Acoustic Guitar
Acoustic Guitar
Tips on Tone
You've probably heard the old adage that "tone is in the hands." But what does that really mean? And what makes tone good? We asked 14 prominent acoustic guitarists to weigh in, and got 14 unique responses. You'll want to listen with a notebook in hand, because this episode is a treasure trove of practical advice, musical examples, insights, and exercises to try.
Thanks to Henriksen Amplifiers for sponsoring this episode. For demo videos and more information, visit www.HenriksenAmplifiers.com or follow on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Additional resources:
- Learn more about our guests: Abigail Dowd, Amber Russell, Chris Pierce, Eric Skye, Jason Vieaux, Lisa Liu, Maddie Witler, Pete Madsen, Raye Zaragoza, Ron Jackson, Sarah McQuaid, Sean McGowan, Tim Bertsch, and Valerie Turner.
- Read "15 Acoustic Guitar Pros Share Tips on Tone" from the January 2017 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.
- Check out our popular Weekly Workout series for interesting technical workouts that will get your fretting- and picking-hand fingers working in different ways.
Our intro music for this episode was the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1, performed by Sean McGowan.
This episode is hosted by Nick Grizzle, produced by Tanya Gonzalez, and directed and edited by Joey Lusterman. Executive producers are Lyzy Lusterman and Stephanie Campos Dal Broi.
The Acoustic Guitar Podcast is produced by the team at Acoustic Guitar magazine, including:
- Publisher: Lyzy Lusterman
- Editorial Director: Adam Perlmutter
- Managing Editor: Kevin Owens
- Creative Director: Joey Lusterman
- Digital Content Director: Stephanie Campos Dal Broi
- Digital Content Manager: Nick Grizzle
- Marketing Services Manager: Tanya Gonzalez
Special thanks to our listeners who support the show on Patreon.
Welcome to the Acoustic Guitar Podcast. I'm your host, nick Grizzle. You've probably heard someone say tone is in the hands, but what does that really mean and what makes tone good? We asked 14 prominent acoustic guitarists from a variety of genres and backgrounds to weigh in and in this episode we share 14 unique takes on the topic. You'll hear inspiring musical examples and reflections, some practical advice on gear, technique and exercises to try, plus insights into how some of today's top players think about tone.
Nick Grizzle:Before we dive in, I'd like to take a moment to thank Henriksen Amplifiers for sponsoring this episode. Henriksen Amplifiers, renowned for crafting exceptional audio equipment, introduces the Bud, your ideal match if you're an acoustic guitarist or singer-songwriter. This compact amplifier stands out for its exceptional sound clarity and richness, tailored for both intimate performances and studio work. Embodying Henriksen's dedication to innovation and quality, the Bud is designed to ensure your music truly resonates, making it a must-have for musicians who demand the best. For demo videos and more information on Henrikson Amplifiers, go to henriksonamplifierscom. You can also check out the show notes for that link.
Nick Grizzle:I'd also like to thank all of our guests who generously contributed to this episode Sean McGowan, chris Pierce, eric Skye, valerie Turner, abigail Dowd, jason Vio, ron Jackson, maddie Whitler, pete Madsen, ray Zargoza, lisa Liu, sarah McQuaid, tim Birch and Amber Russell. Please be sure to check the show notes to learn more about each of our guests. Plus, you'll find a related article pulled from the Acoustic Guitar Magazine archives with even more tips on tone. Now we suggest you grab a cup of coffee or tea, maybe a fresh notepad and your guitar and listen on for some tips on tones To kick things off. Here's fingerstyle jazz guitarist and music professor Sean.
Sean McGowan:McGowan for Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and today we're going to talk about how to find and practice and ultimately get the best tone that you can possibly imagine the tone that you hold in your heart, the tone that you have in your ears and the tone that you imagine to be able to access at any point in any song that you're playing. Okay, so the first thing that I like to do whenever I'm studying something in depth is to keep a little notebook, or we could even think of this as our journal of tone, and what we're going to do is use this little notebook to sketch down ideas and observations and comparisons. It's almost kind of like a scientific study, if you will, but we're just going to think of it as a deep dive into tone. One of the first things you might want to start documenting is to kind of deconstruct all of the various parts of the guitar, because each part of the guitar contributes ultimately to the tone. And remember, there's no correct answer here. This is an entirely subjective thing. Your idea of incredible tone might be a little different from someone else's. Of course, good, clear, even tone is what we all strive for. If we take a look and listen to a guitar, one of the first things that we want to consider is the wood that the guitar is made out of, and there are extensive videos that you can watch on YouTube, and I would suggest going on there and just checking out comparison videos and you can just search in YouTube, for example, the differences between Sitka spruce and red spruce and you'll be amazed at how much each one of those contributes to the sound. You want to also be aware of the size, shape and depth of the guitar. So, in addition to the scale, length and all of the various materials, obviously a dread's going to sound different from an OM, and I think most people, especially when they commission a guitar or they go to buy a new guitar, you already have an idea of the type of guitar you want to play, whether it's a triple O or an OM or whatever. It is cutaway or non-cutaway, and then all of these other factors just contribute to get you closer to the sound that you want to hear in your head, and I strongly recommend writing all of these things down in your journal of tone as you make observations. I think if you listen to these comparison videos on YouTube, you might be amazed at some of the differences between the top woods and the woods you know from the back and sides, as well as the scale length, have and ultimately affect the tone.
