Posts Tagged Electric Guitar
Pedal Profile: Xotic Gold AC Booster Limited Edition
Posted by Jed in Gear, Pedal Profile, Uncategorized on March 31st, 2010
BACKGROUND: Where the BB Preamp is supposed to be a cranked Marshall, the AC is supposed to be more like a cranked American amp (Fender). The Limited Edition Gold AC Booster is the same thing as the regular, just gold with only 500 in existence.
GUITARS: PRS Standard 22, 1986 Fender MIJ Tele ‘62 Reissue
AMPS: ‘97 Rivera R-55, 65 London
FIRST IMPRESSION: When Q brought it over the first thing I thought was “It’s gold!” I like the way it looks. Gold may be the new silver. It has really good-sounding low end, not too punchy and not too sloshy. It just sounds natural and you can feel it through a wood floor.
It is a very smooth-sounding pedal, very Tube Screamer-esk. It emphasizes the mid-range of the guitar tones;this characteristic is always welcomed in my book.
PROS: When you roll the bass down and turn the treble up (3 o’clock), it doesn’t sound brittle. It is still a very usable tone.
When set to a clean boost setting (volume maxed, drive at its lowest), it gives the tone more attack and a pinch more sustain than the clean tone.
CONS: Q tried the Booster through the 65 London and said the two didn’t play well together. For whatever reason, when I plugged it in through the R-55, it sounded amazing. Through the London, it was less smooth and more sterile.
FINAL THOUGHTS: This pedal is like a top quality Tube Screamer that won’t sound bad. I messed around with the EQ and couldn’t get it to sound bad. Obviously I preferred some settings over others, but for the most part this pedal was just giving me usable to amazing tones. This pedal doesn’t play favorites with its settings. If you’re sick of the Tube Screamer you bought at Guitar Center, seriously look into this pedal.
Keep Sharp,
-Jed
3 Ways To Lead Worship From The Guitar
For those who are new to worshipwithguitar.com, this is a post that was first posted last year. Hope it is helpful.
You have probably figured it out by now: Playing guitar isn’t enough. More is needed than just a guitar part. You are not there to just provide a backing track. You are there to lead your congregation into genuine worship of the Risen Savior.
We have a lot to think about when playing guitar and you might be afraid to add some more things to the plate. Don’t worry. These are small yet very effective things you can do to help lead your church into worship.
1. Smile. This is the biggest thing especially for us electric guitarists. We have a lot to think about when we play. We are always thinking about the settings on our pedals, which strings the pick should be hitting, what fret our hand is on, and, of course, what part is coming up next in the song and what tap-dance we will have to perform to get the right pedals turned on and the wrong pedals turned off. We have quite a job on our hands…and feet.
Because of this we can often look like zombies. Our faces look like we don’t care about what we are doing and why we are there. Of course, this isn’t true. We are concentrating. We have to. But if we learn to smile while managing everything, we keep ourselves from being just a manikin with a Fender. We become worship leaders. We enjoy what we are doing. We enjoy why we are doing it. By smiling we communicate that enjoyment and inspire it in others.
2. Look at the congregation. Don’t ignore them. A worship leader (that’s you) who ignores their church will end up with a church that ignores them. You are there to lead worship, not play a song and hope worship happens.
Engage them with your eyes. Let them know you haven’t forgotten they are there. Suck them in with your smile. Let them see you enjoying worship. You don’t have to make eye contact with an individual necessarily; you can look at them as a whole. But don’t be afraid to make eye contact with a stranger and give them a smile every once in a while. By engaging them in this small yet very effective way, you will inspire your church to also enjoy worship.
3. Think about your guitar parts like a worship leader. Sometimes we can think so much like a guitar player we forget to think like a musician. We can get so wrapped up in a new pedal that we use it all the time. Or we just love the way power chords sound so we use them during songs like “Here I Am To Worship.” What happens is we take away from the song instead of adding to it.
Design your guitar parts to complement or even enhance the song. When this is done well, your instrument begins to lead worship as well.
Jesus is alive; therefore, you be alive when you worship Him and others will follow.
Keep sharp,
-Jed
Does Tone Really Come From The Hands?
Posted by Jed in Advice, Gear, Technique And Practice on January 18th, 2010
I have heard this phrase since I was a teenager first learning how to play a D and G chord. People would talk about the great Stevie Ray Vaugh or Jimi Hendrix and how their tones moved there souls and it came from there magical hands.
