Pedals Beginners Should Avoid!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
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Amps Beginners Should Avoid HERE - goo.gl/LSkpf9
Guitars Beginners Should Avoid HERE - th-cam.com/video/kSSplq4Mans/w-d-xo.html
I was click baited by the tube screamer on the thumbnail I recently started playing 3months ago but I'm a natural to the craft
@2:20 you have a typo bud. I assume you mean invest as oppose to “infest”.
Good advice! I agree with it, although there is something to be said for getting a cheaper (but not too cheap) multi-effects pedal as a first pedal - it lets you get an idea of the types of pedals out there that might suit your playing style/preferences, albeit at a potentially lower quality than an individual pedal of the same type. There's also an advantage for the beginner guitarist in not having to try to remember so many cable connections or work out the best order for effects... As for pedals I really wouldn't recommend for a beginner - Metalzone (or other ultra high-gain pedals). These can sound excellent if used properly by someone that knows what they're doing, but often sound rubbish if not dialed in right, and that level of gain can be difficult to handle if a beginner guitarist hasn't learnt to mute effectively!
Screw the pedals. Tell me about the guitar in the thumbnail. That crackle paint job is awesome!
Robert Baker dude how do you get that crunch tone it sounds awesome
"a wah pedal can cover up mistakes like it's nobody's business."
Kirk Hammet has left the chat.
Lol dave laughs aggressively
Sad but true
I fought the Wah and the Wah won.
Wahn
if you try to sing it, it aleady sounds like wah'ed line
Kris Topher r/therealjoke
That's great
You're a funny old bastard 😂
I have to respectfully disagree on the "avoid pedals completely" bit. Get an OD pedal, and nothing else. Something like a used Boss. Nothing sucks worse than wanting to play rock or blues with no OD. It's not fun, and you may quit. Plus, if you're a kid, you get to stomp on it like a "real rock star" and feel all cool and stuff.
I think he mentioned amps with built in effects though. so like a modeling amp or a line6 spider (hate it all you want, it's a solid beginner amp) that has decent OD/Dist/Fuzz tones built right in.
Just get a roland cube amp has most effects a beginner will need. I have a roland cube 30 and I been playing 13years. I still love it.
I got a distortion pedal for my first pedal ever. It really did pushed me to learn more
@@maxonmendel5757 I still practice through a spider amp. Got a giant peavey stack but the spider II and V make noise. I'm just learning a song or noodling not playing Madison Square Garden. You can get them used cheap they are great begginer/geek room amps.
@@maxonmendel5757 The Line6 Spider is sure to get anyone to hate their guitar thats for sure. Just get a Peavey Bandit 112, you can probably get it for cheaper than a Line6 and it's actually good.
I fiddled with knobs too much that I lost much practice time and now I am not a guitarist but a guitar tech
I'm on that path...
That i agree with, I have a Fender amp, plenty of presets but i wind up taking my hands off the guitar to fiddle with the knobs, if I'm making a quick change, the flow is completely lost
I was in that path too
But yo woman is happy, no?
I honestly expected a bunch of hate and slamming boss pedals, but you more so discussed types, and legit things. You earned a sub.
I do not know why I watch your channel so much I don't even play guitar.
It's time to get a guitar and start!!!!
It's interesting; that's why.
yep...time to go get one. :D
@@RobertBakerGuitar d'you know what would be funny? TH-cam channels beginners should avoid. :D
Time to get started. It’s a challenge but a lot of fun too!!
I started with a television repair shop built tube amp of about 5 watts clean and a Big Muff Pi. I probably would have stopped playing after a week if it had not been for the Big Muff Pi. It allowed me to play the songs I wanted to play and kept me I interested.
Beginners should strictly use a wah pedal and NO metronome, thank me later
😂😂 that's cruel
Kirk is that you?
I knew it! Kirk Hammett was right all along.
I never used a metronome or a wah
Zebes 26 with 78 boss metal zones
Best advice for buying pedals for beginners. Go used. Pedals can get incredibly expensive and half of the time you won't get the sound that you want out of it. Also do your research. Learn about effects loops and have fun with it
prsmantse1 that’s pure wisdom there.
@@coreyclark6505 Thanks dude. Just trying to save people some headaches. I remember when I first started. We all want to sound like the album
Multi effect pedals like the digitech element (the one have) have pretty much most of what a beginner would want to try without spending a ton of money
Not even for beginners, I still buy used and I've been playing for 2 years. you can find some GREAT deals on Reverb. Pedals in like-new condition for significantly less than new prices!