Sean McGowan:Another concept that's very important when going for a good, solid tone is a consistently relaxed fretting hand. So that means, whether that's your left hand or your right hand, if you're a lefty, you want your hand to be relaxed as much as possible on the neck and your fingers generally want to have kind of a relaxed posture. Most of the time the thumb will be right about halfway up the back of the neck, but don't be afraid to move it around when necessary. In fact, some people even like to use their thumbs to fret notes over the neck and that's okay as long as it's comfortable. But the idea is that you want to keep this nice, relaxed, fluid posture and feeling.
Sean McGowan:A lot of times over the years when I've observed students that have kind of a thin tone or a weak tone, it's because they're pressing too hard. So you'll be able to feel it. I mean, if you reach over, for example, with your picking hand and try to move the fingers of your fretting hand, they should move easily. It should be very pliable and easy to move. Sometimes over the years I've reached over and tried to move fingers of my students you know, left hand into a new chord shape and it's like I have to. You know it's like arm wrestling I can't even get their finger off the fretboard. So that's a good indicator that you're pressing down too hard. Or if you notice the color of your skin you know your skin changing color that means that you're pressing too hard. So always go for a light touch, you know just as much pressure as necessary and aim your finger to be about equidistant in between the frets. You know you want to have the flesh of your fingertips make nice, solid contact with the wood of the fretboard and there shouldn't be any buzzing or any fretting out of notes. It should be a nice, you know, smooth tone and with that in mind you can practice what horn players or string players, such as cellists and violinists, call long tones.
Sean McGowan:Now, long tones aren't something that guitar players typically practice, but it can be a great way to really listen to your sound, how your sound, how the note starts, how it blooms, how it unfolds and ultimately how it ends. But generally speaking, you want to have a nice, firm but relaxed posture and be able to pick a note consistently and have it ring out and just let it ring as long as possible, almost if it was a singer just holding a long tone with a hold on it, and then just let the note kind of die off naturally. And that's a great way to work on your tone because you actually have the time to listen to the sound of your note. Is it long, is it sustaining, is it smooth, is it in tune? You know you want to be careful about not moving the fretting hand up or down. You know keep it nice and consistent and also, again, don't press too hard, because pressing on the string too hard or moving it just even slightly to the left or right will cause the string to go out of tune and also kind of choke out your sound. So just have good contact with the wood of the fretboard, pick that string and then just let it ring from there.
Sean McGowan:Another technique that can really affect your tone is where you finger something, meaning where on the fretboard, in which string set you choose to play a melody or a line. Here's three basic examples of a simple melody, but in one example I'm going to play it down more in open position. Another example in fifth position, and then a third example up in ninth position, and listen to how different they sound. Here's the first example up, starting on the D string in ninth position. Here's the same thing played, starting on the G string in fifth position, and finally the same melody down in open position or first position, starting on the B string and then finally back in fifth position again. Not only does the placement and the fingering really affect the tone, but where you pick it on the string, meaning do you pick it closer to the bridge for more of a thinner sound, such as the following Somewhere towards the back of the sound hole, maybe more towards the front of the sound hole, even closer to the neck will give you a much thicker, more round bassier type of sound.
Sean McGowan:Okay, one of the most profound, immediate and actually affordable ways to improve your tone is by choosing the right pick for your style and for the sound that you're going for. Great jazz guitarist Johnny Smith once said that his tone control was all in his pick, and I know a lot of great flat pickers would agree with that sentiment. So, keeping in line with our science experiment and our journal of tone, what I would suggest is going to the store or ordering online, several different picks, picks of different shapes, sizes, thicknesses and different materials All of these characteristics can have a profound effect and a dramatic effect on your tone. So what I thought I'd do right now is I'm going to take eight different picks these are different materials, various thicknesses and densities and also different shapes and I'm going to play the exact same line, one at a time, followed by a quick little strum, and you can hear for yourself how much of an impact just a different pick will have on your tone Pick number two, pick number three, pick number four, Pick number five, pick number six and pick number seven.
Sean McGowan:Another thing you can do in your practice and your quest for tone is to listen, and a lot of people don't really think of listening to music as active practice, but it is Active.
Sean McGowan:Listening could mean something like listening to the same song over and over again and, you know, really analyzing it, analyzing the different guitar parts, the various instruments, the arrangement, all of those things, and we can also listen to a piece of music actively with regard to the tone, and so one thing that you might want to do, on whatever your preferred platform of music is, is you could even make a tone playlist, you know, make a playlist of your favorite guitarists and their tone and in your journals you can write down, you know what it is about, their tone that really speaks to you Because again it's going to be different for everybody out. Their tone that really speaks to you because again it's going to be different for everybody, and what informs you know, your idea of a good tone ultimately will inform your own personal sound, which is, at the end of the day, what we all want to strive for your own unique identity and voice. So these are subjective things. Don't be afraid to write down your opinions in your journal of tone and make a playlist so you can really identify some of these key factors.
Sean McGowan:You know, is this player, for example, if they're a flat picker and playing mostly bluegrass, are they, you know, what keys do they tend to play in? Do they have a darker sound? Do they have a real bright sound? Can you really hear the pick against the string or is it a little less obvious? You know more subtle. You know very smooth. Do they use a lot of hammer-ons and pull-offs and slides in their technique, or is every note picked? All of those kind of analytical observations can really help you hone in on the tone that you're going for.
