My Music And Song's

Modern technology has made a vast palette of tones available to the electric guitarist. Rock arrangements require a touch of overdrive, distortion or fuzz for an authentic 1960s  sound. Remember that distortion tends to soak up frequencies – even on a hard HM track, you may not need as much as you think, let alone as much as is available with most multi-effects processors.

Chorus, delay, flanging and phasing thicken a clean guitar sound and are suitable for rhythm parts. Some of the latest processors offer speaker cabinet, mike placement, vintage amp and guitar simulations to further widen your sound. Synth and MIDI guitars open up a new world of sound triggered from the guitar.

Delay and Counterpoint
Fast delays thicken a sound; longer ones lend depth and interest to lead breaks, even if the delay is quieter than the “dry” signal. Multi-tap echoes allow you to generate rhythms in time with the echo, so it sounds as if there are two guitars playing at the same time. U2’s The Edge is a master of this approach. The live recording Under A Blood Red Sky gives a good indication of how effective this can be. ‘11 O’Clock Tick Tock’ has a guitar part that acts as
counter-melody to the vocal at the same time it outlines the harmony. The Edge’s parts often feature open strings (’I Will Follow’ and ‘Gloria’), and in solos such as the one in ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ he will move up and down a string whilst hitting the adjacent one. ‘Pride’ also features this sound, along with effective harmonics. Songs such as ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ and ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’ are classics of rhythmic playing with delay, where a simple phrase is transformed by the notes bouncing back.