Are we using pedals as a crutch?
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Key points:
0:00 Intro
0:07 JAM! Cardinal Black – On My Own
2:04 Are we using pedals as a crutch?
3:40 Which side of the fence are you on?
5:35 JAM! Cardinal Black – Warm Love
7:01 Do the audience matter?
9:23 JAM! Cardinal Black – Ain’t My Time
11:53 – Ditching the pedalboard
14:32 JAM! ’59 Les Paul + ’64 Marshall JTM45
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Damn, every time I hear this man play I reach for a guitar… inspiring.
With or without a pedalboard will not make you a better player, that is just some people being silly. Practice will make you a better player, as with anything you do, the more you do it correctly the more you will improve your own ability and potential.
Effects will add color, shape, texture and inspiration to the sound you are creating in your playing. That's all it does, an effect will add the wow to the sound, the ability in the playing came from practice. I will however say this, a beginner should not rely on effects at first, and should use most of practice time developing phrasing skills, clean chord changing, and theory, and gradually learn how to use effects to color and texture guitar parts,……But throwing the board in a closet, and and just going straight into an amp,……as a player,……this will end be boring, and will also reflect in your playing live,…a bland performance…
Like cooking with no seasoning,……So never be scared to Spice it up a little,…or a lot,…..
The older generations have much wisdom to share. But they also say a lot of dumb 💩.
Agree with your views on this Chris. When I started gigging in the late 70's all I had was an AC30 and an Avon SG copy. Then in the 80's I purchased an Arion stereo chorus and an MXR distortion+ pedal (both of which I wish I still owned), and so started my love affair with FX pedals as a whole! I could play without FX, but I just love that jangly chorus sound, which has become synonymous with my own personal guitar tone. Unfortunately after many years of trying, I've yet to find a suitable/affordable replacement for the Arion SC, which cost me the princely sum of £15 back in the 70's! Mind you that was a weeks wages at the time! 😅👊🎸
An artist can use any amount of paint and brushes he chooses to create his art. No rules ! My minimum is a Compressor , Drive pedal , Delay, Reverb and a good clean-ish tube amp.
After decades in the building trades I'm yet to hear someone criticise another's choice of tools , or how they use them. As long as the job gets done we're good. Guitar snobs are a different breed.
As a guy born in the mid-1970s and have been knocking around the guitar since 1990 or so, this shit is *exhausting*. Use the gear to create your sound given the limitations and resources you have! And if there is any one lesson I wish I would have learned earlier, it's that normal, non-musicians just don't notice this stuff. It's all primary colors to them – groove, energy, top line melody.
Hey Chris, I’m a massive fan of your playing, but I’m really missing the Strat, any sign of Buck & Evans returning?
Perhaps the audience really 'doesn't care' about the gear, but they like your music because you sound like you do, so if that needs effects pedals then the audience needs pedals, even if they don't know it. Would anyone say to Max Verstappen "you're too good a driver to need tyres"?
Whats the ThorpyFX pedal on your board, interesting 🤔 ps your playing at the start was something else 👏
digital is covenant and can be useful. but it will neva be the real thing and when push comes to shove its crap. if you cant get the job done with a guitar cable and amp you simply not a guitar player.
I think 🤔 l have quite a few years on ya CB and l use my Kemper every day with NO regrets. I do us a small board with it. A drive or 2 in front or a boost and on occasion a compressor. A BOSS Dimension C in the loop. Kemper goes stereo or mono to house. Dedicated monitor out of the Kemper to a poweramp and to a 2×12 or a 4×12 or 2 4×12’s. Speaker sim turned off to real cabs and my cabs are DRY. WET EFFECTS go to house and if the sound guy wants, he can 🎤 microphone my real cab and MIX some of that in. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Cheating? Nope! Lazy? Nope! Great sounds? Yep!!!!!! We love what you do! ! !
Pedals are like paint brushes. If you need more types of brushes to make art that inspires you then that’s totally fair. There’s no rule for guitar
“I can, it’s my show” Hell ya. Thanks for the inspirational playing.
The discussions over audience and their awareness of the tools you use are, I agree, completely moot. In the writing world, my friends and I get into long discussions about…pens…and inks…and paper. Can you tell when reading an essay or story or poem what the author wrote on? Of course not— but it changes how the creator approaches the work itself, and that can make all the difference. Seems strange to me that in guitar gear world, we give one another a hard time about such things, but then we have a tendency to think that opinion has to have some kind of data backing it up.
I knew a guitarist in the Eighties, who played funk and soul music, and embraced the 'new' sounds you could create using pedals, and we said "Your pedals are masking your playing, can't you just plug into an amp and play, instead of hiding behind your effects?" So, my take is if you use effects to enhance your sound, rather than masking or over-producing it, effects are always beneficial. Also , as you rightly say, if certain pedals enhance the player's playing experience, then it doesn't matter if the audience can tell which pedal you use. Great video, as always, and great conversation starter!
!!!!SPECTACULAR!!!!
Such a nice articulated ode for music and all its forms / players / public’s.
… and frack, your playing … 🎉 thanks
I love the message in this video. The magic of music can thrive in so many different ways, and the mix of your sensibilities and talent are a gift to all of us! Keep exploring & following the muse as you will!
Absolutely it’s art. There is no right or wrong way to make art. It’s just horses for courses. I have 5 pedalboards that are very different from each other, and get used in the various projects I’m involved in, from a couple of drives and a delay, to a complex stereo rig with a huge range of modulations, delays, reverbs, arpeggiators, and synth pedals. It’s only an issue, if I take the wrong pedalboard to a gig.