‘Unlock The Potential of Your Guitar Tone with Pedals: A Guide To Getting Epic Tones.’
Playing the guitar is an incredibly rewarding passion, but the key to unlocking your true potential lies in the gear you choose. In this article, we’ll be exploring the wide range of options when it comes to guitar pedals, showing you how these effects devices can turn your sound from good to great.
As guitarists, pedals are essential for helping to craft tones that are unique to us. This might be from classic rock, shredding metal solos, modern blues or a range of other styles – the possibilities of pedals open up a world of sound to explore. The key lies in the integration of these pedals into your signal chain, combining effects in creative ways to create something uniquely yours.
Guitar Effects: An Overview
At the most basic level there are two kinds of effects – distortion and modulation. Distortion effects alter the signal of your guitar’s original note to create a crunchy, distorted sound. Popular distortion effects include Overdrive, Fuzz and Distortion; each introducing a range of different sounds when combined.
Modulation effects are also known as time-based effects as they alter the time-structure of the signal. Popular modulation effects from the likes of chorus, phaser and flanger, which all address the signal in different ways to create unique effects.
The Power of a Pedalboard
The reason pedals are so popular among guitarists is because of their degree of ‘tweedliness’. A pedalboard is a great way to organize pedals, as it allows guitarists to have multiple effects at the touch of a button. It also allows for quick switching between sounds and affects, which is especially useful for gigging musicians and session players.
Ultimately, the combination of different pedals, with their individual sounds and complexities, results in a range of tonal possibilities. And the best part is that you can tailor your sound to suit your taste.
Choosing the Right Pedals
The key with pedals is to find the right balance between utility and sound. There’s a huge range of options out there so it’s worth doing your research and listening to samples of the different pedals. Seek out YouTube videos or talk to fellow guitarists online to really get an insight into what you should be looking for.
If you’re just starting out, focused on a certain style and are working to a budget it might be worth seeking pro-audio advice or visiting a store and trying out some different levels of guitar pedal.
Get Started with Pedals
As with any kind of gear-purchase, the cost shouldn’t stop anyone from experimenting with pedals. There are free plugins and apps that can help you get to grips with guitar effects but we highly recommend buying a pedalboard and possibly one or two basic effects to start with. Once you’re a little more confident you can begin to explore more options.
Guitar pedals are an incredibly powerful tool that can take any amateur guitarist’s sound to the next level. So if you’ve been looking to add some serious effects to your tone, start small and go from there – you won’t regret it.