Hey guys,

I know you all love your effects - so do I. I remember the dark days of the 80's and 90's when I couldn't even afford reverb. Adding reverb, flange, distortion, compression, digitech whammy, wah-wah pedals, all made the sound pop right?

This week I tried turning everything off - I just played my bass side through my SWR Baby Blue (to die for), and my right hand through my SWR Workingman's 12 (truly a utility amp). No reverb, no flange, no tube preamp, no special eq filtering, nothing. In that context, I was able to hear my playing in a more precise way, and use my fingers more to get the right tone.

I don't like the word "Zen" the way most people use it, but there is a Zen of tapping. There is that infinitesimal moment right before the tap, when your finger is poised correctly, and your wrist poised to help the finger, and your elbow in the right position, and your shoulder, and your musical intention, and so on. Then, your finger strikes right behind the fret, as close as possible to it, to get just the sound you desire - the most delicate pianissimo, or the harshest forte. And then, the slightest, most classically oriented vibrato, or the widest bend you can manage. And finally, your finger is resting, lightly for fast play, or heavily for a stronger, more consistent, pesante sound.

All of these things sound clearer without any effects.

After you go through this experience, try adding your effects back, one at a time, and see if you truly want them there. In my case, I had a pretty fast chorus that never bothered me before, but now, it kind of irritates me. I'm leaving it off, and I like my tone better. I like the tone of my "utility" amp a little better too, and I understand Bob Culberton's approach a little better (just the PA please).

Thanks for reading my over-long post.

R

Lol, but without effects people will have to resort to talking about the instrument, playing, and checking out new tunes... Good Lord, man! That's crazy talk!

Seriously, though I went through the same thing on guitar too... I like a clean tone, and for gain I like a slight overdrive. for ambience I like a slight delay, but I am not married to it. Same on Stick. Playing first.

Yes - a little tube boost, a little eq, a little reverb, some compression - all to help the audience hear the natural tone.

And of course, anything else you desire. Just don't get lost in the effects if you want to be the best Stickist you can be.

Obvious really.

R

I record straight in to the board and add all effects afterward. In fact more than half of time, I don't even plug my Sticks in! Now that's probably not a good thing for developing your touch, unless you plan on just room mic-ing your Stick acoustic performances. But I noodle all the time with my Rosewood on my lap while watching the news or TV. I even play the Railboard acoustically when it's mounted on its TAGG interface cymbal stand and not plugged in, when I want to check something.

I play piano with just the default onboard reverb all the time and add effects afterward. There was no bigger timesaver for me in the studio then applying all effects after the performance, unless the particular effect--like a delay or something--is critical to the performance, or if I'm using realtime control of the effects (like a wah pedal). Otherwise, futz around with all that AFTER the recording. And once you record with the cool flange sound that works so well in measure 5, you can't re-use it or change it later if the flange cycling is not in sync with the rhythm--or you just don't want the flange.

I've been told by many here on the Forum that chorus is the death of the beginning Stickist--you probably shouldn't use much of it until you get your tone down. It can hide and cover up a lot of finger laziness.

And if you're Bob Culbertson, you need nothing but a PA on top of your Sticking! That's great and an admirable goal, and proof that the principle is sound. But most of us are not Bob!

But your point is a great one--good technique and tone is the first effect that has to be done right, and don't let all the bells and whistles stand in the way of rocking it out.

Unless you're The Edge, in which case those bells and whistles (DELAYS!!!!) are part of your signature style. But your point is still a good one.

I'm a big believer in practicing without effects, but would never perform without at least a touch of verb on the melody side, unless the hall was particularly ambient.

For the record, Bob is a heavy user of both reverb and delay...

Hey, all good! Sorry if I offended you Greg; not my intent; I sound like dogshit with or without any effects; I make no claim whatsoever to being anything more than an enthusiast. I'm not even a musician, so anything I post is only applicable to me, so I'm not trying to say "effects are bad" 'cause they aren't. I do have things I like and dislike though.

But, reading, re-reading and then re-re-reading about the latest Strymon pedal is just not my thing, I'd rather hear somebody play some crazy thing and then talk about how they got that sound, etc etc...

Notes first for me.

offended? non ti preoccupare...

In the spirit of the thread, though, it wasn't until I turned off the delay, distortion, chorus, etc, and started really digging into technique (more "important" than notes, in my opinion), that my playing really improved... the result is Stick Figures

effects can be a crutch, and the use of them also need to be "practiced."

(lol Not that anyone's mad or anything, just want to be clear that I'm not picking on anybody's tones/tastes is all...I don't think I did, but if It came across as such, geez I'm sorry, totally unintentional...)

I practice about 85 percent without even being plugged in!.I was in the studio last night laying down tracks with a drummer friend, and even though I was using the Helix, I just had a basically dry sound, with small amount of EQ and Compression. Sounds SO acoustic... really LOVE this instrument!

Lol I really only use one patch on my system and it's pretty dry too. I will usually bypass any comp and EQ and keep things pretty flat, from there it's a matter of a bit of gain, or a bit of delay. rarely, if ever do I have a 'verb patch, and I never use chorus. Just goes to show how different everybody is, eh? I am thinking that Reverb and delay is maybe kind of a "sustain pedal" for the Stick? Or maybe not. I don't know...

I don't know how you guys can play without "plugging in". Myself, I find I get kind of heavy handed and way over articulate. Lol I am bad enough for pressing too hard as it is I think! I am totally afraid I am going to hurt the Stick haha

I think players at Bob, Emmett, Greg and Steve's level will probably sound great no matter what. But for me, all ambience type effects are added after the fact, same as Paigan. I know that when we do our collaborations, I leave the processing pretty much completely up to Steve.

And Greg, what an interesting statement about "notes vs technique". On one hand, the notes are the 'story' and the technique is merely a vessel to create said story. The audience doesn't care if a typewriter or or a pencil or a crayon was used to create it. But on the other hand, for the artist creating said story, the path to inspiration means the removal of any and all creative obstacles. The more consistent and refined the ability to execute said notes, the easier and more often it will be for the artist to create new works. It's a lot easier to create if one doesn't have to worry about every minute detail when it comes to just playing a note...

Food for thought, eh?