Hello sir! I really enjoy your videos. I have a tendency to feel anxious a lot, throughout the day, so, when I get home, your videos always calm me down and make me appreciate life. I also play guitar, and I enjoy that you don't play one million notes... Just the right ones, with passion and love. All these people talk about your shoes and such... I like your shoes! You seem like a very positive, calm and humble man, someone for whom a lot of people should learn from. It was nice to see that you also like nature, just like me... I love going into the woods. So soothing and calm, makes me feel connected to myself and the wild life around me. Thank you for your videos!
Thanks for another inspiring tutorial.Im going to change the position of my loop pedal and see what sonic possibilities arise.Nothing like tinkering with textures,
Well he actually has the looper there so that he can change the delay of the loop. ANy effects you have before the loop will be "recorded" and anything AFTER the loop will change the loop harmlessly.
Chords Of Orion I have a question. My parents got me a Zoom G1Xon for Christmas and it's my first effect pedal in general. My favorite band is Pink Floyd and my favorite song Shine on you Crazy Diamond. Do you maybe know of any way I can create some Drones using my Zoom to solo over with? I don't have a lot of experience with effect pedals yet. But i wanna try to make the most out of the Zoom before buying more expensive stomp boxes. Here is a list of included effects in the link: www.zoom.co.jp/sites/default/files/products/downloads/pdfs/E_G1on_G1Xon_FX-list.pdf Would really appreciate your help! Thanks in advance! All the best, Raphael
Wow. There are a lot of effect options in that unit! I would suggest creating a patch where you first get an non-effected clean tone with some compressor (for clean sustain). After you get something you like, then begin to explore the modulation, delay and reverb options. I see that some of the delay settings go up to 4 seconds, so you might be able to emulate a "frippertronics" type of patch with the longer delay and a lot of repeats. Here's a tutorial I put together on the topic: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LhkXNCmctHw.html. Hope this helps!
Very insightful vid, the DIG sounds amazing and I've always wanted one of those Holdsworth "fatboys" they play and sound really nice. Thanks for the demo!
Nice! I just stumbled across your videos. I am a big fan of ambient music ever since discovering Brian Eno's Music for Airports way back in the late 70's. I look forward to checking out more of your stuff!
Thank you Bill I don't think there was one utterance of the term cool in this one . Really enjoy what you do and appreciate your listening to the comments
Hell Michael - I saw your other comments about my use of the word "cool". That word is baked into my very psyche so you must expect to hear it a good bit in my videos. I will however, take your feedback and attempt to dial it back. :-) Glad you are enjoying the comment!
Actually some of these drones that Bill just created sound like effects I have heard in beginning and ending credit soundtracks to some horror movies. I know that isn't exactly what he was going for... however just the same these drone tones might be useful for other styles of musical projects besides ambient. They sure are interesting to be sure; as are these pedals. Very informative tutorial.
I absolutely love your videos, I love guitar played in this way. I'm an electronic mucisian myself, I love synthesiser and droney atmospheric sounds, could listen to this forever. I have not got a clue how to play guitar but i would love one just so I could learn to make these amazing sounds. keep up the great videos :-)
Peace brotha, I'm sure you know by now that Logic allows you to create channel strips, including Buses, where you can send your guitar signal to a number of bus channels where you can lay out verbs, delays etc., i was doing everything you are until i started working in studios and learned that you can take total control of your sound this way.. I do understand that the pedals and all are a living part of this music style, just saying, for producing this music i would go about it with using multiple bus channels.
One of my favorite RU-vid channels. I especially enjoy the product demos, as they really show the capabilities of the pedal. Is there a comparable delay to the Dig in terms of creating drones? Trying to do ambient guitar on a bit of a budget. Please continue the wonderful videos.
If you don't mind going used, I would suggest a TC Electronic Flashback Triple Delay. I see a few on reverb for less than $200, and it's a great reverb for producing droning tones both with and without a looper pedal (as in this video).
Some delays will repeat beyond 100% volume (get louder each repeat), enabling one to fine tune infinite delays, and sometimes going into complete meltdown with runaway feedback. Careful with the volume though. May cause ear ouchies.
