmasters, Fishmans… My ability to chase tone over the years has always been directly proportional to the amount of income I’ve had at my disposal.
Disposal is the right word, because do you think any of these purchases were quantum leaps towards that elusive tone I’ve been “hearing” in my head? Hell no. Each were lateral moves, at once as good and as shitty as the others.
I’m about to draw a line in the sand here.
I submit that tone, like money, is an abstraction. A fantasy. A meaningless wisp of nothingness that beguiles and misguides us. We recklessly buy and buy and buy and fleetingly feel like we are getting somewhere and that, through this or that new device, we are closer to that elusive tone that will inspire us to emote our sweet licks. We spend hours searching the internet for that one special gimcrack that will connect with our souls. We passively watch YouTube stars pontificate on this or that pickup or guitar pedal and think we can find ourselves this way. Yet we find that when we play through this or that doodad it still sounds like us, which will not do, so we keep chasing.
We think we are chasing tone when in fact we are chasing our own tails through a labyrinth of consumerism.
Yet, in some ways, tone is real. Follow me, won’t you, through a different labyrinth:
Tone is pleasing sound. Pleasing sound is acoustic waves of varying air pressure. Acoustic waves of varying air pressure are induced by physical vibrations which, for us electric guitarists, are facilitated by electricity. Physical vibrations are generated by human movement. Human movement follows the mind. The mind… Well, perhaps I’ll save my theories of mind for another day. Suffice it to say, the mind commands a domino effect of factors resulting in some intended form of sonic expression.
Which is important! A world without creative expression is a dead world.
But what exactly are we chasing when we set out to chase “tone?” Is it actually achievable? Can there be a moment when we say, “Yes, this is enough”? I think there should be. If tone were a vehicle instead of a grail, I believe we guitar players could be spared much turmoil and get down to the business of creating.
Because let’s face it, creating is the REAL currency.
I'll admit as much as the next that consumerism is a big part of the equation, and if we're chasing the purchase of the next piece of gear instead of creating, we're probably missing the point.
But, gear can be seen as a tool. The question is, ultimately, do you need five finishing hammers, ten files, and three air compressors if most of your work can be done with a screwdriver? Is it worth testing out every type of screwdriver? Are you chasing the right things for you to inspire you to play guitar, or are you just chasing for the chase? These are all subjective and will vary for different people, and for some, experimentation opens new avenues of creativity in the same way that limitations force us to be creative within the constraints of what we already have.
There is a sound designer and musician on YouTube - Venus Theory - who talks a lot about musical simplicity and why constraints can be positive for our creativity. I'd recommend anyone with GAS check out some of this videos.
You're also right that tone is an acoustic properly, and this is where I think most guitarist chase the wrong thing. Pickups, guitars, pedals, even amps, are easy to lust over, but the thing that makes the sound is our speaker cabinet. Our choice of speakers and speaker cabinets have the biggest impact on tone, combined with a microphone and where it is placed on the speaker (in a stage or studio situation). Yet, most of us could stop our tone chase if we merely tested some different cabinets and speakers instead of trying every variation of a tube screamer, a klon, or a JCM800 or SLO or Fender or Dumble circuit. Most of the time, when we think a piece of gear 'sounds bad' it could simply be that we don't actually like the speaker that is reproducing the 'magical sound' that X pedal or pickup is supposed to have.
But, I can also admit that from an aspiring recording engineer perspective, speakers and microphones become their own tone chase, so it is far from the solution if you don't know how to say enough is enough, or if you cannot learn when you have achieved 'good tone'. I'll go as far as to say that some of my favourite records sound objectively bad, but I need to remind myself that I love those records because of the quality of the songs and what they mean to me, not the quality of the tone. I think that should be my take-away lesson. Song quality always trumps tone, and don't forget that.
Your recent dispatches have a strange universal synchronicity to my own goings on. The day you posted “until the light comes” and its discussion of fear was just hours after I had come to a realization that I had more fear about doing something mundane like playing in a “dad band” than a somewhat serious surgery I had scheduled for the next day. And your most recent dispatch about tone came one day after I sent an email wherein I concluded that, because I am happy with my solid state amp, I could never justify paying for a tube amp (though I might try to build one out of a non-functional reel-to-reel). I suppose in an ever-expanding universe there are bound to be coincidences, but sufficed to say I am curious to see what the next dispatch is about!