The Tone Checklist: Eight Steps to Tone

[wingsdad]

The topic of 'Getting THAT Tone' , clean, distorted or whatever, could be an endlessly debatable one, and it's been discussed or touched upon in a myriad of threads here. For the less experienced player, and even the long-in-the-tooth variety, it can be frustrating and confounding. Is it in the Amp? The Guitar? The Hands?

I stumbled across this article while poking around the G&L Users Group site looking for some other info. It actually originated from the Premier Guitar Website, from the April '08 issue of the magazine.

I think it's a great primer on summarizing the factors involved and can help sort out a lot of the mysteries behind terms used by 'experienced' players that can befuddle a 'newbie'. Like any other article, there'll be a variety of opinions on whether the author is right, wrong or anywhere in between.

I copied & pasted it as a Wod doc to hang onto for reference, and it runs 11 pages...so rather than post it, here's a link to it:

The Tone Checklist by John Cook (http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Apr/The_Tone_Checklist_Eight_Steps_to_Tone.aspx)

EDIT: Before I posted this, I searched the site for 'Tone & Checklist' to try to see if someone else had done so before, to maybe 'bump' it back, and got back 499 threads. Yikes. If I missed it, my apologies. If it's new to the forum, then I hope y'all find it worthwhile.

[markb]

An interesting read. Thanks for posting but I find it funny how he starts out from the "it's all in the hands" position and then discusses gear minutiae at length. Despite that it's a nice overview of the basic guitar and amp food groups and well worth a read.

[Robert]

Interesting. But what really is needed is an amph that goes to Eleven. :D

Tone is such a personal thing though. What I like may not be to somebody else's liking, and vice versa. In the end, it is that search that drives us, and ultimately makes it possible for Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, etc to exist and make loads of dough.

[tot_Ou_tard]

A good read, especially for someone new to all this craziness.

My wife calls it an obsession. Little does she know that I just play around the edges of the forest.

Some have ventured to the true Heart of Darkness ;).