What Percent of Tone Comes Through a Player's Fingers?

[mikecat]

I think about 75% of a guitar player's tone comes from his fingers (the way he/she plays guitar).

What do you think?

I find this question very interesting because lots of people, myself included, buy these guitar amps because their "heroes" played them, but when I play them, I don't necessarily sound like them. That's because I'm not them.

There was a story of where Ted Nugent was playing a concert with Van Halen, and Ted asked to play through Eddie's rig before the show. Ted said that Eddie's amps sounded sooo outrageously great that he, Nugent, just had to play through them to get that tone!

What happened was, Ted played through Eddie's amps, but he didn't sound anything like Eddie, guess what, Ted sounded like Ted, himself. The tone of the amps reflected the personality of the guitar player playing through them.

So, what percentage of tone comes from a guitarist's fingers?

any additional comments and stories about this topic are also very welcome, thanks.

[semi-hollowbody]

Its just a definition...to me tone is bass, treble, mid range...timbre...gain @ modulation
Tone is in the gear

Technique/phrasing/dynamics is in the fingers...

This should be interesting as this is a seldom talked about thing on tgp...


muwahahahahahaha!

[QRSS]

higher!

[Ud Reks]

Yeah, agreed with the second post. It's either 100% or 0% depending on how you define tone.

But if you mean, can a really good player sound better on the worst amp than a bad player on the best amp, then obviously chances favor the good player. So, the answer is, it depends on the player.

A friend in a punk rock band back in the 80s couldn't play very well, but he used to sit around figuring out how to make weird noises with his guitar and amp. And he used to do that sort of thing on stage. Ever hear of Lou Reed's Metal machine music? That was his inspiration. The amp settings and effects were responsible for 90% of the sound he produced, which, for my money, was more enjoyable than the shredders coming out of classical backgrounds. His imagination was responsible for 9% and his fingers for 1%.

[Blanket Jackson]

83.927%
according to my calculations

[Blanket Jackson]

[fulltone1989]

Originally Posted by Blanket Jackson

83.927%
according to my calculations

A+++

[slicepaperdavid]

Most of it is in the fingers IMO. Check out SRV playing a Les Paul and it sounds the same

[Brian Maestro]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCF267KHEPg

all in the fingers

[mikecat]

Originally Posted by slicepaperdavid

Most of it is in the fingers IMO. Check out SRV playing a Les Paul and it sounds the same

+1, so what percentage????

I agree that this is a totally subjective, or opinion, answer, and maybe that's why some gearpagers haven't said what percentage they think comes from a guitar player's fingers.

My opinion - somewhere around 75% - and while I know that's high, please other people, tell me what percent you think it is????

[slicepaperdavid]

75% sounds about right

[riffmeister]

Tone is in the brain, not the fingers.

[Bro.Twang]

It depends on the player. Some rely on gear and some don't.

[6AM]

Many people confuse "tone" with what they're playing and/or style. If you like what they're playing you like their "tone". I mean, really? Is anyone really surprised that a Ted Nugent song sounds like a Ted Nugent song no matter what amp it's played through?

If tone is in the fingers there would be no tonal difference between single coil pickups and humbuckers, no difference between a Dumble and a Peavey, no difference between a 8" speaker and a 15" speaker, etc.

[riffmeister]

Originally Posted by 6AM

If tone is in the fingers there would be no tonal difference between single coil pickups and humbuckers, no difference between a Dumble and a Peavey, no difference between a 8" speaker and a 15" speaker, etc.

The voices in my head tell me that I sound the same playing through a Dual Rectifier or a JC120.