Played with no effects for the first time

Justin Jacobson · From: Rochester, MN

Now anyone who knows the slightest about me knows I am a huge effects guy. Always have been, I love em,love em more than many of the instruments I put through them. The more the better. I have always been really great at playing with effects and using them to get the sound I hear in my head (I'm a space rock, indie, dream pop guy).

However my band has a song that wasn't clicking. On a whim I turned off all the effects, and I enjoyed it. I can see the appeal many of you express. I had a great time playing that way.

I doubt I'm going to make a habit of it, but I do get it. It was a revelation, and it opened me up to a world of possibilities I had dismissed before (narrow minded of me I know). Jus thought I'd share my eye opening experience to the world many of you live in every day. I love it.
_________________
http://soundcloud.com/tower-4

ShoBud Pro2 - Strobostomp - POG2 - mojo hand iron bell - WMD Geiger Counter - EHX Freeze - Earth Drive - catalinbread pareidolia - fender volume/tone - boss dd-3 - behringer vibrato - boss bf-2 - boss dc-2 - neo ventilator - catlinbread echorec - strymon timeline - eventide space - fender blues deluxe

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

I don't use effects when I play steel because I think my steel sounds better without them. With my Jackson Steel, I prefer the clean E9th steel setting on my Nashville 112 because to me, that's where my steel sounds beautiful. The Shot Jackson pickup on my steel does a wonderful job of sending the sound to my amplifier. I use no reverb either because I like the clear sound.

Brett

Mike Daly · From: Tennessee

So Justin what you have really discovered is another sound to add to you palette of colors. Nice...

Justin Jacobson · From: Rochester, MN

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Practicing without effects will make you a better player. You can hear exactly what your hands are doing. It helps you develop good technique in your "muscle memory".
_________________
-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video

Chris Templeton · From: The Green Mountain State

Try practicing without a volume pedal or even without an amp.
So many times I've heard the volume pedal used not for sustain or volume effects,
but to try and cover up mistakes by "choking" off the volume.
Also, a common mistake is to over-use vibrato. This usually happens when one is insecure about relative tuning.
and...aways remember, that the further up the neck, less vibrato is needed, because the frets are narrower.
_________________
Excel 3/4 Pedal With An 8 String Hawaiian Neck, Sierra Tapper (10 string with a raised fretboard to fret with fingers), Single neck Fessenden 3/5
"The Tapper" : https://christophertempleton.bandcamp.com/album/the-tapper
Soundcloud Playlist: https://soundcloud.com/bluespruce8:

Eric Philippsen · From: Central Florida USA

Practicing without reverb is a big thing, too. Everything about your sound, tone, and technique is exposed. I did that again while practicing yesterday. It was ugly.

Joachim Kettner · From: Germany

I really like that song "Loving Don't Mean Loosing All The Time", Justin.
_________________
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube.

Peggy Green · From: San Jose, California USA

I practiced dry always. Rooms at performance venues have a natural reverberation which changes when there's a crowd. I found I needed to add less reverb than you'd imagine to get a good sound. Practicing dry prepares you for the recording studio as well where they often want you to record dry.

When I created all the pedabro material, I lived and breathed just pedabro with a little Sho-Bud playing too. No volume pedal at all. Even the sound of the knee levers being pushed can be heard. All acoustic - no effects. That experience has added to the variety of picking and blocking techniques I have. I can see it now in the 6 and 8 string steel and dobro I hear coming up from my lap these days. I don't use a volume pedal at all. And the hammer-offs - even I'm going wow at times. All the pedabro work really raised my hammer skills Very Happy

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

"Practicing dry prepares you for the recording studio as well where they often want you to record dry. "

I just tell the engineer to split the signal. Record whatever he wants, but let me listen to a sound that is pleasing to me, and I will play better.

Brett Day · From: Pickens, SC

Playin' without effects works a lot better for me. I feel like it's a way to play steel with more feeling. I love the Clean E9th setting on my amplifier because I think it helps my sound to be clearer.

Justin Jacobson · From: Rochester, MN

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Seriously, your effects will sound better if you practice playing notes and chords without effects. Practice to control pitch, to block noiselessly, to improve your timing. The better your hands are at controlling the strings, the better your music will be, whether you're using a rack full of gear or running straight into a recording console.
_________________
-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

I played for a long time with an effects board hooked to my steel. A year or so back I got rid of it and just started using my old ElectroHarmonix Deluxe Memory Man analog delay. I use it by itself with no reverb on the amp and am loving my sound. It's the only thing I need at the moment. If I need some distortion I just pick up my Telecaster......JH in Va.
_________________
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Micky Byrne · From: United Kingdom (deceased)

Bob...I remember sometime years ago doing what the Big "E" suggested....playing in the dark!! I had my steel next to my bed and to my wife's annoyance, I'd leap out in the middle of the night to try play a "lick" I had in my head. I got the lick off ok, but was rightly banned to put the steel in another room from then on Laughing

....That "practice" did develop my hearing and intonation somewhat tho Very Happy

Micky "scars" Byrne U.K.

Alan Brookes · From: Brummy living in Southern California

The thing about effects is that you can add them, but you can't remove them once recorded. It doesn't mean so much live, but if you're in a recording studio it makes sense to record everything without effects, and then add the effects during mixdown.

Jim Pitman · From: Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA

I often rehearse at home with no amp. One thing I discover doing this is I'm not always dampening behind the bar - got bony fingers and my left ring finger has an arch leaving the E string un-damped - really sticks out playing acoustically and not so obvious using an amp.

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

I play quite a bit of sonically based new music and have found myself moving away from effects. Look into what creates that sound you are shaping and see if it can be done directly with your hands. Time based effects like trem and chorus are a piece of cake. Because the pedal steel is capable of accuracy with pitch and the overtones are primarily even sheets of shifting overtones are available. It is a bit of a trick to have the overtones be louder than the fundamental to make that stuff work though. By using some sort of overdrive the overtones start ringing odd you get all sorts of things going. Rythms from beating tones and slabs of lows from difference tones. There are a million ways to go. My favorite thing I have been doing lately is trying to find the pitches/frequencies that make the instruments around me oscillate in a live setting. It only works in certain conditions so far.

Try playing with different materials: Cloth, plastic, marbles, tin cups .. all is open.
Making sounds with effects is fun but building sounds with you hands using the materials available and the air around you is funner.

Anyway keep up the good work !
_________________
Bob

Jim Pitman · From: Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA

Bob or others, have you tried to get a phase affect by picking behind the bar while at a harmonic producing fret?
Recorded a song with Jon Fishman's (Phish) band, Pork Tornado, called Blue Sky written, by Aaron Herse. It was in the key of E. Give it a listen if you can find it somewhere. The effect was very dramatic.

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

My first exposure in the early 1950's to effects was a Fender amp with tremelo. It was gosh-awfully overused, both by beginners and by studio musicians, and resulted in an abundance of questionable and commercial sounding efforts by otherwise good musicians.

I'm reminded of a recent cartoon where a teen age girl not having time to apply her makeup before a boyfriend arrived, said: "I can't let him see me without makeup because he won't know what I really look like!"
_________________
"FROM THEN TIL' NOW"

Bob Hoffnar · From: Austin, Tx

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

David Ellison · From: California, USA

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Where would Bo Diddley have been without his hands?

Besides, Bo Diddley isn't an example of good musicianship. He was pretty much a one trick pony.
_________________
-𝕓𝕆𝕓- (admin) - Robert P. Lee - Recordings - Breathe - D6th - Video

Justin Jacobson · From: Rochester, MN

Forum Index > Steel Players	Goto page 1, 2 Next	Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic