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Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tips And Insight on Guitar Pedal Boards
For most guitarists, the pedal board can be just as important to their rig as a guitar or amp. In my recent posts about guitar effects pedals, I can tell effects pedal boards are just as important to you too. So I dug up some information on pedal boards, from dumpster diving for parts to insight from some of the greats. Having an efficient pedal board is extremely important for professional players so they have access to every effect they need on a clean board.
So, you’ve got the chops, you’ve figured out the scales, you even have the gear to back up your skills. But if you’re going to hit the road, play the bars or present yourself as half-professional, you’re going to need a way to organize your pedals.
That’s right, we’re talking pedal boards. There is a method to setting them up, and everyone is different.
Obviously it’s more than just drilling a bunch of pedals to a plank of wood and plugging them in. I spoke with Aleric Bendowski, accessories department manager at Guitar Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Mason Bundshu, lead guitar player for Las Vegas-based rock band Atlas Takes Aim, and learned there are a few things to keep in mind.
The first thing you have to think about is a case. It is possible to buy pre-made pedal cases like the Boss BCB60 Pedal Board Case, but that can lock you down in terms of options. You can go fully custom and design your own, and if you’re good with a miter saw, there is no end to the customization.
But if you’re like most of us, a hand-built piece of fabric-covered plywood can be perfect. It’s plentiful, inexpensive and easy to work with. But a piece of plywood is not a case, and it isn't waterproof, either, as Bendoski points out.
You can find a DJ CD Case like the SKB 1717DJ ATA 400-CD Hardshell DJ Disc Case or a turntable case like the Gemini CDM2, cut out any opposing dividers, and you have your template for a piece of plywood. Buying a pre-made case can cut down your cost, increase stage appeal and give your otherwise homeless pedals a home. Plus most will have handles and be road-worthy at once.
Power delivery needs to be your next thought. Ideally you want one power chord to plug in the wall that will power your board. You really have two options: Power supply or daisy chain.
If you go with something like the Dunlop DC-Brick, you’re going to get a cleaner sound. But let’s face it, cost is an issue, and daisy chaining has its place too. This is common, normal and acceptable, but you can run into some issues with frequency, volume and overall sound-quality loss. If quality is a concern and you have more than three pedals, it is worth going with the brick option.
Now we come to pedal placement — an art form in itself. I’ve heard everything from mandates ordering which pedals MUST be placed where, to complete laissez-faire approaches.
There are, of course, good ideas and bad ideas, but in the end it comes down to your individual taste. You must experiment since pedals can interfere with one another, sometimes in good ways and other times in very bad ways. And it can change in a live environment compared to a studio situation.
That said, I present the following order (from guitar to pedals to amp) as a starting point:
• Tuner pedals (Really this can be first or last)
• Compression pedals
• Wah pedal: Some INSIST this must go first since it needs a direct line feed but there can be a time and place to place it further down.
• Pitch-modification pedals
• Distortion
• Modulation pedals
• Light modulation like chorus and flangers first
• Heavy modulation like phasers and vibrato second
• Delay
• Reverb
Next we come to cable selection. Cables are the oil that make this engine run. If you’ve been playing a while and know your way around a soldering iron, it can be a great idea to go with George L or Planet Waves solderless cables. Less decibel loss and signal degradation but higher cost.
But since money and time are limited, it is plenty sufficient to use off-the-shelf chords. That being said, if you are at all serious about your pedal board, don’t cheap-out on the chords. Garbage in, garbage out! Spend some money on chords and make them count.
I’ve presented a very rough outline of what to plan for as you build your pedal board. Remember, the key is to know the rules so that you can break them the right way. You might set your board up like I’ve described here and change it in four months. That’s OK! Have fun, you will learn as you go.
No one ever sits back and says, “There! I have built the perfect pedal board.” This is art in progress. Build your pedal board to your taste.
I build and repair guitars and basses professionally, and I've played guitar in a number of bands over the years. I am not an amp technician, so I cannot advise you on how to “blackface” your 1970s Twin Reverb.
