Tone generation tips

Lewy · July 2017

The player's direct influence on the pure acoustic tone of a guitar doesn't get talked about all that much. Not sure why .... maybe that it's just not that necessary for a lot of playing that takes place on acoustic these days...the prevalence of pluggin in, the fact that a lot of people's interest in acoustic is secondary to their interest in electric playing etc etc. But it's totally fundamental, and I suspect there are lots of people who play acoustic who don't realise exactly what their guitars are capable of in terms of tonal variation and acoustic volume if they were to give it a little focus and think about the techniques that can bring it out.

What are your acoustic tone tips, focusing on technique?

My top 3 would be:

1) For flatpicking, use a thick pick and light touch - much more dynamic range that way compared to a thinner pick with a harder attack...that doesn't really leave you anywhere to go if you want to accent something/really punch out a single-note run

2) For bottleneck - especially on resonators, don't over damp the strings. Learn to be more accurate with the slide instead, so you don't need to damp so many strings...that way they can vibrate sympathetically and give you that lovely metallic reverb that you bought a reso for in the first place. Do it right and you can get that reverby sound on ordinary acoustics too.

3) Rest strokes - applicable to either flatpicking or fingerpicking. For those who haven't come across the technique, it's playing a string so that the plane of movement is angled down into the body of the guitar, so the pick (or fingertip) comes to rest on the next string after you've played the note. You don't know how much power your guitar has until you play a big old rest stroke on a low string. You may be surprised!

What other tips have people got?

BigLicks67 · July 2017

Off the top of my head - the position of the right hand. Move it closer to the neck/soundhole and you get a warmer sound and towards the bridge a more aggressive biting sound. Also, for fingerpicking the upright right hand (classical style) sounds more balanced and the flatter right hand gives more attack and bass end from the thumb.

TimmyO · July 2017

Good idea for a thread :-)

I can't contribute much - but I do know that my recent acquisition has thrown this in to focus for me - it's so much more responsive - I do now notice variations in sound and attack based on how my generally sloppy technique happened to err, happen in a given moment.

Flatpick : I moved over to thick pick/gentle grip last year and already can see how that works - moreso again with a good instrument.

Fingerstyle : this is the biggie for me now - the amount my arm covers the soundboard and how vertical my picking hand is has a really obvious effect on the sound - to the extent I'm going to pop down to see Stuart Ryan for a couple of lessons and get some proper pointers on technique as I've never paid attention to it before. As long as I was getting the right(ish) notes I wasn't paying attention to how they sounded (which is kind of the point of your thread)

Winny_Pooh · July 2017

For flatpicking:

Aside from the left hand fingering which is hard to explain;

Fat pick (not too hard, not too soft material)
The correct picking angle (to avoid buzz)
And a fair amount of controlled right hand force (not enough to really slow you down or buzz) but much harder than when playing electric.The string usually has the right amount of give and tone for this around the inside edge of the soundhole. Closer to the bridge and it sounds too thin and the strings dont flex enough. Closer to the neck and the strings will flex too much and slow your pick attack and creat buzz on the upper fingerboard.

For fingerstyle its much softer and nearer the fingerboard.

AliGorie · July 2017

yeah, steel string players often dont know or bother with the added dynamic of being able to vary tonal character - their losing out.
take what ya want from this -
Classical Guitar Tone Production
e.g.

mgaw · July 2017

do what the OP says

CHRISB50 · July 2017

The biggest influence I've found on tone is how you shape your nails, if playing finger style.

The more nail involved the more treble you get. More skin, more bass.

Shape them properly and you get a lovely balanced tone, although obviously the individual character of the guitar needs to be taken into consideration as well.

Sassafras · July 2017

I think these tips apply just as well to electric as acoustic playing.
I'm often surprised at how many people concentrate on getting the right notes than on listening to how they sound.

TimmyO · July 2017

My nails are made of.paper :-(

They are flimsy enough in general daily life but the moment they meet a steel string they split

Only exception is I can leave a small bit of my thumbnail on its 'bass' side and use that as long as the rest of the nail is short

Lewy · July 2017

Great tips so far.

