“Billy Gibbons brought some off-brand amp simulator to the studio. We heard him playing through this thing and it was like, ‘Wow! It sounds like f**kin’ Billy Gibbons!’” Troy Van Leeuwen might have just proven beyond doubt that tone truly is in the hands

Troy Van Leeuwen and Billy Gibbons.

By now, it seems like the “tone is in the hands” school of thought is a widely accepted theory of guitar playing. In a nutshell: no matter what gear an individual plays through, they will always sound like themselves, owing to the unique nuances in feel and touch between every guitarist.

We’ve seen countless artists supply anecdotes about playing their peers’ gear only to sound exactly like themselves – and as if we needed any more evidence to support the tone hands argument, Queens of the Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen has now provided another.