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The Order of Guitar Effects can Change Everything!
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A hundred years from now, sociologists will be sifting through the 20th century and they will be able to write a book on all of the different ways the music video changed the way people perceive music. For the first time, we saw our guitar heroes yank on their whammy bars, slam their stomp pedals and perform all of the other guitar effects in person, instead of just listening to a song on the radio and imagining what sort of crazy action was going on to create such a unique sound. Learning how to use a variety of effect pedals is part of the progression every guitar player goes through when learning the craft, and as any experienced player can tell you, the order of guitar effects can change everything. Let’s take a look at a few rules you should follow when sprinkling your next song with guitar effects.
When it comes to determining the order of guitar effects, there are a few golden rules you want to keep in mind. If this is your first time composing a song or your first time in the studio where you have access to a wide range of guitar effects, it can be a bit overwhelming having all of these new toys. Many bands’ first albums are overloaded with overproduction and far too many guitar effects. When determining the order of guitar effects, you need to keep in mind that the effects are there to compliment a song, not to take it over. Songs can become known and even popular because of a particular guitar effect, but you shouldn’t ever become synonymous with a particular effect sequence. Change things up, experiment all you want, but remember, you have to have a solid rhythm section and melody before you can begin thinking about complex guitar effects.
The order of guitar effects can completely change how the final product sounds. For instance, lets say you first use a wah pedal but then you want to fuzz up your sound a bit and you then plug into a fuzz box. If you switch those two guitar effects around, your sound is going to be completely different. This concept can be a little hard to understand until you have access to all of these toys and you can hear the difference with your own ears.
The order of guitar effects can be broken down into filter effects, compression, distortion, equalisers, pitch effects, modulation, level and finally echo. While different types of music will put those effects in different order to achieve different sounds, the general rule is as listed above, although some may argue that compression actually goes before filter. In reality, no one can tell you which way is the “right” way because creating your own music is like creating your own art. There are traditional ways that things get done, but you may end up being that guy who was able to change the way people look at rock music by putting modulation first. The only way you’ll ever really know what order of guitar effects works for you is by trial and error, and remember, effects should only work to compliment what you are playing, not substitute for it.
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