Nick Grizzle:Now let's hear from singer-songwriter Chris Pierce.
Chris Pierce:I think the tone is about more than your hands and technique. To me, it's also about spirituality, soulfulness and vulnerability. Some of the best players I know are some of the most spiritual people I know. They're also some of the bravest people I know Guitar players who are willing to risk it all and stand right on the edge of the cliff. I believe that those who have these qualities, they really let that good tone through. They know how to let it through. They can feel how to let it through and they know how to tap in and recognize when the quality of their tone is making its way to the heart.
Chris Pierce:Folks that I know with good tone are warriors for that tone. They fight for it, not against it. Good tone are warriors for that tone. They fight for it, not against it. They live about it and dream about it and are never fully satisfied with it, always searching for ways to even better tone. Music is energy and I believe the good tone is one of the most powerful gateways to emotion. Tone that moves the guitar player will, more times than not, move the listener. May the tone be with you.
Nick Grizzle:Here's fingerstyle guitarist Eric Skye with his thoughts on the matter.
Eric Skye:Hey, this is guitarist Eric Skye coming at you from my home office in Portland Oregon. My good friends at Acoustic Guitar Magazine have asked me to talk just a little bit about one of my favorite subjects tone production. So the old cliche about tone being mostly in your hands is, of course, true, but I think it's good to start a little further up the chain. I think it starts with your concept of tone, which of course is different for everybody. But I think maybe your first homework assignment would be to really sort of deconstruct what you're hearing, just like if you're an aspiring chef. It wouldn't be enough to just sort of bite into something and ask yourself if it's good or not. You'd want to be able to think is this crunchy and spicy and juicy and sweet and acidic and all these things that we need to be able to sort of compartmentalize? And when we're listening to acoustic sounds, things you can think about is like is it broad frequency spectrum? Is there a lot of low, lows and high highs? And are those lows kind of muffly or are they very clear? Are those highs very sort of crystal-y or are they sort of soft? And think about the dynamics Is there a lot of sort of peaks and valleys, loud parts and quiet parts, or is it more compressed, that is to say more sort of overall even sounding? You can slowly start to really understand not only what you like but why you like it. So once you have a concept of what good tone is to you, the next thing to do is sort of develop the consistency in paying attention. I think it's easy to primarily be thinking about just trying to get the notes out, remembering all these sort of shapes and patterns I think we're very visual creatures and and then just sort of trust that we have good tone because you know we bought an expensive guitar, we have fresh strings on it, or. But I like to get into what I think of as sort of singer's mind, where you're kind of you know more one with your instrument and you're you're you're conscious of the sound you're making all the time and and how you it. So if you're a singer, you might be thinking about your breathing and your posture.
Eric Skye:I'm usually looking for a sound that's sort of big and satisfying on its own and covers a wide frequency spectrum. I like sustain, and dynamics is probably the top of my list. So as far as some techniques that I think about when I'm trying to get a good sound out of a guitar sort of number one is how I hold it. I'm trying to kind of get it off my body so I'm not muting the back of the guitar or the top of the guitar. As far as the left hand goes, I'm always trying to use kind of a light touch. I always tell people that you wanna press down so you get a nice bell-like sound. But you really should be able to see light under your finger.
Eric Skye:A lot of times beginners will try to push the string down into the wood, probably make the notes go sharp. But most tone is really happening on our right hand. So with the pick, what I usually tell people is if I'm holding the pick I'm sort of tilting the top part of it, that is, the part that's furthest from the strings, towards the floor, maybe 10 degrees, I don't know. I'm just making that up. And then, if it was a clock, I'm kind of rotating the pick sort of clockwise, maybe another 10 degrees. So in two ways it's slightly on its own plane and then my pick stroke is usually a little bit more down into the guitar and out and away from the guitar rather than just sort of across. So I'm going to play a note on my guitar here. I'm going to play e on the second string, so I feel like that was a pretty good sound.
Eric Skye:I added a little vibrato with my left hand, then kind of in the life of the note, kind of sped up and slowed down a little bit. I let it ring a nice long time. So that could be like a little Zen exercise of just trying to make the best possible sound that you can In terms of like picking down and away more than across. Let me try to do the opposite. So I'll perfectly straighten out the pick so it's parallel to the strings and I'll just play that same note just sort of across the strings. See how much thinner it sounds. So we'll do a little.
Eric Skye:So here's that sort of thin sound and then sort of rotating the pick slightly and then down and away. So before, after, so before after I'm hoping that comes out you can hear this sort of big, round, louder sound versus this sort of thinner, sort of picky, picky sound. And I think what's happening here I'm not really smart enough to know, but I think the physics are that when we're picking down in a way, we're really kind of getting that string to move up and down and kind of get that top moving in that direction. But if you just play across the strings, you know you're not going to get that to happen. Of course it at faster tempos, you know. Maybe all bets are off, but when I'm trying to make a nice big vocal sound I'm always thinking about that and with strumming I'll just strum a little d chord and it's that same idea where I'm sort of, you know, going down into the guitar a little bit more to get that sort of bigger sound and I think a lot about where I am playing.
