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Author Topic:  What is volume pedal "gutting"
Andy Volk


From:
Boston, MA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 8:30 am    
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Curly Chalker has been described as a master of this technique. Is it starting with the volume full on and then quickly pulling the pedal back to zero volume for a percussive sound?
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Dale Rottacker


From:
Walla Walla Washington, USA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 8:49 am    
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Think you’re correct Andy, but I don’t think the pedal needs to be full on to accomplish this...somewhere between some on and full on should do the trick.
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Pete Finney

 

From:
Nashville Tn.
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 8:54 am    
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In my understanding that's the general idea, and I agree it doesn't necessarily mean going from full-volume to nothing.

But... definitely hitting the chord hard and then lowering the volume quickly and dramatically by pulling back on volume pedal. I think he sometimes did a very quick swell into the chord as well, as he hit it, and then pulled back on the volume.

I always took it as meant to evoke or imitate a similar dynamic effect used in big band brass or reed sections; I'm guessing that's how Chalker thought of it. He rarely if ever used it on single note lines; it was always on big chords.
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Doug Beaumier


From:
Northampton, MA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 9:04 am    
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Yes, with volume pedal depressed, punch a chord and quickly back off on the pedal, cutting back the sound, "gutting" the sound. I first heard this technique on Curly's "More Ways to Play" album.
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Larry Bell


From:
Englewood, Florida
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 9:22 am    
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Yeah -- what Pete and Doug said --
It kinda imitated what an extreme compressor setting would deliver -- a POP on the upside but much less a moment after the pop BUT THE NOTE WOULD NEVER GO AWAY and would often swell back loud. And, yes, only on FAT CHORDS.

I've tried to do that for years -- I hear it in my head and want to pay homage -- but can't get the same feel as Chalker did. He was one of a kind.
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Andy Volk


From:
Boston, MA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 10:18 am    
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Thanks all. I think I hear Curly using this technique in the head. Big band steel!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkXkouIB5Y8
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Pete Finney

 

From:
Nashville Tn.
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 11:04 am    
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To me it's most audible in the above clip in the bridge sections (where the trumpet drops out) and in some of Curly's comping behind the solos. I think I do hear a little bit of a swell into the chords as well as a dropping off. He also seems to often use a particularly strong attack and a rhythmic "push" on these chords, all part of the effect, to my ears.
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Skip Edwards

 

From:
LA,CA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 2:26 pm    
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It's a cool effect... it's also done on the B3.
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John Billings


From:
Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 2:43 pm    
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I got pretty good at it. Just don't overdo it
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John Booth


From:
Columbus Ohio, USA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 2:57 pm    
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Listen to this Jones tune at about 1:04
The steel player does it a lot in this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mwFMWS_IXM
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Rudy Hawk

 

From:
Carrollton,Ohio,USA
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 3:20 pm    
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Herby Wallace was very good at it too.
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Donny Hinson

 

From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
Post  Posted 19 Dec 2014 4:46 pm    
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Yeah, Herby and Big Jim Murphy did it a lot. It's best described as an explosive swell, or "punch" at the beginning of a chord - a quick, but slight, down and up pedal movement, first developed by famous players of the Hammond organ, like Jimmy Smith.

It's real evident in the Blues Bye clip, at :02, :04, :13, and :15 seconds. Listening closely, it's kinda like an old compressor backing off the volume, except that you can clearly hear that he doesn't use it all the time. That's why a compressor does a poor job of replicating the effect..it overdoes it by doing it all the time, and the artistic emphasis is lost. Smile
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Willie Sims

 

From:
PADUCAH, KY, USA
Post  Posted 28 Dec 2014 11:23 am    
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I MIGHT BE WRONG,BUT IT SOUNDS A LOT LIKE PALM BLOCKING TO ME. WILLIE SIMS.
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