Do musicians control their sound?

That probably sounds like the most stupid question ever, but im not a musician, never have been. I just wondered, to me it seems you pick up a guitar and play notes and a sound comes out.

So i just assumed you could wanna sound like one thing but in reality sound like something else all together. I know you can control whether it sounds like rock or dance obviously, but how do you sound different from say Snow Patrol's Spitting Games, than New Order's All The Way.

The first line of this thread says it all really!

guitar playing style strings amplification effects (pedals or rackmount)

all of these tend to have a major impact on what you sound like. doubtless there are other things as well.

Give me a classical guitar and ask me to play Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast" and you will get something that doesn't sound quite like it would do if I play it on my SG with overdrive, chorus and everything set to sustain at the max.

Mad Cyril wrote: Give me a classical guitar and ask me to play Iron Maiden's "Number of the Beast" and you will get something that doesn't sound quite like it would do if I play it on my SG with overdrive, chorus and everything set to sustain at the max.

Now I wasn't expecting to read that...

Snorri xxx