Eric Skye:So the closer you are to the bridge, the tighter the strings are. Especially on the first string a lot of times I'm kind of just south of the sound hole a little bit. But if I kind of pick up more towards the neck it's really easy to get that pingy sound because the strings have a wider range of motion and the bottom of the string is likely to kind of very faintly touch the top of the frets. So if I do want that warmer sound, which I do sometimes, I'll play much lighter. What I usually tell people is that if you get a fairly thick and stiff pick and at first it might turn you off a little bit. But just hold on to it loosely when you want to strum so it kind of moves in your fingers and it doesn't feel so difficult. But then when you go to play single notes I think you'll find having that stiff pick is really nice, and a lot of times when we play a thin pick we unconsciously end up gripping it harder, trying to stiffen it anyway. So it'll probably be easier for you to play in the long run.
Eric Skye:But experiment with bevels. I end up sometimes filing them down a little bit and trying to find the right thing, putting on my finger style hat for just a minute. I now have my finger picks on because I'm not someone who was born with the kind of nails that you could use to play guitar, unfortunately. So I use these Alaska finger picks, which are sort of plastic and they allow some of your skin to kind of be a part of the mix too. So they're very similar to, I think, how a real nail might be. I also have a thumb pick that I use that I filed pretty short. It's a Fred Kelly heavy that I've shaped just so over the years and it's relatively short.
Eric Skye:So when it comes to fingerstyle, I'm almost always playing instrumental music, so I'm thinking a lot about the dynamics. I usually tell people to try to start, like, in the middle of your dynamic range, don't start, you know, playing really hard, because then you don't have room for the melody to sit on top. So if I play something that sort of feels like the accompaniment, I feel like I'm playing fairly quietly there and then when I bring the melody in, then that's sitting on top and so the listener kind of understands where the plot is that they're following. So other than that, a lot of my fingerstyle thinking is just like with the flat pick. You know I'm thinking about where my right hand is in relation to the bridge and the sound hole, and you know the different kind of tonal variations that you'll have there. So let's finish up where we began and remember that the important thing is to develop the ability to catch ourselves when we've drifted away and redirect back to just listening and paying attention to the sound that we're making and how we're making it.
Nick Grizzle:Next up blues guitarist and educator, valerie Turner, with her thoughts on tone and individuality.
Valerie Turner:In reference to playing guitar. The topic of tone can mean different things to different people, and it's my opinion that your tone is unique to you, just as no two snowflakes are alike. You can strive to imitate someone else and you might even come close, but I think that you'll always end up sounding exactly like yourself, and this is how we're able to identify many musicians after listening to just a few notes. Your attack and the subtleties of your timing are as singular as your voice or fingerprint. Different guitar models, string brands and pickups produce endless varieties of sound, but your underlying tone will always shine through. You'll always sound like you, regardless of your equipment or any special effects.
Valerie Turner:I once watched while Woody Mann, a truly gifted musician who is sadly no longer with us, moved from a very high end guitar to a real beater that happened to be out of tune and missing a string, and don't you know that he reproduced his unique tone on both instruments. Some of it was surely his skill, but I attribute most of it to a tone that only he possessed. His tone simply followed him from one instrument to the other. I witnessed an identical scenario with my main mentor, john Cephas, who was a great country blues musician, who is also no longer with us. He sounded like himself, no matter what guitar he played, and so it is with us all. Your tone is inescapable. I think it's far better to embrace and develop your uniqueness than to try and imitate someone else's sound or tone.
Nick Grizzle:Here, fingerstyle guitarist and singer-songwriter Abigail Dowd shares how she takes advantage of the inherent tone of her guitar with an unorthodox capo approach.
Abigail Dowd:I like a really warm, rich tone and that's not always the way my guitar wants to sound and I am a fingerstyle player, so I tend to keep my nails long and play mostly fingerstyle and there are a few things that I do to play with tone. The first is the angle that I'm plucking the string from. I might make adjustments to the angle of my wrist or where I hinge at the elbow so that I can pluck the string more towards my elbow or upwards, and just that variation you'll notice. You get a different tone. And then how far out my wrist is, which would allow me to either pluck the string a little more from underneath the string or more like a rest stroke on top of the string, almost pushing down. You get a variation in tone there. So number one is the angle that you're plucking the string. The second thing that I'll do is where am I playing in relation to the sound hole. So playing close to or right over the sound hole is a little warmer versus pulling back, and maybe closer to the bridge, getting something a little brighter, and I'll play with that so that I can almost create this conversation if I have something repetitive. So that's the second. The third thing that I'll do to play with tone is where's my capo?
Abigail Dowd:I'm a songwriter. I like to use a capo and one of the main reasons I use a capo is because I can hear the slight difference in tone. And there are certain places where I just really love the way my guitar sounds. On my guitar, the sixth fret is just this golden spot for me, depending on the chords I'm playing. And there's a song, st Vrain, that's on the Acoustic Guitar Magazine YouTube page and somebody made a comment that was a little snarky about me having my capo at the sixth fret. And it's because I like the tone there, especially on that particular piece, and that's why I capoed it there and that's how the song kind of evolved out of that tone. And so don't be afraid to throw a capo on there if you're playing with tone, no matter what anybody says.
Nick Grizzle:Next up classical guitarist and professor Jason Vio, with some tips for producing quality sound on stage and in the studio.
