Tone Obsession with Michael Watts “I’ve practiced my tone for almost 50 years, and if I can’t hear my tone, I can’t play. If I can’t play, then I won’t get paid. If I don’t get paid, then I lose the house, you know? It’s like a chain reaction. If I lose my tone, I ...can’t do nothin’. I’ll just walk into the ocean and die, if I lose my tone.” - Miles Davis Hi, my name is Michael Watts and I am obsessed with the sound of the guitar. In particular the tonal possibilities afforded to the players of modern luthier-built instruments as well as the legendary vintage guitars of the past. The guitar is my voice as a composer and performer and has been a vital part of my life since childhood. From the ancient (I can still remember very vividly the sound and response of a 1929 Gibson Nick Lucas I played some years ago) to the modern ultra responsive thoroughbreds of luthiers such as Michael Greenfield, Jason Kostal, Linda Manzer etc, it is no exaggeration to say that I have “gone deep” into the sonic universe of the guitar. In this article I will be outlining some of my approaches towards generating a wide and expressive tonal palette in order to embark on the process that Frank Zappa likened to “air sculpture”, more commonly known as playing your guitar. I know, this magazine is about the guitar, and believe me, when it comes to guitar geekery I can hold my own, but I firmly believe that owning a an instrument is a privilege that brings with it responsibility. In this case the responsibility to make as musical a sound as possible every time you play your guitar.
ADSR In order to further our understanding of tone it helps to have a preliminary grasp of the anatomy of a sound. Any sound, from the softest (think a gut strung 19th Century Martin) to the most aggressive (an EMG-loaded Les Paul perhaps, through a Death by Audio “Apocalypse” fuzz pedal, maybe, into a row of Marshall plexi’s ), is comprised of four parts the attack, the decay, the sustain, and the release.