I had a very interesting conversation yesterday. A concept was introduced to me that I’ve never noticed, even though it was right in front of my face. Really got my brain going, and I wondered if anyone else has had such an encounter. I’ll cut to the chase.
I was taking a long stroll, thinking about cool gear, as per usual. Sun was shining, birds singing, and I was dreaming of my next overdrive pedal. All was right with the world. I could almost hear the even order harmonics dancing in my blissful little skull.
I decided to swing by a local store to grab a nice cider (shout out to 2 Towns Ciderhouse. The Bad Apple is incredible!) It was there that I ran into an old acquaintance, a younger dude who I knew through my bass player.
I knew he dabbled in guitar, so I asked him how that was going. He was in the process of stripping his baja Telecaster down for a refin, so we talked about that briefly. Casually, I asked this delightful young chap about the rest of his rig.
He then responded with a quote that I found very strange.
“Oh, you’re one of those Tone Guys.”
I really wasn’t sure what that meant.
“Tone Guy?” I asked.
“Yeah, one of those guys who is all about the tone. All about the sound.” he replied with his usual giant smile.
“Aren’t all guitar players “Tone Guys” then?”
“Nah. Just sounds like a guitar. I gotta go. Later man.”
Needless to say, I was super confused. Now, admittedly, I am completely obsessed with gear, and constantly chasing different sounds. I have G.A.S. like nobodies business. So I am a bit on the extreme end.
But are there really regular guitarists and “Tone Guys”? Do I belong to subsection of guitar players just like there are metal shredders, blues lawyers, punk rawkers, and djenters? Do we add Tone Guy to the ever growing list? I was under the impression that we were all Tone Guys/Girls.
So, what do you think? Drop it in the comments or hit us up on Instagram.