Jason Vieaux:It's of course, good and very important to be able to craft over several years your core tone. That seems to be the term that a lot of guitarists use. I like the word sound. The sound is a little bit more all-encompassing and, and because tone is actually, I think, a very easy thing to achieve the tone, getting a good tone, is actually more of like a mechanics golf swing type of thing. If you have a, you know, decent, if you're taught a decent golf swing, that's more or less a mechanical or technical thing in golf and it's the same kind of thing with guitar. I mean, that's really just basically right hand position on the instrument and this kind of thing. And basically, as long as the nails are beginning, that takes some time, some trial and error. The nail has nail thing has to be set up.
Jason Vieaux:But the sound aesthetic I like thinking of it as sound because, or like a full and functional sound aesthetic, according to what aesthetic is sonically in your ear, which also develops and changes over time. The prevailing general aesthetic is that it's like a 45 degree angle to the strings, kind of nice, round, full tone. I don't like it to be all core and no, you know, there should be a slight attack at the beginning of it and that's usually what a lot of live players players that have been playing live for many years you know understand um that. But the prevailing aesthetic is that a 45 degree angle to the string give or take 10 degrees, depending on your taste is is you know that should produce. Just with the basic mechanics of it, if one is taught correctly with a good teacher you're going to get a nice tone. But my advice to aspiring classical guitar professionals or aspiring professionals who are advanced players players would be that once you have that firm foundation of good tone established and kind of gig tested in dozens or more performances over a few years, it becomes important at that point to then be able to modify your sound tone, color and hand position and hand nail angles, this rotation in the wrist, subtly depending on the situation, such as, you know, the venue. So what I mean about the venue is the venue size, the natural acoustic of the performance space. The more experience you have performing, the more sensitive you become to those things in a good way and you modify, as I was saying, like if we just start from this 45 degrees to the string, right, and if you can get a good tone out of the open. First string, right, well, that's all. Classical guitarists know that that's the hardest note on a guitar to get a nice round tone with right. But the space that you play in over time, with more, the more performance experience you have, does begin to modify that slightly. Many players seem to stop searching and or experimenting once they find the initial, you know, firm foundation of their tone, and your ear and your musical instincts are actually the primary driver of this sonic information and feedback. So you wanna become more open and sensitive to each situation. Like an easy reduction of what I'm talking about is this If the performance space is really dry, you know little to no reverb, like a black box theater normally designed for theater production, usually it's better to favor your thicker, you know thicker sounds, angles, even color.
Jason Vieaux:I tend to instinctively go for warmer colors during the concert. It's better to favor that because your sound coming out of the guitar is starting it's already starting at a kind of a disadvantage. In other words, it's going to sound thinner due to the dry space. And conversely, if the performance space is overly reverberant, like a church for example, it's often better to play fast movements a touch slower and use a thinner attack, see something a little bit more like this. This, rather than you hear that kind of blanketed, warm, chocolatey sound. Right, it's better to play anything that's going really, really quick a touch slower, and that thinner attack actually cuts through the echoey murk a lot better.
Jason Vieaux:Now, it's not going to sound the same to the player, that's the thing. It's going to sound different to the player because the player's ear is always right above the guitar. So initially that's for younger performers or people that are less experienced live, that's a little bit of a, that's a bit of a shock, right. But the reason this works is because the overly reverberant space is providing resonance and fullness, augmenting your au natural sound. So you don't need thick, heavy tones right to provide the fullness that a dry space like a black box theater would necessitate. In a very wet space you actually need a little more bite to cut through so people hear you better and more clearly. You're doing it for the good of the, the gig right, like the the. You know the situation in the present moment. It's similar to public speaking where you speak a touch slower and you lean kind of lean in a little on your consonants. Your T's, p's hard, c's that kind of stuff.
Jason Vieaux:Well, also for professional recording situations too, the space and its acoustic, the positioning and distance of the microphones.
Jason Vieaux:They also determine for your producer how thick or thin, loud or soft your passages need to be in front of the mic, which is going to be much closer than any audience member would be in most cases. Anyway, you know, it took a couple of solo albums for me in the late, mid, late 90s to really get into this reality that I'm supposed to be playing to the mic. For recording right, not the space, you know, I just I sort of came up as very much a live player in all sorts of different live situations repertoire, wise, space, you know, venue spaces, ensembles, solo, everything. So I had to learn for recording to cultivate my pianissimos right piano dynamics and pianissimos with a much thinner nail angle and be comfortable playing that way to to the microphone, which is totally not how I would play, say, a concerto with no amplification. You know I'm kind of blasting. You know my right's definitely going to be putting a lot more pounds per square inch into the string. Live right In a larger space or with a larger ensemble.
Nick Grizzle:Here's jazz guitarist and teacher, ron Jackson, with some tips for practicing guitar with tone in mind.
Ron Jackson:Hi, I'm Ron Jackson. My ideal guitar sound is clean, clear and beautiful, with minimum string noise. To be able to play guitar like this, you need to be very conscious of your touch, which requires a lot of practicing and listening. Recording is the best way to hear everything, because when you hear yourself on a recording, that's how you truly sound. I truly believe that tone is all in your hands. You should be able to pick up any guitar and get a good sound, no matter what the quality of the instrument is. I know this requires a lot of technique and discipline, but over time it's a matter of mind over matter. There are so many acoustic guitarists whose sound I admire John McLaughlin, pepe D'Agostino, leo Kottke, paco de Lucia and Andre Segovia. I recommend listening to yourself in a quiet room and hear everything that you're actually playing and practicing, and be conscious of every note coming from your hands and fingers. Practicing like this, you'll truly become aware of your guitar sound and tone.