But if your instrument is difficult to play or you want to hotrod your favorite guitar, this is where I can help. And from time to time, I will be sharing tips for getting the sound that you want to hear out of your gear or alerting you to new toys that I find irresistible. Be sure to comment below -- or on GW's Facebook page.
I was recently inspired by a YouTube video featuring Paul Gilbert.
Check it out here:
There’s no Bradshaw switching going on there. He uses a hunk of ¾-inch plywood painted black and sticks his stomp boxes down with Velcro. It's simple, effective and cheap! These kinds of cures are right up my alley, and with a gig looming in my future, I needed to get my stuff organized in order to comply with the strict set times the venue had established.
I gathered up a 12-by-24-inch piece of shelving stock that was lying inside my closet and pulled a scrap piece of plywood out of the neighborhood dumpster. Then I came across a nice stiff board of white oak that was nearly the perfect size to serve as a cross beam to add some rigidity to my planned assembly. After experimenting with the proper pitch angle of the floorboard, I sawed the plywood scrap into two matching triangles about the size of a slice of pizza.
I made some pencil marks on the underside of the pedal board as guides to keep the “legs” square and after double checking all the parts for size and shape, I used an air gun loaded with 16-gauge finishing nails to stick it all together.
Next I determined the length of the oak board so that it would be a snug but not tight fit between the legs. It looked like the right size and shape, but since the materials I used were salvaged scrap, it was butt ugly. Luckily, I had the fix. I recently started installing a 3M product called Di-Noc vinyl. This material is sticky on one side and decorative on the other. Think high-tech wallpaper that you can cut to size. The adhesive side has a peel-off paper backing that makes the material easier to handle.
After covering all of the visible surfaces of my project, it was time to experiment with placement of the pedals. It is critical that your layout doesn’t cause you unnecessary hassles. If you use a bunch of stomp boxes, it’s a good idea to put the workhorses right in the front row. You don’t want to have to step over a pedal you use for the hook of just one song in order to stomp your go-to overdrive, unless it really works for you.
Once you have a logical layout happening and you’re sure you have the cables to make it work, you can slap some Velcro on the backside of all pedals and the corresponding locations on the pedal board. Then it’s just a matter of running the cabling.
As a finishing touch, I located some screw positions on the underside of the board and then attached a power strip. Other wall warts are plugged into a short extension cord, with the whole mess just crammed into a black sock to keep it all looking tidy.
The Velcro is the only material I had to buy. Other than the DI-Noc covering, everything else I used was found in the dumpster. A 2” x 4’ roll of heavy-duty Velcro goes for about $12 at the hardware store, and the whole project took just over two hours. The finished product looks cool and it helped me shave about 10 minutes off of my setup time. Sweet. Now if I could just pick like Paul.
There’s more to life than technique. Sure, it’s a beautiful thing, but some of the coolest guitarists around think texturally instead of technically. Consider The Edge and Jonny Greenwood, both highly influential and innovative guitarists who are as instantly recognizable as monster technicians like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, but not so much by hot licks textbook standards.
Of course, a balance of both is spectacular. Look no further than Jimi Hendrix.
A good way to begin striking that balance is to build a versatile pedalboard. I’ve had at least a dozen different boards over the years, from simple wah, distortion, delay combinations to multiple sampling pedals and pitch changers run through a variety of effects loop blends. And they’ve all served me well.
Generally speaking, if you’re new to thinking in terms of sound rather than notes and chords, or you’re a beginner, it’s good to stay simple from the ground up. That means thinking about the “board” part of your pedalboard first. I’ve seen everything employed from an old school cafeteria lunch tray to an Ouija board, but when you stomp on various boxes you don’t want your entire pedalboard sliding across the stage, so something substantial like the laminated shelving sold in your local Home Depot or Lowe’s is best.
Basic black looks great and discrete on stage, too.
A number of manufacturers make ready-to-go boards. The problem with some is that they are only geared to one manufacturer’s stomp boxes, and that’s too limited for the serious sonic adventurer who will by nature mix and match brands and sizes. A few companies make flat Velcro-receptive boards that already come fitted inside a road case, and if those fit your needs and budget, they are a good short cut.
