Getting the Most Out of Guitar Effects

Guitar effects are a great way to add inspiration, creativity and character to your guitar playing. There are a huge number of pedals on the market, all of which do something slightly different to your sound in one way or another. Some are incredibly obvious and can give your sound a whole new dimension while others are subtle but can add an extra polish to your overall tone. Having an understanding of these different types of effects will help you to get the most out of your pedals and really add some style and character to your guitar playing.

Probably the most well-known effect is distortion which creates a heavily distorted noise. This can give a thicker, fuller sound and is often used by heavier rock guitarists to add some extra crunch. Other popular distortion pedals include overdrive and fuzz. Overdrive pedals are a bit more subtle than distortion and can provide a warm, creamy tone which can add extra depth to your sound. Fuzz pedals on the other hand are more akin to distortion and can be very aggressive and heavy in nature.

Modulation pedals such as chorus, flanger and tremolo all act in a similar way to alter your guitar’s sound waves. Chorus pedals for example can sound like hundreds of guitarists playing the same chord at the same time creating a very rich, thick and lush sound. Similarly, flanger pedals can create a sweeping sound which goes up in pitch and down again at a controlled rate and depth. Tremolo does the same thing as a rotary speaker, altering your volume signal at a controllable rate and depth.

Other less-well known pedals include compression and boost pedals. Compression pedals work to even out the dynamic range of your sound making quieter notes louder and louder notes quieter. This can be a very useful pedal to have in your arsenal especially for live gigs as it can help your guitar to stand out in a mix with other instruments.

Wah and volume pedals are also very useful pedals for adding a lot of expression to your playing. The wah pedal uses a foot-controlled filter to produce the classic eponymous effect, made famous by Jimi Hendrix among many other blues guitar legends. The volume pedal works in the same way to create a swell and can be used for both expressive solos as well as funk rhythm guitar and country style chicken pickin’.

Loop pedals are also very popular and worked as a ‘phrase sampler’ allowing you to record a short phrase on your pedal which then plays repeatedly in real-time. This is a great effect for creating riffs and licks which can then be overdubbed to create multiple layers of music. It is also a fantastic tool for one-man band style guitar players as it can provide an additional musical voice.