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Effects and their affect

9/21/2017

2 Comments

 
For many years I’ve been seeking “perfect” tone from my acoustic guitars, whatever that is. OK, to my ear I kind of know what I consider perfect tone but I totally know that my opinion may not jibe with what others want. In a nutshell, I want the purest, most resonant sound that I can get from an acoustic guitar.
 
So I am always conflicted when I hear a talented guitarist using effects, whether machine created or done by the player. For example, I recently listened to and watched a very talented young guitarist via some links he posted on one of the guitar forums. He has great chops and his arrangements of popular songs for solo guitar are quite advanced and pleasing to hear, except for one thing: he insists on “tapping” and “slapping” on the back beat between just about every chord or phrase he plays. Now I realize this is a widely accepted technique in flamenco music and also in some forms of latin guitar music, but to me it is just….annoying. After listening to a few of his tunes my reaction was – just STOP that!!!! You don’t need to do that!!! Your playing and arrangements are awesome on their own, why insert percussive noise that detracts from the sound of your guitar? Is he afraid the listener won’t know where the beat is?!? Who knows?
 
In flamenco music – which is essentially back up music for dancers – I guess it makes sense. Being totally bonded with the dancer in a rhythmic sense is vital. But my guess is that the young guitarist I mentioned doesn’t play for many people who are going to dance to his arrangements of Stevie Wonder or Phil Collins songs. I could be wrong of course. In any case, to my ear it is a distraction from some otherwise excellent playing.
 
How about effects boxes? They are hugely popular these days with hundreds if not thousands of new ones coming out every year. I confess that back in the 70s when I was enamored with the style of players like Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Larry Carlton I used a phase shifter and stereo chorus quite a bit with my electric guitars. But when I stood back a bit (perhaps after realizing that I was never going to be as good as any of those guys!) and began again paying attention to my blues idols I realized that except for perhaps a bit of reverb and subtle distortion produced by their amps they didn’t need any of those stomp boxes. They also didn’t need to play a zillion notes a minute to convey emotion, but that’s a whole separate discussion (!). So those phase shifters and chorus boxes are gathering dust in a box in my cellar.
 
Perhaps most used and abused device is the distortion box. Now, I know I’m an acoustic guitarist who has no practical use for those things anyway but most if not all electric guitarists you will hear at your local bar could not imagine playing without one. I also readily admit that long ago in my much younger days when I first began playing an electric guitar it was so, so cool to crank it up with plenty of distortion and flail away on “Smoke On The Water” and “Sunshine Of Your Love.” And I have the damaged hearing today to prove it! I just wonder how many younger players are confident enough to play without depending upon a distortion box to cover up any deficiencies in their playing? Harsh, yes. Sorry.
 
Wait a minute, Gene, you may be thinking. You’re talking about electric guitar technique and players. What about acoustics? Certainly some effects have value.
 
Some do, when used judiciously. A touch of reverb adds depth and if the reverb unit or on-board effect is of good quality it will not color your sound to the point of being noticeable. Some players add a bit of compression to even out the highs and lows but my experience has been that those devices, when doing what they are supposed to do, tend to make the sound have an artificial edge. It’s entirely possible that I just haven’t used a good one, though. Or perhaps I just am not adept at setting them correctly.
 
A good quality DI or pre-amp can be very useful in shaping your acoustic sound to account for variable environments, amps, PA systems (and the person controlling it!). I ALWAYS use a RedEye pre-amp with my K&K pick-ups in my acoustic/electric guitars. It allows me to tailor the sound subtly for the room I’m playing or even as the room fills with sound-absorbing bodies.
 
Many, many acoustic guitarists who perform regularly as singles use loopers and/or harmonizers. On one or two occasions I’ve heard a looper used to good effect (no pun intended), meaning they were used only occasionally and not on every single song. Yes, a looper can make your night go faster: recording a loop and noodling endlessly can turn a 3-minute song into a 10-minute song and your set listed doesn’t have to be as long. I guess I’ve heard too many guitarists playing every blues lick they know over a 12-bar blues loop to be very interested in those things. A longer and varied set list holds the audience much better. A short solo over a loop once in a while can still be interesting though.
 
I predict that harmonizers (used primarily with vocals) are a passing fad. One guy I know who is a recreational guitarist who goes out to clubs often told me recently that if he’s listening to a performer who suddenly is singing along with multiple singing clones of himself it is time to get up and leave. I’m not quite that severe about harmonizers; a duo or trio of singers who use a harmonizer can effectively beef up their vocals without the audience thinking – hey, wait a minute, where’s the other singer?! But in the long run I consider them a curiosity rather than a vital part of a performer’s pedal board.
 
