Cool. I have an E-bow too and it's a fun toy. I have watched videos of people doing multiple string arpeggios with them. I have yet to develop that skill.
The e-bow is a way of "bowing" the guitar strings via a magnetic field.
The device itself is made to fit the palm of your hand, and operates on a single 9 volt battery. You "hover' the e-bow over the selected string and it begins to vibrate, creating sound w/o the usual pick attack. With practice you can mimic the sound of an oboe, flute, violin, cello, etc.
It's an interesting effect, somewhat like a volume swell + sustainer effect. I'm still practicing with mine, and I'm sure there are more ways to use it, I'm a beginner.
At $99 U.S. currency, I'm sure it's not for everyone, but if you're looking for something different you should check one out. I would caution that they are made of plastic and probably wouldn't survive being dropped on a hard surface, but I believe the plastic case is a necessity as metal would not allow for the magnetic field that drives the string.
It does take some practice to position the e-bow over the string properly in order to drive the string so that it begins to vibrate. I'm just starting to get the knack of it, but so far I'm enjoying it. A trick I've learned is use a humbucker equipped guitar on the neck pickup with the guitar volume turned down a bit and the tone control down almost fully. This seems to yield the best sound to me.......YMMV.
The video below will give an idea of the sound of the e-bow used on electric guitar.
Guitars
Wilburn Versatare, '52 FrankenTele(Fender licensed parts), Fender USA Roadhouse Strat, Fender USA Standard B-bender Telecaster, Agile AL 3000 w/ WCR pickups, Ibanez MIJ V300 Acoustic, Squier Precision Bass,
Amps
Ceriatone Overtone Special, Musicman 212 Sixty-Five, Fender Blues Jr., Peavey Classic 30, Fender Super Reverb, Traynor YCV-40 WR Anniversary w/ matching 1x12 ext. cab, Epiphone SoCal 50w head w/ matching 4x12 cab (Lady Luck speakers), Avatar 2x12 semi-open back cab w/ Celestion speakers
Pedals
Digitech Bad Monkey, Digitech Jamman, DVM's ZYS, Goodrich volume pedal
Cool. I have an E-bow too and it's a fun toy. I have watched videos of people doing multiple string arpeggios with them. I have yet to develop that skill.
Patrick
Wow, that's cool!
I've seen them advertised, but this is the first demo.
Guitar: Gibson SG Standard Natural Burst, Squier CV 50's Tele, Hell Guitars No. 2, Squier CV 50's Strat, Reverend Club King 290, Taylor 522e 12-Fret mahogany,
Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Bass Short Scale
Amp: Fender Super Champ X2 Head, Egnater Tweaker 15, Fender Mustang I, Acoustic B20 1x12 bass amp
Pedal: Budda Budwah wah, Wampler Ego Compressor, Electro-Harmonix Soul Food, Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, Wampler Velvet Fuzz, Seven Sisters Eve Tremolo, TC Electronics Gravy Tri Chorus & Vibrato, Catalinbread Echorec, TC Electronic Alter Ego 2 Delay, Hardwire Supernatural Ambient Verb, MXR Carbon Copy, Catalinbread RAH, Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker, BYOC Mouse 2.0 Distortion, BYOC Boost/OD-2
My wife got me one of these for Christmas. I'm looking forward to playing with it. I believe The Edge used one on the intro to With or Without You.
- Lev
Main Guitars: Fender US Deluxe HSS Strat, PRS SE C24, Fender Baja Tele
Bass Guitar: Squier VM Jaguar Special
Main Amp: Vox AC15
Main Effects: Digitech EXP-7, Line6 M5, Soul Food, Sub n UP, Flashback, Polara Verb
Vids: www.youtube.com/levguitar
Cool video Oldguy, sounds really great! I want one too!
I can't say that I've given up on a flanger cause I've never liked the effect either. I also can't say the same about Tremolo. I hate them both equally. - Tone2TheBone 2009
Some of the stuff at the beginning almost sounded like a reverse-delay effect.
Axen: Jackson DK2M, Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, Reverend Warhawk 390, Taylor 914ce, ESP LTD Surveyor-414
Amphen: Jet City JCA22H and JCA12S cab, Carvin X-60 combo, Acoustic B20
Effecten: "Thesis 96" Overdrive/Boost (aka DVM OD2), Hardwire DL-8 Digital Delay/Looper, DigiTech Polara Reverb, DigiTech EX-7 Expression Factory and CF-7 Chorus Factory, Danelectro CF-1 Cool Cat Fuzz
"I wish Imagine Dragons would be stuck in an Arcade Fire for an entire Vampire Weekend."--Brian Posehn
Nice catch, Matt. I was running a delay to give the sound more breathing room. It comes in after the swell of the string beginning to vibrate.Originally Posted by marnold
Guitars
Wilburn Versatare, '52 FrankenTele(Fender licensed parts), Fender USA Roadhouse Strat, Fender USA Standard B-bender Telecaster, Agile AL 3000 w/ WCR pickups, Ibanez MIJ V300 Acoustic, Squier Precision Bass,
Amps
Ceriatone Overtone Special, Musicman 212 Sixty-Five, Fender Blues Jr., Peavey Classic 30, Fender Super Reverb, Traynor YCV-40 WR Anniversary w/ matching 1x12 ext. cab, Epiphone SoCal 50w head w/ matching 4x12 cab (Lady Luck speakers), Avatar 2x12 semi-open back cab w/ Celestion speakers
Pedals
Digitech Bad Monkey, Digitech Jamman, DVM's ZYS, Goodrich volume pedal
Very cool and as always...you make it look easy.