“It’s all in the hands” repeated in my brain. So instead of buying a tube amp I would practice scales. Instead of getting a Tube Screamer I stuck with the Boss Super-Overdrive. Instead of looking into better guitar manufacturers I kept looking at my fingers and wondered why they sounded horrible.
I was in shredder mode. And that was the last thing my church needed. What my church needed was someone who could just play the solo for “God of Wonders” as it was written with a good quality tone (i.e. gear) behind it.
Back to the Greats and their Magical Hands. Sure Stevie Ray’s sound is amazing if you are a Texas blues player who loves gauge 14 strings, but I’m not. Sure Jimi’s tone was amazing for it’s time, but I’m pretty sure if I rolled into my church with a Marshal Stack cranked to ten, no, eleven and a Fuzzface, people would give me a weird stare (or grimace…or look of complete anguish).
Do you remember that scene from John Mayer’s concert DVD where he is playing on a bluff overlooking LA?
When I first saw this I couldn’t believe his tone, neither could my buddy who said “Man that guy’s tone is amazing. How do I get my hands to sound like that?” It was a rhetorical question so I didn’t draw attention to Johnny’s Signature head that goes for $8500.00. Even the Greats use great gear.
I think the core message the phrase, “tone comes from the hands” is trying to convey is that technique makes good gear sound great.
Any guitar rig is just going to sound better in the hands of a seasoned player who listens to Eric Johnson and Joe Bonamassa than it will given to a teenager whose idea of a good guitar player is Billie Joe Armstrong. But I would also bet that the seasoned player will sound better playing through a Dumble ODS-100 than a Marshall JVM.
Now tone without technique is useless so please don’t misunderstand me. There must be a solid foundation of technique and skill to support any guitar rig; however, don’t tell yourself that just because you are not a virtuoso that you don’t need or deserve good gear. If you can play the riff to “Hosanna” smoothly to a metronome and you play in front of your church then you and your congregation deserve the best gear you can get your hands on.
Does tone really come from the hands? I guess it’s true, but don’t let that be an excuse from getting good gear. If the “Greats” need it, you do too.
Love you guys, keep sharp,
-Jed
Pedal Profile: Hermida Zendrive
BACKGROUND: This pedal is built by Alfonso Hermida, a gear head who wanted nothing more than to work for Electro Harmonix. Tragedy struck and Electro-Harmonix went out of business so Hermida settled for second best: NASA. Retiring from NASA, Hermida set out to create a Robben Ford-tone-in-a-box. His creation: the Mosferatu. As rumor has it, Hermida sent the pedal to Robben Ford and his reaction was “It’s great but it has too much gain.” So Hermida created the Zendrive, which has earned a huge following.
THE AMPS: 1985 Mesa Boogie Mark III and a 65 London.
THE GUITARS: Gibson Custom Classic Les Paul (Silverburst; the color is important because, as everyone knows, silver Les Pauls have more sustain than black Les Pauls) Fender Eric Johnson Sig Strat.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I love that it is silver. I love silver gear, so this pedal has it good with me right away. At first though, it didn’t sit well with me at all. It sounded sterile and lacked character. I felt like I was just putting a blanket on my tone. I think that was because I had only used a tube-driven pedal, I wasn’t used to using a pedal based on circuits and transistors. Once I started getting used to how the pedal worked, I started to become a huge fan.
PROS: This pedal can be hard to make muddy and since I am primarily a Les Paul player this is a strong plus. The Les Paul sounds clear and smooth. The high frequencies are articulate without getting harsh. The low frequencies are tight and perfect for blues and worship players. Metal players, don’t even bother with this one. The EQ is very well rounded; although it leans more on the bright side, no frequency dominates another. It has a beautiful and unique sound “color.” It is no wonder it has such a loyal fan base.
CONS: The voice knob is one very noisy piece of plastic. The more I turned it clockwise the more hum and hiss I got. I didn’t start to really like the pedal until I started to turn the Voice knob all the way down. I have since turned it to 10 o’clock and appear to be finding a sweet spot that way. My thought is that the voice knob should be used sparingly.
Gain is designed to be low on this pedal. At first I felt this pedal had too little gain and thought I would be more happy with the Hermida Distortion or the Mosferatu, but I wanted an overdriven flavor. I then experimented with stacking the Zendrive with a tube screamer. It gave it more saturation without losing it’s original identity which is great for solos or whenever you need to go to eleven.
