<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jim Cohen on 10 May 2002 at 09:16 AM.]</p></FONT><SMALL>"Tone is what happens when your playing abilities reach a level that allows your soul to come through."</SMALL>
The Wisdom of Randy Beavers
Moderator: Shoshanah Marohn
The Wisdom of Randy Beavers
Y'know, I keep coming back in my mind to something extremely elegant that Randy Beavers posted a few months ago about tone. It was buried deep inside a long thread, so I wanted to repeat it here to help it get the attention I think it deserves. IMHO, it just says it all.
-
B Bailey Brown
- Posts: 606
- Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
- Location: San Antonio, TX (USA)
Jim,
Thanks for the re-post because that is a statement I must have missed, however I could not agree more! The really outstanding players have reached this level, and it gives the rest of us something to work toward. It has been said before, but “equipment is just equipment…nothing more, nothing less.” A good guitar, a good Amp, a good effects unit, can all add something to your “tone” or change it to some extent.
The reality of the whole “tone” situation is exactly as Randy Beavers says. Tone truly comes from the player, and “soul”?? Good grief, nobody’s guitar, amp or effects unit can add “soul” to your playing. That is something you either eventually find, understand and keep…or you just “don’t get it!!”
I am sure there are many examples of soul, but the one that comes right to my mind would be Jimmy Day’s “Steel And Strings” album. That was done almost 40 years ago. By “today’s” standards it was done on a sub-standard guitar (An 8-string Fender 1000 with no knee levers, so I heard), and the recording equipment back in those days was no where even in the ball park with what is available today! By all rights it should, by modern standards, be a joke! Funny thing, but it is still to this day pointed to as one of the “premier” steel albums, a must have in everybody’s collection, bla, bla, etc.
Why? Well, probably because it was Jimmy Day that did it! So?? He didn’t have a great guitar, in fact I heard he borrowed it to cut the album because he didn’t have a guitar with him at the time. He probably borrowed the amp as well and cut it in a studio with pretty “basic” equipment. Nothing’ fancy there folks!
None of those facts seemed to bother Jimmy! “Tone” and “Soul” really DO originate with the player.
B. Bailey Brown
Thanks for the re-post because that is a statement I must have missed, however I could not agree more! The really outstanding players have reached this level, and it gives the rest of us something to work toward. It has been said before, but “equipment is just equipment…nothing more, nothing less.” A good guitar, a good Amp, a good effects unit, can all add something to your “tone” or change it to some extent.
The reality of the whole “tone” situation is exactly as Randy Beavers says. Tone truly comes from the player, and “soul”?? Good grief, nobody’s guitar, amp or effects unit can add “soul” to your playing. That is something you either eventually find, understand and keep…or you just “don’t get it!!”
I am sure there are many examples of soul, but the one that comes right to my mind would be Jimmy Day’s “Steel And Strings” album. That was done almost 40 years ago. By “today’s” standards it was done on a sub-standard guitar (An 8-string Fender 1000 with no knee levers, so I heard), and the recording equipment back in those days was no where even in the ball park with what is available today! By all rights it should, by modern standards, be a joke! Funny thing, but it is still to this day pointed to as one of the “premier” steel albums, a must have in everybody’s collection, bla, bla, etc.
Why? Well, probably because it was Jimmy Day that did it! So?? He didn’t have a great guitar, in fact I heard he borrowed it to cut the album because he didn’t have a guitar with him at the time. He probably borrowed the amp as well and cut it in a studio with pretty “basic” equipment. Nothing’ fancy there folks!
None of those facts seemed to bother Jimmy! “Tone” and “Soul” really DO originate with the player.
B. Bailey Brown