Ah, peddle boards. With so many sonic toys available these days they seem to be a necessity for many performers. Putting aside the question of expense for all those boxes, I guess a performer has to ask him or herself: do those things REALLY add to my sound or are they just some new and fun toys? If the answer is yes, I think they sound great and I couldn’t imagine playing without them then God bless, go for it.
 
The big question all guitarists need to address is this. Is my playing good enough to not NEED devices? Because if the answer is yes, using devices and effects in a subtle way will enhance the listener’s experience. If the answer is no, practice will do more for you than any stomp box.
 
Peace & good music,
Gene
2 Comments

The Jitters

9/7/2017

0 Comments

 
I go to great lengths to make my guitar lessons as low-stress as possible. It takes a few lessons for me to zone in on the personality of a new student but when I think I have their personality figured out I have plenty of techniques based on many decades of teaching that help them relax when it’s time to show me how well they’ve learned what I gave them in their last lesson. This works most of the time…. to a point!
 
Performance anxiety has probably been around as long as people have been playing music. It is a well-documented and discussed subject but I thought I’d offer a few hints and observations that may be of use.
 
First and foremost: EVERYONE gets nervous when they play in front of another person. I know I do, even after countless performances in front of audiences ranging from a few dozen semi-interested listeners to shows in front of many thousands. The trick is to channel that nervousness into something else. Because I can tell you from personal experience that the times I’ve performed and went out there totally at ease I probably screwed up faster than I should admit. Which then leads to a state of mind where I’m probably MORE nervous than I would have been otherwise!
 
So, what to do. Pre-show jitters are often counter-productive but incredibly common. Avoid slurping down that third cup of coffee before you perform. Shaky hands and a shaky voice aren’t easy to overcome when they’re caffeine-induced. Likewise, avoid mood altering substances, for the most part anyway. A glass of wine or a beer or two, fine. Other substances tend to make most people feel like they are sounding really good, when more often than not their playing is at the very least self-indulgent and at the worst, sloppy and ultimately disrespectful of a paying audience. Some players – Willy Nelson comes to mind – seem to have no problem with, shall we say, altered performances but in Willy’s case, there is a lifetime of practice doing it that way and his audience almost expects it. I once heard a story of the late, great folk blues legend Dave Van Ronk playing a concert here in town shortly before he passed away and the person assigned to host him was required (by Dave) to stop at the nearest liquor store and buy him a quart of whiskey, which he downed in short order before his show and did just fine. But these are the exceptions, friends.
 
Remember that audiences are a lot more forgiving than you might realize, especially older ones. When I was very young (high school age, perhaps a bit later too) I and my friends were very judgmental about bands of our peers. Our standard was – how much do they sound like the original artists? Fortunately, I matured enough and played out enough to realize that if a group sounded just like the original artist, they probably wouldn’t need to play for little ol’ me! Mature audiences take that into account, whether they’re conscious of it or not. They want you to succeed! And if you look like you’re having a good time playing, mistakes or a less than perfect performance doesn’t matter much at all.
 
Here’s a simple one. Don’t forget to breath. Sounds logical, right? But when we’re nervous it’s easy to be so focused on the music that our breathing is irregular. This causes something akin to panic in our brains, which ramps up the nervousness factor by a lot. If you’re a singer, a deep breath the instant before you sing a phrase will go a long way toward making you relax.
 
Think ahead as you play. I know that the worst performances I’ve given were due at least in part to putting my mind on autopilot and listening to myself rather than anticipating the next phrase or series of chord changes. This too will help you relax, based on the presumption and confidence that you know what will happen next. (And that’s why we spend time practicing, right?!?)
 
If you’re just getting into playing in front of audiences it sometimes helps to pick out a point in the back of the room to focus on rather than looking out at those expectant faces. This gets easier with experience of course, and making eye contact with listeners is always a good idea. But if you find yourself starting to choke when you see some local guitar hero watching you play or a very attractive member of the opposite sex is sitting there in the front row, shifting your focus point can help you calm down and deal with the task at hand.
 
Keep a bottle or glass of water close at hand. A nice deep swig of water between songs really helps eliminate the dry throat syndrome that goes along with heightened nervousness. It feels good, you will feel better and the next tune will go smoother.
 
And finally, accept your mistakes. It is a bummer to mess up a song but let the little man in the back of your head tell you that you WILL play it better next time. Don’t let a screw-up affect what comes after it. If your mistake is blaringly obvious, don’t be afraid to acknowledge it to your listeners with a laugh and a shrug. They will appreciate your honesty and keep rooting for you, I promise!
 
Peace & good music,
Gene
 
 

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    Gene Bourque

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