deLuxe Motor Fuzz Pedal by Orion Effekte Demo- Guitar Player Magazine Top 25 Fuzz Pick

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Delay - Most Common Guitar Effects

Another one of the most common guitar effects would be the delay. It is one of the most favorite guitar effects used by guitar players. It would also be often combined with an overdrive distortion or other guitar effects to achieve maximum results.

As the name implies, the delay would allow the sound to be played back at after a specific period of time. It can be played back several times or just one time into the recording.

Guitar players would use this effect to create some textures that over densely overlaid. The notes and the rhythms would then become complementary to the music. Some vocalists use a delay. It can also be used with other instruments to add some density or an ethereal quality into your playing. Delays that take about 10 seconds are used to create loops of an entire musical phrase.

The delay, as mentioned earlier, is one of the most used gadgets by guitar players. It has been used since the 70s and 80s and is still widely used today. However, the first digital delay that came with a pedal was the Boss DD-2. This was released in 1984. Some delay units are now rack mounted and are capable of incorporating other digital effects that are more sophisticated than pure delay like reverb and some audio time-scale pitch modification sound effects.

The more familiar digital delay systems normally function by sampling the input signal with a converter that would then turn the sound from analog to digital. The signal is then passed through a series of signal processors that then records it into a storage buffer. The play back is dependent on the parameters that you would set on the gadget. The wet or delayed output may also be incorporated with a raw and unmodified dry signal before or after it is sent to the digital-to-analog converter.

There are some digital delays that would offer other options. This includes controlling delayed signal's time before playback. Commonly, delays would also allow the user to set the overall level of the processed signal versus the unmodified one to be modified and to be repeated. Some more sophisticated systems offer an audio filter even.

Erica Mills is a guitar teacher and musician for over 10 years. He loves teaching students with a passion in music on how to play guitar songs. He is passionate about his work and dedicated in helping students achieve their dreams. Visit http://www.bandjammer.com for more guitar song lessons.

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BOSS MT-2 METAL ZONE pedal review

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Emotional Healing Examined

"How can we eliminate the deepest source of all unsatisfactory experience? Only by cultivating certain qualities within our mindstream. Unless we possess high spiritual qualifications, there is no doubt that events life throws upon us will give rise to frustration, emotional turmoil, and other distorted states of consciousness. These imperfect states of mind in turn give rise to imperfect activities, and the seeds of suffering are ever planted in a steady flow. On the other hand, when the mind can dwell in wisdom that knows the ultimate mode of being, one is able to destroy the deepest root of distortion, negative karma, and sorrow." - From The Path To Enlightenment by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

What are these spiritual qualifications that His Holiness the Dalai Lama refers to? This article will focus on emotional healing as this is the starting point for revealing these spiritual qualifications. So let's take a close look at what it means to heal emotionally.

What is emotional healing? It is a painful process that leads to peace, happiness and self-knowledge. Self-knowledge leads to liberation. It is painful, because only painful emotions need to be healed. True happiness does not need releasing! But true happiness remains un-experienced as long as there is an escape from pain. It is the healing of buried pain that allows happiness and joy to start to make a true entrance into our lives. This is because only through self-acceptance can we really move forward in our lives.

The word pain is used here to cover the whole gamut of emotions, negative thinking and blockages, including sadness, grief, loneliness, hurt, fear, anger, guilt, judgment, betrayal, hatred, jealousy, envy and so on.

Emotional pain can be described as frozen feelings, stored in our body and memory, that lead to suffering. The suffering we experience may or may not be openly acknowledged to ourselves or not. When we suffer due to some negative emotion, if this is not acknowledged, the emotion gets lodged in us and remains there and thus the 'see3ds of suffering' are planted. Suffering is self-generated. No pain can be given to us from the outside. It is not the event but the thoughts we project onto ourselves and others about the event that create suffering.

At some level we obviously enjoy our suffering. It's obvious because otherwise we wouldn't be this way. After all, don't most of us consider ourselves to be knowledgeable, clever, in control and aware? But despite all these attributes people constantly find themselves facing the same patterns, the same scenarios and the same problems time and time again. It's like we lock ourselves into the prison of our own suffering, throw away the key and then complain when we 'can't' open the door; yet the key is in our own pocket all along. You might say that this is a rather harsh view, and it perhaps seems so on the surface. The point is that it's not about eradicating suffering, for this is part of life, but of acknowledging it for what it is. Calling a spade a spade. And not lawnmower.
In order to understand why individuals are responsible for their own suffering let's enquire more deeply into the subject.