Nick Grizzle:Now here's flat picker Maddie Whitler with her reflections on tone.
Maddie Witler:So I think for me my ideal tone is full and clear and maybe a little bit bright. I tend to try to go for the roundest possible tone that I think will still have a chance at cutting through a full bluegrass band and to achieve that sound. Some of it is gear, a lot of it is technique and a lot of it is studying the folks that that kind of can get that sound who have come before us. But mostly it's just having a really really clear picture or idea in your head of what that sound is. Yeah, I don't know if I think that tone is so much in your hands as in your head. There's definitely technical work to do in terms of learning to achieve all the sounds that are possible from a pick with a flat top guitar and to get the sound you want consistently. And nice gear doesn't hurt either. It's not hard to research the gear of your heroes or anyone and figure out what's going to sound good. But I feel like I sound like myself on any instrument I play and I think that mostly comes from really focusing on having a clear picture of the sound in my head, even away from the instrument, Once you've done the practice and technical work necessary to make things feel easy, then having a clear picture in your head can kind of make the sound feel inevitable, regardless of what instrument you're playing. You know it's not going to be news to anyone, I think, but for a flat top acoustic guitar no one gets tone like Tony Rice to me. Tony was really able to get a delicate and complex and extremely varied range of sounds from the guitar that were always carefully chosen to suit the situation he was in, chosen to suit the situation he was in and it was like really the most nuanced, complex, respectful approach to bluegrass guitar that I can really think of. That I'm aware of.
Maddie Witler:So I'm going to suggest that listeners, guitar players, try spending some of their practice time with earplugs in.
Maddie Witler:This sounds a little antithetical maybe to working on tone, but hear me out.
Maddie Witler:I think a lot of where players get lost in tone for acoustic guitar is in making their world really small, making their world the size of the guitar, and getting really distracted by controlling all the little pick, clicks and scrapes and noises that happen when you're playing the guitar and those are important to control and those are part of the tone, of course, but that's not really where the meat of the tone is. So the idea is to try to put yourself in a headspace, like you're playing out to a crowd or in a larger space or situation where you're going to have to project and get more of that big part of the tone and that sound. So I find that spending part of my time with earplugs in when I'm practicing really helps me to not get caught up in the little sounds and get past that a lot quicker and get into being able to manipulate the sound and relate it to the sound that's in my head, that really beautiful, clear sound. Hopefully that is in my head.
Nick Grizzle:Let's listen to blues and surf guitarist Pete Madsen's demonstration on how picking hand placement affects your tone.
Pete Madsen:Thinking about tone, one of the players I really respect and admire was John Fahey and his way he got his tone, which I believe he used finger picks throughout his life. And since I don't use finger picks, I use a thumb pick I have to try to sort of duplicate that sound, which is to me is a very stark sound, and to achieve that in some pieces, especially a slower piece, something like Christ in Christ there's no East or West I would pick down by the bridge more. You should get a much more of a stark, crisp sound there. I'm using a a combination of picking fingers for that and, like I say, since I don't use finger picks, it's hard for me to get that crisp, stark kind of sound. So I have to pick back by the bridge a bit.
Pete Madsen:Of course you can alter your hand. Your right hand to me is your tone knob, as it were, and if you just shift everything forward Now I'm picking over the sand hole I get a much mellower sound, warm, mellow sound. So I think guitarists really need to keep that in mind. You shouldn't just be picking in one area. There's not a one-size-fits-all picking location. Whether you're using finger picks or not, using finger picks, nails, what have you? You're going to get definitely a different sound by the bridge, by the sound hole and up by the neck by the neck.
Nick Grizzle:Here's Ray Zaragoza, a singer-songwriter who noticed her tone shifting and evolving as her guitar techniques developed.
Raye Zaragoza:Hi, I'm Ray Zaragoza and I'm so excited to chat with the Acoustic Guitar Podcast about my relationship to my guitar, and so my ideal guitar sound would definitely be really bassy and low and full. I love a guitar that feels like it's also a bass, and you know, when I play, I usually am playing solo or in a small duo, and so there's rarely a bass or percussive element, and so I really like to have a guitar that feels like it's also a drum, it's also a bass, and so I really like to have a guitar that feels like it's also a drum, it's also a bass, and so I really love that full, low sound and a sound that really fills up a room and has a really warm quality to it. I definitely think that you know, the tone of a guitar is so different based on who's playing the guitar, and it's not just about gear, but it's also about who's playing it and like the hands behind it, and for me, I definitely am someone who really loves to finger pick. I love, love to finger pick. I used to honestly never play with a pick Even if I was strumming, I would just play with my finger, and so I really feel like that shaped my tone. When I first was playing I had a very kind of delicate and warm tone, but then, as I've developed my skill and gotten really comfortable with a pick and I love playing with a pick now and it's a lot easier to do percussive things on a guitar with a pick I feel like it's really changed the tone of my guitar playing because of the techniques I've used. So I definitely think that tone is in your hands and tone is in the way that you play the guitar and whether you are using different techniques, whether it's finger picking or strumming or using percussion with your hands or whatnot. Definitely I really admire Tommy Manuel and Anita Franco's tone and their relationships with their guitars. They are so amazing at using a guitar as a percussive instrument and that's something that I like to do with my music as well that I'm trying to learn how to do, and I'm so inspired by them. So those are two artists that I definitely admire so much.
