How To Use An EBow The Right Way 

Josh probably rests his elbows on the toilet tank.

Ebow tomorrow on Reverb: $1000

This man listened to THE TAPE THAT TELLS YOU HOW TO HOLD IT and didn't listen lmaaooooooo

He might have the box, but he certainly doesn't have the instructions.

Josh, I have tremendous respect for you sharing both your triumphs and embarrassments. You're what we all hoped the internet would be back when it started... real and educational. Thank you.

I just snorted bread through my nose: all of these things are explained in the manual and cassette 😂 Good on you Josh for allowing this comedy gold to be shared. Only a person with no ego can do that

The Seinfeld drop was hilarious

It's an electric bow!!! 😂😂😂 03:07

I'm stuck at the almost bought an EBow stage for like 30 years. I'm again looking at the decision line and staring. It's a blissful, longing place to be.

Please go bananas with the editing like this more often

Never underestimate the power of a "this side up" logo. Lol

Running an EBow (the right way round) through a reverse delay, maybe the funnest thing you can do with an EBow.

As soon as the arpeggios started happening I lost my mind. Literally decades of using it exclusively like you josh.

I just have the utmost respect for a man who will show his misunderstandings. You are a class act Josh.

It really doesn't matter in which direction you hold your EBow. However, it is suggested that you hold it "backwards" (reverse grip) when playing on the bridge pickup, and "the right way" when playing on the neck pickup.

Collective Soul had a custom stand that the ebow was attached by rope to. So when he dropped it, it would swing away and he could come back and grab it when needed again.

I still have my instructions from the 90’s and it says you can play it either way, it’s called the “reverse grip”. “The reverse grip allows you to play over a single coil pickup located close to the bridge, and over either coil of a hum-bucker. Cross-string bowing over the treble pickup sounds like bowing next to the bridge on a fiddle.”

The E-bow changed my life! Went from not owning one to owning one.

Yeah, I woulda thought the LED might’ve been a clue

Saw the thumbnail- “This better have Stu G in it” 0:01 “oh good”

I know he’s busy, but can Stu please become a permanent installment on the JHS Show? He’s just the best

One or two things I learned with elbows: 1) have spare batteries. 2) tape the switch to prevent batterie from dying of beiing switched on by something in your case. 3) have a spare batteries and a safe space to put it on when you’re not playing.

Why is it that when I watch a JHS video, all of my stress just melts away? Thank you for posting, Josh.

Josh, you are not alone! I am learning right with you. Like you, I have struggled with the eBow for years trying to get an arpeggio like Phil Keaggy. Knowing about the sweet spot was a revelation to me! Cheers!

I’ve had an EBow for a few years now, but rarely messed around with it until seeing this! Josh has no reason to feel dumb! Thank you so much for sharing!

Thank you for posting this video, Josh. Its a really helpful visual demonstration of where to place the ebow relative to the pickups, and the movement across the strings. Much appreciated :)

Not gonna lie- I got my first Ebow used and held it backwards. Ended up selling it because it wasn't giving me much use. Ten years later, I got another one as part of a trade and realized watching a Phil Kaeggy video that he was holding it opposite the way I was. Flipped mine around and bam. Okay, I still don't use it much, but there is a popular local studio with an owner/engineer/producer who LOVES Ebow. That means if I'm playing with a new local artist, chances are that their album has Ebow on it. Everybody is always tickled when I can duplicate the part.

Josh! I just found this channel yesterday and I could not be more thrilled. You are without a doubt the best education based host for this genre. You're quick witted dry humour and pace make this so mich fun to watch i couldn't even believe the Paul Gilbert pedalboard episode was nearly 30 minites long. Thank you so much!!!!

Always so happy to see eBows getting some love. I've played one for years. Eventually the top half that houses the battery broke off, so I replaced it with a plastic weed container and it's even easier to hold now.

This video NEEDED to be made! Seriously, I've had the ebow for 2 years and even after watching the tutorials, it looks so easy but it requires a very serious touch. It's been very difficult to get anything musical out of it.

I love the longer videos but whenever you guys enjoy making them it shows, so do what you love!!!

4:29 "I'm a broken man" segment with that time warp editing... Hilarious! 😂🤣

I do like the short form videos! It's not always convenient to sit for half an hour or more and watch a video. I enjoy all your stuff though and this one was freaking hilarious!

Growing up as a huge Delirious? fan and playing guitar at my church every weekend from my 13th to my 20th, Stu G had SO MUCH influence on me that I just can’t stress it enough. I remember hearing Obsession for the first time and being like “wait, wtf is he doing” on that iconic e-bow solo, and when I found out I became obsessed with it (pun intended). Thanks for this video Josh, and thanks for all the lessons Mr. G!

Part of what makes this so funny is that Josh is so damned smart. It's just really unexpected from the guy who knows everything about guitar gadgets!

Be careful, I had a friend with a 1958 strat, the ebow demagnetize the magnets on his neck pickup. So he moved the middle one over and the same thing happened... It actually works like a demagnetizer if you pull it away slowly.

