Recording…Progressiv-Rock

Check out Richie Kotzen demoing his new Zoom G2R signature guitar effects pedal!

Guitar effects are an extremely important part of any electric guitarists’ life. Yet, most beginners have very little knowledge about effects. Effects are electronic devices that alter or moderate the sound, tone or pitch of an electric guitar. Effects are used in many popular genres of guitar music like rock, heavy metal, blues etc. They are housed in guitar pedals, amplifiers, simulation software and rack mount processors or preamplifiers. There are different types of effects. Here is a brief look at them. Distortion related effectsDistortion is an effect that is commonly used in rock and heavy metal guitar music. A distortion pedal which is used to create this effect clips the signal and distorts its waveform leading to a distortion in the sound. There are many different types of distortion effects. Each one of them has their own distinct characteristics and features. •    Overdrive distortion: This is one of the most well known distortion effects. Most pedals that provide the distortion effect attempt to create a high grain sound. Some advanced distortion amplifiers like the Marshall, have went past the normal point of tonal break up and created a sound called as saturated grain also called total distortion in some cases. Some of the common distortion pedals are Marshall Guv’Nor, Pro Co Rat, Digi Tech Hot Tech.•    Fuzz: Fuzz pedals were originally created to recreate the classic sound of the 60’s overdrive tube amp combined with torn speaker cones. The original fuzz pedals have now been replaced by extreme designs that have effects like octave, gating etc. Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face is one of the most commonly used Fuzz effect pedals. •    Hi Gain: This effect originated from the high gain amplification used in electric guitars. In ordinary elec guitar terms, high gain is a sound that is produced by overdriven amp tubes or a distortion pedal. The sound produced is extremely thick. The modern hi gain pedals produce a sound that is unmatched and cannot be produced using any other device. The Boss ML2 metal core is a very common hi gain effect pedal. Filtering related effects•    Equalizer: An equalizer is used to adjust the frequency response in a variety of frequency bands. A graphic equalizer which is a common feature in most music player software provides a slider interface for different frequency regions. In guitars, a rotary control is available in place of these sliders and they change the level of the frequency band. •    Phase shifter: Have you ever heard a sound during a guitar concert that is similar to the sound of a flying jet? That’s what a phase shifter can do for you. The effect is commonly known as phase. •    Wah Pedal: Just like the name, this foot operated pedal can create a sound that is similar to a man saying wah. The sound was most commonly heard in psychedelic rock from the 1960’s and funk music from the 1970’s. Volume related effects•    Volume Pedal: This is nothing but a foot operated potentiometer that can be tilted forward or backward. A musician can easily adjust the volume of his instrument during performance. The pedal is also used to create a fading effect. •    Tremolo: This is a repetitive variation in gain for the complete duration of a single note. This is based on a very common effect that was built into guitar amps. •    Compressor: This is very much like an auto volume controller. The output level decreases as the incoming signal increases and vice a versa. These are the most basic but commonly used guitar effects. There are many more advanced ones that you can use during concerts or gigs. Jeff Carson is the owner of TheReviewMine.Com.  His web site offers a diverse selection of ebooks, CD’s, DVDs, and other information that will teach you how to play guitar.

The electric guitar is one of the most versatile instruments in modern music. It can create rhythmic/percussive textures in one moment, and smooth, singing sounds in the next. Not only that, but an almost limitless combination of new sounds may be created simply by playing with which effects, amplifiers and types of guitar get paired together.

This sonic variety provides you with a unique opportunity to create a ‘signature sound’. Sadly, most of the current music curriculum for guitarists ignores these issues. The truth is that learning to play electric guitar is process which continues well beyond achieving proficiency in music theory, much less the rote motor skills necessary to manipulate the strings.

For that reason alone, I decided to create this quick tutorial about the use of effects pedals in the hopes of helping you break free from the “three chords and some distortion” rut so many guitarists find themselves stuck in.

The long and short of this tutorial is: You must learn how to ‘chain’ your effects pedals

I am aware that some guitarists prefer ‘all-in-one’, multi-effect pedal units (e.g. Digitech RP series) for their ease, convenience and versatility, and they are wonderful devices in theory. There are plenty of situations where a multi-effect pedal is the appropriate tool for the job.

The problem comes when you tire of the limitations of whichever multi-effects unit you’re using.

You might think “an effect is an effect”, but this simply isn’t true. The electronic circuitry of any effect pedal can add to/subtract from your overall tone in the same way that the type of wood your guitar is made of, or the pickups it uses, will influence your tone.

This is why you’ll see many professional players use a variety of effect pedals, and they’ll often have a favorite model for a particular type of effect.

In order to ‘tweak’ your sound, you must understand the ‘proper’ chaining of effects pedals from guitar to amp. There exists a loose set of rules regarding the placement of different types of effects in a chain for the best ‘signal to noise’ ratio.

While these rules are not absolute, you’ll find that they hold true from a general standpoint a majority of the time. Like the saying goes, though, you have to know the rules before you can break them.

A Good Effects Chain

Guitar -> Wah -> Distortion -> Chorus -> Amp + Delay (sent separately through the amp’s effect loop)

or

Guitar -> Wah -> Distortion -> Chorus -> Delay -Amp

As you may notice above, Delay is typically the last effect in any chain. You will have to plug from the Delay (at the end of the whole chain) into your amp’s input jack if you are using a one-channel amp.

