The tone in your hands VS the tone in your head.

Guitarists are always chasing tone. Whether it’s a new amp, different pickups, a new pedal, tubes, cables, magic dust, whatever.  We seem to have an idea of what the perfect tone is but we never seem to have it.

For some, the perfect tone is that of a famous player.  Some have an idea that they want their tone to be (insert adjective here). Some just don’t know exactly what they want but they haven’t found it yet. 

For a lot of us, I think it comes down to being honest with ourselves and assessing how our playing effects our tone. Our pick attack, how we fret chords, how we phrase things, all contribute to your tone.  Maybe all of these things work for you, maybe some of them work against you.

  I grew up listening to George Lynch and Jake E. Lee and as a result I picked up some of their techniques that just became part of my playing DNA. As a result, I have a sharp pick attack that seems to accentuate mid range frequencies. Rather than fight this, I embraced it and found gear that worked with my playing style. My tone is a little mid heavy but not honky or weird, it’s just me.

I could try to change my technique if I wanted to but I don’t feel like relearning guitar at this point.  I just go with the tone that’s in my hands.  For some, this may not be their thing and they will have to adjust and accommodate to get the tone in their head instead of the tone in their hands.