say NO to guitar pedals!
Last night, I played a show with Collette Savard and the Savants (see the post below this one) without any pedals whatsoever. Yes. You heard me right. No pedals! Not even a stompbox. As a matter of fact, the amp at the club didn't even have reverb. So...I played two sets of original folk/rock music with a tele and little fender tube amp that was distorting kind of nicely.
OMG!! Who knew how much fun this could be? I felt like all my ideas were clearer. I felt like my dynamics were better. ie no volume pedal...just using my fingers and my brain and my heart!
No digital delay. No multiple reverb settings. Just music. plain and simple. I had new ideas. I had spontaneous editing-type-ideas for some of my old parts. ie. what chords or notes are short vs. long etc.
Honestly, I had no idea it would be so much fun. The only thing that is worth noting is that our drummer was unavailable. (get better soon Marty!!!) This does make a difference. I have noticed that distortion, delay and reverb all work well with certain drums, cymbals etc.
If you think I am crazy, I highly recommend trying this at least once. It will change the way you see your pedal rack for a long time. I am not sure how I will change my guitar set up for the future but I know I have new insight into the whole thing now.
Try it. I dare ya!!
1 Comments:
But, but, but, Tim, the new pedals are soooo good. Of course you should ditch that old digital delay. Ha, just kidding; anything that helps us find fresh ears is great. Personally I don't use a lot of pedals, but I do like the new stuff from companies like Earthquaker Devices and Catlinbread. The one thing that I don't think I would want to be without is Reverb, but I'm fussy about the type and quality. These days I'm digging the Ghost Echo reverb pedal by Earthquaker.
There's a joke in here somewhere; maybe a 'Pedals Anonymous' kinda thing; "My name is Roy and I've been dry for a full year."
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