The Human Guitar Pedal

Effects are great. They can transform a basic sound which can make even the simplest of melodies or riffs into vastly different musical terrains. There are a lot of effects to choose from everything from a bit of drive all the way to a wacky modulated stereo delay and beyond. There are so many ways of piling effects on top of each other to get all manner of different textures. Some of these effects and their combinations have helped in the conception of some of the worlds greatest musical creations. I do not doubt their use, I see myself as a musician first and foremost, whatever supports the sound for the song. But generally, simplicity is key to having a refined sound.

What I want to address in this blog is the concept of ‘The Human Guitar Pedal’. Its very boutique and its true bypass. Before we get into this, I’d like to quote the old saying “you can’t polish a t$•d, but you can cover it in glitter”. Effects can be good for that. The effect can cover up the resulting sound that we create with our own hands, but paradoxically if you can make the guitar sound good by itself, you can make even the worst effects sound good. Its very chicken and egg.

I’ve always tried to keep things simple with effects. Keeping it to a minimum for the musical context. But always when working on things, I try to ensure that I can make it sound good with the minimal gear. It never happens, but the process gets me really focusing on the sound that I am physically creating. The way the pick hits the strings, how it moves across a chord, the pickup selection, where the tone and volume control are, how they are interacting with the amp. You, The Guitar and The Amp. This is the instrument. Your ears and your technique are there to serve the sound. The question is, do we have the ears and technique to create the sounds.

How we pick, where we pick, how we fret, mute, articulate the note, how we set our basic sound, so we can have dynamic range to express something is something I feel that is fundamental to musical guitar performance. If I treat the Guitar like a Guitar Hero Controller, where I simply press a note and that’s the note, it's going to sound cold. When guitarists have been playing a few years, there is often this disconnect, and then they start tone searching. It’s a tricky balance, of course quality gear is going to hopefully be more transparent, but this can sound bad in the inexperienced players hands, so there’s an awkward transition time between getting technique together and finding the right gear for your whole being.

There are several things we can all do however to keep this foundational aspect of our guitar playing in check. First of all, the basic crunch tone. If we’re able to control a basic crunch tone with our guitar and its controls, our technique, our pick, ears and fretting hand. Can we make it sound clean, can we dig in and get it dirty. Can we thin out and thicken up notes with the picking hand. Can we add modulation to chords with fretting hand vibrato, can we work on our vibrato to emulate different kinds of modulation and vibrato effects. Then when we are plugged into a nice distortion pedal, or working with modulation or ambient effects, we’re going to have even more awareness, sensitivity and control of our sound.

Secondly, whilst this is in no particular order. Learning by ear. It's going to not only help you memorise and learn songs you like. But you’re also going to be listening on a much deeper level than just reading a TAB. You start to hear the nuances in articulation, attack, timing, context, you start to hear the whole thing. Beyond just the notes as ‘numbers’. You capture the voice. Learning things by ear, even the simplest lick can transform your own felt understanding of creating sounds out of your own hands. It might take longer, but if you learnt the lick by tab only, you might forget it a day later. If you’ve done something by ear and you love it, its more likely to stay there. But the goal isn’t to accumulate licks and knowledge. The goal is to absorb the energy of what is being played and understand how to translate that to your instrument. After all, that’s what we’re doing when we’re talking, that’s what the pros do when they are performing, improvising, coming up with riffs etc.

It’s a bit like recognising someone. You meet me on the street, we introduce ourselves, our brain creates a memory of the time, the feel, the context. Say I meet you again a year later, I instantly recognise you, we have context, however we will be in a different circumstance. In meeting you, we don’t get our diary’s out, or have the exact same interaction. There is a recognition beyond words, its not even quite a feeling, its pure action. Even if we forget each others names, we will feel at least familiar. And that’s what learning by ear trains, it trains the ultimately un-teachable, the un-trainable. It's difficult to talk about, but it’s the most important thing to practice as a musician if you want to really speak with your instrument and create sounds.

Lots of gear companies and artists make a lot of money advertising new gear, that’s going to make you sound like them, that’s got their name on it. Some of it is good! But before you stick it in the basket and pay on finance, why are you doing this? What are you avoiding, you have potential, you have music that you love, you have a lovely guitar that you wanted a few years ago, you have that now.