Raye Zaragoza:And I guess an experiment that I love to do with guitar is multitasking. I love to play guitar and watch TV. I love to play guitar and meditate, or play guitar and have conversations, which not everyone is down for that's something that has really developed my skill and my tone, because when you're on stage sometimes you know there's so many distractions and if you are able to play guitar through all the distractions it strengthens your skill and also strengthens your relationship to your instrument. And so, yeah, those are some of my tips and tricks with the guitar and you know I really just love my guitar. I don't usually like playing other people's guitars or playing guitar that I'm not very familiar with. That's kind of a nightmare for me. I've had times where I've forgotten my guitar and had to play a different guitar and I really feel like it affected my relationship to the performance and to my songs. So, yeah, it's all about that relationship to your guitar and developing it and, you know, just really becoming one with your instrument.
Nick Grizzle:Jazz guitarist Lisa Liu explores how her tone is informed by the feeling behind the playing as much as the technique.
Lisa Liu:My ideal guitar tone is when I feel really connected to the instrument and it feels like the guitar is playing itself. I think a lot of factors go into shaping tone. It's how first the guitar sounds, how it resonates. Does it have a fast attack? Does it resonate for a long time? Is the intonation really great? And depending on that, I will adjust my playing and I'll try to dig in harder and see how the guitar responds to that or play more tenderly. I want a guitar that can really handle that dynamic range.
Lisa Liu:Mimi Fox and Martin Taylor are guitars that I admire for tone. I think that both of them can really play very hard and fast and also very soft and tenderly and everything in between, and it's the emotional content behind what they play, behind each note, that also really really grasps me as well. I recommend that people practice things slowly and softly. You know, I think my natural inclination is to play fast and loud, but if you can really slow things down and play them as softly as possible, you'll see where that dynamic range starts to come into focus. And you know, for instance, try to play a G major scale and start very softly and then crescendo and play really loud and hard and then, as you're descending back down the scale, try to come back to that same volume that you started out, very slowly and softly as well, and you'll really start to discover that dynamic range within yourself, in your hands, but also what the guitar is capable of doing too.
Nick Grizzle:Next, folk singer-songwriter Sarah McQuaid explains and demonstrates how she approaches the notes she picks on guitar from a vocalist's point of view.
Sarah McQuaid:Thanks so much to Acoustic Guitar Magazine for inviting me to be part of this podcast. As so many of the contributors to the original magazine article pointed out, tone is a deeply personal thing. Some guitarists like to go for a really sharp, thin, jangly sound, while others aim for one that's more rich and woody and mellow. I'm a big admirer of Pierre Bensisane and in his guitar book he advises that the best tone is achieved by using the pads of your right hand thumb and fingers in combination with the nail to get a nicely rounded, balanced sound.
Sarah McQuaid:I do like to use a thumb pick myself to give a little bit of extra tack and emphasis to the notes I pick with my thumb, but I keep my fingernails at a little bit of extra tack and emphasis to the notes I pick with my thumb. But I keep my fingernails at a little under three millimeters long so that a bit of the finger pad makes contact with the string as well as the nail. And I try to eat a really healthy diet with lots of calcium in it to keep my nails strong so they don't split or break. Also, like Pierre-Ben Suzanne, I use the dadgad tuning, which helps to add a lot of sympathetic resonance to the notes I'm playing and that also makes for a bigger, fuller, richer tone.
Sarah McQuaid:Left-hand technique is also incredibly important. You want to be fretting the string solidly, with a nice even pressure that falls midway between the frets so that you don't get any buzzes and so that you're actually playing every note. My aim is always to make the guitar sing, to give the same level of expression to each note I play that I'd be giving to that note if I were singing it. And to achieve that end, I find that a really good exercise is to play a melody on the guitar in unison with my voice as I'm singing it. Here's a very brief example.
Sarah McQuaid:Every bush and every bower, every tree and every flower Reminds me of my Mary On the banks of the Lee.
Nick Grizzle:Here's fingerstyle guitarist Tim Birch reflecting on the search for his unique tone.
Tim Bertsch:An old friend once told me every guitar has its song. I also believe every guitar has its optimum string and pick, match. Find the right strings for the right guitar, including creating hybrid sets that aren't available. Got an unwound third, it's worth going down the rabbit hole and trying strings you will ultimately replace after 30 minutes. My 1965 Gibson J45 was always a challenge to find balance between highs and lows. A few years back at NAMM I discovered the Martin guitars clapped in signature strings. They're absolutely magical on the Gibson and I have found no equal. My nearly 100-year-old Washburn Parlor guitar sounds best with silk and steels. My breed love loves DR strings.