I’ve been buying used ever since I started with my SD-1 and still am with a full board
I'd personally add Fuzz and compressors for two different reasons: fuzzes are too unpredictable in the chain with buffers and wahs, and also are pretty unforgiving if you decide to start playing sloppy. Compressors iron out sloppy picking and note pressing, which could lead to bad habits being formed
Was thinking the same thing.
I’ve only found compressors to do that if you set them up with too much compression. In some cases it can make those picking errors worse if you are using more as a boost with a little bit of compression (granted this depends on what type of pickups you have because single coils almost need a compressor but humbuckers you really don’t want much at all). But I 100% agree on fuzz pedals your rig just turns into whatever that pedal sounds like and you lose the character of your guitar in the process
@Werner Van der Walt Hard disagree, give a beginner a germanium fuzz, any buffered pedal and a wah and they won't have a fun time ordering them in the chain
I think the opposite in terms of fuzz, if you get one that cleans up from the guitar you can get a multitude of sounds from it, and learn pick attack and dynamics into the bargain. One good fuzz is worth ten other effects
If your first pedal doesn't have the word "metal" on it, you're messing up in my opinion
Isn't buying a Boss DS-1 considered the standard pedal newbie tax?
@Luke BELAY i got one, still tryna figure out the settings
@Luke BELAY u mean the red light? When its light up the pedal is active when it's not its turned off
Hahaha day I bought my guitar I bought a metalzone😂
DOD American Metal was my first. Haven’t played in 10 years. Thinking of starting up again.
My first pedal/effect, 10 years ago, was a first generation Zoom G1, and yes, I messed around a lot with the presets.. I did my own presets.. but I think as a beginner, it helped me understand effect order, toying with delay gave me a good sense of rythm without using a metronome... I would encourage everyone for using a cheap digital multi-effects unit so they can learn what it is to have effects, create patches, new sounds, express their creativity, have fun playing and learning about the instrument.
I was one of those "playing for decades" and was fiddling too much with the Axe Fx II and not playing enough. I sold it all. All my digital stuff after a decade of doing nothing but digital. Bought a two channel amp and a few basic pedals and am loving life, playing more than ever.
All a beginner needs is a good one channel amp with reverb and a Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal. Plenty to annoy the parents and neighbors with! Rock on! \m/
friggin right. I just picked up a 15W Vox Pathfinder. It's got built-in trem and I add a TS9 and its great.
Cool videos, but could you even the volume so when you play the guitar it isint insane loud compared to when you speak. 🤘
Korg Miku
last name
Best pedal ever
Fighting words
First pedal you should buy.
@@powbobs ONLY PIECE OF GEAR YOU SHOULD EVER BUY
i do not like seeing the tube screamer in the thumbnail.
They’re overrated.
@@MoooseBlood not really I mean sure it doesn't make sense that old ones cost thousands they're really nice if you can get one for 150 bucks or less
Playing with effects and making 'noise' is learning too. I came to electric guitar after six years of acoustic playing and I think the acoustic years got in my way of becoming a really good electric player. Pick just one pedal (or effect) and use only it for many months to get to know it really well...
I honestly disagree. I played for 8 years on a squier bullet and a peavey blazer, and I don't regret it for a second. I just made the jump to better gear recently, and I can't believe how much better it sounds. I don't think I would have appreciated it as much of I made the switch sooner.
I think avoiding delay as a beginner is a great idea. I was listening to a lot of stuff that required delay to play when I was first learning guitar, so I went to Best buy back when they sold instruments. They were having a clearance sale, and I got a Marshall Echo Head pedal for something dumb like $60. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, couldn't dial in the FCPREMIX by The Fall of Troy delay sound, and got rid of it. I regret it to this day. I love the delay I have now (thanks Robert) but I would've been so much more inclined to keep what I had if I had just been a little more knowledgeable and learned about my instrument.
Alternatively, you can use delay to help practice timing
I say avoid delay is it covers slop. Wait a bit, then get a good delay in the loop and feel the power of godly tone (as long as the base tone is good...lol). Learn some songs tight with the record, that will help you tighten up.
I've played guitar for almost 7 years and I still haven't even tried a single pedal. My trusty old Roland Cube 20XL has all the basic effects like distorsion and gain nobs. I am planning on getting a new combo amp though since the Roland cube's speaker isn't exactly amazing and it doesn't have enough distorsion (can't make it chug).
Mr. Baker, you are one of the few guitar TH-camrs that make me want to pick up my guitar, not throw it away. Thank you for your content.
