A couple of issues ago, Guitar Player mag published an interesting article entitled, “The Homogenization of Rock Guitar Tone” in which they interviewed a few top rock producers, and posed the question (paraphrased): Have we reached the point in guitar tone, where there’s nothing new to be heard?
Interesting question that… and if we were to look at what’s popular on the radio, I’d have to say that I haven’t heard anything new or really individual in a long while. I suppose that’s why I still listen to classic rock and classic heavy metal. Guitars played such a prevalent role in the era between the late 60’s and mid-80’s. Once glam rock, then grunge took over the airwaves, the once garden of guitar tones suddenly became a monotonous desert. That has continued today with most popular music. The guitars all sound the same – highly compressed, scooped, and over-processed.
You have really look to the indie rockers to hear some really good, individual guitar tone nowadays. But that’s not bad. It’s cool discovering new bands and great guitar work. For instance, even though he’s been around awhile, I recently discovered Warren Zanes. This is no-frills rock guitar with very little if any processing on the guitars. It’s the purity of the guitar sounds that I just love.
So I guess the crux of this entry is that I agree with the GP article to a point; at least from the standpoint of pop rock, but I certainly believe there’s hope for guitar. And while there are artists like Warren Zanes, good guitar tone will be alive and well in the future.
And if you’re reading this blog, you’re also one of the guitar faithful who will always be in search of great tone.
Rock on!
Guitar Gear 
Maybe we just think there’s nothing new because we’ve all been eased into it gently and dont take change lightly… Look at it decade by decade. The ’60s I think of Clapton’s “woman tone” into the Marshall bluesbreaker or Plexi or the beatles “ticket to ride” tone of the Vox AC30. The ’70s brought us the solid state amps until punk and new wave through out the rule book. The ’80s was strat-o-mania and you couldnt give a Les Paul away until Slash came along. The 80s also brought a real focus on tone from the likes of SRV and real tone guru’s like Caesar Diaz. The early 90s was really the revival of great hand-wired amps with the likes of Mark Sampson with the vox-inspired Matchless DC30 and Mark Baier’s revival of the great 50s era fenders at Victoria amps. Right now, we’re really lucky to be players and living in an area where great hand-wired amps and hand finished guitars are plentiful. I think its kind of like right now is tones “golden era”. I think anyone who’s searched for the right blackface fender tone, or has searched for that tube screamer with the right JRC4558 chip in it, knows exactly what I’m talking about. I’ve always believed tone it 90% hands, but the right equipment to give you that extra 10% is now VERY available – which is great.
I totally agree, Tweed, though I think the 90’s really saw a decline in tone with respect to what was the popular music of the day; that is, grunge. While there were many great technical players, unique tone certainly wasn’t at the forefront. You had to look behind the wall of popular music to find any good guitar tone during this time.
And yeah, 90% of your is in your hands, which is probably why I’m not in a rush to get a Vicky. I’ll end up with one for sure, be it a Dbl Deluxe or Victorilux, but I’ll get it. I know that it’ll only make my good tone sound even better. Just playing with a DD for a couple of hours proved that, but I’m pretty satisfied right now.
Being satisfied with your tone is a good place to be, no doubt. I do agree with your article on the new indie bands btw. There’s something great about that raw edge of a guitar straight into an amp riding that wave between overdriven tones and total tube saturation…kinda like surfing only the board is your guitar and the water is electicity.
Great question. I think it all depends on what you mean by tone, even what you mean by “rock tone,” since, really, there are all kinds of “rock tone.” If it means something specific that pleases you, chances are that it may be missing from certain musical territories.
To me great tone is relative. Whatever I think is great tone may not be what someone else thinks is great tone. Or, my idea of tone may not fit in certain musical areas. I am reminded of all the times when I thought my tone was great from the perspective of working at it alone in my house. But, when I went to the practice room with a band, it wasn’t great tone at all.
But, there’s still an issue as to the relevance of guitar overall as a tool for music-making, which I think is more important than the relevance of any kind of guitar tone. And I think these are great times for guitar, really. I mean, it has consistently stayed at the top of the list for instruments sold, and songwriters everywhere prefer it as a go-to instrument for writing and performing. That, to me, is progress. Progress to me is when an instrument can grow beyond a certain type of tone (especially the type of tone that launched the instrument, like rock tone) and cross over to different genres and serves “music” overall.
If you were to go back in time to like, say, the 1920’s or 30’s, the piano was king, and it was the preferred instrument in terms of sales and use for songwriting. Today, I am not so sure it holds that place, and I bet that it will never go back to being king because of the power of guitar. Or, look at the guitar predecessors, like the banjo or the mandolin. I mean, those were IT in terms of string instruments prior to guitar, and they are nowhere to be found today in the typical music-making operation. And, they didn’t last as long as guitar has lasted.
And the funny thing about piano, is that if you look at the literature talking about piano playing way back long time ago, the talk wasn’t about a specific type of piano tone, but about the way a player would use the piano. Which goes back to what Tweed Demon said, that it’s really all about what the musician does with his hands that defines the end result.
IG
You’ve made a great point about the guitar’s relevance as a music-making tool and from that perspective, I totally agree. For rock today, the guitar is the central instrument. Like you, I totally appreciate that. And while I also agree that it’s the hands of the guitarist that really defines the end result, I keep on going back to the music my kids listen to on the radio. There’s a certain sameness to the approach of guitar tone in almost all the songs. Super-saturated, scooped and compressed tone. I don’t hear too much variation.
That’s not to say that all popular bands out there are doing the same thing. I’m actually quite impressed with the band Maroon 5. Great guitar riffs and nicely layered guitar arrangements that remind me a lot of a bit mellower John Frusciante. But I also believe they’re the exception to the rule.
It seems that much of todays mainstream pop or rock is cookie cutter in its approach. Mainstream producers are all following the few lead dogs in the pack and copying sound not making music. Tone, as many have stated, is an individual thing but I feel there is a baseline of great tone to judge from. As a guitarist for over 30 years I have seen and heard many transitions of whats “hot”. But for me its less about the fx and more about a great guitar payed through a great amp buy a player with great feel for the insturment.
Right on, brutha!!!