My Music And Song's

Archive for January, 2010

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.

Even the finest acoustic guitars have comparatively short sustain, a factor that has shaped guitar technique. Strumming and fingerpicking are techniques that ensure a wash of sound, and, in the case of fingerpicking, a harmonic backdrop for a melody. To increase sustain, guitarists have experimented with string gauges (heavier strings = more sound), altered tunings and feedback.

A compressor enhances sustain because it boosts the level of a decaying note. Electric players can get extra sustain with distortion and overdrive. The E-Bow is a hand-held gizmo that, when positioned close to the string, produces a sustained note. Fernandes have developed a guitar with a similar sustain device built into it.

You can use the volume control on an electric guitar to do this trick: turn off the volume pot, play a note and then turn the pot up – the note starts out inaudible and fades up. There’s no percussive “click” when the note is struck, and the ear is more conscious of the sustain in the sound. This technique is favoured by country players because it simulates the sound of steel guitar. How easy it is to manipulate the volume pot depends on the physical layout of your guitar. (If it’s difficult or impossible, a volume pedal can be used to do the same thing.) This trick works well with reverb and delay, especially if you come in with a bend, and it can give an expressive quality to chords. Two fine examples of this type of guitar playing are ‘Dreams’ and ‘Well I Wonder’.