The majority of us have emotions stemming from our past, mostly with their origins in childhood. Given the society we live in, these emotions are difficult for us to express. We learn from a young age to keep them hidden inside us, since everyone else is doing the same. We watch others: our parents, siblings, other family members, friends as well as people in general. We notice that they suppress their emotions and try to always appear in control. Seeing our closest loved ones withholding their emotions from us - as well as thereby withholding their expressions of love - may even lead to deep issues of co-dependency. These patterns do not shift easily as one get older, rather become more and more entrenched. Wisdom is not an automatic given of ageing! Or maybe as a child we did show our emotions but got hurt in the process, so we decided at a subconscious level to hide our feelings, for fear of being hurt again. This is all very understandable and an aspect of the human condition as it is at present. But this is not the road to joy and peace. For pain can't be eradicated by the suppression of it. And happiness can't be attained through pretense (the mind projecting a self-image of 'I am happy.')

John Pierrakos, MD, one of the first psychiatrists to bridge medicine with spirituality, said, "Negative emotion will emerge in devious ways when it is denied recognition." Thus, if we wish to live a true, fulfilled life, suppression is not an option. Moreover, John Pierrakos also said, "If we close off negative feelings, we stop our creative process." Thus the suppression of emotions leads to dull lives, lacking in vitality and free expression; and moreover, keeps us starved of real love, given and received.

Over time, we come to believe our cover-ups and to buy into our own story of self-control believing we're 'fine'. Our emotional life becomes more and more hidden. Sometimes, when we do feel real feeling - maybe when we watch a film that moves us, or feel touched by someone's act of kindness or due to a painful experience in our lives - we may allow real emotion to surface for a short while, but we are mostly still unable to fully express it. The foot is quickly back on the break pedal. Our habitual suppression kicks in automatically. We have trained ourselves well! And thus, as we go through life, with all the stresses and demands upon us, we may sometimes feel anguished and confused, but we are inept at expressing what really lies within us. As we lose connection with our own feeling center, we may even be unaware of what our true feelings are, since denial becomes the new reality during this suppression process. But denial is a painful game we play with ourselves, and if we are honest with ourselves, we can sense this dichotomy in us, a fragmentation, an inner conflict. We may have a niggling sense that we haven't turned out to be the quite the person we thought we would be, or that life has somehow been harder than expected or that the quality of happiness we hoped for ourselves hasn't manifested.

Eckhart Tolle, in the Power of Now, says: "The best indicator of your level of consciousness is how you deal with life's challenges when they come. Through those challenges, an already unconscious person tends to become more deeply unconscious. You can use a challenge to awaken you, or you can allow it to pull you into even deeper sleep. The dream of ordinary unconsciousness then turns into a nightmare."

This nightmare is one that most of us believe to be normal life. But real life is not this. If we open our eyes we will see the vast dichotomy between the quality of our inner experience and what we think or prefer to believe is our experience. This game that we constantly play with ourselves - a game that takes a serious toll eventually - is called ego. The ego - or personality - has a lot invested in our delusional patterns and keeping us this way.

If we can allow ourselves to become aware of this inner confusion and sense of dissatisfaction, then we have a chance to heal. If we remain unconscious to the world of emotions, life will continue on an unconscious path, a veritable battle to keep at bay what needs to come to the fore in order for us to become more whole. If we are truly honest with ourselves, we know that in our daily lives there are many instances of conflict or some negative emotion. But due to our inability to assimilate such emotions, we shy away from admitting this. The disease of the human condition to deny what is so and believe what we want to believe, lies at the heart of our own self-generated suffering. But the energy expended in keeping emotions at an arm's length may as well be used to deal with these emotions because one day we'll make that choice anyway. Finally we may say 'enough is enough, I need to change'. In the end, whether now, in ten years, at the point of death, or beyond, our heart will feel the call to finally soften. But why wait? Why accumulate more 'stuff'? Why deny? There is much healing to be done on this planet. It creaks heavily with the pain and suffering that its people are holding on to everyday.