Robert...I’ve been playing guitar for almost 40 years. When I started, there were 4 companies that supplied most of the pedal format Fx...Electro Harmonix, Boss, Ibanez and MXR. Most beginner affordable amps were single channel. My instructor warned me not to go pedal chasing and expecting that if I only had the right pedal, I’d find guitarist Nirvana, the land of perfect playing. Point...pedals won’t make one sound better. Practice will do that. He was right. I didn’t buy any pedals for at least the first year and my first was a Boss OD...now I had a pseudo 2nd channel on my 1 channel amp. The other thing he had me do was to practice using a clean tone. Clean will lay a player’s mistakes out for all to hear. Gain, especially a lot of gain, like a wah pedal hides a multitude of mistakes.
If only The Tone King had seen this video 25 years ago and invested his time and money in lessons and practice instead of gear he can't play. He'd be as good as Guthrie!
Playing wise he's horrendous and it seems like he's regressing instead of progressing! I cringe at his song videos and playing all together but his passion for guitar is right up there with the best of them.
I feel like he's actually gotten significantly better in the past few years. He's certainly passionate though, otherwise he wouldn't devote as much money and time into as he does.
@@TrippyTheShroom Great - he's gotten significantly better. He's about as good as most teenagers that have been playing for maybe two years, not a grown man that has been playing all his life. He also doesn't know how to dial in a decent tone or how to record it properly. He does surface level - at best - research on the products he demos and often misses things or gets them completely wrong.
I understand he's passionate. I'm passionate about a lot of things, but that doesn't make me an expert at them to the point that I'd call myself the "king" of them. He's a joke.
@@srh361 That last original song video was one of the most unintentionally hilarious things I've ever seen.
Everyone likes guitar for different reasons. Some like playing, some like writing, some like collecting, some like building and some like trying to get the best tone they can
Best Pedals FOR beginners, MXR Distortion + or a Boss DS-1 :)
Fullbore Metal ALWAYS! Then 🎸 ROCK
I think it's also a good idea to avoid noise surpressors at first :). Don't get me wrong they are amazing I use Boss-NS daily, but I believe as a beginner you need to hear your mistakes in order to make you a better player.
"avoid pedals altogether". This. Without pedals, there's nowhere to hide. It forces you to play better, work on your raw tone.
I've stayed away from pedals most of my guitar life. I am a clean tone junkie and pushing tube amps to distort when needed. The sole exception was an external reverb tank (Danelectro Spring King) because my Vox had no reverb. Fast forward to today and I'm now just beginning to dabble with ambient pedals.
@@joellebrodeur1015 dude you need a tubescreamer, check out JHS Bonsai.
As a long time, but still consider myself an intermediate player, I’ve found that pedals (especially cheap Chinese clones) are an inexpensive way to have fun during the “free time” part of my practice sessions, but ONLY after practicing fundamentals going straight into the amp playing clean. Great topic!🤙🏻🎸
Here are the guitar basics:
Epiphone Special II Guitar
Behringer Gm108 amp
Octave and Tuner pedals
Reverb cord
Fender strap
D'addario Strings
Fuel Tank pedal power supply
Patch cables of the grandest quality
Pedaltrain
Floyd Rose to install in the guitar
Dunlop Jazz picks
Those auto tuning Planet Waves tuners for the guitar
Use the money from selling the tuner pedal to get a cup holder for the guitar
Nintendo Switch to install into the amp so if you get fed up with guitar you can play that instead
Now might be a good time to invest in a music stand and some sheet music
Ooh an HTC Vive Pro is also a good investment, I bet they have Rocksmith on that, so it's totally justified
But you'll need a good computer for that so get some modern Alienware, that should work well enough
Also you'll need some headphones because yo' fam will probably not wanna hear you play guitar so badly so Supreme or Gucci will suffice, just get something expensive, I'm sure anything over $1000 will work fine
OOh you can get that Beat Saber game on VR, can't you? Get that, that'll help with your rhythm or something, I'm sure
Wait you can't play Beat Saber with a guitar in your hands can you, no, get a stand for your guitar
But your parents will probably will get suspicious if they don't hear any guitar sounds so get someone to play it for you
Ooh this guy is good, help him pay for a session at a recording studio, but only under the condition that he pretends to be you and gives you half of the money he makes from his musical career
And that's how you go pro as a beginner guitarist
Cant tell if this comment is satire
Get one of those 9v battery DC adapters, they're God's gift to man.
Found a killer deal on a used Boss GT8 for my son ($70). He loves it but we only use it 1-2 times a week. That way he focuses on practicing most of the week and also gets a couple of days to mess around and find cool new noises on the GT-8 too.
Your first answer was the exact thing I was thinking. There’s actually a pretty broad range of tones and sounds you can get from just your hands and sometimes I feel like over indulging in pedals and effects too early on discourages that kind of experimentation.
Beyond that, I’m certainly not against some distortion and a little reverb (I mean, learning still needs to be fun) but the other effects can wait; they often have learning curves of their own.