FINAL IMPRESSION: Quality little pedal with a Dumble flavor (I should confess that I have never actually played a Dumble or heard one live, so perhaps I am completely wrong). It is currently the core of my tone right now. For a Dumble-in-a-box type sound this pedal delivers and deserves the hype.
Keep sharp,
-Jed
P.S. I’m working on a post for Monday called “Does Tone Really Come From The Hands?” It promises to be an interesting read. Keep on the look out for it.
What To Do When Nothing Seems To Feel Right In Practice
Have you ever showed up to rehearsal and nothing seemed to jell? It is frustrating. No matter what you do, switch guitars, tweak EQ, change voicings, you can never seem to get things to mesh right.
Worse of all, you can’t seem to get a handle on what is wrong.
When this happens, the best thing to do is to take a take a step back and take a look at the big picture. Often times the problem is that we are looking at the pedal and not seeing the pedalboard.
I like to run through a mental priority checklist to help give insight into the situation and to see if it is me or if there is something wrong.
God First. As Christians and churchgoers we can hear this a lot, but it is important not to let it become cliché. The objective and purpose of making music isn’t really music at all. The objective is to draw people closer to God, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. Worship music does this and our guitar playing and attitude has a pretty important part to play in this.
Application: Pride and ego are out of the picture. We show up to serve not to bless people with our presence, talent and really great tone (even though these are all blessings). Be willing to defer to leadership and other members of the worship team.
Song and Vocals Second. I wish this weren’t true, but Sunday morning music isn’t about our guitar playing. A lot of the music in modern worship music is guitar based.
Application: All musical elements, from stage volume, guitar solos and even delay, should be set to compliment and enhance the worship experience, not distract from it.
Tone Third. Tone should be as good as you can get it without compromising the previously mentioned priorities. The thing with tone is that it can be the difference between a good/average guitar part and a great guitar part. Good tone just makes everything we do better.
Application: Research and Experiment. Ask around on forums, in guitar shops (this will exclude Guitar Center), or with friends you have who just sound good. Searching youtube for clips of pedals or artist interviews is a great way to find tips.
Here is Andy Timmons talking about settings and sounds he uses for his BB Preamp:
Technique Fourth. If you can’t play the perfect Lincoln Brewster solo don’t worry. You can still be a very accomplished worship guitarist. Luckily for us, Hillsong and Passion riffs are quite a bit easier. You don’t have to be a virtuoso, but you do have to have solid technique.
The essential quality to master from a technical standpoint is good timing. You must be able to play a lick or riff evenly, smoothly and with expression. In other words, every note should be deliberate and have the proper dynamic (volume) applied to it.
The best way I know how to acquire this talent is through the use of the metronome. Sit in your little practice space with a metronome set to about 20 to 50 BPMs less than the original tempo of the song. Play it at that tempo until you can play it smoothly while being as relaxed as possible. Then start upping the tempo about 10 BPMs and repeat until you get to the original tempo.
Hope this helps you to keep things straight.
Keep things sharp.
-Jed
Taking Tone To The Next Level: Pt 2
In a frenzy of tonal expectancy, I ordered the speaker. Scouring the warehousespeakers.com I decided on the 12” HM75 speaker because it was the closest speaker to the Celestion G1T2T-85 already in my R-55.
It felt like it took longer than it really did to be delivered. When it did arrive, I immediately texted my friend whom we’ll call Jason. I am the least handy person in the world so Jason offered to help me put it in. This turned into him putting it in and me watching and making wise-cracks about solid-state amps (thanks, Jason).
The first thing we had to do was give a proper A/B test of the old speaker vs the new. I set up my rig and let a nice E chord ring. The R-55 is a mellow, smooth-sounding amp and has always sounded a little shallow. The shallowness of the amp is partly due to the depth (or lack thereof) of the cab. From what I have been able to find out, this is also the reason why Rivera discontinued the model in favor of the Chubster which is the same amp with a deeper cab.
The other reason for the shallowness was my blatant neglect of the amp.
Jason and I got tired of hearing the old sound, so we (he) got to work installing the new one. It was a fairly simple process especially if you are just sitting watching someone do the work. It looked like it was pretty much just unplugging the old speaker, loosening a couple screws, pulling out the old speaker and then repeating the process in opposite order with the new speaker.
My friend whom we'll call Jason ripping off the grill of my Rivera R-55
Getting that old speaker out of there
We (he) got the new speaker in and the sound was incredible. It really was power-stance-inducing tone. Everything sounded bigger and more expressive. Highs and mids were clear and distinctive and after messing with some dirty contacts in the EQ nobs, the bass came out like it had been hiding all this time.