If, individually, we are willing to allow our perspective to shift with regard to our beliefs about ourselves and take a step back from our fears, then we are half-way there. What we then have is a transformational opportunity that the release of emotions presents. In fact without it, growth - emotional, mental and spiritual - is impossible. When there's an elephant in the middle of the room, there's an elephant in the middle of the room!

It is often the case that emotional work requires a catalyst because it is not easy to look at ourselves in an honest way in the normal course of events due to the walls we place around ourselves, especially as we go on hiding ourselves from ourselves. But finally, there comes a point when the game's up. So at a certain point in our life, a trigger may present itself that will take us out of our comfort zone. The trigger may be many and varied - loss of some kind, bereavement, mounting stress, illness, redundancy, addictive patterns becoming worse, a sudden change in our lives, or simply a weariness or low-lying depression. The pain that we feel at these times is a message from our heart asking us to shift our thinking and beliefs. We ignore this message to our detriment. The breeze of truth is knocking on the door. This truly is a blessing!

But better than waiting for such a catalyst we can also feed our own natural curiosity and with intent can become more conscious.

So what is 'the process' for emotional healing?

It is quite simply to feel the pain. To sink into it. For women, it's a bit like labour pains when they tell you to just let the pain come. This is the key in the pocket. Also, the pain is felt in the body, our faithful mirror, and we can now look at where exactly it is in the body. Perhaps it is in the chest area, or maybe the belly. Our body can show us much more about ourselves if we listen to it and it doesn't lie. For example, cancer patients who have ridden themselves of cancer have, in the process of healing, usually had to look within themselves at the negative emotions they have been holding onto, and release them.

It is often beneficial if the origin of the painful memories can be remembered but this is not essential. Even if you can't remember the exact circumstances or conditions at the time of the pain being created inside you, the emotion itself is still stored and this can be felt. Energy never disappears, especially where there is much emotional charge.

Where does the anguish or anger come from? What are the beliefs you hold about yourself concerning this situation? Usually at the base of pain is a closely-guarded belief about ourselves, something we do not care to admit to easily. A feeling of unworthiness, not being good enough or some negative self-belief. Stating this belief in one sentence is often a good way of pin-pointing it. When we find the limiting belief, we will usually feel deep emotion arise, and the tears need to be allowed as they arise. Fear not! Tears and suffering are finite.

Whatever the circumstances, we ultimately created our own pain alone, and we must deal with it alone. Whether someone else is present when we go through this is our choice - and it can certainly be very beneficial eg a therapist, holistic practitioner or trusted friend - but no one can feel the pain for us and or take responsibility for it, other than us. This work is done alone ultimately. However there are many tools and techniques that can help us with this work, eg Hypnotherapy, Counselling, Core Energetics, EFT, Spiritual Healing and much more.

For men, it is often harder to allow themselves to admit to and feel deep pain, and to weep. But this is a huge release. Feeling the pain is necessary if healing is to occur, regardless of whether you're a man or woman. Ultimately the gender divide is immaterial. It is time for men to allow balance between the male and female energies within them. Just because you're a man, it doesn't mean you're not sensitive. Sensitivity is the birthright of both genders. Have you seen how sensitive babies are, both girls and boys? It's just adults who have formed walls around their heart. Now the heart is gasping for air.

Healing ourselves is an allowing of whatever memories and thoughts arise without resistance. It's the resistance to what is arising that turns pain into suffering. Resisting anything in life causes some level of suffering. We've heard the expression, 'what you resist persists.' So there is simply no deeper way to heal than to allow pain to surface whenever it shows up. But be careful not to resist the resistance! Even this must be allowed.

When we are real with ourselves, there is a great release and freeing up that takes place. This is because we are no longer the same person anymore. We are still who we always were, but now, without the burden of that pain. J Krishnamurti said, "Pain itself destroys pain. Suffering itself frees man from suffering." This is because in feeling our pain purely, without resistance, it is released and is no more pain, but rather freedom. It's the freedom of being liberated into the full-feeling, authentic human beings that we really are.

