What is tone?

Kittyfrisk

Tone is something that can usually be rapidly lowered, specially on guitar forums.

Funkfingers

Tone is in the fingers.

Groove is in the heart. 

BillDL

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/265667/tone-isnt-important

NickL

According to EvH, volume is tone

Philly_Q

IsambardKentucky said:

If understood as the quality or character of a sound produced by an instrument, it refers to the specific sonic traits that differentiate one instrument from another or give it a distinctive sound. 

I think it's exactly that, although of course quality and character are subjective, and are also affected by amplification, effects... and the player.  But basically a guitar tone is a guitar sound.

IsambardKentucky said:

However, can guitars have more 'tone' than others? And can this elusive quality even be quantified?

No and no.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

NickL said:

According to EvH, volume is tone

That's only because he forgot to wire a tone knob on signature guitar, the silly billy!

scrumhalf

To paraphrase, tone is like an elephant. I couldn't properly describe one to you but I know one when I see one.

Jonathangus

Tone is Eton mess.

viz

^ mixolydian

Lestratcaster

Tone for me (guitar wise anyway) comes from the player. Well, I think 60% of how a guitar's tone is. I also think a considerable portion is the pick in the right hand of the player, and how much pressure they put in their wrist. The rest of it is the guitar, the amp and the pickups, etc. 

HAL9000

guitars4you said:

It certainly can't be quantified by any acceptable measurable factor - But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist - We probably all have different expectations of what we are expecting and/or looking for when we try and guitar - Add to that different styles of play and genres of music we like to explore

<snip> 

But it can't be quantified

Surely many of the elements that make up ‘tone’ (such as attack, decay, harmonics, etc) are quantifiable? Otherwise profilers couldn’t exist. That’s not to say that this tone is better than that one, only that different guitars, amps, etc can have distinctive tonalities.

distressed

English for Yeti.

Offset

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

NickL said:

According to EvH, volume is tone

That's only because he forgot to wire a tone knob on signature guitar, the silly billy!

I adore that photo.  He just looked like a regular kid.  Great smile.

timmypix

I think the real problem in guitar circles is that it gets used to mean different things by different people.

Some people use it to refer to the timbre of an instrument or sound. 

Some just use it to refer to EQ.

Some people use it to refer to a player's individuality and expression.

So you get these weird arguments where , for example, someone's saying Joe Satriani playing a Squier through a Line 6 Spider has the same tone as when he's playing his guitar through his big amp so tone is all bollocks it's clearly all in the fingers. They're using the same word to confuse the player's distinctive way of playing, which is mostly the same across different instruments, with the timbres of two very different instruments and setups, which aren't the same.

Sporky

timmypix said:

I think the real problem in guitar circles is that it gets used to mean different things by different people.

Some people use it to refer to the timbre of an instrument or sound. 

Some just use it to refer to EQ.

Some people use it to refer to a player's individuality and expression.

This. Then people claim that it can't be quantified, because they switch between the definitions as it suits them. The use of "tone" to describe phrasing is particularly repugnant. 

timmypix

Sporky said:

timmypix said:

I think the real problem in guitar circles is that it gets used to mean different things by different people.

Some people use it to refer to the timbre of an instrument or sound. 

Some just use it to refer to EQ.

Some people use it to refer to a player's individuality and expression.

This. Then people claim that it can't be quantified, because they switch between the definitions as it suits them. The use of "tone" to describe phrasing is particularly repugnant. 

Phrasing! Thank you, I couldn't find the word. Absolutely agree.

Sporky

For instruments I strongly suspect "tone" can be reasonably interpreted as "formants" . 

fretmeister

It's an excellent question really - frequencies, modulation, room response etc etc. That's tone.

But what is *good* tone?

I reckon the answer is - I don't know, but I know it when I hear it.

BillDL

Tone is definitely all from the types, age, thickness, darkness or lightness, weight, density, grain pattern and rarity and cost of the woods used ........ or the cost of the pickups ....... or the string material ........ or the type and thickness of the lacquer ....... or the kinds of metal used in the wiring and the hardware ........ or maybe a combination of all these factors, but only if they cost a lot.  Everybody knows this.

elstoof

Tone is in the plectrum