Don't feel too badly. I'm 65, have owned and played with an eBow since they came out in the 80s'. I never knew about the "hot spot" secret, however I did hold it correctly. Going to grab my eBow and play right now. Thanks!

Didn't own an E-Bow for about 30 years of playing even though I was a massive Stuart Adamson, How Lloyd Langton and Robert Fripp fan. I kind of learned to use one by watching videos of Stuart in Big Country on TV. Eventually I bought one new at the same price as they were when they first came out and had so much fun with it. I've never tried the arpeggio effect though. Going to give it a go very soon. I still have the tape but never listened to it. That's how much of an expert I thought I was. Arrogant guitarist alert!! ;)

A few ebow tricks Stu didn't mention 1 Overdriving your pickup by laying into the hotspot 2 Pushing down on the ebow until it contacts the string makes a satisfying squeal 3 This is a weird one I discovered while playing around. Set your guitar to an in-between position with two pickups active. Hold your slide with your right hand on the strings somewhere between the pickup. Select a string and holding the ebow with your left hand place it over the 12th fret. You will hear two pitches, one from each side of the slide. As you move the slide the pitches will move opposite each other.

Stu G is such an underrated guitarist. Glad to see him having a moment here.

you are not alone, Josh, you are not alone - I blame that crappy VHS of the Big Country New Years Eve concert

I got mine in '99 I think, Ordered it from the back of a guitar magazine. I played it backwards too! Then my girlfriend who also played guitar, actually read the little handbook and taught me how to hold it correctly. I lose it and find it again every five years or so, Now I have to try that arpeggio trick, luckily I know right where it is - it turned up during a pandemic related move.

It was Phil Keaggy in 1979. I saw him using an "ebo". He was and still is brilliant.

I had an E-Bow over 40 years ago (I'm guessing 1979) when I worked at Carlsbro (yes, THAT Carlsbro), and never got the hang of it. I think I sold it after a couple of weeks. I'm now considering buying another. The nostalgic part of my brain wishes I had all the old Carlsbro pedals as well. I loved the colours.

A classic piece of "read the manual"! 😂

Nice! My eBow is from the mid-1990s and I spent a good time listening the cassette and training these techniques. This being the case, I've wondered how few guitarists ever learned to use the thing properly!

Always loved them on acoustic guitars

I love everything about this episode. Josh, an amazing guitar player, sharing his embarrassment. Being taught how to EBow from Stu G. The battery giveaway. This is it. This is the best, right here. Thanks, guys!

Keaggys been doing all these tricks since the 70s

Great vid. The Seinfeld thing was absolutely hilarious. It's not that you weren't using an ebow "the right way", you were just using it in a very limited capacity, as was I... just not backwards LOL. Solidarity.

GLORIOUS!!! I AM CRYING TEARS DOWN MY FACE!!!

Got my Ebow 28years ago as a young U2 fanatic only to play the Intro to with or without you. Blew me away

I'm almost convinced now, that there will a day when I'll find out that I'm using guitar pick wrong all these years.

Sheeeit! I never had the tape or instructions and I've had one for years and always played it the wrong way round!!! Now I can do it properly! Thanks

oh gosh Josh...it was so frustrating watching this up to the point your light bulb filament melted. I have been using an e-bow for 24 years now. I use a Wah for expression, the Dunlop q535, because of the ability to narrow the frequency range. Lots of reverb and delay and looping. Haven't used it in a long while. Now I can't wait to get home after work and lay down some tracks!!! Thanks for this...

Omgosh, the “Seinfeld” plug is brilliant!! 🤣🤣🤣

Definitely enjoyed this shorter format and the subject matter especially 😂😂😂 I've always held it the right way but I didn't know about the hot spot thing and the string sweep technique, mind blown! Cheers to the video editor too, excellent clips, the memes were perfection. This just goes to show you how many of us musicians do not read instructions that come with our gear, we just get it out of the box, plug it in and start goofing off😂😂😂 Yeah this one made me laugh...a lot!!! Hats off to Josh for not letting his ego keep us from seeing how embarrassing and mind blown you can be, especially as a gear head and gear maker. I bet this doesn't happen often😁🤣🤘

fricking sienfeld almost spilled coffee all over the keyboard rofl

I bought an Ebow because of Stu G. Still using it. Read the instructions and used it correctly from the off! The hotspot is just in front of it when held the right way round. A guitarist friend borrowed it to use on the first UK Vineyard album.

At this point in life I'm down to my Ebow and smoke detectors using 9V batteries...

If it makes you feel any better, I have a single humbucker strat that I never used an eBow with. Never thought about turning it around. Thanks!

Josh also really likes disposable cameras but hates that you never get to see the pictures cause he throws them away after use.

I like these short episodes, under ten minutes, keep ‘em going!

This man needs to watch a chords of orion video

dude... the arpeggio thing was the very first thing I did when starting with the Ebow 30 years ago. It's such a fun tool, especially coupled with a slide

I watch Phil Keaggy use one. That's how I concluded that was the correct way.