The act of self-healing is an act of self-love. And love truly is the transformative power. Self-love is the starting point. How can we love another when we have little idea how to love ourselves? How can we love ourselves when we deny ourselves due to feelings of shame, insecurity or guilt? Loving oneself is like nurturing a brand new baby. It's a nice analogy. As a loving parent would you want your baby to suppress its needs and suffer silently or would you want your baby to express its needs and have these met? Uncannily, we may see that it is the nakedness of love that really terrifies us. Love terrifies us much more than fear. We are not used to love in its tenderness. But there is ultimately no other option. We are here to learn the lesson of love.

The understanding and empathy that come from being more gentle with ourselves enables us to be gentler towards others. In learning to love ourselves, we learn what it means to forgive ourselves. Forgiveness is deeply healing. It allows a softening in the place where we were stuck and hardened.

Once we do such release work, the sensation or experience we may feel is that a fog has lifted from in front of our eyes, yet only now do we know this fog was ever there. A sense of surprise that the problem was a problem in the first place. Our eyes see as if for the first time. We lighten up. Phew! A heavy weight lifts. We begin to let go of our addiction to pain and suffering, for it is that: an addiction. It is what we are used to. We may finally see that shocking events only exist to shock us into awakening to the truth of life. And what is the truth exactly? It is that all our emotions and pain are not real. If they were we could not shed them, or heal them. For what is real does not require shedding, it simply is. The truth is that we are complete and whole as we are, and this real Self requires no healing. All the events and situations that arise that challenge us are for the purpose of unveiling the real Self, where we finally find peace and rest.

The reason that the release of hidden pain provides such relief is that we feel a rare moment of existing in the Now, of being present to ourselves. This is a profound experience, for it is only in being present to 'what is' that we can truly experience ourselves as real.

Pain cannot exist except in our minds, our closely guarded memories, and the beliefs we hold about ourselves and others. These are simply a protection mechanism for fears that do not exist in reality. Ultimately all pain and suffering are an illusion - hard as this may be for the mind to accept. How we know fear doesn't exist in reality is because in those beautiful, alive moments when we are wholly present to what is, we feel freedom and lightness. There is no fear then.

And what does life look like without undue suffering? David Spero, a great spiritual teacher based in California, says, "The more profoundly we go into our emotional states, going deep into the fabric of our emotional life (that which is true for us) and release that which has been put there through some form of abuse or some form of betrayal - working through that you begin to feel naturally what you feel in an unhurt state." Fundamentally, we are all innately happy and peaceful.

Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879 - 1950), the Indian sage who attained enlightenment at the age of 16, said: "Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside."

To unveil this state of happiness we must first look at its distortions. We can only discover it by going into and through the level of guilt and negativity we carry inside. This allows the moment to be experienced unresisted. Then sorrow is transcended and our own innate joyful nature allowed to surface. And in being true to our real Self, we experience deep satisfaction. Finally, we are home.

Reena Gagneja is an Internet Marketer and 'Spiritual' Entrepreneur'. She works with her team to help them achieve success, both inner and financial. She also offers Spiritual Counselling and Soul Contract Reading sessions to private clients.

To receive Reena's Spiritual Entrepreneur Empower Now tips enter your details on Reena's Blog.

To receive information about an Internet Marketing system and very lucrative opportunity to create abundance click here [http://www.workwithreena.com].

An Introduction to the Electric Guitar

Electric Guitar

Electric guitar is a type of guitar that uses electronic pickups to convert the vibration of its steel-cord strings into electrical current. The signal may be electrically altered to achieve various tonal effects prior to being fed into an amplifier, which produces the final sound which can be either an electrical sound or an acoustic sound. Distortion, equalization, or other pedals can change the sound that is emitted from the amplifier.

The electric guitar is used extensively in many popular styles of music, including almost all genres of rock and roll, country music, pop music and also in some classic music.

Custom electric guitars

Onyx Forge custom electric guitars based in California, USA is the one stop for all the custom electric guitars. Their ideal custom guitar includes 6, 7 and 12 string standards guitars. Also specializes in exotic woods and custom switching for active, passive or piezo pickups.