Guitars: 2002 Les Paul Studio Limited Color's Edition | 2004 Greg Bennett Avion Les Paul Copy | S101 Telecaster project | 2004 Washburn D46 Acoustic
Amplification: Epiphone Valve Jr. Head and Cabinet | VOX AD30VT
Effects: Rocktron Delay | BBE Free Fuzz | Big Muff Pi | Boss Flanger | Bad Monkey | Jekyll and Hyde | Cry Baby Wah | Boss EQ | Behrenger TU300 Tuner |
Very cool. Thanks for posting!
I just posted a comment on your youtube vid. That sounded really neat! I did have a question....does it work while moving it to other strings, as in the ones adjacent to the string you've got it hovered over? I sometimes play classical bits on my guitars that my daughter is learning on the violin to help her and an ebow would be cool playing those but I normally work the 3 upper strings to play these pieces. I noticed your melodies were played on single strings. Would it let me do the same thing over the upper 3 strings?
Guitars/Bass - MIM Fender Classic 50s Strat, MIM Fender Standard Strat, Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele, Gibson Les Paul Studio, Epi '56 Gold Top Les Paul, Martin DSR acoustic, Sigma Martin Auditorium electric/acoustic, Squier Jazz Bass.
Amps/Cabinets/Modelers - Model 2558 50 watt Marshall Silver Anniversary Jubilee combo w/ Celestion Vintage 30s, 4x12 Marshall cabinet w/25 watt Greenback Celestions, Fender Blues Junior w/ a couple of Billm mods, Line 6 POD 2.0, Roland Micro Cube
Pedals/Effects - Cry Baby Classic Wah, Boss TU-2, Boss NS-2, Boss RC-2 Loop Station, Ross Compressor, MXR Micro Amp, Danelectro FAB Echo, Danelectro FAB Chorus, Danelectro Chicken Salad, Marshall Guv'nor Plus, Marshall Echohead, Duhvoodooman's Zonkin' Yellow Screamer, Digitech Digiverb, Digitech Bad Monkey, Dunlop Fuzz Face, Homemade Loop Bypass pedal, Duhvoodooman's Sonic Tonic (Maxon SD-9 clone +), Voodoo Labs Superfuzz
It would be really difficult, I think, Rob. It takes a split second to get the string vibrating, 'cuz the magnet has to start it moving before you get a sound. So when you "change" strings it takes a second to get "that" one sounding out.
Now, that being said............ I'm working on just "barely" brushing the strings to get them started, but I'm not getting the hang of it too well.
Hubberjub was right about people doing chord arpeggios with them, too.
So the answer is.........maybe. I can't do it yet, maybe w/ practice.
You might be able to get it done more quickly, but it's waaaaayyyyy different than anything I've used before, but it's fun.
Guitars
Wilburn Versatare, '52 FrankenTele(Fender licensed parts), Fender USA Roadhouse Strat, Fender USA Standard B-bender Telecaster, Agile AL 3000 w/ WCR pickups, Ibanez MIJ V300 Acoustic, Squier Precision Bass,
Amps
Ceriatone Overtone Special, Musicman 212 Sixty-Five, Fender Blues Jr., Peavey Classic 30, Fender Super Reverb, Traynor YCV-40 WR Anniversary w/ matching 1x12 ext. cab, Epiphone SoCal 50w head w/ matching 4x12 cab (Lady Luck speakers), Avatar 2x12 semi-open back cab w/ Celestion speakers
Pedals
Digitech Bad Monkey, Digitech Jamman, DVM's ZYS, Goodrich volume pedal
Originally Posted by oldguy
How much do these puppies run these days? I had one about 20 yrs. ago. It came w/ an instructional cassette if I remember correctly. =-) PJ
Originally Posted by P.J.
At $99 U.S. currency, I'm sure it's not for everyone, but if you're looking for something different you should check one out.
Now they come w/ a DVD. Used ones on c/list and fleabay are cheaper, and may or may not have the accessories.
Guitars
Wilburn Versatare, '52 FrankenTele(Fender licensed parts), Fender USA Roadhouse Strat, Fender USA Standard B-bender Telecaster, Agile AL 3000 w/ WCR pickups, Ibanez MIJ V300 Acoustic, Squier Precision Bass,
Amps
Ceriatone Overtone Special, Musicman 212 Sixty-Five, Fender Blues Jr., Peavey Classic 30, Fender Super Reverb, Traynor YCV-40 WR Anniversary w/ matching 1x12 ext. cab, Epiphone SoCal 50w head w/ matching 4x12 cab (Lady Luck speakers), Avatar 2x12 semi-open back cab w/ Celestion speakers
Pedals
Digitech Bad Monkey, Digitech Jamman, DVM's ZYS, Goodrich volume pedal
well, I know what I'm buying next.
put this topic in elsewhere and asked if works on a Bass.the following was one reply:
I have one and have messed with a lot of different things.
Yes, it will work with bass guitar but the distance from the string is critical. Bass strings have a lot more mass to get moving so the response time is a little slow. Also you have to be careful in keeping the string at a distance where it doesn't touch the E-bow or the sound stops.
I have also used an E-bow with acoustic steel string guitar, (yep that works too), and my electric sitar, which does not work as well but does work. If I had a banjo, I would try it , but.......I do not.
this from a standup guy/fretter too
Last edited by player; January 10th, 2010 at 12:02 PM.
Life is like a camera, just focus on what’s important and capture the good times, develop from the negatives and if things don’t work out, just take another shot. ~ Anonymous
Guitars: 1967(year they came out): Fender Coronado II Wildwood I ,Fullerton ST- 4 Fat Strat , Esteban Legacy acous/elec,99 MIA Standard Fender Strat
Amph's Original Roland Cube 15,Drive 30 w/spring reverb