Has your taste in sound completely changed at some point in your life?

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by zmf

Excellent point -- I like that summary. Every guitar has its strengths and weaknesses for a given song/genre. When you know the guitar, you can bring a variety of strokes to get the sound you're after.

Perhaps an exaggeration, but a good guitar can be 3 or 4 different guitars, depending on how it's played.

Very much appreciated your final point as well - with my favoured (and not inexpensive) instruments - there is a choice or variable personality of colour and tone, which according to my (albeit severely limited) differing techniques of touch, pretty much brings 3 or 4 different instruments to the table, whereas with a budget price guitar, if it’s good, it will very much be a one trick pony, I find.

[Steve DeRosa]

Yes and no - always loved 16"/17" jumbos and 17"/18" non-cutaway archtops (still do); got out of electric shortly after Woodstock and went almost completely acoustic for fifteen years, gradually eased back to where about 90% of my playing these days is electric...

[AndrewG]

Yes, I think so. When I was looking for a new guitar I played a couple of 'reimagined' (hate that word!), D-28 examples, having been a rosewood aficionado for decades. Then I played the D-18 I eventually bought. What a revelation after the 'meh' experience I had with an earlier D-18 I owned.

[ctvolfan]

All very good and interesting responses. I guess for a person that probably mostly just sits at home and plays to themselves, finding one sound or tone that they prefer is acceptable. But I can also see why others that perform in front of an audience would prefer diversity in their sound or tone depending on the song or the type of music they are playing. But I still would think that most people would prefer one sound over another that is most pleasing to their ears if they were to pick one. I have heard that our hearing changes as we get older. I am not sure that is what I am experiencing. I just think that for myself, I got hooked on a certain brand and sound from that brand and really had tunnel vision for years. I did used to prefer the chimey sound of a Taylor but as I have played much more and gotten much better, my taste in music has also changed and I think that is dictating my preference in sound and tone now.

I used to just noodle around and play bits and pieces of songs pretty much off and on for the first 30 years of my playing. I am 52 now so I was all into 70's rock and 80's hair metal when I was younger. I have lived here in East Tennessee all of my life and have never really considered myself a country music fan but I have listened to some of if off and on and do like some of it. I have always been a huge Eagles fan so that was a little of both country and rock. But as I started playing with a couple of friends a few years ago, I have gotten into playing more of an Americana style since that is what my friends were more into playing. I have found myself writing and playing songs more of that genre and some leaning towards country. I guess living here, it was hard for all this country or mountain music to not seep into my subconscious.

So I guess what I am trying to say here is, as I have grown as a guitarist player and started writing songs that I would consider Americana, that seems to have changed my preference in the sound I want from my guitar.

[Rmz76]

Originally Posted by ctvolfan

I have played pretty much nothing but Taylor Grand Auditorium guitars essentially since 2005. I have mentioned on here before that I bought a Yamaha FG800 a few months ago and just love the bigger boomier sound of this cheap little dread. I rarely pick my Taylors up anymore. I find my Taylors to be very thin sounding now. I now find myself craving more volume and bass. I still like the chimeyness of my Taylors but it just lacks in volume and bass to me now. Has anybody else just suddenly fell out of love with a guitar or a brand and went a totally different direction after years of playing? It is as if my preference in sound has completely changed.

I've shared this story here before, but it's been some time. The first time I tried a Gibson J-45 (circa 2003) I told my friend "this doesn't belong in the high-end acoustic room, it sounds horrible". I held this attitude towards Gibson acoustics for many years. I felt the brand was overrated... As years passed and I transitioned to more Singer-Songwriter focus, I started to notice a trend. I noticed how the J-45 seemed to work some magic in lifting softer vocals or a more spoken-style of singing (e.g. James Taylor).

I took a digital recorder and clip-on tuner with me to Guitar Center on a slow weekday and recorded myself singing parts of songs using a few different guitars as accompaniment instruments. I remember trying a D28 and J-45 and a few others. When I listened back to the recordings later, I finally understood the J-45's magic.

[piper_guitarist]

The answer to that question is yes.

Back in my younger days I gravitated toward larger bodied guitars (Dread, Jumbo, etc.) as I liked that bit of extra bass power and punch. I played mostly flatpicking/strumming at the time and tended to really dig in.

As I’ve gotten a tiny bit older I find myself gravitating toward smaller bodies and a more balanced, slightly softer tone as my playing style has changed to more of a softer touch with a flatpick and playing a lot of fingerstyle. You can do that on a larger body sure, but I prefer the articulation of a smaller size.

[Everton FC]

As my playing style and musical tastes have changes and expanded, my taste in guitars has evolved, more than changed. Cedar vs. Spruce vs. Mahogany, dread vs. 000 vs. 00 vs. parlour-size... My mind has expanded to appreciate multiple tones, versus simply the loud boom of the dreads, which is where I was at - along w/electrics - at the turn of this century!

[TBman]

When I was in my 20s I liked this sound:

LZ:


NY:



Now I like this:

Stephen Wake:


And this

Daria:


So I guess maybe I'm less into bass and more midrange and treble. It's really hard to say because tastes in music has changed too.