| When the electric guitar was originally created back in | | | | notes or chords fade in and out. Such attributes are |
| the 1930s, the main intent was simply to create an | | | | useful during human vocal sections, when the |
| instrument that could be heard over the increasingly | | | | percussive plucking of strings needs to be softened |
| large jazz orchestras. It is highly doubtful that the | | | | or eliminated altogether. There are at least three |
| instrument's inventors could ever have imagined the | | | | different types of volume pedals, these being |
| uses to which their creation would someday be put. | | | | auto-volume/envelope volume, tremolo and |
| The modern electric guitar is a source of an | | | | compressor. Each type boasts specific attributes |
| apparently unending array of tones, pitches and | | | | useful to different situations and musical genres. |
| sounds. Artists have pushed the instrument's limits in | | | | Time-based effects include delay/echo, looping, and |
| an attempt to find new and innovative noises, and | | | | reverberation or "reverb." The first, delay/echo, |
| they continue to do so. The sounds of the electric | | | | creates a copy of an incoming sound, delays it slightly |
| guitar have become an art form in and of them | | | | and then repeats it either once for a "slap" effect or |
| selves, so much so that specific devices have been | | | | multiple times for an "echo" effect. Looping involves |
| invented to create them. Such devices are referred | | | | recording a phrase or passage and then |
| to as guitar effects, and they modify the tone, pitch | | | | accompanying that passage as it replays. This |
| and sound of the electric guitar to help create the | | | | technique involves the use of extremely long time |
| sounds that define some modern music genres. | | | | delays. Finally, reverb refers to the persistence of a |
| It would be almost impossible to cover the wide | | | | sound in a particular space after the original sound is |
| range of effects used by electric guitars, so only the | | | | gone. In essence, it is a large and extended number |
| most widely used will be covered herein. One group | | | | of echoes. |
| of very popular effects is distortion-related effects. | | | | Modulation-related effects include several devices, |
| Such effects are produced by distortion pedals, | | | | including the rotary speaker, the rotary speaker |
| which distort, or "clip" the guitar signal's waveform. | | | | simulator, the vibrato pedal, the phase shifter and the |
| Distortion effects fall into four main subcategories: | | | | flanger. The rotary speaker and its simulator offer |
| overdrive/distortion, overdrive/crunch, fuzz and | | | | something known as a Doppler effect, which is a |
| hi-gain. Some of these effects are often associated | | | | change in a wave's frequency and wavelength. A |
| with specific genre or artists. Overdrive/crunch | | | | vibrato pedal reproduces the sound of the rotary |
| pedals, for example, produce sounds very similar to | | | | speaker by synchronizing a standard speaker's |
| those in the music of Carlos Santana and Eddie Van | | | | volume oscillation, frequency-specific volume |
| Halen. Hi-gain pedals, on the other hand, create the | | | | oscillation, vibrato, phase shifting and chorusing. A |
| sounds most often connected with the genre of | | | | phase shifter creates a complex frequency response |
| heavy metal. | | | | that results in a "whooshing" noise, similar to that of |
| Then there are the volume-related effects. As with | | | | a flying jet. And finally, if an artist wishes to simulate |
| distortion effects, those related to volume are also | | | | the sound originally created by slowing a tape down |
| created via a pedal. The guitarist is able to use this | | | | by holding something against the flange and then |
| pedal to adjust an instrument's volume during a | | | | allowing the tape to speed up again, a flanger can |
| performance; it can also be used to make a guitar's | | | | produce such a sound. |