Do the raking thing while rocking a wah. That’s my go to ambient worshipy thing to whip out

My first (and only) time in a pro studio my buddy wanted me to add flavor to an intro. I’d just got an Ebow so I wailed something random out with it. Then the producer said “that was great, we should double it.” I’m like, ok great go ahead. Then I realized he expected me to play exactly the same thing again. It took me 20 minutes to reproduce a 10 second segment I had just played. Humbling.

Get ready to sell those E-Bows, y'all!!

I treated my ebow like Eddie in that clip, and still have my original one that I got for Christmas in 1999 but much duct tape holding it together. Years later I met Ed Roland of collective soul through a friend and he looked at me like I was brain damaged and said “we just use a shoe lace tied around it and let it hang from the mic stand…” 😮

Ive been in the r/letstradepedals looking for an Ebow for i cant tell you how long

Stu G just kilt your ego. I'm sure you are delirious with a mix of shame and elation. MAGESTIC video, Sirs.

That's pure ebow-core

I bought my E-Bow in 1988 and I can't imagine life without it. And Josh, if it makes you feel better, I've seen videos of Bill Nelson also using the E-Bow "backwards" and he is truly a master of this little device. In music, as in all arts, the "right" way and the "wrong" way may not be as important as getting what you're going for.

Back in the 1980s "The Edge" (from U2) was already using an E-Bow on his guitar riffs and song parts.

I've seen guys keep it on a string attached to their mic stand, with the mic stand wrapped with circular rubber padding. The padding was to absorb the force of the ebow when dropped after the guitarist used it for the song's particular part. Ross Childress - Collective Soul's original guitarist, had this setup, as I recall, during the Dosage tour.I have since since another guitarist use the same "string with padding placed at the right spot" method.

I had an EBow for years...I need to get another one, they are too much fun. I always used the the "jazz" setting on my Jazzmaster for Ebow stuff, it was the one time that top pickup switch setting on the JM was actually super useful. Really nice, warm tone and it evened out the volume spikes a bit.

I listened to that E-bow cassette that came in the box- it was great! all techniques there are easy to practice and they really work- You can develop new ways of using it just by fooling around with tone controls and ways of approaching the hot spot

I am not a guitarist but have at all tech and music. I've often wondered how the E-bow works. The early web finally gave answers, some of those dropped ones and a chisel gave up secrets but a look at Tesla's earthquake machine gave prior art. A pickup coil is amplified (9volt) and that small signal power is fed into a second coil which acts as the putdown and feedback is happening. The 2 coils are shielded from each other so no squeal as alone, the string adds the magic. Pickup and putdown all in a little module, that's what an E-bow is. I use a small car stereo amp instead of the tiny 9volt amp and the whole slide guitar is portable from battery to speaker with a digitech pedal in the middle. Lastly a volume lever is on the end of the steel slide. Portable Pink Floyd!

I’m 45 and got mine in the late 90’s, been holding it the right way but never tried the arpeggiated chord trick. Pretty cool.

Brilliant!!!!! So, rich! if anyone is looking for me, you know I'll be "lost" in my Ebow ... for a long time to come...

@04:40 ff that's what makes guitar playing and exploring soooo great! These moments are starhours. No other instrument has so much options! Thx for sharing Stu & Josh

Daniel Ash from Bauhaus/Tones On Tail/Love and Rockets fame is another master of the mighty Ebow! Great vid guys! 🎉❤🎉

I remember that cassette and I've not heard it in 35 years! Still have it, the bag and the no pick button

Just subscribed, execellent channel, and no arrogance...nice to see, easy to watch

That was fun! I hope you're enjoying your newfound ebow playing technique

This was fantastic to watch. Humility comes in all shapes and sizes. What a champ, Josh.

I would love to see more content like this ,for sure!

Hey, Josh, don't fell too bad; I've had the e-bow for a decade+ and all I could get out of it was the David Bowie "Heroes" Fripp line -wich he didn't even use an e-bow for-; and I've been holding it the right way!

Shout out to the editing on these videos, it is extremely good and funny

Dont worry too much - You can get great effects using the ebow in either direction - you just get slightly different effects. Try using a 9.6v rechargable battery in them - THAT is the biggest boost/change I've ever found in using ebows. It'll change your entire ebow existance. LMK if you want to do a comparison of the many different eras of Ebows that exist (silver, red letter, white letter, gray body, white body... not to mention the various knock offs: there are a few of us who've got some of every era. I'm glad you are

I love this thing. I used to rile tone off and use a wah pedal rocked all the way back. So great….

Thanks for exposing your vulnerable moments of epiphany. Pretty sure I saw Snakefinger use one on stage in SF.

OK, now don't tell Josh that the EBow has TWO different modes.

Okay, this blew my mind. And it finally made me thoroughly read the instruction manual.

It is such a enlightening experience when one learns something like this.

The way Josh gives away the guitar (at 7:56) is already rockstar boss style.

Great job! Yes more short form things like this.

I am not a guitar player and have never heard of 'EBow' but this video made me laugh out out a few times :) lol

I tripped out at first because I read it wrong. I thought oh no, I have been using my elbow wrong. Suddenly, elbows are gonna quadruple in price on the used market, and I'll have officially slept on full use of my elbow.