Me doing an interpretive pose to express the magnitude of the power-stance-inducing-tone we were hearing after the new speaker was put in. This is also me committing the number-one sin for the internet: showing your face.
Me, being so engulfed in the tone coming out of the new speaker that I forgot I was still in a power stance.
Both my friend, whom we call Jason, and I were freaking out at this point. The combination of face-melting tone and the school-girl-like giggles that were coming from both Jason and me must have been a strange sound so Jason’s wife (whom we’ll call Shari) came up to investigate. After hearing the amazing sounds coming out the Rivera, this was her reaction.
Shari dropping her jaw after the jaw-dropping tone from the amp. (All pics used with permission, especially this one. Thanks for being so cool Shari-if that’s your real name.)
This whole experiment has proven to be the biggest single leap in tone advancement I have ever made. No pedal, no guitar, and certainly no instrument cable has made such a difference in the sound quality of my rig. My conclusion is if you really want to take your tone to the next level, research replacing your stock-tone-sucking speaker with a better quality one.
Keep sharp.
-Jed
Taking Tone To The Next Level: Pt. 1
This is the question that is on my mind most of the time and I’m guessing on yours as well. No matter where we are on the tone hierarchy we are always trying to get to the next level.
Getting to the next level can often feel like inventing the light bulb. You try a thousand things and nothing seems to work and then one time you flip on the power switch and better tone is coming out of your amp. You don’t even play better, but you feel like you do. You crossed over to another level of tone.
Yesterday I crossed over to another level of tone. I am so excited. You guitar players know what I mean.
A couple of weeks ago a friend who we’ll call Jason (which is convenient seeing as his name is Jason) crossed over to the next level in tone.
He plays through a 15 watt 1×12” Trainor Combo. He has had it forever (God said let there be light and there was Jason with his Trainor) and it has always been a decent little amp.
Then a couple of weeks ago we were hanging out at his house and the discussion veered towards gear. His face lit up (which happens a lot when we talk about gear), “Jed, you have to see what I did.”
We went to his “rehearsal space” where he had his guitar, pedalboard and amp set up and ready to go. He handed me the guitar like a kid on Christmas afternoon, turned everything on and told me to play. So I did.
There is no expletive I could say to describe what I felt at that moment. It was one of the most humongous tones I had ever heard coming out of a little 1×12 combo. The low end had an amazing tight response and everything just sounded clearer and bigger.
I turned to Jason to enquire what was making the difference. He began to tell me that he had replaced the speaker with a speaker from warehouseguitarspeakers.com.
I was impressed. It was the kind of tone that kept me from putting the guitar down. It is amazing how good tone inspires faster playing.
Since that day I have completely rethought tone, amps, pedals and even guitars. For exploratory research I have bought a speaker from the same company that Jason bought his from, and am planning on putting it into my Rivera R-55.
The next post will be an update on this tone trek and I hope to have it up in a couple days.
Until then, keep sharp.
-Jed
A treasure I didn’t know I had
There is something about rediscovering old gear. It’s like getting something for free. A piece of gear that you forgot about shows up on the radar and all of a sudden you have a “new” piece of gear.
This just happened to me. Three years ago I found a 1985 Mesa Boogie Mark III 100 watt head for $499.99. I had already been playing through a Rivera R55 1×12 combo (and still do) and even though it didn’t seem like the most practical thing for me at the time, I jumped on it.
It was hard to find some practical uses for such a powerful head and in most cases I just used my Rivera combo.
Then I went to Colorado Springs for a year to take part in the New Life School of Worship. It was an amazing time of learning from great teachers and also from peers and practitioners.
I could only bring the gear that would fit into my Ford Taurus. Good bye, Mesa Mark III. See you in a year.
When I got back to the happening metropolis of Des Moines, Iowa, I had an opportunity to play guitar for Brian and Jen Johnson at a pretty big church. This seemed like the perfect time to dust off the old Mesa.
When I started to set up for the “gig” the Mark III was acting up. I couldn’t get it to work. As near as I could tell, it had to be retubed. Hello, Rivera R55.
After using the Rivera for another year, I finally decided to get the old Mesa fixed. So today I sat down with my amp and a friend’s Eric Johnson Strat (recently equipped with Dimarzio 58, 58, 61s) and plugged it in and cranked it up.
It works!
