I think its safe to say that through out many stages in a relationship (from meet to day two to marriage to post marriage...) there are periods where the tone is set. For instance, I've noticed that when I take girls to one of my spots (every date... still live with my folks so spots have to do... sigh) if I wait to throw my arm around her, it feels a bit less smooth. However, if I do it immediately when she gets out of the car, they are much more receptive.

I find that this is SUPER important when it comes to the first few phone calls. Lets be honest, what does Joe Chode do when they call:

HB: "Hello"
Chode: "Hi Jessica! Its Joe Chode, from that club... remember me?"

Unless your inner game is solid, tonality is strong and overall confidence is up to par, you've just lost major points. Even with those traits you've probably just caused a slight nick in your congruence.

High value men do not ask if others remember them. OF COURSE others remember you! Lets up the PUA in that interaction:

HB: "Hey PUA!" [Of course you remember to put your # in her phone some how right?]
Novice PUA: "Hello there Ms. Trouble."

Now, lets take it to the next level. Your first words are the convo:

HB: "Hi PUA!"
PUA: "So, I met this crazy girl the other night... she was cute but I get the feeling she's total trouble."

What have you done with that? DHV DHV DHV. Setting yourself aside from other guys and their "hows the weather/hows your day" bs. You've injected fun into her life at that moment and spiked buying temperature. AND THIS IS JUST THE START OF THE CALL! By setting the tone early, you'll have greater compliance and have higher value in her eyes which makes gaining more value later in the call even easier! There is an exponential factor to opening girls with a fun giggly hello and they'll always pick up your call for it. Note: this does not mean you have to come up with cute push pull lines for every call. Just make sure to add spice from time to time, especially on the first phone call.

Now, my question: What are your phone game "hello" routines?

A Minor

decent post there man...

her:"hi 10seconds"
me:"OMG! stop calling me!"
her:"what? you called me..."
me:" lies. you're delusional. worst. stalker. ever."

otherwise i take her back to a high in our previous convo - example...
last week i met a girl at a bar playing some old school stuff.
"mc hammer - cant touch this" came on.
so i started a game... every time someone said "hammertime" you had to do that weird side shuffling weird dance thing he does... if you dont, you down your drink.

me:"hammertime!"
her:"OMG you did not just say that! haha... how you blah blah"
me:"you didnt do the dance, did you? you totally owe me a beer now..."

because of this, she's now bought me parachute pants.

Genius! I love the stalker one (assuming I have the timing right). Gonna try it myself. And of course "call back humor" from the original meet always works. Love systems recommends you inject call back humor into your pickup just so that when you call you can use it. I always forget to do that and just rely on something im doing at the moment:

Her: "Hi pua!"
Me: So i've been having writters block behind the piano ever since I met this devious girl last week... [just came up with that. must use it!]

A Minor Incident

Hmmm, tone is set by the vibe, what you say holds almost no bearing in most conversations, when regarding vibes.

I'll tell you phone game if you are a routine MM guy is tricky tricky tricky. You lose alot of tools that would normally be available to you.

Best way to help control mood is learning to set a vibe, practise it with friends (male or female), any time their is a complaint, try and swing the vibe onto the positive.

Practise turning a sombre gathering into one where everyone is cracking jokes.

Or a run from a shopping mall to a cafe in the rain, from a worrying problem to an exciting challenge avoiding getting wet.

It won't be long before you are doing this on the phone.

In a way your right.
Opening tones are opening tones, key word here though is CAN.

Opening tones CAN set the pace, but 80% of the time their are other factors in their.

A good opening tone CAN cause a good conversation, but poor conversation after that can lead to it falling apart.

A bad opening tone CAN cause a bad conversation, but if you've got a healthy frame and ability to change peoples moods, that rarely happens.

If you pin everything on one moment you become re-active to how they respond to your one opening statement, and that opens you up to a whole load of shit.

If anything the end is important as that is what they will often remember the conversation by if you end the call well.

Your on the right track with positivity though, just remember that conversations tend to have key points because you created them, not becuase they are naturally there.

here's an observation i made with my current gf:

regardless of who calls who, if i say in a chipper voice "hey you" or something along those lines, she is much more likely to be in a better mood during the convo.

i have a tendency to relax my voice too much on the phone, so sometimes i'll sound like i'm depressed or sleeping. when i do that, she usually adopts the same tone on the phone with me.

very interesting observation. i'm going to make sure i sound a little better in the beginning of phone convo's from now on.