What is tone?

[Pine]

I know this is a NOOB question, but posts in another thread lead me to think I probably don’t understand what folks mean when they say “tone”.

I’ve read many threads that talk about good tone, bad tone, etc. Posters have spoken about having seen a pro on stage, and said they had bad tone.

I prefer a warm sound, and prefer lower volume. I play with roundish picks and a little bit of technique to achieve this particular sound. Is that sound “tone”?

Can tone be classified as “good” or “bad” or is it all just preference?

Is volume part of tone, or is it something else? (Excluding dynamics within a volume range, like playing quietly, but with dynamics.)

[HHP]

Its the sum total of every good or bad decision you ever made about playing.

[lowrider]

I asked pretty much the same question a few months ago. Here's what they told me;

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...highlight=tone

Tone means a lot of different things to different players; a combination of the player, the pick, stings and guitar. ''good tone'' seems to be the quest we will be on until we put down the guitar.

[Pine]

Originally Posted by lowrider

I asked pretty much the same question a few months ago. Here's what they told me;

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...highlight=tone

Tone means a lot of different things to different players; a combination of the player, the pick, stings and guitar. ''good tone'' seems to be the quest we will be on until we put down the guitar.

Yep, I have been looking at tone in a more limited sense. I have been primarily understanding tone as an attribute of the instrument.

So my take-away is: There is no good or bad tone, only what I like. Just as there is no good or bad music, only what I like.

Thanks Lowrider. I had missed the thread you posted.

[colchar]

It is often a term that people use while not being able to define or quantify it.

[Pine]

Originally Posted by colchar

It is often a term that people use while not being able to define or quantify it.

After reading through the thread that lowrider posted, I again see why I had the impression that tone is associated with the instrument. Most folks posting primarily discuss that relationship.

My final definition is: "Tone is the racket I make with my guitar that irritates my wife and scatters our two cats."

[lowrider]

But soon your wife and the cats will be coming into the room to listen!!

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Pine

I know this is a NOOB question, but posts in another thread lead me to think I probably don’t understand what folks mean when they say “tone”.

I’ve read many threads that talk about good tone, bad tone, etc. Posters have spoken about having seen a pro on stage, and said they had bad tone.

I prefer a warm sound, and prefer lower volume. I play with roundish picks and a little bit of technique to achieve this particular sound. Is that sound “tone”?

Yes. Tone is the mix of (balance between) high and low frequencies. Timbre is the more technical term, referring to the harmonic spectrum - with less value judgement implied.

Originally Posted by Pine

Can tone be classified as “good” or “bad” or is it all just preference?

Matter of taste.
Probably most people would like a tone with a wide frequency spectrum, such as that produced by an acoustic guitar string. I.e., too much treble is said to be "tinny" or "harsh"; too much bass is "muddy"; too much middle (not enough treble or bass) is "hard", or "piercing". But those are all subjective value judgments. How much is "too much", after all?
But a spread of frequency makes the tone more interesting to listen to, gives it more character.
Some people like distortion for that reason: it enriches the tonal spectrum.
Others like a clean tone, because it enables the player to control the tone through their fingers: where they pick the strings, what kind of pick they use, etc.

Originally Posted by Pine

Is volume part of tone, or is it something else? (Excluding dynamics within a volume range, like playing quietly, but with dynamics.)

Volume is different. Volume is simply loudness, and dynamics are variations in volume.
Some people would say that volume (maybe at extremes) can affect tone, but IMO that's mostly psychological.

[AX17609]

The ability of a sound to find its way into your soul.

[Pine]

Originally Posted by lowrider

But soon your wife and the cats will be coming into the room to listen!!

Actually, that happened this afternoon. Instead of running off like usual, one of the cats jumped in my lap in front of the guitar. I thought "Great, the cat wants to hear me play!". Then I realized she was just trying to mute the strings. Sort of like the one brave soldier who falls on the grenade to save his comrades.

Thanks for your helpful responses everyone!

[stanron]

Tone equals quality of sound. In it's simplest form, good or bad.

Individual instruments have their inherent tonal qualities, good, bad or indifferent.

Through the use of, or lack of technique, an idividual player can be said to produce good or bad tone.

Tonal judgments are subjective.

Unless you sit facing a bare plastered corner of a room or you are being recorded you will never hear the guitar you play as others will hear it. You are sitting behind the guitar and the sound is traveling away from you.

If you really don't get tone don't worry. Practice playing music.

[mattbn73]

It's an ambiguous term in common usage and therefore confusing.

Read up on the term "timbre". That one has a lot to do with what a lot of people refer to us "tone". It can be the natural sound of the instrument, but it's also partly to do with the way you produce sound on it. Related to the second part of that last sentence, read up on the term "articulation" as it relates to producing sound on instruments, specifically guitar in this instance. There are implications for guitar tone related to different types of articulations, such as legato, staccato as well as things like plectrum, bare-fingers-style, nails etc. etc. String type, shape of the instrument , plugged-in tone versus unplugged tone etc.

Slightly more confusing, the "tone" knob on electric guitars has mostly to do with high/low frequency response, or "warmth" if you like.

Again, there's a lot of ambiguity in the way this term is used. Most is inferred from hearing people talk about it for a long time.

[HHP]

Tone is like pornography. I may not be able to describe it but I know when I see/hear it.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by mattbn73

Slightly more confusing, the "tone" knob on electric guitars has mostly to do with high/low frequency response, or "warmth" if you like.

It's still controlling the "timbre", of course, but only in one aspect: rolling off the treble frequencies as you turn it down, if it's a passive control.

[Howard Klepper]

Originally Posted by JonPR

Yes. Tone is the mix of (balance between) high and low frequencies. Timbre is the more technical term, referring to the harmonic spectrum - with less value judgement implied.

Volume is different. Volume is simply loudness, and dynamics are variations in volume.
Some people would say that volume (maybe at extremes) can affect tone, but IMO that's mostly psychological.

While I know from experience that it's risky to disagree with Jon, I think he is mistaken here in a couple of ways.

To start at the end, volume is an objective physical quantity: sound pressure, or the amount of air moved by compression waves (if the listening is in air, which is usual). Loudness is a subjective impression in the ear/brain system. Ever notice the "volume/loudness" switch on an amplifier? It's there because of the ear's greater sensitivity to midrange. If it is set on "volume" the midrange will get proportionally louder than the bass and high end as the knob is turned. Switching to "loudness" compensates by boosting the volume at the high and low end, so that the proportional loudness of the different frequencies sounds more constant.

On to tone and timbre. As I have seen the terms used and as I recall from reading over the years, 'timbre' is a more comprehensive term. It is not limited to frequencies that are harmonic (and many instruments have a lot of non-harmonic output). It includes non harmonic overtones and "noise"--sounds with no determinate pitch, such as the pick or fingernails hitting the strings. I think it is defined as every property of a note other than its pitch and duration. 'Tone' is the term that is limited to the fundamental and overtone series produced in a note and how they change over the note's duration, although the overtones are not necessarily harmonics, which strictly speaking are all multiples of the fundamental frequency. What we call 'harmonics' on a guitar are mostly not strictly speaking harmonics, because they are overtones that don't ring at exact multiples of the fundamental due to the physical properties of strings. But they are close enough that for most purposes there is no harm done by calling them harmonics.

There is no doubt that volume affects the perception of tone, not only at extremes, and it doesn't do so any less because it is "mostly psychological." That just means it is in the ear/brain system, which is where we experience all music.