But the size of the board should be based on the amount and variety of pedals you want to use, not vice versa. My current mounted arsenal of stompers — tuner/distortion one/distortion two/pitch change/phase shifter/vibrato/delay/sampler delay plus power supply — fits nicely into a used keyboard road case with a foam-lined interior for a cushy ride to gigs in the van. Remove it from the box, plug in a few cables, and it’s ready to fire up. Takes about a minute, and that’s what you want to achieve.
Try laying your pedals out on the floor and connecting them with the shortest appropriate cables before you finalize your design. When you’ve got the effects array and layout you want, check the dimensions to be sure it will all travel in a container that’ll work for you — whether that’s a keyboard gig bag, an old suitcase or something more formal.
There is only one correct material for sticking your boxes to the surface of your board:
Velcro. That allows for redesign (as the impulse comes) and removing boxes for replacement and repair. And it’s plenty stable.
Before sticking everything in place, use your floor plot to practice activating the pedals with the kind of shoes you prefer to wear on stage. Generally speaking, flat soles are easier for manipulating pedals in tight spaces than boot heels and bottoms — especially walking heels, which can smack into surrounding boxes, skewing pots and accidentally turning things on or off as you reach to activate switches.
Try to stomp gracefully instead of like Godzilla whomping Tokyo. That will increase the lifetime of the switches in your effects pedals. Considering that some boutique pedals cost more than $300, consciously tempering your stomps into light presses is a strategy worth considering.
And don’t depend on batteries. It’s a pain to have to replace them in pedals pasted to a board, and if you keep removing and replacing the same pedals, their Velcro will give out and you’ll need to replace it regularly. Why bother when you can invest in a power supply by Voodoo Labs or another manufacturer for less than $200 and keep juice running for eight pedals at a time. You’ll save enough on 9-volt batteries for the power supply to pay for itself. And they’re durable little buggers with attachments that come for all kinds of plugs, from mock 9-volt battery heads to male and female adaptors.
Now, putting your effects in order is a matter of taste and priority. It’s possible to make multiple loops within one pedal array, alá the Edge and other sonic warriors, but, to quote the great soul singer Solomon Burke, “the best road is always the straight road” — at least for most of us. If something on your board goes down on stage, you want to be able to identify the culprit and correct the problem or patch around it a.s.a.p. Overly complex boards make that a challenge, as I’ve learned the hard way.
When it comes to ordering your boxes, here are a few suggestions. Put the tuner in line first. Tuners need a nice clean unaffected signal to register best. Pedals that work as filters should come next, before distortion, unless distortion is your AAA priority. Wah-wahs deliver their best tonal range before a distortion pedal colors the signal. Which leads us to distortion pedals. If you’re using more than one, try them in various orders and see which sequence delivers the sounds you want before pasting them down.
Next up: choruses, pitch changers, octave splitters, flangers, phase shifters and the like — the modulation family. And then delays and reverbs; you’ll want them to treat your whole signal. Tremolo last, since, if you were using an amp’s tremolo, it would hit your signal after the pedalboard. And then a volume pedal, if you’ll be going for steel-like effects or simply want to reign in the beast from time to time.
Again, this order isn’t set in c-ment, but if you’re just getting your signal “wet” for the first time, an effects chain along these lines will keep you from getting into sonic waters that are over your head. Happy stomping!
Furman may not be as widely talked about name as those of guitar and amp makers, but their products are found in countless touring rigs and home studios of major artists, from Jimmy Buffett to Slayer.
Furman is probably most widely regarded for their power conditioning and voltage regulators, two types of products that are often overlooked yet very important in live and home recording situations. Voltage regulators ensure that a constant level of voltage is being provided to equipment, which can vary and fluctuate in older buildings. Power conditioning protects you from power surges and cuts in power that might fry gear, as well as providing RFI filtering for reducing hum.
Furman has entered the pedalboard market with the SPB-8 and SPB-8C, which feature a built-in power supply combined with their power conditioning technology.
The SPB series is manufactured in China and is made of a ¼” polycarbonate platform attached to a steel chassis. The SPB-8 has a platform area of 12” X 25” and has a Velcro surface for attaching pedals. The power supply offers eight 9V DC fuse-protected outlets for powering pedals, as well as three 120 VAC outlets, rated at 15 A, for “wall-wart” pedals.