Tim Bertsch:My checklist when I receive a new acoustic guitar includes removing the nut to lower it for better intonation, as well as evaluating the nut and saddle material. I've always been a fan of bone with its direct, crisp transfer of sound, almost like a maple fingerboard. I've also thoughtfully planed braces inside some of my favorite acoustic guitars to give them more life. For my harp guitars, carefully cutting a line between my fretting and sub-bass strings on the bridge plate made all the difference in the world when it came to amplifying separation and transference of frequencies. I've also found that transcribing melodies from different instruments such as mandolin, sitar, banjo, vibraphone and piano, and even horns for example John Coltrane and Miles Davis has enlightened me to the need for different attacks on notes and nuances such as ghost notes I had not previously realized. On the guitar, experiment with different picking materials and the pressure and grip on the pick itself, having started playing 41 years ago with very light picks, I eventually found myself drawn to the Dunlop Stubby 3mm. Although I've used this pick for years, I'm finding inspiration for new songs with different pick materials, such as my gypsy bone pick, one made from horn material and even a pick made from a coconut shell given to me from a student years back All extreme gain changers on the acoustic guitar. I also use my thumbnail and the fleshy part of my index, middle and ring finger to have options in color and tone on compositions which need more bite and warmth. Experimenting with different picking positions on the guitar, such as by the bridge or over the sound hole, or even as far up as the 12th fret, can be great sources of inspiration as well. I've also found I can create a softer dynamic by placing my hand in front of the sound hole while I'm picking.
Tim Bertsch:The search for my individual signature tone has been a lifelong journey, one that has required me to keep an open mind, leading to frequent revisions in my acoustic setup throughout the years. As both a guitarist and harp guitarist, my ideal performance environment would be unplugged, size and venue permitting, of course. Due to the endless variables involved in electrifying an acoustic guitar, I'm specifically speaking of the unplugged tonal aspects of the guitar. That being said, I'm a huge fan of passive transducer-style pickups attached to the inner soundboard. While many players prefer undersaddle pickups, particularly for their no-frills plug-in-and-play capabilities, I'm a huge fan of K&K transducers in particular and find them to be more of a natural representation of most guitars' unplugged sound.
Tim Bertsch:I typically begin working on my tone as a solo player before venturing into the variables that can occur while performing with multiple guitars and instruments. The sounds I had once approved of eventually ceased to meet my standards, especially as I began exploring multiple genres and different ensemble configurations encountered. Working as a professional musician, it is often necessary to make last-minute adjustments to allow for complementary musical soundscape while performing with others in a live setting. My present go-to golden standard sound that works for me as a soloist can often conflict in a mix with other musicians, depending on their instruments, the material they're constructed of and, ultimately, their color and timbre. It's because of this that I often bring several guitars to a show, as conflicting and non-complementary frequencies are often discovered at the last minute during sound checks. It is also quite helpful to listen to other guitarists while you're on your musical path.
Tim Bertsch:As far as contemporary players tone, who I admire, path as far as contemporary players' tone, who I admire, it is Alex Degrassi who stands out the most, in my opinion. I've had the pleasure of attending several of Alex's shows over the years and really resonate with his articulate, full-range tone. His signature sound was evident to me from my first experience in seeing him live. I most recently had the pleasure of catching one of Alex's performances for the American Guild of Lutheruthri convention held in Tacoma, washington. Alex demoed at least a dozen or more guitars and it was very clear to me that his signature sound came through no matter what guitar he was playing. Supporting my philosophy that a player's tone mostly comes from their hands and is regulated by their ears, it is vital to have an instrument that allows for the desired facilitation of your expression. However you arrive at your particular gold at the end of the rainbow tone, figuratively speaking, you will undoubtedly make many discoveries and will have grown as a musician during your journey.
Nick Grizzle:And here's fingerstyle composer and educator Amber Russell's thoughts on tone.
Amber Russell:I would probably factor in my acrylic nails. They are smooth and round. It helps with playing without a pick. I don't think they're necessary to provide quality tone for everyone. Artists like Alan Google he doesn't have nails and he has excellent tone and his harmonics are immaculate. I also feel like my strings matter. I use elixir strings and you know I don't like having that zip, zip sound from a lot of steel strings and having the coating on the elixir strings really helps avoid some of the unwanted noise, helps avoid some of the unwanted noise.
Amber Russell:The thing I think that shapes tone I would say an unpopular opinion the quality of the guitar. I have a really nice guitar and I wrote songs on a not as nice guitar originally and I don't know I can really feel a difference. And when it comes to recording, having a really nice quality instrument really brings out a lot of the notes and the energy I'm trying to produce with the music. I also like, for me personally, having heavier gauge strings. I like having strong bass lines and having I don't know, just a lot of depth to the sound.
Amber Russell:Some guitarists who have really great tone in my opinion, one is peter chalucci. Uh, if you've listened to any of his music, it's really even just watching him play it's. It's very soft and dynamic and he, he, I don't know it's really nice to listen to. Another one would be Antoine Defoe. I'm a huge fan of his. I've always thoroughly enjoyed his music and, knowing he these days does a lot of audio engineering, it makes sense. An exercise I would recommend to enhance tone would definitely be practicing dynamic. I think doing something steady and like bringing in very soft sounding notes and then also knowing how to do some louder, more aggressive things without being too aggressive or too abusive to the strings. I think something like that could help people find their place with tone.
Nick Grizzle:The Acoustic Guitar Podcast is brought to you by the team at Acoustic Guitar Magazine. I'm your host, nick Grizzle. The Acoustic Guitar Podcast is directed and edited by Joey Lusterman. Tanya Gonzalez is our producer. Executive producers are Lyzy Lusterman and Stephanie Campos-DAlbroi. Our intro music for this episode was the prelude from Bach's Cello Suite no 1, performed by Sean McGowan. If you enjoy this podcast and want to support us, visit our Patreon page at patreoncom, slash acoustic guitar plus, or find the link in the show notes for this episode. As a supporter, you'll have access to exclusive bonus episodes, along with other very special perks and if you're already a patron. As always, we thank you so much for your support.
