Skip The Effect Pedals When You're Practicing Your Guitar
Guitar players often love buying effect pedals as a way of changing their tone. When you're on stage, these pedals can improve the sound that you get out of your instrument, but they shouldn't play a role in your practice at home. Even if your guitar teacher sometimes demonstrates different pedals and shows you how to improve your use of the ones that you own, it's best to keep them turned off when you're practicing your instrument. Here are some reasons that this is a good idea.
You'll Get A Truer Sound
Different guitar pedals can dramatically alter your tone, but when you're in the mood to practice, you want to hear each note as purely as possible. For example, if an overdrive pedal adds even a moderate degree of drive to your playing, it may be more difficult to identify the individual notes and assess how well you're playing them.
This can mean that you think you're doing a good job with your practicing, but if you're missing cues that you're not playing well, you're not making the most of these sessions. Without any pedals plugged in, you'll enjoy the sound of your guitar on its own, making it easier to evaluate yourself.
Your Timing Will Be Better
Timing is an important skill to develop when you're practicing your guitar. Many players use a metronome for practicing, and lots of practice-style guitar amplifiers actually have metronome functions. Different guitar pedals can alter the timing that you hear when you play. A common example of such a pedal is a delay pedal, which can certainly add value to you while you're performing but can add confusion while you're practicing. For example, a delay pedal will produce an echo after you pick or strum each note, and these echoes can make it more difficult for you to assess whether you're playing with the right timing.
You're More Apt To Focus On Practicing
Playing your favorite songs can be part of your practice session, but you should also devote this time to working on scales, techniques, and other elements of your playing. Guitar pedals often make it more fun to play the guitar, and this can potentially derail your practicing. For example, if you achieve a certain tone with pedals that is reminiscent of your favorite player, you may find yourself trying to play his or her songs — and not working on practicing.
Contact a company like Guitar Works Ltd today to learn more.