The power and signal jacks are isolated, helping to reduce background noise and hum that can happen with other power solutions. This allows the rest of the fuse-protected outlets to continue operating should one of other outlets malfunction. The SPB-8 comes with a padded case, eight 9V DC power cords and a 10’ AC cord.
Probably the most unique thing about the SPB-8 is the stereo wiring capability. The stereo patch bay has 10¼” jacks in two stereo loops, offering the ability for the use of stereo effects boxes as well as using a stereo amp setup.
The SPB-8C features the same power conditioning but has a few specification changes. The area of the SPB-8C is 13.75” X 26.75” and the SPB-8C also offers four 120 VAC outlets. The SPB-8C has eight ¼” jacks for stereo abilities and comes in a hard shell case. The SPB-8C also comes with 10 9V DC power cords and a 4” X 24” strip of Velcro for attaching pedals to the board’s surface.
The SPB-8 has a street price of about $199.99. The SPB-8C has a street price of about $379.99. Both come with a three-year warranty. Unfortunately, as of this time, Furman has ended production of the SPB-8 and SPB-8C.
One of the most renowned guitar players in music history is none other than Randy Rhoads, sideman to Ozzy Osbourne. I was able to find a transcript of a guitar clinic he did years ago that explains his experience and shares some insight on his pedal board setup. Find it here at http://www.guitarworld.com/randy-rhoads-guitar-clinic.
Guitar World pays tribute to July 2011 cover star Randy Rhoads, Ozzy Osbourne’s colossal sideman, with this classic transcript of a guitar clinic he conducted shortly before his untimely death.
Few musicians in the history of rock have been as beloved — revered, really — as Ozzy Osbourne’s late guitarist and musical soul mate, Randy Rhoads.
Only 25 when he was killed in an airplane accident in 1982, Rhoads managed in a few short years to establish himself as one of the most innovative guitar players in the world. On landmark Ozzy songs like “Flying High Again,” “Crazy Train” and “Mr. Crowley,” the guitarist wowed the world with solos and rhythm playing that managed to be explosive and tasteful, and a classical sensibility that was his alone. His premature death only served to solidify his legend, and his many fans keep his memory and spirit alive.
Guitar World acquired a tape of a seminar given by Rhoads himself before an enthralled group of Randyphiles at Music City in Greensburg, PA, on Feb. 2, 1982, only six weeks before his death. Here is the transcription of the lesson presented that day, in which he reveals himself to be every ounce the dedicated — and utterly unassuming — guitar hero.
Whether fielding questions from the audience about the details of his rig or the complexities of his technique, Randy was the perfect gentleman. And as his opening statement to the audience reveals, he was modest and humble, qualities that, as much as his guitar playing, endeared him to his fans:
“This is only the second time I’ve ever done this, so please don’t expect me to just come out and handle things real well; I’m very nervous about speaking in front of people, so you’ll have to give me a hand by asking a lot of questions. I’ll do anything I can to help you out.”
What effects do you use when you play live?
I have a pedalboard that’s got an MXR Distortion +, an MXR 10-band equalizer, a chorus, an MXR stereo chorus, an MXR flanger, a Crybaby wah pedal and a Roland volume pedal. I used them much more in the past than I do nowadays, but now our sound man is starting to add a lot more up front. Sometimes I use them more for quiet rhythm parts, just to enhance the sound. I never use echoes or anything for leads.
Do you have a preamp built into your guitar?
No, I just have the Distortion + on the board, and I just keep that on all the time. My amps are Marshalls.
What speakers do you use in your cabinets?
I use Altecs. I prefer those to Celestions because they’re very bright, clean speakers. I found that Celestion speakers are pretty dirty, and if you add a fuzz box to them they’ll sound terrible.
Do you ever have trouble with feedback?
Yes, I have lots of problems there. For example, if you let go of the guitar for a second, it will feed back. You’ve got to play so that you’re covering your pickup. If I don’t want to do something quiet, I have to either use the volume pedal or click off the fuzz—otherwise my guitar will squeal. I’ve gotten used to playing that way.
