So here is a hypothetical question I was recently asked, 'If you had to choose between having killer chops or an killer tone (but you could only have one), which would you prefer?'I have thought very, very long and hard about this, but at the end of the day it is a no brainer really, plus the older I get the more I realise and appreciate great tone. I guess one analogy would be that chops without tone I think is a like food without seasoning. To me, the best food doesn't taste any better that the least without a bit of seasoning.The reason it is a no brainer for me, is if you consider  the examples, Dave Gilmour pretty much has the holy grail of tone for me, and Comfortably Numb is my all time favourite solo, I get goose bumps everytime I hear it. Chops are fantastic, but when you look on line and everyone is shreding away with a thin fizzy tone it isn't that great. The more I get into thinking about tone, it is players like Stevie Ray, BB King, Eddie Van Halen, Nuno Bettencourt, Gary Moore, Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden), Nile Rogers, Albert King, Son House and on who's tone really gets me excited now. I am getting a tad bored with some of the technically profcient players who seem to be able to play everything but don't sound good. Actually, maybe that is a bit cruel, perhaps their sound is one that I don't find inspiring and that it is it.Now my biggest problem  is that I don't like my tone much of the time, sometimes it is too thin and weedy, my cleans are too piercing. I love the tone of the unamplified guitar, but can't recreate that, with some of the gear I have. I am more than happy with my rhythm sound, especially through my Cornford Roadhouse 50 Watt Head, it is just the lead which suffers, but then again it is all in the fingers, I need to change my fingers perhaps! Here are some of the things I have done to change my tone

• Upped my string gauge
• Tried Telecaster, Stratocaster, new pickups in my Ibanez guitars
• Switched from Marshall to Fender amps (valve) and now Cornford, switched effects etc.
• Constantly try different EQ settings.
• Changed pick to thinner pick (from Jazz III)

Now a lot of these elements sound good in isolation, but when on stage they seem to just don't sound as good! Now there are a variety of reasons that that happens, and some of those are in the realm of psychoacoustics, but my goal is not improve tone (and still have some killer chops!Love to hear your thoughts!EnjoyPeaceNeil