Beware the looper!!

rolls1392

Tried one of these beasties today without realising on playback how they show your playing warts and all.

Bit of a shock. I thought I was merely a crap guitarist, but now flippin heck, I can't even claim that now.

On playback sound was really dry despite going thru my pedals inc reverb.

Any ideas how to improve this?

Everything else is down to practice me thinks.

Cheers guys

 

 

octatonic

Practice & transcription.

You don't suck any less than you did before- you are just more aware of it.

Delay masks the suckage.

rolls1392

Thank you Jim

digitalscream

rolls1392 said:

On playback sound was really dry despite going thru my pedals inc reverb. 

Where is the looper in your signal chain?

frictionfraction

Love my looper. I found it has really improved my playing for all the reasons you found. I think the big thing for me was how much my timing was off...

rolls1392

Looper is the last pedal before the amp

Dunno if its in the right place or not!!

FF completely agree about the timing thing

digitalscream

rolls1392 said:

Looper is the last pedal before the amp

Dunno if its in the right place or not!!

FF completely agree about the timing thing

Try putting it in the effects loop (if you have one). It'll mean a lot more control over levels, as long as your loop is after the master volume.

not_the_dj

If the reverb is just an 'on all the time' effect try putting the looper before it. Treat it as a reverb effect on the whole lot. However if you're using reverb as a feature FX (ie you're turning it on and off during playing and that needs recording) then leave it as it is. What looper is it btw?

rolls1392

Sadly still lumbered with Epi VJ hence no fx loop or master volume!!

rolls1392

Looper is a TC Ditto

not_the_dj

rolls1392 said:

Looper is a TC Ditto

Well that's an excellent little looper (I've got one), and the sound quality of the loops is great, so I don't think that's the problem.

 

It's a weird one then if you're saying the loop playback sounds dry compared to when you play through it, and the looper is at the end of your chain

rolls1392

Checked my reverb pedal. Wasn't working properly until I threw out the window. Now fine!!

Cheers

PhilW1

rolls1392 said:

Tried one of these beasties today without realising on playback how they show your playing warts and all.

Bit of a shock. I thought I was merely a crap guitarist, but now flippin heck, I can't even claim that now.

On playback sound was really dry despite going thru my pedals inc reverb.

Any ideas how to improve this?

Everything else is down to practice me thinks.

Cheers guys

 

 

Ha ha !, sorry to resurrect an old thread but I bought a ditto on Saturday and was searching the forum as I had exactly the same reaction as you.
Although I’ve played in a covers band for years I’ve always secretly thought I was only just about getting away with it (although no ones ever complained and I’ve even had a few compliments,)but that pedal ,as good as it is ,has just made me think how shit I really am! Crap timing and rushed leads etc
Like you say,how do you improve or un-learn bad habits when you try to practice properly most days anyway.?
As I’m typing this I’m getting more and more gutted and not sure of my next move,l know it’s only playing guitar but ffs after 20yrs am I really wasting my time?

Sorry for all the waffle but it all just came out and I think only you guys’ll understand...
,
Fuckin pedal’s going in the bin!

munckee

PhilW1 said:

rolls1392 said:

Tried one of these beasties today without realising on playback how they show your playing warts and all.

Bit of a shock. I thought I was merely a crap guitarist, but now flippin heck, I can't even claim that now.

On playback sound was really dry despite going thru my pedals inc reverb.

Any ideas how to improve this?

Everything else is down to practice me thinks.

Cheers guys

 

 

Ha ha !, sorry to resurrect an old thread but I bought a ditto on Saturday and was searching the forum as I had exactly the same reaction as you.
Although I’ve played in a covers band for years I’ve always secretly thought I was only just about getting away with it (although no ones ever complained and I’ve even had a few compliments,)but that pedal ,as good as it is ,has just made me think how shit I really am! Crap timing and rushed leads etc
Like you say,how do you improve or un-learn bad habits when you try to practice properly most days anyway.?
As I’m typing this I’m getting more and more gutted and not sure of my next move,l know it’s only playing guitar but ffs after 20yrs am I really wasting my time?

Sorry for all the waffle but it all just came out and I think only you guys’ll understand...
,
Fuckin pedal’s going in the bin!

Embrace the pain. The main improvement in my timing has been looper and jams. It’s still crap obviously but I find turning my volume knob down at jams allows me to play the most elaborate air guitar,

mrkb

munckee said:

 

Embrace the pain. The main improvement in my timing has been looper and jams. It’s still crap obviously but I find turning my volume knob down at jams allows me to play the most elaborate air guitar,

To be fair theres always four guitarists playing a four slightly different rhythms at the jams, so its difficult to know whos drifting - though as the drummer, Ive got a good idea .  The looper pedal doesn't lie!

bloomer

Listening to any kind of recording of yourself for the first time can be totally brutal. I had the exact same experience. Thought I was totally in time and even rushing or holding back in a musical way. But actually when I listened back it sounded like total crap and just completely out of time. The good news is it can be fixed with a little time with metronome and going through the pain barrier of recording yourself. Justin guitar has a good vid about this somewhere where he talks about playing in the pocket and how timing is something that can always be improved. Try setting a metronome to 40bpm and playing a single note on the beat. It's actually pretty difficult if you've never tried. Do a bit every day and you'll get there.

BRISTOL86

Come on baby, don't fear the looper
Baby take my hand, don't fear the looper

stephen.wood125

@BRISTOL86 excellent 

tralfamadan

+1 on the metronome. I thought I had okay timing and then started playing Bluegrass, in which the Guitarist is more or less the time-keeper. It was a real shit show. Gave me a whole new appreciation for having a decent rhythm section.

After a few months of metronome practice my timing is way better but I had to slow it down to an embarrassingly snail pace to get started.

If I can give one piece of advice it would be to make it as convenient as possible, so there's no real excuse why you can't practice without one. Store it near the amp & guitar so when you pick up it to practice you pick up your metronome too - even if its only a 5-10 minute run through of some scales.

Jalapeno

frictionfraction said:

Love my looper. I found it has really improved my playing for all the reasons you found. I think the big thing for me was how much my timing was off...

This.  (Wis'd)

It is brutal to begin with - but as you suggested the answer is practice.  But you can do timing exercises with a metronome too

Grangousier

Another vote for metronome. The important (but hard) bit is to listen carefully to make sure you're exactly on the click. You won't play like a robot afterwards but playing around the beat becomes a choice rather than the luck of the draw. 

(That said, I'm painfully conscious that I need to get back on it myself, so thanks for the reminder!)