Acoustic electric guitars

Some steel-string acoustic guitars are fitted with pickups purely as an alternative to using a separate microphone. These are called electric acoustic guitars, and are regarded as acoustic guitars rather than electric guitars. These should not be confused with hollo body electric guitars, which are more of electric guitars fitted with hollow sound chambers.

History of the electric guitar

Adolph Rickenbacker invented the electric guitar.

Electric guitars were originally designed by an assortment of luthias, electronics enthusiasts, and instrument manufacturers, in varying combinations. In 1935, a Soviet scientist working separately from his western colleagues was known to have produced an electric Russian guitar called Kuznetsov electromagnetic guitar.

The first recording of an electric guitar was by jazz guitarist Beddie Durham in 1937.

Electric guitar strings

Guitar strings are strung parallel to the neck, whose surface is covered by the fingerboard. By depressing a string against the fingerboard, the effective length of the string can be changed, which in turn changes the frequency at which the string will vibrate when plucked. Guitarists typically use one hand to pluck the strings and the other to depress the strings against the fretboard. Traditionally, the dominant hand is assigned the task of plucking or strumming the strings.

In electric guitars, transducers known as pickups convert string vibration to an electronic signal, which in turn is amplified and fed to speakers, which vibrate the air to produce the sound we hear.

Electric guitar cases

Case is where the guitar is kept to protect the guitar as well to carry it from one place to another in order to protect it some of the cases available for guitar can be listed as follows:

o The AME-30 is designed to fit Archtop guitars. Featuring the revolutionary Ameritage Humidity Control System, which protects instruments against climatic effects which cause swelling?

o Calton Electric Guitar Cases will accommodate most electric, acoustic electric and electric hollow body guitars. Due to the shaped nature of a Calton case, the instrument's horn length and headstock offset are critical measurements that may be requested for your case to be made.

Electric bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is an electrically-amplified fingered string instrument. The bass is similar in appearance to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and scale length, and, usually, four strings tuned an octave lower in pitch, in the bass range.

The bass is typically used to provide the low-pitched bassline and bass runs in popular music and jazz. The electric bass is also used as a soloing instrument in jazz, fusion, and latin.

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Muff Fuzz pedal shootout

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T-Rex Dr. Swamp Overdrive Distortion Pedal Old

www.ProGuitarShop.com - The new T-Rex Dr Swamp Distortion pedal now features two Dr Swamps in one! With switchable gain stages, you can now set up a chunky rhythm sound and a screaming lead all in one pedal. The Dr Swamp can also act more as a semi-clean boost with a solid 15db boost on the Volume pot. If you like that overdriven tube amp rhythm tone, you can set up Gain 1 with low gain and a volume boost, then add some overdrive with Gain 2 for your solo channel. The T-Rex Dr Swamp Distortion pedal can take your tone to the next level. The overdrive is warm and soupy with plenty of overtones available through the Tone knob. As a boost, the Dr Swamp is semi-transparent with a nice grit along the edges of the attack. Crank up the gain and get ready to scream your way to the top. The higher gain settings completely overwhelm the sensibilities with harmonic richness and creamy dynamic response. If one Dr Swamp isn't enough, the new T-Rex Dr Swamp Distortion pedal gives you two.

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Black Metal Guitar Lessons

Music is the best form of expression - of feelings as well as attitudes. Different types of music provide different expressions, so you can choose what suits you the most. Hard rock or heavy metal music takes the form of expression to various extremes. Black metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal class indulging in an extreme form of creativity and individualism, pioneered by thrash metal bands. If you think you belong to this sub-culture and want to explore further, let nothing stop you from going for black metal guitar lessons - you have a wide range of choices in the pre-recorded CD or DVD courses.

While you explore how and from where to take lessons, it will be helpful to start listening to albums of popular black metal bands and reading about evolution of the black metal subclass. This will prepare a useful ground for your future lessons. You may start either with the "first wave" bands of 1980s such as Bathory, Venom, and Hellhammer; or the "second wave" bands of early nineties: Burzum, Mayhem, Immortal and Emperor. It will be better to also listen to some thrash metal bands to understand how the black metal sub-genre evolved.

Tremolo picking is an essential skill in the genre of heavy metal music, including black metal. While you can read instructions on tremolo picking at several places, the best way to learn is through professionally designed lessons offered on CDs and DVDs.

