Blues Guitar: The Best Effects Pedals

Blues is still one of the top musical genres alive today.  It’s strikingly haunting lead licks and almost percussive rhythms often find a place deep in the hearts of those who listen to them.  It is the fore father of modern rock and pop, and can really sound good when played with a few effects.

 

The most common guitar pedals for this kind of music are overdrives, mild distortions and compressors.  Famous distortions like the Ibanez Tube Screamer come to mind: that little green monster can be seen in every single photo of a blues man’s rig since they were first produced years ago.  Important players like SRV used to get fantastic tones out of effects like this.

 

Another important thing to consider is the amplifier.  Blues can sound great through a real tube amplifier, and so when you are choosing your effects pedals you need to remember that every overdrive, every distortion is different, and each one will work with your amp in a very different way.

 

It is always advisable to try out as many different brands and manufacturers as possible when buying new gear, as one single component used in a pedal can make a world of difference to its tone.  The  distortion pedals are for blues guitar, when you play a bluesy solo through them, make you feel like you want to cry or jump up and down on the stage in excitement. Using distortion pedals with tube amps seems a common sense to all the guitarists.

 

 

Older blues recordings by guys like Robert Johnson only consisted of a beat up acoustic guitar, a husky voice and a bottle of whiskey and they still sound phenomenal – if a little dated – even today, so always remember that although pedals can make your tone and playing sound better and more interesting, there is never any real substitute for good technique and giving it your all.