Don't fret the Guitar
by Joel Bourque

The electric guitar is everywhere these days. From video game commercials to clothing racks at Rue 21, we are bombarded with images of Strats and Les Pauls. Why? Because guitars are cool! Alone at home? Grab your ax and hit some power chords. In front of an adoring crowd? Step up and let 'em have it. Feels good don't it? When you hear an electric guitar being played, chances are the guitarist is using effects. Effects are electronic devices or occurrences that alter the sound of the guitar. Most guitar players (myself included) endlessly search for that perfect combination of effects to achieve the tone.

Let's compare the guitar to a jambalaya. Though I've never cooked a jambalaya myself, I've seen it done under my carport many a Sunday and yes, I've got the gut to prove it! The first step in cooking a jambalaya is browning the meat. Then throw in some rice and water and bada bing, bada boom, we've got ourself some jam. Whoops, we forgot to put seasoning in there. That's pretty bland. Without the seasoning, its got no kick, no flavor. You'd eat it if your survival depended on it, but chances are it's gonna end up in the garbage. What if we'd have put too much seasoning in the pot? Surely everyone eating would have sour faces from the saltiness or the hotness and we're back dumping the pot in the ditch.

Keeping our virtual jambalaya theme in mind, let's think the the guitar as the meat. Just as good meat is needed to make a good jambalaya, a good guitar is needed for good tone. Let's think of the amp as our rice and water. The rice and meat to creates the complete dish, take either one away, you wouldn't have jambalaya. The guitar/amp combination creates the total electric guitar sound. No amp, no sound and vice versa. Effects are the seasoning of an electric guitar sound. There are as many effects as seasonings out there. How does one know which ones to use? Trail and error and experience. Not enough effects, boring tone. Too much effects, a bunch of noise. The right choice of effects...delicious.

Distortion is the most commonly used effect on electric guitars. It's used heavily in blues and rock. Any AC/DC song will give you a textbook definition of great sounding distortion. We first heard distortion in the 50's from Chuck Berry. At that time, distortion came about on accident. The amplifiers of the day were low powered and when turned up they would overdrive creating a warm, fuzzy sound. This can be heard on Maybelline. Legend has it, guitarists of the day would shred there speakers with razor blades to get there amps to break up. Jimi Hendrix was one of the first to use outboard effects to artificially create distortion. These devices paved the way for modern distortion effects. There are many names for distortion: overdrive, fuzz, crunch, grunge, lead and dirty. Distortion can be chieved using the distortion channel of an amplifier or pedals (commonly called stompboxes).

I've just scratched the surface of effects and I'll talk about them more in the coming months. Check out Eric Johnson. He uses effects about as close to perfect as anybody. If his tone were a jambalaya he would be champ of champs.