Apart from good guitar technical skills, the key to playing good heavy metal music is in the control of the guitar instrument and guitar effects. In order to get a good solid tone from your guitar amplifier, the combination of guitar and special distortion pedals is required and tweaked to perfection.

Internet is a convenient source to explore heavy metal music and the bands. You should certainly go through the background information of the metal guitar music; it will help you understand the fine differences between the dark metal and other subclasses. But when it comes to learning, the best metal guitar lessons are confined to CDs and DVDs; be convinced of that.

Dark metal music, in particular, symbolizes freedom and demands an open and free mind - given to both experimentation and exploration. To learn black metal, you need an attitude more than anything else. Mastering this extreme form of self expression will likely open up new faculties of your mind which had remained untouched so far.

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Songwriting with the Electric Guitar

The electric guitar is probably the easiest instrument to use for writing songs. This is due to the fact that it is played through an amplifier. Most amplifiers have many knobs to adjust for getting the sound that you desire. You can usually adjust the level of bass, treble, middle and gain. Some amps have other effects to use, such as reverb and chorus. Reverb is a form of very short delay and can be used to add depth to the sound. The chorus effect is odd but thickens the sound the amp produces. A few amps out there have built-in effects that may add delay, flanger and distortion. Even if your amp does not include these effects, you can purchase pedals that produce any of them and these = will make it easier to write a unique song. Another reason to use effects is to write a song using less effect because the effect will do most of the work for you. Some people prefer not to use effects but if you are attempting to write songs using a guitar as the only instrument, it would be a wise choice to have overdrive and delay effects on hand.

It also helps to have proper recording equipment to lay down every idea you have. A simple 4 or 8 track cassette recorder would do the trick. Or you could use a microphone from your computer to record songs onto your hard drive. If you plan on using more than one guitar track in a song, be sure to record your rhythm tracks. Do this, and on playback, record yourself playing over it just to get idea for soloing. It doesn't matter if it sounds bad, just keep trying and then when you become more satisfied, let others listen to it and see if they enjoy it or not. Not much sense in song writing if nobody likes it at all. Recording isn't just to remember your idea, but to see what it really sounds like without the guitar in your hand.

Becoming a good songwriter is important in growing as a musician, because playing someone else's songs doesn't do much for creativity. Try learning as many chords as you can and just keep playing them over and over. Get the sounds stuck in your head so that when it comes to creating a song you want, you can easily apply the right chords. You will not write songs very quickly if you are sitting there trying to find the right notes to go along with the ones you have played before. If you start getting stuck, don't try forcing yourself, go outside and do something else. Being outside or interacting with somebody is an excellent way of gathering ideas for your songs. When it comes to the writing process, it should usually help to be in a quiet place without distractions. This applies to writing lyrics for your songs as well, if you plan on having any. Writing lyrics according to the mood you are feeling is also an easier way to get the writing done quickly.

As far as the guitar playing goes, try to experiment with effects to get a sound that resembles the words of the song you are writing, which would be your mood, or feeling.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Guitars [http://guitars-guide.com/].

Electric Guitar Effects Pedals - 3 Practical Uses For the Guitar Compressor Pedal

One of the many Electric Guitar Effects Pedals available to the guitarist is the Guitar Compressor. They come in many forms ranging from simple to complex, and can be used singularly or embedded within a multi-effects unit.

Firstly - what does the compressor do?

Basically a Compressor automatically controls - or compresses - the Gain of the signal from the Guitar to reduce the Dynamic Range of the output audio signal to your Amplifier.

Note 1: Gain is a unit of measurement, which indicates the increase in power, or amplification of a signal through an Amplifier.

Note 2: Dynamic Range is (in this example) used to describe the ratio between the smallest and largest values of the audio signal.

The above sounds a bit Techy - so what are the practical uses?

1. In practical terms it means that with a Compressor, the player can perform a wide range of styles from soft chord work to loud lead solos, and the output - or volume -from the Amplifier would remain constant. This has the effect of enabling the audience to hear softer chord or rhythmic passages in the song while not drowning out the other musicians during your blistering solos.

