A very interesting and fun guitar effect to create is the violin effect. This is something that has gained popularity through players like Jimmy Page, who would actually played his guitar with a violin bow at certain times. This article is going to highlight how to create this effect without having to wreck a violin bow. All you need is a decent multi effects pedal.
The type of violin sound that we are going for is a long, sustaining note with a gradual attack, meaning the beginning of the note is a soft, quick volume increase similar to when a bow is moved across violin strings. There are two basic ways to accomplish this kind of attack.
If your multi effects pedal has an option that lets you set the attack rate of notes, you can play around with that until you have a satisfactory sound. The other method is to use the volume pedal to manually execute a gradual attack on each note. While this may take some practice to be effective, performing the attack manually will give you more expressive control over your playing and allow you to manipulate the sound on long runs of notes with greater success.
Becoming an expert with the volume pedal can really add to your playing, and will instantly bring you a more violin-influenced tone, but there is more to be done. You can also use your multi effects pedal to infuse some reverb, and maybe a slight delay, into your sound. This will help match the acoustic resonance that a violin usually has when played in an open space.
Sustain can be added to your sound on most multi effects pedals, and this can help match the sustain that violins have when played with a continuous bow stroke. With a long sustaining note and some delicate use of the volume pedal, you can produce some really detailed vibrato in your playing.
The last element to the violin tone should be a slight amount of guitar distortion or overdrive. A violin produces sounds besides a pure tone, mostly from the effects of the bow sliding over the strings. A small amount of guitar distortion can mirror this quite well, but make sure that you don't overdo it.
This should give you the best possible tone to replicate the sound of a violin, and with no bow necessary. Once you have this established, you can experiment with some more extreme forms of this sound, such as heavier guitar distortion or delay. There are many great tones available based on this general idea, and with a good multi effects pedal, the possibilities are usually pretty immense.
More information about how to use a multi effects pedal to create a violin guitar sounds available online.
