It's probably an over-simplification on my part, but it's like learning a language. If you don't know how to put the words together, it doesn't matter how manyo of them you know.

It's why my first DVD had to be about how to make the notes sound great, and how to get from one note to the next in the most powerful way.

Hmmn, I should watch that DVD again...

Wow thanks guys, for taking the ball and running with it. I'm just one guy and can only take a theme so far. It's really informative to see how it bounces around the group.

Well, I"m going home to practice. No fx, at least for the first half hour

R

Both approaches are good. Purity in dry sound makes you an honest player.
Alternately efects alter the way you phrase and build dynamically.
Each approach has benefits to your overall musicianship.
Funny story....a few years back I went to hear/see guitar great Oz Noy. He is a very effect oriented playrr. A master using about 20 pedals. Well on this night he could't get his board to work. Bad wire somewhere in the chain. He blurted out to the audience "I guess I just have to play like a man"
BTW. ..check out Oz on a trio track we did together called The Trio of the Hot Club of Mars.
Lots of effects on his guitar and my Stick

Steve A

I love this. It's so easy to hide less-than-palatable playing behind effects and call it a day. Bad at keeping your 8th notes straight? A slappy delay will hide it. Tone too twangy? Let's put a bunch of verb in so the tone gets lost in the echo. Is your tapping not quite accurate enough to always elicit a strong note? Distortion and a hefty dose of compression will clear that right up.

But, IMO, that leaves you an incomplete player, always stuck behind the limitations you've ignored and the mask of effects that you wear. Every talented musician, pro or hobbyist that I know, practices their technique dry. Their mindset is, if they can't get the part to sound good with just the instrument, the it's not going to sound great with the effects.

Even if the part is just a whole note chord with a really synth pad delay, you gotta make sure that the chord itself is clean, that each of the notes are ringing out properly and that you have control over each variable of the chord.

I think effects are great, and use them to a great extent. For me though, they're there to enhance the part being played, and that means that if the part isn't right clean, it won't be right effected either.

Sometimes, I play without effects, but it's not the same music at all.
Here's a sample from the net. Try to get this tone without effects...
The effects pedals take you to places that you can only imagine.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9XWOPCz3Vk[/youtube]

I would like to quote that for emphasis. IMO, there are two ways effects can be used:

One way is to enhance the sound of the instrument: A touch of reverb and/or delay, a light chorus, etc.

And then you can use effects as an extension of the instrument. Even if you "only" use distortion, you have to adapt your playing to the new sound, even more so if you use more extreme effects, or a combination of effects. Then the Stick, together with your effects chain, becomes one big instrument. And you will have to learn to play that big instrument the same way you have to learn your basic technique.

I agree. Playing with effects can be very stimulating.
I play musical instruments to help me relax and de-stress.

Music is an emotional thing and can be very expressive.
The effects enhance the sound to create a much better stimulus.

Effects inspire iideas, and with the Stick this is especially evident in contrast to the natural sound...

Excellent example Greg. Very cool!