For me it was:
Old school tube amp with spring reverb first. Distortion was whatever I could get out of the amp head (which wasn’t shabby lol).
Upgraded to a better amp, added a distortion pedal. Chorus and/or flanger were next pedals (can’t recall which I got first but I think it was a chorus pedal). Delay came next. Different distortion pedals got bought sold, experimenting around w/ what was available at the time trying find that tone lol...
Eventually got a wah pedal. Pandemonium after that lol, but my mainstays to this day are distortion/overdrive, chorus, wah, delay/reverb. Oh and my looping pedal. Gotta have that. Anything else is usually kind of for fun or noodling.
My favourite pedals/effects for occasional use are the Digitech FreqOut and a Shimmer reverb plugin I use in my DAW that I love for messing around with ambient chord progressions and stuff.
Apologies for the wall of text. Rock on homies.
Definitely avoid tremolo. I think tremolo effects can discourage some beginners from practicing strumming or alternate picking. I know tremolo is not a common pedal to get, but I have seen some beginner guitarists abuse the built-in tremolo effect in their modeling amps.
My first pedals were a tuner and a looper. I've now got a DigiTech Trio, useful for beginners and intermediate players alike.
I started with a crap guitar and amp and my delay pedal made it sound a lot better whilst being a lot cheaper than getting a new guitar and amp.
Also, when you're learning to play guitar, you should learn about effects too. For that reason I recommend getting a cheap overdrive and delay.
I think a looper is a brilliant first pedal. Great for improv, I'd say. Playing guitar while harmonizing over something makes improvisation a lot more fun to do. You could of course use a backing track instead, but I'd say writing your own chord progressions/riffs and then playing over them will be a lot more intuitive than playing over someone else's. You gain deeper understanding on what you're playing over.
You should make a series about things EVERYONE should avoid
Justin Bieber gets my vote!
_ Spadix _ coffee with sugar for sure
@@koffieverslaafde627 that's the only way I drink it unless it's a mocha
Excellent suggestions.
I’d add harmonisers and Octavers and pitch shifters. Very technica and fiddly.
I think compressor still you understand what they do - they’re not a boost and they’re not an overdrive. Though they can do both that’s not what they’re best at.
And delays. You’ve got to know how to set them. And bad habits learned early stick.
Just my opinions.
Kirk Hamett must have allot of bad guitar days
Are the playing snippets an example of tone to be avoided?
I agree, a straightforward amp with clean and gain channels is plenty and it will definitely train your hands to get the notes right and dial in your ears to hear proper note duration, such as quarter notes etc.
From my playing experience, I would include any kind of talk box on this list. When I was in the beginning stages, I bought a Rocktron Banshee Talk Box. I remember spending a great deal of time using that effect on EVERYTHING instead of actually working on technique, scales, etc. It was fun, but at times I got carried away.
A word on batteries for beginners. If you plan on shelving a pedal for a good length of time, remember to TAKE THE BATTERIES OUT. I did this with late seventies Ibanez flanger (the big green one) and when I came back to it the batteries were a rusted heap of toxic chemical waste. Completely ruined the unit.
The first amp I bought was the Vox vt40+ tube amp. there is so many effects on that amp it is amazing. But I couldnt wait to get a pedal. especially a distortion pedal. so then I can go from clean to distortion and back to clean without having to mess with the amp. I've owned a lot of pedals and all worth the money. :)
I started on a vox vt40x great amp and great effects
Three 'Metal Zone' pedals chained together....with a CryBaby at the end...
The wah advice is spot on, not only for the reason you stated that they cover up mistakes well, but also because I always felt I never got any good sounds out of it until I could actually play some real parts! I found it not fun as a beginner honestly
I have a boss bd2 blues driver pedal and I love it and I highly recommend it it is an awesome pedal
Great advice. I spent my first year with just a guitar, an amp and an Ibanez SD-9 distortion pedal. Between forgetting to unplug my pedals, or my guitars with active pickups, I've killed a lot of perfectly good 9V batteries.
An ID: Core 10 is perfect for beginners! Used, they arent much more than any other practice amp but you get a ton of effects and you can record your playing. There is more than enough fun stuff for beginners to play around with in that amp. I wish I had it when I got my first guitar, frankly.
Totally agree. I think a good / small practice amp like the Boss Katana Mini or the Boss Fly 3 is all you need for a long while. If you get seriously good, upgrade to a Boss Katana 50, and install the tone editor program on your computer, and should be good to go for a few years from there.
When I started out I never got anything but a distortion pedal and that’s all I had for years. I don’t see the harm in one - sometimes you just need a boost on your amp’s gain to get into metal territory or a good lead tone. Plus the controls are pretty simple, you’re not going to waste a lot of time with one. But I agree with everything else you said. Avoid wahs and delays for sure.
