Wednesday 17 April 2013

Looking For The Right Sound


Getting the right sound is very important. It wont make you a virtuoso, but it will surely improve your performance. The first way you can manipulate your sound is turning the knobs on your amp. I'm not talking about distortion levels (though that's cool), but your treble, middle and bass. What I like to do is put my treble and middle to just over halfway and my bass to just before halfway. This setting is good when you're playing with other people, because it allows the bass player to be heard better. You can also add effects like flanger, chorus or phaser, but thats up to you as not all amps have that.

Now the other way to change your sound. The way you play. Muting is quite important as it stops any unwanted noise from being heard which can completely ruin your performance (I would know)
Rest the heel of your palm on the strings to mute them. The more pressure you apply the crunchier you will sound. Less pressure will allow the strings to ring and sound cleaner. You should apply more pressure if you're playing metal and hard rock. Playing close to the bridge will create a very metallic sound and playing closer to the strings will make you sound softer and mellower. The angle at which you approach the strings also makes the sound different so as you see you have lots of possibilities.

There are other devices you can use to enhance your sound such as wah wah pedals, distortion pedal and effect boards which I've already written about so I wont go into too much detail. Effect boards are great for creating weird and unusual sounds which can even make you sound like you're playing a different instrument such as keyboard, bass, 12 string acoustic guitar or horn. To achieve this I use a Pandora mini by Korg which is a very useful tool. 

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