Here's another:

Note length. Really paying attention to how long you are letting notes ring vs damping them (intentionally or unintentionally) can be the difference between your guitar sounding like it's singing or sounding dull and muted.

The idea is you shouldn't try and make your guitar sing, you should let it sing - get out of the way by making sure you're not doing things to stop it.

jellyroll · July 2017

Buy a VERY expensive guitar and keep your fingers crossed (not when you're playing, obviously)

mellowsun · July 2017

For fingerstyle, working on getting an even tone with the i m a fingers is important.

i really have to work on my ring finger as the tone it tends to produce is weaker than index and middle. This is a combination of lack of finger independence, strength and plucking angle.

sev112 · July 2017

Fingerpicking - major difference if you pick in a plane perpendicular to the strings compared to a plane parallel to the strings

richardhomer · July 2017

Sassafras said:

I think these tips apply just as well to electric as acoustic playing.
I'm often surprised at how many people concentrate on getting the right notes than on listening to how they sound.

Agreed - if you can't get a decent sound out of a guitar, there's no point in playing the right notes.

AliGorie · July 2017

Not something I consciously think about although it is an important component in creating more expressive music.
It's like LH positioning as you go over the various positions on the f/board - a good grounding in technique - becomes like breathing- an unconscious function.
bit like the frog asking the centipede how it walks - centipede stops to think about it and never moved again.

On the point of flatpicking - all those bluegrass boys play in a very small area around the back edge of the soundhole, but when they strum they move it around - I find that interesting

Lewy · July 2017

AliGorie said:

Not something I consciously think about although it is an important component in creating more expressive music.
It's like LH positioning as you go over the various positions on the f/board - a good grounding in technique - becomes like breathing- an unconscious function.
bit like the frog asking the centipede how it walks - centipede stops to think about it and never moved again.

On the point of flatpicking - all those bluegrass boys play in a very small area around the back edge of the soundhole, but when they strum they move it around - I find that interesting

Bluegrass is interesting in several way as far as this topic is concerned...

Firstly, tone is borderline a religious thing. It comes before anything else and interestingly if you commit to generating the best flatpicking tone you can, the steps to achieving that equip you to achieve the rest (fluency, speed etc). It all hangs off tone.

Secondly, you'd be hard pressed to find a hardcore bluegrasser playing anything other than a very very good guitar. They'll drive a shit car, live in a shack, but they'll have an excellent guitar. Fun fact: every guitarist that played for Bill Monroe played Bill's 'bone D28 at his insistence because it had the sound.

Lastly virtually everyone, even the kids, play .013s - I only mention that (don't want this thread to turn into gear talk) because it's indicative of how bluegrassers go about generating tone...lots of open positions using capos for different keys. Closed position the exception rather than the rule.

mgaw · July 2017

buy good picks, like blue chip..defo make a difference imo and i have tried most. thousands on guitars and pennies on the thing that makes contact with the strings...madness

AliGorie · July 2017

not 'gear' Lewy, strings or rather the tension of the string you use are important - I think this is why grassers play 13 (as do I) and play / pick where they do, gives the right resistance to the plectrum for cross string pick sweeping - if your with me. The 'tone ya get picking just there may just be a by product of pick / string response 'requirements'.
Theres particular things I do need a fair bit of string tension to execute properly, ie I cant do them on to low (slack) a tuning or on my Spanish guitar.
Oh, I use bare fingers with a mm of nail to 'firm up' the fingertip and a dunlop Zookie t/pick.

BigLicks67 · July 2017

After reading this thread I dug my JD jazz pick out and immediately noticed an improvement in my technique for flatpicking : >

DavidRees · July 2017

loads of wonderful advice on this thread, thanks guys, and thanks Lewy for starting it. for years now I have been less concerned about what I play and more about the way I play it. If I am to be the best me I can as a musician I really want to make each note I play sound the best it can, and often that is allowing it [and the others] the freedom to be heard ...

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Tone generation tips

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