The one pedal I wish I had when I started is a delay. Delay pedals can be used to practice tempos, and, since getting my delay pedal, my rhythms are improved when strumming, picking, tapping, and fingerpicking.
If you're a beginner that has never had a pedal before I'd say get a used EHX Crayon. It's cheap, has one of the widest tone ranges in a OD pedal that I can think of, and it can add quite a bit of crunch to your signal. To this day my favorite overdrive, makes me feel like a rockstar whenever I turn it on.
If you’re a beginner, all you need is a guitar with passive pickups, a single channel amp with no more than 4 knobs, a tuner, and a cable.
Pedals and amps are tools. If you don’t know basic scales and chords, what do you need tools for? Keep it simple and grow from there.
I agree. All a beginner should have is a cheap guitar and a practice amp. Hell, I didn't even buy my first pedal until a year or so of playing. Get some chops down before trying to fuck around with tones.
I would say a tube screamer or an overdrive is good for anyone just for one not a pedal board or anything just plug it in and what do you want to kick it on if you want to work on a solo you been playing or hoping the play especially if you have an amp that only about 15 watts or so that's where the tube screamer could come in handy if you're jamming along and decide you want to put a little punch into a solo...also any kind of a Wah pedal too I think in my opinion is fine for a beginner just to have fun.. not rely on it but just have a little fun pump up and down on it every now and then..that is pretty much when you're about to cross over to what I would call beginner to intermediate as far as your two comments above I fully agree if you're just beginning that's the perfect way to start like you said but if before you go buying a huge paddle board and thinking that you're an expert as you cross that threshold from beginner just into intermediate these two could be a little bit of fun once you know how to play chords and no the basic Pentatonics.. this is my opinion only low because when I started I did get a tube screamer because I did find that it's nice to be able to if you're playing along like say to a CD and it's solo time or you want just a little bit of punch to kick it out
Depends on why you got into guitar, if you love clean tone players don't use a pedal, but if you got into guitar because of a punk, metal, grunge, etc band then get a distortion pedal or the like
Could not disagree more, know why you got into the instrument and go from there, if you love jimmy page, sure to the classic route, but I feel like a lot of us younger players quit guitar because we’re forced into that role, I was inspired to play guitar because of the solo to Reapers by muse, and I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have a fuckton of pedals, and I honed my craft, now whenever my band plays shows, sure I get some dirty looks for my helix, but whenever I use it those dirty looks have consistently turned to admiration, if you wanna use pedals go for it because nothing can compare to creating a unique tone, but understand that pedals are just another element to your instrument, sit down with them and learn them, because eventually you speak through your pedals as much as your guitar
@@Viper-dz2kw Couldn't have said it better any other way, I agree, I'm just saying that if you started because of Hendrix, then it would help to learn how he did things and innovated thing.
Reverb pedals. I think they can mask your mistakes really well especially if you keep the effect cranked. Practice without effects and add them later on as spices as if your amp is the meat and the guitar is the potatoes, kids! :)
My first and only pedal as a beginner is a simple looper (Boss RC-1). I think this should be with your tuner recommendation. It’s more of a tool to help with timing than it is a distraction.
great video Robert! I found out after a few sessions, just to leave the pedals alone, and concentrate on my skills. When I have couple of hours, I break out my beginner Ammoon pedals and try to develop my 'sound', as I am in love with The Ventures, Tommy James, and the stuff you hear from Ennio Morricone. I realized playing 'clean' I could hear any errors immediately!
I was a beginner and i was in an environment with lots of pedals coming and going. 15+ years later my pedalboard is ridiculous. over a dozen pedals are in my chain and i own a ton and my pedalboard is easily the most expensive part of my rig. Id like to weigh in on your "avoid pedals" tip. YOURE RIGHT. As it turns out, im now doing alot of catch up on actual essential guitar knowledge that i should have been practicing all the hours i was twiddling knobs and just noodling around. i love my pedals, but if you dive into them too much youll eventually find out youre playing the pedals more than the guitar, and even worse, sometimes the pedals are playing the guitar and you. Get a good modeling amp like he said. its a good intro to most all the effects and they usually are forced to be quiet with very few parameters. maybe a footswitch to change from clean to dirty channels would be handy, or maybe a good distortion or overdrive can be very good for a beginner but i wouldnt recommend anymore than that.
When I first started playing guitar 2 years ago at church, they threw me up there with no electric experience and a Line 6 POD500X and expected me to throw these amazing tones on there with delays and it was extremely overwhelming at first, but after a while I learned guitar and effects at the same time and it was actually a pretty great experience for me.