Do you have a special tremolo unit on your Charvel Flying V?
Grover Jackson, who owns Charvel, builds the guitars himself for me, and I use his tremolo units. There’s no perfect tremolo, except for maybe a Floyd Rose, but Grover’s are very good. I have another Flying V, the polka-dotted one, but it isn’t a Charvel, and I do have tuning problems with it all the time.
What kind of music did you play when you first picked up the guitar?
I’m 25 now, so I don’t remember what I was playing when I was seven. I just played the guitar. One of the early things I remember was strumming [the flamenco guitar standard] “Malagueñia” on an old Spanish guitar. Later on I just started playing anything I heard on the radio: “Gloria” or “Louie Louie” or whatever.
What players did you admire growing up?
I get asked that all the time: “Who’s your favorite?” “What are your influences?” If you play long enough, your influences are bound to change. I never had a phonograph ’til I was, I think, 16, so I couldn’t just sit and copy my favorite players. I had to listen to the radio, and I liked whoever was good. One of my favorites was Mountain and Leslie West — those harmonics and that sustain. I just thought Leslie was the greatest. But now, I don’t have a favorite — I just like anybody who plays guitar.
Did you take lessons or were you self taught?
Mostly self taught. When I was young I took lessons—basic folk and classical training—then I started playing rock. I’m actually taking lessons now.
Pedal board close up
You’re taking lessons now?
I did when I was in England.
Who was your teacher?
Anybody. I just take lessons from anybody, like when I have a day off or something. I’ll find someone in town and just pick their brain.
Were you in other bands before you hooked up with Ozzy?
I was in a local band in L.A. called Quiet Riot for five years. I was still with them when I met Ozzy, so I had to leave. Other than that, I was just in some garage bands and other little things that didn’t work out.
Didn’t you put out a couple of records with Quiet Riot?
Yeah. We had a record deal, but we were very young and we lost the deal. It just fell apart. The records were later released in Japan. I was 17 years old and the producer wanted to make us sound very much like a pop band. I mean, if you hear it, there’s hardly any guitar on it.
What do you think of other guitarists, like Michael Schenker?
I think Michael Schenker is excellent, a great rock player. He’s very melodic and he plays with lots of feeling.
Are there any other players you’d put in that category?
Oh, I could name a hundred. I mean, everybody who’s out there is really good at what they do. Eddie Van Halen is fantastic, Ritchie Blackmore…
There are critics who accuse you of copying Eddie Van Halen. Are you influenced by him?
Well, we’re both from the same town and we were both in local bands. It seemed like everybody in L.A. was a lead guitar player, and we all played very similarly. Everybody used to say we all sounded very much the same.
What do you think of Angus?
Angus Young? I think what he does, he does great. He’s so into it.
Tony Iommi?
I didn’t know too much about Black Sabbath when I met Ozzy. That’s probably why I get along with Ozzy—we’re different and come from different musical backgrounds.
Does he ever talk to you about why he left Black Sabbath?
Oh yeah, all the time. I guess they just weren’t getting along. They had been together a long time—14 years or something like that.
When you write a lead, do you focus on the melody or go for more of a technical, dazzle-type thing?
It depends on what the progression is and what the mood of the song is. You have to put down something that suits the song well. I like to play melodically.
What would you say is important for having a good band?
Aside from being able to play well together, you all need to be on the same level mentally. If one guy wants to go out and earn money in a lounge and another wants to go out and do originals, then you’ve got a conflict. I think you should all want the same thing out of your band and like the same kinds of things. That’s a good start, I think.
Is it true that when you auditioned for Ozzy you didn’t even have to play? That you just plugged in your guitar and tuned up?
Yeah, it was even more embarrassing than this. [laughs] I thought I was gonna play with a band. All I brought was this little Fender warm-up amp. When I got there, everyone was behind the glass, and in the room was just me and my amp. And they said, “Okay, play.”
And I thought, You’ve got to be joking. I mean, what could I play? I didn’t have any other musicians with me. So I just started warming up, then Ozzy said, “Yeah, you’re good.” I had only played for a few seconds. Then I got kinda mad and thought, Well, you haven’t even heard me yet.