For two-channel amps, it is generally recommended to plug your Guitar-Wah-Distortion-Chorus chain into the input jack, while plugging your Delay (separate from the chain) into the amp’s “effects send/return” loop.

Doing so gives you a more ‘natural’ feeling sound because the Delay will modulate the amplified signal, rather than adding noise (and potentially over-driving the amp) as it happens when you allow the delay signal to be amplified.

Now, in order to ‘break’ the rules, you need to learn more about what each of your effects actually does to the signal put into it. This gets easier once you realize that there are just a handful of ways to shape a signal.

In general, you will find that the effect of your is doing one (and sometimes more than one) of the following things to your signal:

1. Adding to it

2. Subtracting (or ‘clipping) from it

3. Modulating it

A distortion pedal, for example, creates noise (‘distortion’) by clipping the signal. If you look at the waveform shape of a guitar signal, it is pretty close to a Sine wave. The smoother the wave, the smoother and clearer the signal.

Imagine if you clipped off the tops of the ‘curves’, creating something closer to square wave? It’s going to sound harsher and ‘buzzier’. In other words, it’s going to sound distorted!

Likewise, imagine if you could modulate a signal so that the peaks and valleys (amplitude) were more extreme, their spacing (phase) less regular or the peak frequency response (tone) filtered in or out?

In the first case, you would affect volume. In the second case, you would affect the timing or regularity of of the signal. In the third case, you would affect the clarity (as interpreted by the human ear) of the signal. All of these are modulations.

Now, think about this: Would it sound better to modulate a distorted signal, or to distort a modulated signal?

In general practice, the answer is that it depends on whether the modulation has a less than negligible impact on volume. Remember that distortion is created by clipping the peak amplitude of a signal, which also effects volume.

So, you have to look at which effects cause the most significant attenuation in volume, and then chain them in order of most to least. You take the ‘hit’, so to speak, up front rather than allowing the entire processed signal to take a drastic cut at the end of the chain.

Keep in mind, too, that you must also balance the location of volume cuts (as well as boosts) against the amount of noise introduced into the signal.

Again, this isn’t all cut-and-dry. Placement of effects is very much dependent not just on their type, but how many are involved. Figuring out what works so you can shape your sound is one of the most exciting stages of learning to play electric guitar.

My hope is that this tutorial has given you enough basic information to start experimenting with effects placement for yourself, so you can find the exact sound you’re looking for!

For that reason alone, I believe that guitar-centered music instruction should be revised to include lessons on how to shape your sound.

Sadly, most of the current music curriculum for guitarists ignores these issues.

Buying an electric guitar is of no use if you do not buy the right Amplifiers and Effects pedal to use with it.

There are a wide range of amplifiers and effects pedal available in the market. I will introduce you to some of the most affordable ones that you can jam at home as well as take all the way to your gigs.

Guitar Amplifiers

Take a look at some of the best Guitar Amplifiers that will give you a rich decent tone and sound output but at the same time won’t burn your pockets

All of these Amps are from the pioneers in this field and are state of the art equipments that you can buy with both eyes shut. For e.g. Marshall MG10 Combo, I use this, which can take you from a rich bluesy tone to the meaty crunchy heavy metal tone in just a turn of the overdrive knob. This little beast also features a Contour knob to fine tune and adjusts the EQ. Not just that, a headphone socket is provided for private practice and you can also connect your MP3 or CD player to your MG10 and listen to your favorite music. All in one. Sounds great eh !

Similarly, each amp featured above has excellent features, sounds and tones. But I would recommend you go for a Marshall 10CD or 15 CD, anytime. They are one of the leaders in Guitar Amplifiers and Speakers. But remember others are also equally great.

Guitar Effects Pedals

Zoom G2.1U Guitar Effects Pedal

Guitar Effects is what brings the Dynamics in the sound and tone of your guitar. It brings life to  the sounds and tones of what you play and takes the listener to a surreal and imaginary world.It createsdifferent types and tones of sounds for different genres as needed. It basically processes and conditions the sound coming from your guitar.

Just like Guitar Amps, there are a huge variety of Guitar Effects Processors available in the market to choose. From Guitar Effects Pedal, to Acoustic Guitar Processors and Multi-Effects processors. So here we go,

These are some of the best and affordable Guitar Multi-Effects pedals that you can check out. I have only included a few, but you can find few more if you go to the store by clicking on the links.

I use a Zoom G2.1u, the 4th one listed above and also the image shown. From my experience it gives a crystal clear sparkling tone and the best buy I have every done on a processor. It is a modeling processor as well as a multi effects processor. Meaning, it can be both used for Live Performances as well as for studio and jamming sessions. Whatever the purpose might be, just plug it into your guitar and it will handle every situation with finesse. It has a 2 algorithms built into it. One for recording and the other for live performance. So the effects that you developed for the studio can be used directly on stage and the effects that you created at your practice sessions can be brought directly into the recording studio. No limits for the scope of it.

Some of the best online musical instruments stores are reviewed in my website, please have a look at it if you want.