What the heck? How is this possible? Have I been sitting on a brilliant, great-sounding amp all this time and not known about it?
Yes. And why? Because of a little something called “User Error.”
Once I appropriately punished myself, I got a great feeling of rediscovery. This amp has a lot of character and sounds that I haven’t discovered yet. Now, three years after buying this amp, I get to take that journey and “bless” a church with it’s heavenly harmonic overtones and classic Marshall-like crunch.
This is going to be fun.
Keep sharp and keep checking your closet for forgotten gear treasures.
-Jed
3 Pedals You Should Know About (But Not Necessarily Buy Right Now)
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on May 29th, 2009
There is nothing so intoxicating to a guitar player as effects pedals. Sometimes I’m amazed at their hypnotic hold on me. I will be looking at ProGuitarShopDemos on Youtube for a lot longer than I care to admit (if you haven’t discovered this Youtube channel then check it out).
Pedals really are fascinating little devices. They can give an arsenal of sounds that makes the electric guitar such an intriguing instrument. These pedals add to that arsenal. Some of these pedals are a little more practical than others, but I’ll let you decide that.
1. Tap-Tempo Tremolo.
Let’s face it, delay is a standard. Without a good delay pedal, it is pretty hard to call yourself a WorshipGuitarist. Some of you even have two delays on your board (and I salute you).
But you want to go beyond the standard. Tremolo is the way to go. It can give your guitar parts that dash of color to take your sound to the next level. In the past I have always been a little queasy about tremolos because it was so hard to match the tempo with the beat of the song. Not any more.
Here are a couple of tap-tempo tremolos.
Best used with delay.
2. Switch or Controller or True Bypass Loop Pedals
I’m not actually sure what these pedals are called but they are cool. These pedals are for all of you who have “too many” pedals (as if that were possible). You use all of them. In fact it is really entertaining watching you use all of them. It is sort of like a tap-dance going from your clean/delay sound to your lead sound.
That tap-dance is exactly what these pedals eliminate. You take the rest of your pedals and loop them into the controller pedal which allows you to create ‘patches’ using your trusty effects boxes. The sounds that took you four stomps to create will now only take one.
I don’t know if he realizes that the point of these things is to make your pedalboard less messy. Oh well. Here is one by Rivera.
3. Wah Probe
And now for something completely different. Just watch.
That’s cool.
Let me know what you think about these pedals in the comments and if you know of any other really great pedals tell us about those too.
-Jed
Master Your Musicianship
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on May 27th, 2009
You can have all the gear in the world, the best guitars, the best amps, but if you don’t have musicianship it isn’t worth anything. Gear without musicianship is like a clanging symbol. I’m getting my metaphors mixed up but it is true. Here are 8 powerful tips to master your musicianship.
1. Listen for the silence. One of the traits of a master of musicianship is to know when not to play. Not every part of every song needs a sweet guitar line. I know, it’s shocking. What is not being heard in the song makes what is being heard more powerful. Knowing when not to play will make your next guitar part more meaningful.
2. Sometimes a tasteful guitar lick is the best thing to give the second verse more pop than the first. Remember to aim during the cadence of the vocals. Place your lick in between the singers’ vocals. Don’t fight with the vocals, work with them.
3. Match your sounds with the right part. Don’t ‘tack-on’ an effect to a guitar part. The part should be designed for the sound and vice versa.
4. Know your blind spots. There are times when we think we sound good and times when we don’t. We need to be sensitive and look at our playing critically in order to find these.
5. Listen to other guitar players. When listening to music no matter what genre, listen to how the guitar player is supporting the song. Listening is the first step to learning. The guitar has different roles in different genres and may not be supporting in the same way it does in worship music, but there is something to be learned from just about every genre.
6. A touch of delay goes a long way.
7. Don’t eat the whole pie. Music is like a sonic pie. The drummers have their slice. Bassists have their slice. Keyboardists have their slice. And you have yours. The guitar has the ability to take up a lot of ‘sonic room’ or eat pieces of the pie that don’t belong to it. It’s rude to eat someone else’s piece of the pie, both musically and physically. Hear the other instruments. Listen to what they are doing and don’t eat their piece of the pie. Instead, by making your part more complementary, you drastically improve the quality of music.
8. Know your congregation. Some people react well to guitar solos. Others not so much. Guitar is cool whether it is a solo or a tasteful volume swell. You are there to serve them. If you don’t know them, then you can’t serve them.
More pieces to the puzzle of sounding good.
-Jed