Also, a beginner might really really REALLY need a looper.
I think the all in one pedals (like a zoom) are a great first or second pedal. They can really help you learn about what pedals do and what ones you would actually use. I wouldn't recommend one as soon as you start playing though.
I think beginners should avoid delay. Like multi-effects you get lost in playing with them and making weird noises, like wah they can hide mistakes and boring playing.
Im glad im starting out on a modeling amp with a lotta effects
So the MetalZone is a go then? Great!
if you asked me, i would say the best pedal to get first is a loop pedal. That way, when you get effects you can put the effects into context and play over them. i don’t know about brands tho.
I really like this series! It’s really helped me! Thanks Robert!
Bang on Robert....I spent a year playing around with tones rather than practising...should have got a small tube amp instead of a 100w modeling amp...too many features and too much power...learnings I guess
Agreed. You can get a joyo micro tube amp head for under $200, and a decent 1x12 cabinet is easy to come by as well. You will get much better tone from that than any inexpensive modelling amp.
I only started recently and after trying and not getting the sound i wanted from my amp effects i went with pedals.
Dial them in, mark the pedal so i know the positions incase the dials get moved and i am done.
Practice is so much more fun and appealing if you have the sound you like rather than the sound others tell you to have.
Pretty sure the sounds i like would horrify everyone else but they make me want to pick up and play and thats the important bit.
Pretty much everyone else on the internet is trying to sell something. It's like a breath of fresh air to hear someone say, "...don't waste your time and money on this...". With that in mind, I recently bought a small practice amp that didn't cost an arm and a leg, has a ton of features that I can play with to my heart's content when I want to that kind of stuff, and can dump all of that extra stuff in a New York heartbeat when I just want to practice. It has an app and all that kind of stuff too, but as you mentioned in your amp video, it's not something you have to have. Everything that this amp is capable of can be done from the panel. It's the Fender Mustang GT 40. I wish there had been something like this when I started playing 50 years ago. Anyway, if you haven't looked at this amp, you might want to. Lot of bang for the buck. I don't want to write a book here or anything like that, but the coolest part of this little amp (besides a ton of amp, cabinet and effects models) is the interface. It's simple and intuitive and allows for very fast, flexible experimentation of just about anything you can dream up. And you can dump everything and get back to a clean amp by clicking 1 button. Pretty cool for under $300. And it sounds pretty good too. Anyway, thanks for making this series. Probably some of the most valuable advice a new player will ever get.
Looking back now I wish I had bought just two Pedals when I started out....an Overdrive/Distortion and a Delay. I faffed about so much with multi fx and never really learnt about true tone. I think a simple set up with Overdrive and delay can cover most genres of music.
True, Overdrive and Delay is the basic stuff, took me some time and money to figure that out.
My first two pedals were a Boss OD-1 overdrive (which, sadly, didn't play nice with the crappy-ass amp I had at the time) and a Boss CE-1 chorus.
I agree that for the first lesson, avoiding pedals is a good thing. But it won't be long before that beginner is learning Smells Like Teen Spirit, by which time a distortion pedal will be necessary given their amp doesn't have a footswitch. But you're right that amps these days have good effects, which I think are necessary for keeping beginners interested. A dash of delay, reverb, and chorus can really add a high degree of sonic satisfaction, especially to the person producing the sound. But pedal versions of those effects are far too adjustable and can be dialed in very extreme ways, which can be a distraction, as you said. But with just some light seasoning, a bland chicken can be mighty tasty. The sooner a beginner can enjoy the sound they make, the more likely they will be to not only stick with it, but really want to practice. And I think that is a very crucial component to successfully learning any instrument.
Starting Out - Squire, cheap amp and tuner
1st upgrade - Used HRD and looper pedal
I agree a beginner should get something with a few basic built in effects. Like a Roland Cube. Delay, Reverb, a couple of decent OD and Distortion tones will take you a long way.Fender Mustangs are great too, but they are almost too tweakable. Learn how to play and learn what sounds you like, then get that sweet tube amp and some pedals. And yes, a tuner is a must!
Id recommend getting the fender mustang with the foot switch, it has all the pedals built in, you can assign the fx on the buttons. Learn how to use the different effects and wont waste money on pedals that you might not know how to use.
if you’re a beginner who is yearning to play with different effects, i’d say invest in a guitar to phone/ipad adapter (irig works great and it’s relatively cheap at around $30) and download the app ‘tonebridge’! it has tons of effects that replicate those used in whatever song you may be trying to learn!
Thanks, Robert.. I have spent some time on guitar now, and can fiddle with Pentatonic positions and modes. I was thinking of adding pedals to my gear, and was considering to buy a looper pedal. What would you suggest?
