The Best Way to Unlock the Power of Your Guitar: All You Need to Know About Guitar Pedals.
For any budding guitarist, guitar pedals are essential to unlock the full power of a guitar. We all know that the tone of any given amp is another factor, but pedals can be crucial to truly make your guitar come alive, change your guitar’s sound, make it fuzzy or gritty, or just help you stand our from the crowd.
Guitarists use pedals to boost their signal, to distort their sound, to make it unique and even to enable them to succeed in effecting their desired sound. Whether you are a rocker, a bluesman, an Indie dweller or even an extreme ‘shredder’, you can easily find the effects pedals needed to realise your sound.
Now, the plethora of guitar pedals which are available can be quite overwhelming – but have no fear! We are going to give you a comprehensive overview of what is possible, with a main focus on effects pedals, from the basics to the technical specifics of each one.
So what are effects pedals? In its most basic terms, effects pedals are simply devices that manipulates and enhances the existing signal of your instrument. This can mean creating new tones, adding the character and feel to enhance your particular style of guitar playing, or just to make sounds that seem more natural. Effects can range from the more basic stuff like EQs, chorus and delay, to more complex stuff like fuzz and distortion, wah wah, and phasers.
An overdrive pedal is a popular tool for a range of musical genres and styles as it boosts the signal of the guitar, adding volume and intensity and can change the overall sound of a guitar, rather than adding a new effect to it. It’s a great way to make a guitar sound ‘dirty’ and saturated, which various genres rely on heavily.
Distortion pedals take everything one step further, by taking the guitar signal and crushing it to the point where it can significantly distort the sound. This makes it perfect for rock and metal, as it makes for a much more aggressive sound.
Analog delays as an effects pedal use an analog circuit to create a reverb or echo from your existing guitar tone. These pedals can produce a range of delays from subtle to wild and potentially overwhelming sounds. They are great if you want to add a bit of texture to your sound.
A wah wah pedal is another excellent effect to have in your arsenal – this adds an expressive touch to any guitar, by exploiting the guitar’s frequency spectrum. The sound generated is based on the strength and frequency of your playing – a great tool for jazz, funk, and rock players alike!
Finally, you may also want to consider some of the more creative effects such as fuzz, phasers, octave, ring modulation and so on. Fuzz pedals are perfect for adding a bit of a crunch to your sound but can also be used to create more psychedelic and wild sounds. Phasers create an undulating sound, while octave can be used to make your sound drop an octave lower. Ring modulation creates a unique and eerie sound that can be contrasted with the more traditional guitar tones.
All of these effects pedals also come in a range of different shapes and sizes, from the most well-known names in the business like Boss, MXR and Digitech, to smaller stuff like personalised boutique builds. The sound of each pedal is based on its internal workings, so it’s often worth trying out a bunch of them before committing to buying one.
No matter what genre of music you are playing, there will be a variation of effects pedals worth exploring. Don’t be afraid to experiment and find a sound that suits you –you never know what sort of tone you might create! With the right pedal, you can make your guitar sound unique, give it life and character, and leave an impression with a crowd. Best of luck in finding the right ones for your sound!