Guitar for Dummies: Effects, Pedals and Other Devices

I've been playing guitar since I was in the sixth grade. Every now and then I feel this sense of boredom with the same old sound. That's why I went from acoustic to electric, but after a while that got boring too. That's when I discovered pedals. Pedals are a means to change the sound of the guitar, whether it be to add more distortion or cause weird effects. It creates a more fresh sound and adds more to the table for a guitar player like me. Using them is simple. You set up the two tone knobs for some and plug it into your amp and guitar. Step on it while you are playing and there you go! The effects should begin and you can add this new tone to your arsenal of playing.

In this video, I'm using a wah wah pedal. According to the text, on page 287 in the section "Investigating Individual effects" it states, "This effects pedal is a type of frequency filter that imbues the guitar with expressive, voice like characteristics" (Chappell 287). You can hear this in the video, because a guitar doesn't naturally sound how it did, with how the notes waver from one side to the other like a teeter totter.  Playing this simple note progression wouldn't be as interesting if it wasn't for the wah-wah pedal

In the picture you can see how my foot is placed on the pedal. The book says to control the sound, you just raise and lower your foot on the foot pedal (Chappell 287). You do it to rhythm of your desire in order to create the sound you desire. I had a steady beat in the video because I wanted it to go over my choppy style of playing the intro song. 

Using a wah wah pedal has showed me how much further I can take my range of playing by using even more pedals. Without using a pedal, I am stuck in a more closed realm of playing guitar but now I have learned in the book that there are even more types of pedals that can change my style of playing. I hope to learn how to use these pedals so I can take my guitar playing to another level.

The song I played in the video was Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix, one of my favorite songs. With this said, what is your favorite song and why? 

Phillips, Mark, and Jon Chappell. Guitar for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Pub., 2006. Print.