I agree with your opinion that many amps now a days have enough for a beginner like me, and I don’t need to by a Distortion or OD pedal as of now. Thanks for the video.
My vote goes to complex digital delays. DD-3, DD-7 are totally fine. Would recommend carbon copy for analog as a start. My concern is with pedals like the dd-500, timeline and others of that nature.. throw in the mobius and mm-500 too. Such complex units that are fun but such a steep learning curve. I’ve been playing for 15 years and I just get severely overwhelmed every time I touch one and I get nowhere as a result.
I recommend the NUX Mighty Lite bt for a begginer amp, it's a mini modeling amp for $100 it's absolutely tiny but has super good sound quality and it can go really loud. Also it has a built in drum machine, Bluetooth for your phone so you can play along with songs or control the amp. Also the amp has very good distortion, clean sounds, delay, reverb and overdrive.
I need this
My first set-up was an old Peavey combo and a Boss Overdrive. Worked well enough for a lot of years...😊
You forgot about delay and more extreme flavours of reverbs. Right after wah, they are perfect talent boosters. I know a couple of people who just can't play w/o them.
Anyone use a Metal Muff back in the day? Those were awesome
When i was a begginer i got a zoom multi effects thingy that sucked but i didnt know at the time. The thing was super fun to use and i used it a few years till it just couldnt keep up. Im convinced that this helped me to keep guitar interesting when the lack of skill was keeping me to actually have fun playing wich i would say is the most important thing.
What I did is I bought the Boss ME-80. It an emulator that has a preamp, different amp simulators and about pedal available, even a Wah that also does single octave up and does and two octaves up. $300 which is the cost of a couple pedals. You can plug it into an amp cabinet or headphones.
When I was getting really serious about playing, I had an Epiphone Les Paul Special and an older Crate practice amp (which I still have and enjoy). I thought I had it made. I never even thought about pedals.
Unpopular opinion but I think it's best to avoid Tube Screamers early on. The effect to an untrained ear is subtle and will most likely make a beginner regret a purchase very quickly.
i agree, people tended to recommend bad monkeys a lot on forums back in 2011, and man did i regret getting that one so much. tubescreamers are so incredibly boring. at least get an sd-1.
What on earth? Even to my untrained ear, tubescreamer is not subtle. When I fist tried it, it was a revelation. Ooooooohhhh, thaaaat's the sound.
@@samosaarts The first time I got a tubescreamer and ran it into a tube amp, I was fucking sold immediately. Good lord, the difference it made was pretty damn significant. I didn't /need/ the pedal, or any of them, but I /wanted/ them...to have fun with...if you're not having fun you're not gonna wanna continue. It's important to balance fun with the serious side. If pedals make you giggle, get some pedals, get a PC interface and use BIAS pedal, whatever, just have fuuuuuuuuuuuun
@@nicwilson89 exactly, beginners should not avoid anything that inspires. Only thing to do, is to make sure that one is capable of using the "Thing."
Basically, any OD pedal depending what you're gonna play. I remember buying a Boss Super Overdrive and being let down so much I ended up giving it to my ex after a year or so collecting dust. I thought I was going to get some sick AC/DC tones and ended up sounding just a little bit dirtier even with gain all the way up... But man, I wish I had it now. Now that I'm into more kinds of music than hard rock or metal it would come very handy.
When I started playing. I wanted a simple distortion pedal. My focus was on something like the DS-1 from Boss. But I got roped into getting the MXR double shot. Great pedal, still have it, but I ran into the problem he was discussing of playing more with the pedal, and not the guitar. Eventually I just left it at one setting so I can practice technique.
I didn't get my first "pedal" until a good ten years into playing guitar: Up until early this year I was either using modeling amps *or* a Line-6 Pod when I was just starting out.
Rob, your videos are so wholesome and informative. The non-biased approach you give to this along with the emphasis you place on everyone doing their own thing but listening to a little advise is amazing. Love your content, man. Keep it up.
My first pedal was a BOSS PS5 I got from my uncle for my 13th birthday, but my favorite pedal of all time is either my Peavey Delta Stomp or BOSS FDR1. My Grandpa was the lead singer for Steppenwolf back in 79 so he has like 2 boxes filled to the brim with pedals, so I started out with not only with the PS5, but a Rat, a vox wah that I somehow broke, a bad monkey, all sorts of awesome shit.
