Effects that improve your technique.

[nad]

A little while ago, I made a thread about the effects we all use to cover up our inherent lack of talent. It was mostly a success, as the majority of participants easily caught my biting sarcasm, and it also garnered a much larger response than I expected. But, now is the time to put away childish forms of wit, and get serious about what pedals we've used that actually force us to rethink and overanalyze those little bad habits that started somewhere around Week One of our journey into bassdumb. After about 10 years of playing I got pretty lazy in where I was as a bassist. "I'm good enough, let sleeping dogs lie!" was my modus operandi, but over the past few years I've been trying to improve the subtleties of what it is that I do, and especially since going completely gonzo with pedals lately, as opposed to just keeping a lone dirt box and half-broken filter of some sort in a forgotten gig bag toward the back corner of a musty rehearsal room, I've noticed that several pedals actually get me to clean up my act a bit, which goes directly against the whole common notion that effects are only used to cover up lack of both skill and taste.

Octavers. I'm just getting back into these devices after a several year break, but they definitely force me to improve my left-hand muting technique in order to get clean tracking. Sympathetic string vibrations seem to wreak havoc on them, and the cleaner you get, the faster you can play effectively.

Envelope filters. I don't even bother using them any longer, but when I first started experimenting with such things, I realized how terrible my right hand dynamic control was. Experimenting with massive volume spikes was fun, but it also forced me into playing a little more evenly.

Fuzz. Certain fuzzes, such as the Sun Face, really accentuate poor fretting technique. One half-borked note and your dirty little world shall crumble before thee, which definitely earns this type of dirt both my respect and fear.

Delay. What better way to keep yourself from playing the wrong note when each minor flub is repeated 3 to 7 times immediately afterward?

Volume knob. I'm one of those types who digs in harder the more excited I am, and at shows sometimes this can be a bit of a problem, what with the CLACK CLACK CLACKITY CLACK I get into sometimes. So, sometimes I turn up my amp louder than necessary in the hopes that it keeps my overzealous fingers from getting a bit too gonzo.

WHAT SAY YOU?! Etc.

[gnasher1993]

I agree on all of those mentioned. My volume pedal has improved my timing. If I want to do volume swells beginning on beat one of each bar, so I have to strike the note just before. My timing/rhythm has got better.

Also, overdrive...it's made my right hand more sensitive. I have to play harder to trigger the drive etc.

Great thread btw...

[Bryan R. Tyler]

A looper. If you have timing issues, it will unforgivingly repeat them in your face for a whole song.

[Jared Lash]

nad covered most of mine. And I agree with Bryan on the looper, something I've been playing with more and more.

The only two I'd add are the Deep Impact (which will glitch without a deft touch) and tremolo when trying to play just ahead of the beat.

[sloasdaylight]

I'll go ahead and add another thing to delays that really accentuated something I wasn't used to hearing often, which is string sliding noise. Wit the delays that I have (line 6 DL4 and Boss DD-3) I hear every little bit of string sliding, so i've gotten better at muting with one of my hands/fingers and moving up/down the neck without touching the strings now.

[Joe Gress]

Originally Posted by nad

Envelope filters. I don't even bother using them any longer, but when I first started experimenting with such things, I realized how terrible my right hand dynamic control was. Experimenting with massive volume spikes was fun, but it also forced me into playing a little more evenly.

Huge +1.

I'll set my envelope filter to be an almost clean tone, but with a very small margin of dynamic change, it would come on. Very useful for practicing clean straight fingerstyle stuff.

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

A looper. If you have timing issues, it will unforgivingly repeat them in your face for a whole song.

+1 on this as well.

[NortyFiner]

My experiments with a Bassballs really showed me just how bad my right hand control was. I would try to get a funky sound, and end up with something like a pissed-off bloody Dalek screeching at me. "BAD TONE! EXTERMINATE!" I play lighter and with more attention to my right hand consistency now...