Guide to guitar effects including chorus, flanger, vibrato, tremolo.
Guitar Effects Primer
A guide to guitar effects including chorus, flanger, vibrato, tremolo.
As a guitar teacher I am frequently asked a variety of questions about effects by my electric guitar students, such as; What are they? What do they do? Which ones should I get?( etc.) With this article I will cover �pitch shifting� or �modulation effects�.
Chorus
Perhaps the most widely used modulation effect, is so called because it makes your guitar sound like more than one � thicker and usually a bit �sweeter� sounding. This is done by electronically �cloning� your original guitar sound and adding delay or �modulation� (which is shortening or lengthening the delay) to your cloned signal. Then this is mixed back in with your original signal. Although it can be used as a solo sound this effect is generally used for a clean rhythm sound.
Flanger
As with the chorus effect, here the signal is split or cloned and a short delay is simply added to the cloned signal-then again mixed back in with your original signal. This delay has several repeats with the time of the repeats being lengthened and shortened at a steady adjustable rate. The resulting sound is usually much thicker than the chorus effect. Check out the Queen song �Keep yourself Alive� to hear it for yourself.
PhaseShifter Once again your guitar signal is electronically cloned modulating the phase of the cloned signal and mixing it back with the original signal. As a result certain frequencies are cancelled all together resulting in a �swooping or twisted� sound. Eddie Van Halen used this effect a fair bit on his early recordings.
Vibrato With this effect the entire signal�s frequency is modulated creating a slightly �out of tune� sound at a steady and adjustable rate.
Tremolo Similar to the vibrato where the entire signal is modulated, but this time the volume level of the guitar signal is what is effected � louder then softer, louder then softer etc�.at a steady and adjustable rate. Check out the rhythm guitar part on Pink Floyd�s song �Money� for a good example.
Pitch Detune Here again the original signal is cloned and the clone is electronically changed to another note all together, say a 5th of the original sound creating a �parallel harmony�. Listen to Trevor Rabin�s guitar solo on the Yes song �Owner of a Lonely Heart� to hear this effect.
Modulation effects can greatly enhance your guitar sound and are a lot of fun to experiment with. You can get all of these and more in most of the multi effects pedal boards / units that are out there as well. Check with your fave local music store where you can usually try the gear out before you plant down your hard earned bucks.
[Books Main Page]
[Browse by Artist]
[Music Instruction]
[Computers, MIDI]
[Classic Rock]
[Creativity]
[Used Gear Reference]
[Guitar Books]
[Christmas]
|
|
