The Player
Your playing technique is an
essential part of matching up
with the right model
While a guitar’s body shape
and woods influence its tone,
ultimately, tone is largely in the
hands of the player. The same
guitar will probably sound a little
different in every player’s hands,
which means that the nuances of
your personal technique will help
determine which body shape and
woods match you best. Much like
pairing the right wines with foods
can elevate a meal to sublime
heights, finding a guitar that
complements your playing style
will make your playing experience
more enjoyable. Here are a few
questions that should help you
hone in on the right type of guitar.
Do you plan to strum, flatpick,
fingerpick, or all of the above?
If you like to mix it up, you
probably want a shape/wood pairing that supports versatility, like
a GA. If you’re predominantly an
aggressive picker or strummer, a
Dreadnought or GS will likely work
best. If you’re a beginner and aren’t
quite sure, think about the styles of
music you’d like to play. Do you like
rich-ringing open chords or do you
plan to play more closed-position
chords or single-note lead runs?
{SHAPES + WOODS + PLAYER = TONE}
Do you have a heavier or
lighter attack?
In other words, how much
energy are you applying to the
strings when you play? Do you
drive the strings hard to generate
volume and create a robust tone?
If so, you want a guitar that’s big
enough to handle that energy and
produce a full sound without getting distorted.
What will your playing
application(s) be?
Will you be playing on your
own or with other people? If
you’re playing with others, is it
a pure acoustic environment in
which you need enough volume to
compete? Also, if you’ll be playing
with another Taylor acoustic, it will
probably sound better if they’re
different models. A guitar with
a different body style or wood
combination will often create a
more complex tone with richer
harmonic structure.
If you’ll be playing solo and singing, does a certain guitar tend to
better complement the frequencies
of your voice? For example, rosewood’s scooped midrange might
allow more room for your voice,
which tends to occupy the same
midrange frequencies. Will you be
recording or performing with the
guitar? Try to consider the environment in which you’ll be playing.
Is your tone bright or dark?
At Taylor Road Shows, we talk
about a player’s “bone tone,” often
described in terms of the sonic
qualities of brightness (with more
treble prominence) and darkness
(more pronounced bass tones),
just like wood tones are differentiated. Players with a heavier attack
or who fret with a tight grip, or
fingerpickers who use fingerpicks,
their nails or acrylics, for example,
often produce a brighter tone. This
will sometimes dampen the midrange bloom and affect the degree
of fullness and sustain. If so, it
might help to try a wood that naturally has a warmer, darker sound.
Fingerpickers can also try playing
more with the pads of their fingers.
Conversely, fingerstyle players with darker hands might find
brighter tonewoods like maple,
koa or cocobolo to be a good
match. They can also experiment
with using more nail strike in their
attack. A bright player on a bright
guitar will most likely produce a
tone that lacks depth, while a dark
player on a dark wood may find a
lack of treble sparkle.
Other factors that affect tone
Pick materials and the brand
and gauge of strings you use can
also have a major impact on tone.
Also, our senses of hearing are
each calibrated differently, so you
may perceive tonal frequencies
very differently than someone else.
For example, one Taylor dealer
recalled a customer who had
worked around power tools much
of his life, which had resulted in a
loss of hearing in high-end frequencies. As a result, he preferred the
sound of bright-toned guitars.
The bottom line is that the
experience of playing guitars and
exploring tones should be fun. Take
your time. Sample a healthy variety
of models. But try not to sink in a
sea of sonic details. Sometimes a
guitar just feels and sounds right in
your hands, whether or not you can
explain why.
