Dave Wirth
Guitar is a fascinating instrument. So few instruments have been used in as diverse a way. Few other "mediums" offer as many interesting configurations as guitar. So it comes as a bit of a surprise to me, sometimes, that the guitar itself is often seen as the end as opposed as a means to an end. In other words, playing guitar just to play guitar is cool but using it to create a song, a noise, a whatever, yields even cooler results.
To take the idea further, there is a difference between a guitarist who uses a song to play a blues solo and a guitarist who creates an entire song that features a beautiful guitar solo. The first example demonstrates that the song is basically nodding to the guitar. The song comes second because the guitar comes first. The second example demonstrates that the song comes first. True, people do remember guitar solos (if they are memorable), but we all remember the alphabet song mostly because of the melody and how catchy it is. Adding a guitar solo to a new version of the alphabet song would accentuate the song. Wow. As a sidenote, that sounds like quite a fun idea. Hmmm. What if the guitar could be used to create a song first, and even become more memorable? What if it could even, dare I say, become disposable for the sake of the song? What if the guitar could become the medium that a person uses to create as opposed to the only reason to play music? No judgements on either approach of course, but it's worth thinking about if it means more fun could be had.Distortion Pedals and Reverb Pedals; Changing the Signal Flow
The possibilities are endless with guitar pedals. These are just two. The first picture, directly below, describes a common signal path for a distortion pedal and a reverb pedal. Since the reverb comes after the distortion, the result is that the distorted guitar sounds like it is in a hall or canyon (depending upon the reverb pedal settings):
The second picture describes something even more interesting. When the pedal order is reversed, reverb before distortion, the result is that the distortion naturally makes any reverberation trails completely totally audible. In other words, where previously the reverb gradually faded, this time the reverb is completely loud all the way to the end. Distortion naturally makes every single squeak and sqwak louder, thus it's quite a compressor. The sound is really in your face:
The first one? Good for Van Halen. The second? Making your neighbor angry and your cat run out of the room. Either way, fun.
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by Dave Wirth
Power Chords and Open Strings equals My Bloody Valentine FUN
Anyone familiar with My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless" probably enjoys the sound of dense textures. Indeed, when My Bloody Valentine came to Dallas last year, they played 15 minutes of the loudest noise I've ever heard. I have no idea how anyone could go through that concert without earplugs. My Bloody Valentine is happy to create thick sounds, and playing power chords with open strings can help anyone begin to approach doing this.
Imagine creating any chord progression with power chords. The open strings, if played as open during the chord progression, will add a texture that will ring and fly over the power chords. Basically, you take a regular chord progression and refuse to mute the High E, B, or G strings. The result is that you will create this ringing sound that approaches what My Bloody Valentine can do. It gets even more intense to do this with a reverb or delay pedal. Make sure to pick one with reverse echo or reverse reverb (my favs, but I am biased).
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by Dave Wirth
