Yeah the two examples I gave weren't ones to point out that some do it to double their note count, more that when players do use a loud defined delay, it creates a completely different style of playing.

I used to do this very thing with one of our songs with a section of sixteenth notes, where I kicked in the delay and played eighth notes. I ultimately found it more difficult than just playing the sixteenth notes -- hard to dial in the right delay time, especially on the fly, for about 30 seconds worth of playing. Pretty quickly switched back to playing the sixteenth notes manually.

www.reverbnation.com/thehighfidelics

What SanchoPansen just said is pretty good. Back before I had any reverb at all other than my on-board, I used heavy analog delay with a long decay to try to recreate the crash and drip sounds I heard on recordings. Now that I have a tank I know it wasn't really the same, but it was unique and actually sounded pretty good on glissandos and the palm-muted bits. But I don't do that anymore.

On the otherhand, I like the strange and wild sounds I get from feeding my tremolo pedal into that delay and having them go crazy together. Very weird and spacey sounds emminate from this pairing.

And okay, I'll confess.

Very early in my adventure to learn guitar I bought my delay pedal to try to "double" my effective picking speed. Epic fail. My lack of ability, combined with the delay's inherent inability to keep track of what I was doing, sounded essentially unlistenable. I seriously considered buying a delay with active dynamic tempo, meaning it was supposed to be able to adjust its' delay to my picking speed as it's played. But I decided to concentrate on just being a better guitarist instead. I'm still working on that, but it's worth it.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Nov 07, 2012 09:34:23

I thought distortion is for hiding lazy playing

No, delay doesn't make you a lazy player you can be that all by yourself. But delay (or echo as I like to call it) can be a wonderful tool if used correctly. Over, Martin.

dp wrote:

i don't even know what a lazy player is...

I would say somebody who thinks that because they have the tone that means anything they play is a usable song within the genre they are aiming for.

I almost always use a little reverb or delay. Often when I try to play with no effects I hear that my fretting technique is not quite as good as I had thought, in fact it's a little sloppy (notes and chords not played as cleanly as they should be, or not held to sustain their full value). In my experience reverb or delay can help mask this lack of technique, and in that sense maybe contribute to being "lazy".

Granted U2 has been a joke for some time, but let's not call the Edge lazy. Does he let his effects do a lot of work in many cases, yes. But do you think he just happened upon that sound? And IT IS one of the greatest sounds. I find it very compelling to listen to some of those U2 tracks.

Here is what we forget on SG101, you can't really be a lazy guitarist. You are a lazy musician. That is the real crime. I don't care how easy something is for a guitar or how little work it takes for them to play a song if the music is compelling or comes from somewhere personal in terms in which they convincingly convey, then we have a winner.

I'd rather listen to the Edge than a technically proficient twangy chicken picker or a surf guitarist trying to emulate the past.

ps: if delay makes you play lazy, then James Wilsey is probably the laziest guitarist ever!

Hey hey hey, I did NOT mean to offend the Edge in any way! But everybody who watched 'It might get loud' knows that he (sometimes) plays 2-3 notes (not even chords) and the effects do the rest. He even admits this and shows it. I am totally aware that he IS a great guitar player and sound architect, but you have to admit that playing 2 notes in some songs is kind of...well...erm...lazy That's why I picked this example. And yes, I'd prefer listening to an innovative guitar player over listening to e.g. blues soloing, too. Just wanted to point that out.

Edit: Maybe it's also a point of definition. Is a drummer only playing 2 hits on a snare (and nothing else) considered 'lazy'? Especially when it fits the song perfectly? He sure is innovative and he thought about what to play. But he did not move much, so he did not waste energy - or even saved energy, which is IMHO lazy. And I also think that's what the author of this thread had in mind. Less picking because of delay repeats. So players like the Edge are lazy from this point of view. Phew, hope I got my point clear and won't be nailed to a cross or anything...

The Hicadoolas

Last edited: Nov 08, 2012 11:38:12