How To Set Up & Use Guitar Pedals: A Guide For Beginners

In this lesson, we are going to learn how to set up and use guitar pedals.  A guide for beginners.  pedals can be a guitar player’s best friend. They help you to enhance your guitar sound, and expand your creativity.

 

One thing I love about playing rock guitar is the ability to enhance your sound with the art and science of guitar effects pedals! These things are great! What are effects pedals you say?? Well, Let me tell you.

 

What are guitar pedals?

Guitar pedals are what you use to create cool sounds with the guitar. And when it comes to Rock Guitar it’s encouraged. Now as you can see from the picture they are little stompboxes (guitar lingo) that you press with your feet to add color to your sound while you’re “rockin’ out” and having fun!

The art of guitar pedals is that you can use them to add a wide variety of colors to your playing. From cool distortion to echo to watery chorus sounds. You can hear these effects in many rock songs you hear on the radio. You can choose to use these individually one at a time, or you can use multiple ones in a chain-like shown in the picture above.

 

Pedalboard

These are multiple pedals that you hook together with external cables and can put in what’s called a   pedalboard. As you can also see, they come in a variety of shapes and colors. So you can create something unique to you and your style of playing.

 

The science part comes with how you choose to set them up. How you set them up depends on your playing and how you want your sound to develop. You can choose this or that pedal first, then this or that one last. It’s really up to you. It’s best to put your distortion pedal first, or possibly the wah pedal first, but that once again is up to you.

 

 

The way the pedals are set up makes a difference in the sound and that’s why it’s considered a science. Because it requires experimenting and having fun doing it. This is what I love about pedals, you can switch them around and get a sound all your own.

 

Multi-effects processor

Now if you are saying ” I’m not that creative and don’t want to mess with all that but still want to have fun using guitar pedals” no problem. You can use something that has them all in one. A multi-effects processor. This is a device where all the pedals are in one single unit. Something like this:

 

These are great because you don’t need any external cables to hook them together. They come already set to go. You just plug in and play. These are great too because they have a ton of additional features to them. Not just the pedals but functions to dial in a custom sound that sounds like no one else.

 

Now which one is better you ask? Well, that depends on you and your personality. Each has its advantages and drawbacks. The stompboxes come individually so you can create as you go, but are a bit limited in sound creation per pedal.

The effects processors are nice in the fact they have all the pedals together for a fraction of the cost, but you have some limitations with these as well. I’d recommend trying them both out to see which style you like best.

 

Additional guitar training

If you are serious about learning.  Get some additional guitar training.  This can be done in multiple ways. You can do this with YouTube videos, private instruction, online courses, and method books.  It is just a matter of what suits you best.

 

The reason why there are so many options is because everyone learns differently.  Some people work well with watching videos, others prefer to go a bit slower with a method book, or online course.  These options allow you to have more control over your learning.

 

The benefit of a method book is that you get to learn at your own pace and your comfort level.  You get to learn when it best fits your schedule and it is at a fraction of the cost of private tutoring or an online course.  It is truly a great way to get started.

 

This is how I got started.  Way before the internet.  After all these years, it has proven to be a great way to get your feet wet and get results fast!

 

I recommend the book I have authored and self-published that can help you get faster results.  Learn To Play the Electric Guitar.

Learn To Play Electric Guitar offers a step-by-step system.  That is easy to go through.  Even if you have no previous musical training.  Its simplicity takes out the confusion and frustration of learning music concepts and techniques associated with learning to play the electric guitar.

 

It teaches you what guitar is best to use.  What kind of amplifier is best to get?  How to use guitar pedals, and what guitar chords are best to start with.  It builds self-confidence because it unlocks the mysteries of music theory and note-reading in a very logical way.

 

You will learn guitar skills that you never thought were possible.  You just follow the step-by-step system, and you will be having fun playing guitar in no time.  In addition to that.  You will come out the other side a much better person.

 

Lesson conclusion

No matter how you choose to learn, I recommend you just get started.  That is the hardest thing to do.  Once you get over that, it gets easier after that.  If you need further guidance you can contact me here, or on Facebook.

I’m always glad to help. I hope you enjoyed this lesson.  Remember, just get started.  This could be your time to shine.  I’m here to help you get through the learning curve and start having fun.

Best of luck, and until our next lesson, take care.

Sincerely, Dwayne Jenkins