Features
We'll be building up this new section of the site to include features and news about the band and related issues. To set the ball rolling Robin talks guitars..
I’ve often found that whenever I’ve been involved in a live show there’s someone dying to chat about effects, amps, strings, plectrums...etc.. etc.
The main focus of people’s interest (and ‘disappointment’ in some cases) has, more recently, centred on my use of a Gibson SG.
“Where’s the black Strat!?” was a question that one audience member ‘demanded’ I answer.
I am slightly exaggerating of course, but it is true to say that the SG has been a real topic of conversation.
In reality, using a Gibson is really, guitar wise, a case of me coming full circle (I prefer this phrase to ‘returning to my roots’)
Just to give you a bit of my background, I twanged a ukulele and a nylon string instrument quite a few years before even touching an electric guitar.
I learned chords for folk songs and went through some formal training, which was great for technique, scales and anything to do with playing ‘properly’
It is likely that I first saw electric guitars on Top Of The Pops.
I’m not going to mention any of the ‘pop groups’ I would have originally watched, but remember liking the noise that electric instruments made and also being drawn to the electric guitar’s aesthetic ( I also actually believed they were playing and singing live, at a time when they actually didn’t)
Moving on to my first electric guitar..an SG copy.
It was bought from a second-hand shop (this is starting to sound like Summer of ‘69) and it came with a small practice amp and curly lead.
I had no idea what effects pedals were and the amplifier had no way of creating distortion, therefore I could only produce a clean sound with some variation in tone coming from different pick up combinations.
I eventually bought a Les Paul copy and a larger amplifier.
I still, however, didn’t own any effects and the guitar/amp combination didn’t really overdrive, even with increased volume.
I think I played with this sound for a couple of years at least. I liked the sound simply because it was ‘electric’ but it was clearly a million miles from sounding like Brighton Rock (might be a bit of an obscure reference if you’re a Mcfly fan)
All this changed when a school friend (thanks Colin) sold me (for£5) an Electroharmonix Muff Fuzz
I think it you could say it was a Eureka moment or even an Epiphany - something along those lines, anyway.
A new range of tones and styles of playing were now options for me.
A few years later I bought my first Fender Stratocaster.
My original one (which is currently safely in its case and in a cupboard somewhere) is a 1982, 21 fret sunburst model , with a maple neck and fixed bridge. It’s a powerful guitar and has a lot of character – in fact I might even tune it and use it live soon!
I have owned other Strats, a Washburn Floyd Rose.erm..thing, oh and even a Telecaster, before I bought (everyone’s ‘favourite’) the 1995 black Strat.
The black Strat has always performed well. It can sound funky, heavy, it sustains nicely and can be pleasingly ‘twangy’, when required.
That said, I feel equally ‘at home’ with a Gibson and will try to describe why I like it and how I approach creating my live sound.
Firstly, the instrument itself.
The SG is relatively lightweight but I find it has an inherent sustain and brightness.
I can play it acoustically (or not plugged in, if you like) in my living room and one can feel that the guitar is ‘alive’
Regarding strings, I have ‘9’s on my Stratocasters, however the fact that I use ‘10’ guage strings on the Gibson really helps the sound, I think.
My style of playing also changes somewhat. I tend to slow down a bit and leave out some of the high speed phrases, in favour of producing more tone with my fingers.
The pick-ups are very powerful - if the sound produced by the neck pick-up is compared to that of the bridge pick-up , you really hear the two extremes of the guitar’s tonal ability.
This unfortunately does result in me requiring more time to soundcheck.
Whenever I set a live sound with an amplifier (I quite often use other peoples) I will always begin with all the amp’s tone controls ‘flat’ and then listen to the guitar’s clean sound, checking each pick-up variation.
I need to get this part sounding ‘right’ before I’ll even think of adding any effects.
I’ll generally only make subtle changes to the amp’s tone or EQ controls – I mainly just want to remove an overly bright top end, muddy low end, or mid range ‘honk’
My aim, having got this far, is to really be able to hear the guitar’s individual character – if I’m happy with what I’m hearing then I’ll check through some effects.
The two effects pedals I nearly always use in a live situation are a Ratt distortion and a Boss DD3 delay.
I particularly like the Ratt because it can produce a heavy fuzz sound which is somehow still very clear, in terms of hearing the notes I’m playing.
To be honest, I use the Ratt to recreate a sound I originally achieved with a Muff Fuzz – I must add at this point that I do think the Ratt is slightly better than the Muff, although I’d be happy with either.
Regarding my delay (Boss DD3), I quite often ‘overdo’ the level of the repeated signal. This is fine for solos, but I will frequently adjust this between songs.
As far as other effects go, I decide before the gig, which I’m going to use.
An example of this would be a funky clean sound, where I’ll sometimes add chorus effect with a Boss CE2, which reminds me of an ‘80s style of guitar sound.
My full set-up of pedals, for live use, is listed below (note the sequence, which greatly affects the overall sound)
- Boss TU2 Tuner
- MXR Dynacomp
- Ratt Distortion
- Morley Wah Wah
- Boss CE2 Chorus
- Boss DD3 Delay
In terms of volume, I rarely set the amp very high, but at the same time when I’m soloing through the Ratt, I like to have some feedback available.
Feedback , for me, is another ‘voice’ I can use – I don’t always achieve the perfect volume level for this, but when I get it right, the tail end of a long note can simply drift into ‘pleasant’ feedback (something of a paradox, perhaps)
I must admit that due to powerful pick-ups, the SG is quite difficult to control when it decides it wants to feed back.
I’ve attempted to give you an insight into how I create the noise that I make.
It’s important to me to add that it’s just my method of approaching live electric guitar.
Given an amplifier, guitar and a few effects pedals, I think every player will produce a sound that means something to them self, as an individual.
I’ll end with one final view point – don’t underestimate how important your hands are.
You’re playing an instrument, and expression involves fingers touching strings – all the rest is, to some extent, only making it louder.