2. Another popular use of the Compressor is to increase the sustain of a note beyond the natural string decay of the instrument. Gary Moore's Parisian Walkway is a typical example. The Compressor does not actually change the Guitars behaviour, but works on the audio signal to maintain a constant output level after the string has been plucked. In effect, by changing the Release Time to longer than the Guitar's Decay Time, the instruments note will be preserved.

3. One area where the Compressor is invaluable is in the Recording Studio. The Guitar is a very dynamic instrument, which can lead to all sorts of clipping and distortion problems for the recording engineer. The Compressor is probably the most used tool in the studio arsenal, and is used on most tracks to enrich the sounds - including vocals - as well as maintaining an even dynamic range to prevent clipping. In the modern day studio, which now uses computers to record music, the use of Compressors is now more often in the form of software plug-ins.

This has the advantage that the Compression settings can be changed at any time during the recording and Mastering sessions, and interacts and changes the sound of the audio signal without permanently altering the original recorded signal. However, with hardware Compressors, the signal is first passed through the Compressor before being recorded to the computer hard drive. Therefore, once the recording has been made, you cannot alter or undo the Compression effects.

This device has a number of uses for the live musician, but must be treated with caution as improper use can destroy the dynamics of the music, or lead to the introduction of unwanted noise. Generally there is no substitute for using your own ear to gain the experience to use a Compressor effectively, but the end result can be well worth the effort.

There are a large number of Compressors available, and as such, care should be taken to find the right one for you. If you would like more information on what's available on the market today - plus some great YouTube Videos on various Effects Pedals in action - please CLICK Electric Guitars Effects Pedals for upcoming news, reviews and sales.

Affordable Guitar Gear Suggestions for Rock, Punk, Blues, and Metal Guitarists

There are a lot of choices out there. Guitar, like many other hobbies offers a variety of product choices for just about every conceivable scenario. This overabundance of choices might prove to be just as confusing as it is helpful, leaving you lost and wondering "what guitar setup is right for me and the type of music I play?" Luckily, you're a cheap guitarist so your options are not nearly as expansive or expensive. But in the world of cheap guitars, you have the burden of avoiding poorly made products and ridiculous promises from manufacturers hoping to make a quick buck. Bearing this in mind, here is a compiled list of example rigs comprised of only cheap guitar gear for several popular genres of music all for around $500 each! It's by no means comprehensive, but it should help you get some ideas! The brands and models are listed, but you'll have to use Google and a little researching to figure out the rest.

The Rocker

You're a budding young guitarist and you just wanna rock! Or maybe you want to relive the glory days of 70s hard rock but don't want to make guitar-hero level investments. This cheap rig can handle all of the classics up to today with its raw-raunchy power.

The Guitar: Agile Al-2000 - $200

The Agile AL-2000 is an affordable copy of the classic Les Paul design. With dual humbucking pickups and a solid 10lb mahogany body, this guitar was simply made to rock! At $200, this Les Paul-style guitar is very affordable and comes from a brand consistently praised for its value, customer service, and sheer quality.

The Amp: Orange Crush PiX 35 - $249

The Orange Crush PiX is an affordable solid state amp in the Orange product line. At 35 watts and featuring a 1x10 speaker, this amp is equally adept at practice and small gig situations while remaining portable. Tone wise, it is a very close approximation of the British-voiced Orange tone that just oozes rock vibe. This amp even includes digital effects for practice, increasing its versatility. And at $249, who can argue with that?

Other Stuff: The Basics - $20-30

You don't need any gimmicky pedals to rock out! Along with the guitar and the amp, all you need is a strap and a cable and you're ready to play! For less than $500 you have a gig-ready, practice approved rock rig that is cheaper than most guitars alone!

The Punker

Who needs guitar solos or complicated songs? Cut the fat and get to the point! This punk rock rig is ready made for the punk guitarist who just wants to slash a few chords and keep things simple. After all, expensive gear isn't very punk!

The Guitar: Squier Tele Custom - $249

The Squier Tele Custom is a no frills guitar with dual humbucking pickups and a maple neck that is ideal for pounding power chords. The Tele Custom was Fender's response to the Les Paul in the 1970s, with the power and durability of the Gibson combined with the lightweight and comfortable feel that Fender/Squier have to offer. Compared to a regular telecaster, the tele custom will handle distortion much better and accentuate your rhythmic playing with ease. Squier is Fender backed so you know you're not getting some cheap offbrand copy - it's made to last!

