The Audible Frequency Range and Describing Tone

by Kurt Prange
As guitarists, most of us sooner or later find ourselves in pursuit of tone. A talented
guitarist can find a way to make anything sound good, but there should be no doubt
that our equipment and the tone it provides can inspire and help fuel our creativity.
In pursuit of tonal inspiration, we need to develop a vocabulary to help us find what
were looking for in our sound.
The Audible Frequency Range
Most guitarists start out by learning the names of the musical notes corresponding to a
particular string and fret number, but they are not initially aware that these notes also
correspond to the fundamental frequency of the vibrating string. For example, the sixth
string played at the 5th fret (low A) in standard tuning has a fundamental frequency of
110 Hz. Any doubling or halving of a frequency is an octave, so the next octave up from
110 Hz would be 220 Hz. In order to develop a vocabulary for tone, we have to think in
terms of frequencies as opposed to musical notes.

The audible frequency range for us human beings is about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz (20 kHz).
For descriptive purposes, its common to divide this range into at least three parts: lows,
mids and highs. The specific border frequencies where, for example, lows end and mids
begin are not definite. Look at a guitar speakers frequency response chart and youll see
three commonly accepted ranges: lows from 20 to 200 Hz, mids from 200 Hz to 2 kHz
and highs from 2 kHz to 20 kHz. With respect to these divisions, the fundamental guitar
frequencies are all low to mid range; however, the sound we hear from each note we play
also consists of harmonic frequencies in addition to the fundamental. To get an idea of
what the fundamental would sound like on its own, just play a note and turn the guitars
tone control all the way down. Youve just rolled-off the highs.
If you play through an amp with treble, middle and bass controls, you can experiment
with the extremes of each control setting to get a feel for how the relative level of each
frequency range shapes the overall sound. Scoop the mids by turning the middle

control down. Roll-off the lows and thin-out the tone by turning down the bass
control. Now, Fatten-up the tone by turning the bass control back up.
Describing Tone
Using words to describe how something sounds is not always easy, but in the pursuit of
tone it is often necessary. Browse through websites and ads for guitars, pickups, effects,
amps, tubes, speakers, etc. and youll see a plethora of tonal verbiage that would probably
seem like nonsense to the non-musician. When reading through this jargon, you can
usually separate the adjectives into at least two groups to get a better perspective of the
big picture.
First, there are the basic tonal adjectives that stand on their own. Most guitarists would
understand their meaning without the need for much clarification. The words in this
group stand on their own because they are closely related to common control settings.
Describing tone is simplified considerably when a comparison can be made and most of
the adjectives in this group can be paired with a clear opposite. For example, you might
compare bright vs. dark for highs, full vs. scooped for mids, fat vs. thin for lows or some
other variation to express more or less of a particular attribute. You could say, Im using
Acme brand 12AX7 tubes in my amp and they sound too muddy, I need something that
will brighten up the highs and give me more gain.
Second, there are the ambiguous adjectives that leave you with some doubt as to what
they really mean. They serve as a kind of garnish to add personality and make a tonal
description sound more appealing or marketable. For example, the highs might be crisp
or bell like with sparkle or chime, the mids might be buttery or woody, there might be
mid-range honk, the tone could be warm, rich or creamy. This is good stuff if you dont
take it too seriously, but these words dont really mean much on their own. If someone
told you that a particular speaker sounds rich and creamy with buttery mids and crisp
highs, they might as well have said, it sounds great, trust me. Another aspect of this
group of adjectives is that they can allow you to identify a target audience that the
product was designed to reach. For example, you probably wouldnt target the death
metal crowd with a warm, vintage-voiced pickup with rich fat lows and top-end sparkle
to express the subtleties of your playing style in fine detail. Youd be more likely to
describe fat, thunderous lows with upper mid-range sizzle and crisp highs for brutal
rhythm and scorching leads.
When communicating with other people to get suggestions for which product might get
you closer to the sound youre looking for, its usually best to make comparisons, while
using mostly adjectives from the first group and going light on those from the second. Of
course, the best way to know if something is right for your sound is to play through it
yourself and set up an A/B comparison, but thats just not always possible. So as we
journey along in our pursuit of tone, we have to develop a vocabulary to help ourselves
and others find the way.
Kurt Prange (BSEE) is the Sales Engineer for Amplified Parts (www.amplifiedparts.com)
in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Kurt began playing guitar at the age of nine in

Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is a guitar DIYer and tube amp designer who enjoys helping
other musicians along in the endless pursuit of tone.