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I usually write separate from my board, then I jam with the drummer and see if anything adds to it or changes the feeling. Sometimes I freak myself out thinning I am completely dependent on these sounds to make what I'm playing interesting but whatever.

I like sound exploration and the boxes are good for that. I do see people gettin awesome pedals and aren't doing anything other than making mastabatory noise and it translates that way. However, you can write some awesome jams that are a mutual part the box and you. Sex

skullservant wrote:I honestly find and think of my pedals as an extension of my playing, they do things I can't normally do or make without them for the most part. I've been playing clean a lot lately, but then I always throw pedals on after I figure something out clean to see how it sounds

This is the crux of what I'm feeling except I'm pondering whether I need to add the pedals in at all. There is no right/wrong answer.

I know how you feel dude. There are times where I just crank up my amp, plug straight in, and let it rip. Sometimes a clean boost is all I use to push the amp. It's really refreshing!

I think a key distinction is how many pedals are best played with; while some are best played to.

Playing to a delay's repeats is the immediate example that comes to mind....which also happens to be great for honing your timing.

In fact, it's probably the single most effective practice technique I can think of, for timing.
Better than a metronome, as (IMO) metronomes aren't inspiring...but those delayed repeats lead to experimentation and attempts at making them bounce/swing and then bam, you've stumbled upon a groove.

Yep, between delays and LOOPING with delays, my timing and being able to play to a tempo has increased ten-fold

i get bored playing clean. it's fun for a minute but then i go to something where i want it to go bigger and crushing and without an ODNor fuzz it just feels.... half assed? quarter assed?

when i write riffs i like it's either jamming out with my drummer or starting with whatever comes out from noodling and breaking that down or going bigger or playing off it.

rustywire wrote:I think a key distinction is how many pedals are best played with; while some are best played to.

Playing to a delay's repeats is the immediate example that comes to mind....which also happens to be great for honing your timing.

In fact, it's probably the single most effective practice technique I can think of, for timing.
Better than a metronome, as (IMO) metronomes aren't inspiring...but those delayed repeats lead to experimentation and attempts at making them bounce/swing and then bam, you've stumbled upon a groove.

The same thing for tremolos. It forces you to play to the tempo of the device.

Ever since I started playing bass, I hardly play longer than a verse or a bridge without turning the fuzz on at some point. Electric instruments have too much potential to not be effected in some way, whether its amp reverb, preamp tubes distorting the sound, or 50 pedals on in unison.

lots of good statements and ideas here. i don't really have a single way of writing...sometimes i write with acoustic guitar, sometimes i hit chords on piano and sing a melody over the top, sometimes a effect setting inspires me, and sometimes it's just me, my imagination, and a piece of paper. there's no one way that i write. i have to be like a magpie, and grab anything shiny to add to the nest. it's not like songs just stroll up to me on the street.

regarding effects, i've thought of the guitar/amp and by extension the effects as an intelligent system that talks to itself since the first time i stuck the guitar into the amp to get feedback. nowadays i think of the board as a rough equivalent to an analog synth: the guitar triggers the fuzz/squarewave generator, the signal goes to the volume pedal/ADSR, then to a filter array and banks of modulation. i think of my electric playing as quite separate from my acoustic playing.

however, i'm happy playing straight into the amp sometimes. it depends on the setting i'm working in...if i'm playing country rock i'm not going to use anything other than reverb or maybe a phaser for the Waylon Jennings effect. if i play Neil Young stuff i need a distortion box and a Bigsby, that's all. and if i'm in a Grateful Dead stylie i'm straight into the amp like Jerry in 1969. but for my 'gazier stuff or looping i'll use everything i've got. there's no single right answer.

WeHuntKings wrote:Ever since I started playing bass, I hardly play longer than a verse or a bridge without turning the fuzz on at some point. Electric instruments have too much potential to not be effected in some way, whether its amp reverb, preamp tubes distorting the sound, or 50 pedals on in unison.

Exactly.

Until You find me an acoustic square wave fuzz, I play electric.

are we talking about just coming up with riffs or like writing words?

for words I like to go get a coffee and put some whiskey in it and then go for walks and write stuff on my phone

bigchiefbc wrote:I'm the exact opposite of you guys. I generally find playing unplugged/clean to be really really uninspiring and, well, boring.

For me it depends:

If I can plug straight into an amp that at least has drive, then I can feel happy.

But into an amp that doesn't do drive, I find it pretty boring unless it at least has a reverb circuit.

Acoustic guitars sound big enough that I'm generally happy with no effects though for utility purposes a compressor/eq and noise gate is nice for playing live acoustic.

GardenoftheDead wrote:But into an amp that doesn't do drive, I find it pretty boring unless it at least has a reverb circuit.

^this.

GardenoftheDead wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:I'm the exact opposite of you guys. I generally find playing unplugged/clean to be really really uninspiring and, well, boring.

For me it depends:

If I can plug straight into an amp that at least has drive, then I can feel happy.

But into an amp that doesn't do drive, I find it pretty boring unless it at least has a reverb circuit.

Yeah, agreed on this. My amp gets distorted as hell when I push it, and I have a power soak so I can crank it all the way up. So even if I don't have my pedals with me, I don't have to play clean.

Greenfuz wrote:are we talking about just coming up with riffs or like writing words?

for words I like to go get a coffee and put some whiskey in it and then go for walks and write stuff on my phone

For me, I'm talking about writing actual songs - words and music.

I can't speak for everyone else.