Guitar
This last Christmas a buddy of mine gave me an EBow as a gift. For those who have never heard of the EBow, it is an electronic bowing device, that creates infinite sustain by electromagnetically driving the string. Yes, it works on acoustic instruments as well, as long as they have steel strings that will interact with the EBow's magnetic field. Aside from one abortive attempt to use it at a gig, I hadn't had a chance to mess with it a whole lot.
In recent weeks I set up my joke of a home studio (Boss BR900cd, I spared no expense!) in a halfway workable, useable fashion for the first time since my young son arrived in the world (two and half years). I needed something kind of low-pressure to do to coax myself into turning the thing on, so I decided to record a track using the EBow and my 60's Guyatone double 8-string lap steel as the main sonic ingredients. I'm gonna' work my much-derided Dunlop JH-2 Jimi Hendrix fuzz into the track at some point, when I have a chance to go into the track in a meaningful way (could be months). I did a scratch track of fuzzy lead with my kid's Stage brand half-size strat which I keep tuned to concert F, but I'll spare you the awfulness.
In the meantime, here's a brief sample of the track as it stands. The basic rhythm guitar sound with tremelo is the Guyatone's C6 neck (tuned AGCDAGCD low to high) acting like Am7, and there are four other EBowed tracks of the same guitar, each playing the changes on a single string, for a choir effect, or a manual EHX POG kinda' thing. The EBow tracks were played through a standard old Crybaby wah pedal I've had since 1989 to aid in the grabbing of harmonic overtones. The bass is a $200 Squier J-bass, with all the pickup related evils endemic of the brand.
All in all I like the EBow; it's a cool tone tool with a multitude of possibilities. I don't expect you'll see me brandishing one on stage a whole lot, but who knows? Different projects require different tools, mental and physical, both.
Oh yeah, if any of you are wondering, the other neck of the steel is tuned to E9 (BDEGsharpBDEFsharp low to high), and the signature on the guitar is from Roosevelt Collin, the sacred pedalsteel master of the Lee Boys, whom I've had the pleasure of jamming with on a couple of occasions. It's amazing what feeding some fella's a little (a lot, actually) of bar-b-q will do...
- Concert Review: Olaf Rupp & Julian Sartorius In -able, Berlin | 13 May 2011
On friday I had the luck and pleasure to see Olaf Rupp and Julian Sartorius playing in a small galery in Berlin. Olaf Rupp is a stunning guitarist, who developed a very personal style of free improvisation on acoustic nylon...
- Dunlop Jh-2 Jimi Hendrix Fuzz, Revisited.
Much maligned and misunderstood, the Dunlop JH-2 just needs a little patience and understanding.... The first gear review and video I ever put together was to do with the Dunlop JH-2 Jimi Hendrix fuzz, which you can read here. I pointed out...
- Big Muff Pi With Tone Wicker- A Review
First off, I'd like to thank my good friend Big Joe Burke for lending me this sick little puppy. The Electro Harmonix Big Muff is considered to be one of the classic fuzz tones, and countless players have embraced the thick wooly...
- The Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Jh-2 Fuzz
The much maligned JH-2 fuzz Here's one for the fuzz-heads and guitar-geeks! I offer for your edification, the Dunlop JH-2 Jimi Hendrix Fuzz, considered by many to be the steaming doggie coil of the fuzziverse. I purchased this stunning...
- Expect The Unexpected
My slide ride - Dano '63 Every time I do studio work, I come to the same realization: things just don't work out the way I think they will. This is a good thing. I did a session today for my good friends the East Vamps,...
Guitar
EBow Fun!
This last Christmas a buddy of mine gave me an EBow as a gift. For those who have never heard of the EBow, it is an electronic bowing device, that creates infinite sustain by electromagnetically driving the string. Yes, it works on acoustic instruments as well, as long as they have steel strings that will interact with the EBow's magnetic field. Aside from one abortive attempt to use it at a gig, I hadn't had a chance to mess with it a whole lot.
In recent weeks I set up my joke of a home studio (Boss BR900cd, I spared no expense!) in a halfway workable, useable fashion for the first time since my young son arrived in the world (two and half years). I needed something kind of low-pressure to do to coax myself into turning the thing on, so I decided to record a track using the EBow and my 60's Guyatone double 8-string lap steel as the main sonic ingredients. I'm gonna' work my much-derided Dunlop JH-2 Jimi Hendrix fuzz into the track at some point, when I have a chance to go into the track in a meaningful way (could be months). I did a scratch track of fuzzy lead with my kid's Stage brand half-size strat which I keep tuned to concert F, but I'll spare you the awfulness.
In the meantime, here's a brief sample of the track as it stands. The basic rhythm guitar sound with tremelo is the Guyatone's C6 neck (tuned AGCDAGCD low to high) acting like Am7, and there are four other EBowed tracks of the same guitar, each playing the changes on a single string, for a choir effect, or a manual EHX POG kinda' thing. The EBow tracks were played through a standard old Crybaby wah pedal I've had since 1989 to aid in the grabbing of harmonic overtones. The bass is a $200 Squier J-bass, with all the pickup related evils endemic of the brand.
All in all I like the EBow; it's a cool tone tool with a multitude of possibilities. I don't expect you'll see me brandishing one on stage a whole lot, but who knows? Different projects require different tools, mental and physical, both.
Oh yeah, if any of you are wondering, the other neck of the steel is tuned to E9 (BDEGsharpBDEFsharp low to high), and the signature on the guitar is from Roosevelt Collin, the sacred pedalsteel master of the Lee Boys, whom I've had the pleasure of jamming with on a couple of occasions. It's amazing what feeding some fella's a little (a lot, actually) of bar-b-q will do...
For more information and video demos of the EBow, visit:
www.ebow.com/home.php
- Concert Review: Olaf Rupp & Julian Sartorius In -able, Berlin | 13 May 2011
On friday I had the luck and pleasure to see Olaf Rupp and Julian Sartorius playing in a small galery in Berlin. Olaf Rupp is a stunning guitarist, who developed a very personal style of free improvisation on acoustic nylon...
- Dunlop Jh-2 Jimi Hendrix Fuzz, Revisited.
Much maligned and misunderstood, the Dunlop JH-2 just needs a little patience and understanding.... The first gear review and video I ever put together was to do with the Dunlop JH-2 Jimi Hendrix fuzz, which you can read here. I pointed out...
- Big Muff Pi With Tone Wicker- A Review
First off, I'd like to thank my good friend Big Joe Burke for lending me this sick little puppy. The Electro Harmonix Big Muff is considered to be one of the classic fuzz tones, and countless players have embraced the thick wooly...
- The Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Jh-2 Fuzz
The much maligned JH-2 fuzz Here's one for the fuzz-heads and guitar-geeks! I offer for your edification, the Dunlop JH-2 Jimi Hendrix Fuzz, considered by many to be the steaming doggie coil of the fuzziverse. I purchased this stunning...
- Expect The Unexpected
My slide ride - Dano '63 Every time I do studio work, I come to the same realization: things just don't work out the way I think they will. This is a good thing. I did a session today for my good friends the East Vamps,...