The Amp: Roland Cube 40 - $219

The Roland Cube series are cheap but highly responsive modeling amplifiers that will work equally well on stage or at home. While there are numerous models to choose from, you'll likely find the Cube's "R-Fier" high gain model - modeled after the modern punk sound of the Mesa Boogie Rectifier series - ideal for punk power chords and palm muting.

Other Stuff: The Basic - $20-30

All you need for punk is your guitar and your amp, so just buy a cheap durable cable and a guitar strap and you're ready to rock! For less than the price of a mid-level guitar, you have a gig-worthy and versatile punk rock rig. What a world we live in...

The Metalhead/Shredder

Droptuning, chunking, speed picking, and high gain - you're getting into brutal territory with this rig! Metal players demand high gain and clarity and a guitar that is comfortable while they're thrashing about, but those kinds of rigs can get a bit expensive... until now!

The Guitar: Ibanez GRG150DX - $250

Ibanez guitars gained popularity in the 80s as shred worthy, fast playing instruments that accommodated the increasingly high gain sounds of heavy metal music. After a rough patch due to the popularity of grunge, Ibanez has come back in full force offering guitars in all price ranges from affordable to high end. The Ibanez RG series, of which this guitar is a part, offers humbucking pickups, a tremolo system, and a fast playing neck great for speedy riffs or shredding.

The Amp: Peavey Vypr 30 - $199

The Peavey 6505 is the de-facto metal amp these days; it is also well over $1000. Peavey's Vypr series offers affordable modeling amps that closely emulate their more expensive cousins. The 6505 model on this amp will take you into high gain territory with the articulate, powerful distortion sound you'll need for shredding or chunking. Like most modeling amps, the Vypr also comes with programmable effects, making extremely versatile for its price. If you think you need more volume and you have more money to spend, there are larger versions of this amp to suit your air-moving needs.

Other Stuff: Straplocks, the basics - <$40

With all your heavy thrashing and playing, you may need straplocks to keep your guitar firmly over your shoulders - and not somewhere in the mosh pit. Straplocks are usually around $15, easy to install, and are essential if you're playing onstage with intensity. Otherwise, you'll need a strap and a cable.

The Blues Noodler

So you got the guitar playin' blues? Not to fret! You don't need tons of money invested into guitars and amps - you just need some soul. This cheap guitar rig will help you articulate your blues pickin'.

The Guitar: Squier Affinity Stratocaster - $180

The Stratocaster design is almost synonymous with the blues. With three single coil pickups and two in-between pickup positions, there are plenty of ways to find the sweet spot for your blues bends. Squier guitars are designed and backed by Fender, so it's as close as you're going to get to the real deal without spending a lot more money.

The Amp: Fender Vibro Champ XD - $239

Fender amps have also had a close association with blues players. The Vibro Champ XD is a super affordable tube/modeler hybrid that is both small enough to crank up and wail without deafening yourself but loud enough to play any show miked. For blues playing, it offers more than enough versatility and it shouldn't have any problem hanging with a reasonable drummer (as rare as those may be).

Other Stuff: Dunlop Crybaby Wah, the basics - $80

The wah pedal was popularized by blues-rock giants Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix in the late 1960s and has since become a staple of blues lead playing. For around $70 you can add the distinct wah sound to your blues playing repertoire. Just be sure to buy an extra cable along with the basics and you have a smokin' blues rig all for around 500 dollars.

Conclusion

As you can see, it is clearly possible to find the guitar gear that suits your needs all at a very low price. While the sheer number of musical instrument products might seem overwhelming, a savvy cheap guitarist can find some great stuff out there without breaking the bank. It's just a matter of knowing what you're looking for, how much you want to pay, and what style of music you want to play. With these restrictions in mind, the sheer volume of guitar gear out there seems more like an opportunity than a confusing mess.

http://www.cheapguitarists.com provides up to date reviews, coverage of deals and sales, and helpful articles and tutorials for the budget minded guitarist.