My grandmother is a great guitarist, she only uses a 1952 les Paul gold top with what ever little tweed amp they gave her for free,presents from my grandfather. Her and grandpa could entertain alot of friends and family, she even cut a 45 . But she never used effects and that woman could play like no tomorrow. Im following in her footsteps, best bet. Cheap guitar, cheap amp all well taken care of🤘🤘🤘
While I would agree that it is probably a good idea to avoid multi-effect units (helix, axe, rp-whatever) when you are first learning for exactly the reasons you mention, I would say that one you have learned enough to "play" competently enough, a cheaper multi effect pedal can give you the opportunity to figure out what kind of effects you like and will use before you dive into the rabbit hole of individual effect pedals. Just my 2 cents.
True point but especially that Digitech rp-cheapstuff is too complicated for a beginner even i couldn't figure out how to dial in a delay on that. Most starters will need something overseeable. I think a good thing would be something like a Mooer Mod Factory alongside with an Overdrive and a Delay pedal.
@@Zwidawurzn true enough.
I'd say first pedal(s) should be a tuner, loop, and a delay. Maybe a distortion too, if it's needed for the sort of music you wanna play
Did he say looper? (Think I saw a Ditto in the thumbnail)... if not, I’d say a looper is a great first pedal but only after you’ve mastered some foundational stuff (like playing really clear open and barre chords). Once you get to that points it’s a great tool for teaching rhythm and soloing over changes.
Also, great point about the battery powered pedals, learned that mistake the difficult way.
Great series Robert, wish this was around years ago when I started out.
He didn't mention a Looper but that should be the first (or second if you buy a tuner pedal) one to buy. They can be a bit tricky to get the timings down to start/stop loops but they are invaluable to a starter - they are better than just a Metronome to practice to - even if you just set a very basic chord backing to practice scales over. That 'tick' of a metronome is awful and having some 'chord' structure is more inspiring, more like making music and you can also learn which notes really work too...
I agree about a looper being a useful tool once some essentials are learned. To me a looper is more of a tool or piece of equipment or guitar accessory (even though it *is* often in pedal form).
In this context I think of pedals more as things which shape and alter your tone and sound, and consequently, often the way you play. A looper is less about that and more about experimenting with playing over chord progressions and layering things and so forth.
Loopers also make you practice getting your timing down punching in and out of your loops ‘cause if you don’t get that down your loops are going to be off when they end/start over. Love my looper.
My first pedal was a looper, so lucky to have gone for it before any other pedals.
I'M gonna get a wah to cover up MY mistakes. And you know who's gonna pay for it? Mexico's gonna pay for that wah.
I'm charging everything I buy to Mexico.
I would be extremely grateful if you made a video on pedals you should start off with, I’ve been playing for almost a year now and I’ve been looking into pedals a lot lately
My favorite wah is Patrick Roy.
only a joke a hockey fan will get😂
I see what you did there- from a Blackhawks fan...
Totally agree with your comments! You missed out one vital pedal for me - the accelerator pedal - it's what got me to lessons, rehearsals and gigs. It's fun to overindulge, too! 😜
I played for nearly a decade with a 15 watt practice amp with an OD channel and an Ibanez Black noise pedal that I got second hand it was terrible so it got used all of once. I had a bunch of my stuff stolen and I stopped playing for 5 or 6 years until a friend of mine bought me a Valve Jr with a weber Micromass attenuater and stole my Talman and repaired the head stock. It was another 4 years till I bought a pedal again. I love them, they're a ton of fun but you don't need them to learn scales or the other basics. I know so many people that grab up gear and skip learning basics.
My first pedal was a DOD American Metal distortion... need I say more?
Take it from a pro like me, if you are just starting out don't buy any pedals other than a tuner pedal to start out with it's most important pedal of all. Then after you get more advanced you can go buy a compressor and a overdrive. Then after about a year or so then it's time to get time based effects aka delay and reverb. Also buy the ones with simple controls so that it's easier to learn how to use. Two more things that I can't stress enough is 1 buy a metronome, 2 only buy pedals that use 9V DC power adapters when you are first building up your rig.
Fuzz and reverbs should be avoided. Fuzz because no two fuzzes are the same when it comes to predictability and where they like to sit in the signal change. Reverbs because it is so easy to turn the level up and give a false impression of what you sound like
I concur with you. Beginners need to keep it simple. Beginners need a guitar, an amp, a good guitar cord, a simple amp (maybe with reverb) with headphone jack, a tuner, and a capo. Then they should get a teacher who will teach them some simple 4, 5, or six chord songs. That way they get some success to get started. Twist and Shout would be a good simple well loved song.
Dude, that guitar sounds AMAZING. Can you post what you’re playing through and any pedals you’re using? I have a few Les Pauls, but THAT tone is incredible.
I've been wondering the same. It's not the guitar - he has the same bitey tone with any guitar. He uses a Revv but I'm sure there's some sort of EQ/treble boost involved as well.