Can you play some stuff for us now?
What would you like to hear?
How about the solo breaks in “Over the Mountain,” where you play the fast, unaccompanied licks?
The first lick in that section is played like this It’s in E minor. Then the next break is just a series of real quick pull-offs to open strings , with a tremolo bar dive added at the end.
That’s all there is to it. There’s just one real lick in it; the rest is just, oh, noise.
Play the solo to “Revelation (Mother Earth).”
Okay. It’s in E minor and is very similar to a harmonic [minor] scale. It starts on E flat [D#] and goes up to E flat [D#] again at the very end. For the next lick, I use the edge of the pick to make the riff sound an octave higher. It sounds a lot different live, because I’m trying to slow it down so you can see what I’m playing. Then the next bit is played like this. The only weird notes in it are the E harmonic minor parts.
Could you play the fretboard-tapping riff from your “Flying High Again” solo?
Sure. You start with your left-hand index finger on C# [1st string/9th fret], and you tap with your right hand on a high A [1st string/17th fret]. When you move over to the B string, both hands move up one fret. You then repeat the process on the G and D strings, which finishes off the lick.
The next four bars of the solo are played exactly the same way, but begin down a fourth, in E. The same process is repeated, shifting up one fret as you move to each lower string.
What key is “Flying High Again” in?
It’s in A. When I play “Crazy Train” and then go to play “Flying High Again,” I’m a half-tone out.
Did you tune differently on Diary of a Madman as compared to Blizzard of Ozz?
Yes, we tuned down one half step when we recorded Diary.
Why?
When we were recording the second album, the tuner we had was miscalibrated, and I began to like the sound of being tuned down a half step for some of those songs. A lot of people tune down a half step, but I’d never done it before then. It gives a much heavier sound to the chords, and it just gives you a meaner sound, overall. When we play live, some of the songs are tuned down and some are not, so I use different guitars which are tuned accordingly.
Could you play the beginning of “Crazy Train”?
Yeah, sure.
Are you using a wah-wah on that part at the beginning?
No, just a distortion pedal.
How do you play the main rhythm part to “Crazy Train”?
Like this. The chord progression is A E/A D/A A; the open A string is played against all of the chord voicings. The fast lick at the end is played with pull-offs to open strings. At the end of the verse section, I use chordal inversions, like this. Each chord is played with the third in the bass [the major third appears as the lowest note in the chord voicing]. Here, the chord progression is A/C# E/G# D/F#, with the third of each chord played on the low E string.
How do you play the rhythm part to the section that leads into the chorus?
That part’s played like this. On the second verse, I add a riff when I get to the F#m chord at the end of the progression, like this.
How do you play that really fast, ascending lick during the second chorus?
That riff is sort of a “fake”; I don’t even do that lick live, because it sometimes sounds really sloppy. I used to play it live, though. It’s just an [arpeggiated] F# minor triad shape that slides up the neck chromatically [ascending one fret at a time], but I’m going to lie and say that it’s played perfectly. All it is is this, after which I hurry into a pick slide before the lick dies. When you play loud, you can get away with playing a lick like that without playing it perfectly.
Did you use tapping in the “Crazy Train” solo, too?
Yes, the solo begins with this tapped lick, after which I play a slow trill that slides down one whole step.
How do you play the last lick in the “Crazy Train” solo?
It’s in F# minor. I’m trying to remember it because I don’t do that run live anymore. To the best of my recollection, it’s played like this [FIGURE 4H]. The lick begins one and a half steps below F#, on D#. If you were to play the lick in A minor, it’d be done like this.
Is there a term that describes these kinds of riffs?
These riffs are all articulated with hammer-ons. I know of no other particular name to describe them.
Do you do any particular finger exercises before you go out on stage?
I have some exercises where I use the first, second and fourth fingers in order to warm up.
Here’s one [FIGURE 5A] in which I’m just sort of “wandering around.”