Hey Bill....I just started playing with this awesome lesson, my question is once I get a drone going, how do I kill it so I can move on to the next part of the lesson? Even if I hit the bypass switch then hit it again to do the next part, the drone is still there, the only way so far I have found is to turn the repeat knob back to the far left......
+Chords Of Orion I have been fooling around with the DIG but with the Ditto behind it. I don't do a lot of ambient stuff but the DIG has made me into a tinkerer for sure.
Cool! I've normally liked to run the Ditto in front of the DIG (as in the video), but have recently, like you, been playing around with the Ditto behind, using the Tap tempo in different ways for each looped layer.
I do not have a compressor just guitar into boost into delay and reverb then into Ditto X2 to create "pads" I can then play over. So the X2 is at the end of my chain, unlike what you are doing. Question is this : When I record with the Ditto X2 I get a hiss or lots of white noise so not a real good recording. Do you know why I would get that?
Hi! I like that a lot! Thank you very much, very usefull video :) Since you made this video have you found other ways or other pedals for the same use?
I am very glad you liked the video! I do have a playlist of the "drone" videos here: ru-vid.com/group/PLseB5HzFJKVxxsepFal1uXCYNKytpsC_Z The most recent one in the playlist is creating drones with the Neunaber Immerse. Thanks again!
Bill, a question, if I may. I have a Strymon DIG and DittoX2 and I've used it to create drones which have a similar texture to the one in your video. The issue I'm having is that when I disengage the delay (in which to play a lead line over the drone) the delay is subtracted from the drone and it becomes a 'dry' signal. Can you help? My signal chain is Gibson Midtown Custom>Carl Martin Compressor>Fulltone OCD> Morley Passive Volume>DIG>Dittox2 Any help would be greatly appreciated. Kindest, Jack
Your signal chain in the comment indicates that the Ditto is after the DIG, but if the delay is stopping on the drone when you disengage the DIG, sounds like it might be after the Ditto. Can you confirm the order?
Really nice video. Anyone knows how to get an ambient chord progression into a loop without the stop at the end of the loop? I have an Jamman Solo xt looper and a Digitech Rp90 for Delay n stuff. Of course i know that the loop has to "stop" to repeat the loop. But is their anyway to get a nice fluid transition? The cut at the end really kills the feeling of floating through space.
+Synomain I don't know that this work too well for distorted tones, but maybe putting the Jamman in front of the Digitech would work. In other words: Guitar->Looper->RP90. That way the loop would be in front of the delay,reverb, etc.
You have a lot to answer for, Bill. I bought a Little Alligator and a DIG after discovering your RU-vid channel recently. You have single-handedly changed my approach to guitar playing and boosted my motivation levels enormously. I'm drowning in creative juices!
One thing that I really like about the creative thought patterns of "ambient guitarists" is that they are "real" electric guitarists compared to the purists who think that using effects is a crutch. The truth is that every component of your rig -- including the guitar and amplifier and all the effects you use (or don't use) -- creates a new "electric" sound. These components are a lot like the stops of an organ. Any electric guitarist who chooses not to experiment with effects as a matter of elitist principle (on the assumption that it is a crutch to use effects) is not fully electric guitarist in my opinion. Even the people that they tend to worship because of their left and right hand skills and "technique" (as if using an effect to alter sound were not a technique) often use effects!!!! I like how you imagine what you want, or play around until you find something interesting to work with, then determine how you made the sound so that you could actually explain it. In that sense, ambient guitarists are more "electric" than purists and staunch traditionalists (who really have no idea what they are talking about beyond labels like Dorian and 7b5, which is not early as mystical as sound itself). The only thing I don't like is this over-reliance on overpriced Stryman stuff -- it has this sound that is too cliche now, way too hyper clean and not mushy enough.When I hear it (because it is instantaneously recognizable with its hyper-compressed-ness), it makes me think, "How boring, everyone does that." It calls my attention to the technique and away from the artistic expression the same way identifying mixolydian mode does to a traditionalist craftsman guitar guy.