Photo by joanna eleanor via flickr

How to Get The Sound You Hear In Your Head Out Of The Guitar

Deciding to play electric guitar seems like an easy decision…until you learn all of the many things involved in playing electric guitar. It can definitely seem overwhelming!! But if you learn where to find the information you need (like on this glorious site), finding your sound can be a lot easier. Now there is a progression, you don’t want to start with the effects, you definitely want to start with your instrument. This is your main tool for communicating your message. Find an instrument or instruments that you are comfortable with and that will work for you. Next, I would suggest finding the amplifier that gives you the sound you need. FYI, this search may take a while…there are literally 1000’s of options in this category. Do you go tube or solid state or one of the new hybrids? Do you get a combo, a half stack or a full stack? But these questions are for another article. [Editor’s note: for a little more help, check out the article “Let’s Talk Tone: A Novice Guitarist’s Guide” by Mason Razavi ] So after you have the aforementioned tools in hand, you can now start looking into effects to help spice up your music. Let’s start by discussing the types of effects out there: distortions/overdrives, modulation and/or time effects, filtering effects, and pitch shifters. Each of these has sub-categories but these are the generalizations you need to get started. NOTE: There are scientific explanations why these effects do what they do but this article is intended for those folks new to guitar effects. Also, terms like “spongy,” “tight,” “glassy” and “creamy” are terms commonly used by guitarists to describe sounds created by the effects and/or amps they use.

Distortion/Overdrive : These are the most common effects. These give you the “balls and chunk” you want in your sound. It takes the original signal that is generated and boosts certain sections of that sound to “distort” it. Whether it’s SRV’s smooth, spongy blues driver sound or Dimebag Darrell’s run-you-over-with-a-Mac-truck super tight sound, distortion and overdrive effects have etched their place into blues and rock history. A lot of the distortion effect begins at the amplifier itself A lot of this effect begins at the amplifier itself, although some players elect for an external pedal to achieve their signature distortion sound. Many of the pros you hear today become known not only for what musical devices they use in their songwriting but also their tone. Some other noted players of interest may be: Eddie Van Halen and his “brown sound,” Steve Vai’s talking guitar sound, and Adam Jones’ tight-gritting-teeth tone with Tool (which, for all we know, helps Maynard James Keenan choose song titles). These are just a few examples of “defining tones” out there. Look at what some of your favorite players are using and why they use what they use. Another fun thing to do is to see how your favorite player’s tone evolves over time, because it invariably does.

Modulation/Time Effects : This category is filled with sub-categories: delays, reverbs, loopers, choruses, flangers, and phase shifters. Modulation effects also manipulate the sine wave by boosting certain frequencies in a specific amount of time, thereby creating a “sweeping” or Doppler effect. Delays and reverbs give the impression of space or echo. Delays can also be set to repeat entire phrases of music. Loopers have become more popular in recent years with the advent of better technology. Loopers record a section of music that you play into it and “loop” it or repeat it as long as you want it to, basically giving you a backing track to play over. Chorus is a subtle effect and uses a slight delay in order to produce the sound of many guitars. Flangers are choruses on steroids!!! A not-so-subtle effect, flangers can emulate a jet-engine sound flying overhead, among other things. They do this by altering all of the frequencies in the range but at a different set speed and depth. Phase shifters manipulate the mid range similar to a wah-wah but it is cycled by preset parameters, not like the rocker pedal of the wah-wah. Andy Summers of The Police was quite successful using these types of effects. Eddie Van Halen again appears on the list again in this category, most notably the flanger on the riff for “Unchained” and a phase sifter on most of his earlier solos.

Filtering Effects : The most famous of these effects is the Wah-Wah. Jimi Hendrix made this pedal famous, being one of the first to use it. This pedal filters out specific frequencies depending on where you have the rocker pedal position. It can be rocked back and forth (usually with your foot) to create a sweep of frequencies. It can give a vocal type quality to your melodic lines and a percussive feel for rhythm playing. If you want to hear this in action, look no further than Joe Satriani with his track called “The Crush Of Love.” Another famed user of this effect is Frank Zappa. Although he did not use it in the traditional sense, what he would do instead is leave the pedal set at a certain spot to boost the mid-range frequencies allow his guitar solos to cut through the horn arrangements he would write (btw, if you haven’t yet discovered Frank Zappa’s music, you owe it to yourself to look into it).

The Digitech Whammy pedal is one of the most fun and inspiring pitch-based effects out there, and is used by everyone from Tom Morello to Jack White to Joe Satriani. Photo by jasonb42882 via flickr.

Pitch Shifters : These handy devices allow you to harmonize chords and/or melody lines by yourself. This effect can duplicate what you play in another octave or two or in 3rds, 4ths, etc. The more expensive models of course are set to harmonize diatonically so that the harmonies sound perfect. The cool thing is you can have the sound of two or three players while you are the only one doing anything. You can set the pitch shifting to be at the same time or delayed…quite a unique little toy, HOWEVER, a little bit of knowledge of harmony is best when using this effect because you can make a sonic mess very quickly. That being said, sometimes there is beauty in ugliness… Check out Steve Vai’s piece called “Ballerina 12/24” on his album “Passion and Warfare.”

This is an extremely basic and bare-bones introduction to this extremely broad and constantly evolving subject that changes as fast the technology allows it to. I hope this brief introduction was somewhat useful and inspires you to explore this area as another means of helping your music.