It’s good to do exercises like this [FIGURE 5B] using “alternate picking” [down-up-down-up, etc.], and to keep speeding it up. I used to like practicing licks that contained a lot of hammer-ons, like these [FIGURES 5C and D], but I don’t do those things that much anymore. These licks are great, though, for warming up your fingers before a gig.
Could you show us those unusual chords in “Diary of a Madman”?
Sure. The song begins with an A [major triad], with the flatted fifth added to the chord. So, you’ve got the root note, A, the third, C#, then the flatted E, with the open high E on top. The sound of the Eb and the E together gives you that dissonant sound. As you can see, the notes on the D, G and B strings descend as the chords progress through the first five bars. This section ends with an arpeggiated Emaj9 [Eadd2] chord, with the seventh, D, dropped in at the end.
The verse section features virtually the same chords as those used for the first four bars of the intro, but played in a different time signature. This section ends with some different chords played in yet another time signature [6/8].
Then there’s the heavy, distorted riff which appears a few times during the song. Here’s how it’s played during the intro. Following the bridge and the interlude, I shift to this heavy rhythm guitar part. The last chord in bar 1 [the two-note Em] is very similar to C7, but I think of it as E diminished, as both chords are built from almost the same notes [both chords comprise the notes G, Bb and E].
Right before the interlude, I play a heavily distorted riff that is similar to the first heavy riff, which is in A minor, but is here transposed to E minor. This is followed by the interlude, which begins with an Em(add9) chord.
When you take your spotlight solo each night on stage, do you ever improvise or do you always play the same solo?
It’s basically the same. But it depends on the sound I have onstage: if it’s a bad sound, I just do a basic form of the solo. But if it sounds really good, I like to carry on with it.
Guitar and pedals
If you're into how your gear looks too, then there is something you gotta check out. This is the first time I've seen a pedal board that lights up on stage. Find more info here at http://www.guitarworld.com/trailer-trash-pedalboards.
If you have been to a concert recently and the guitar player has a glowing pedalboard, there’s a good chance it is made by Trailer Trash Pedalboards. Trailer Trash is a producer of high-quality pedalboards with as a much a focus on aesthetics as function and durability.
The company boasts an impressive client list, including George Thorogood and Rascal Flatts, and is a favorite among A-list session and touring players such as Rafael Moreira and Gary Burnett.
All cases and boards are manufactured in the U.S.A. and come in two primary formats, the Pro Series and the Glow-Tops. Both the Pro Series and Glow Tops are similar in construction and available in sizes ranging from 18” X 16”, all the way up to 40” X 18” and are offered in red, blue, black, yellow and diamond plate.
Both can be ordered as board-only but soft case and ATA case versions are available as well. Trailer Trash does Limited Edition series runs, which feature custom colors, but are limited in availability.
The Pro Series has a Velcro top (vel-top) or, for a slight upcharge, a Hard Top, which provides stronger holding power but does not provide the same ease to swap pedals in and out. The Pro Series is designed with the intent for a power supply to be mounted beneath the surface, allowing the AC cord to run out of the side.
The Glow Tops differ in that, as the name suggests, they contain lights inside the pedalboard that provide back-lighting to the effects on the board as well as through the logo on the front of the board, providing functional light for the player as well as adding visual pizzazz for the audience. The light colors are red, blue and green; they can also be fitted so your board has three different colored sections. The lights are wired separately and have an isolated power supply, so no extra noise or interference is added.
The boards come with patchbays pre-punched and plugged if you want to do your own wiring, but Trailer Trash provides custom wiring options for the pedalboards. There are a myriad of options available ranging from mounting options to neutrik jacks installation and combinations of true bypass loops, AC connectors and power supplies. You can also supply your own true bypass loops and power supplies for wiring.
Prices start at $85 (18” X 16”, board only) for the Pro Series; Glow Tops are an additional $250-$400, depending on the board size. Wiring starts at $35 for a standard wiring per pedal. There are many size and wiring options available, as well as fully customized pedalboards, in which color and size can be customized to order. More information can be found at trailertrashpedalboards.com.
So that's probably more than you'll ever need to know about pedal boards, but hopefully all your questions have been answered. Remember to check back in at Mike's Guitar Talk for all your guitar needs.
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