How Do Guitar Pedals Work? Guitar pedal, also known as “stomp-boxes,” are small box steel devices that sit on the floor in front of the guitar player for tone shaping. The guitar player can change the sound of its guitar by just stomping on this small device. Many professional guitarists utilize this tool to achieve a specific sound. With this device, your guitar will be able to produce a full sound that suits different music genres.

A Must-Read: What Is The Best Electric Guitar?

The Function Of Guitar Pedals

Guitar pedals are labeled by the effects they provide. It comes with a long list of different categories and effects that you can choose from. Up to this day, new effects are still being developed. In contrast, the old ones are reinvented by modifying some of their properties. Among the essential guitar pedals, there is are distortion, boost, overdrive, reverb, wah, fuzz, and equalizer.

You can find these types of guitar pedals almost in all professional guitar players’ arsenal. So, isn’t it time for you to have one too?

How To Use Guitar Pedals?

Most guitar players are not even aware of a guitar pedal. Besides, you can also use the controls that are available in an amplifier to recreate the sound that guitar pedals create. Also, plugging a guitar straight to the amp is enough to play a wide selection of modern songs. Owning guitar pedals is not necessary, but these tools are convenient, especially if you want to change the sound of your guitar with just a stomp of feet.

After some time of playing guitar, you may seek for something unique. If you have reached this level, it is time for you to buy a guitar pedal. The sound that you can produce using guitar pedals can help you to make the most of your guitar skills.

Best Guitar Pedals

If you wish to up your game for your next performance, here are some of the best guitar pedals you can find:

Dunlop Original Crybaby, this guitar pedal, is ideal for performing blues or funk music. It is among the most popular wah guitar pedals, making it the safest option to start. And for compressor pedals, Boss CS-3 is the best choice. It is an industry-standard guitar pedal that helps to restrict the dynamic range of an electric guitar.

Another guitar pedal must-have for every guitar player is overdrive or distortion pedals. It is the most versatile effect starting back from Hendrix and the most overused effect until today. Ibanez TS9 is among the best models of distortion/overdrive guitar pedal that you can buy today.

Other guitar pedal effects are EQ, Harmonizing, Tremolo, Chorus, Phaser, Flanger, Volume, Echo effects, and so much more.

Plugging In A Guitar Pedal

When purchasing your first guitar pedal, the first thing you need to do is to learn the proper way to connect them to a guitar amp. This task may be easy, but a few things are necessary to make it work.

Usually, we would use a jack to connect a guitar to the amplifier. But when using a guitar pedal, this process is not applicable. Two guitar cables are needed for each pedal you will use. One of the two cables will be plugged into the pedal’s input, and then the other is to plug in the pedal’s output.

Most models of guitar pedals have input and output jacks. However, the standard is that input jacks are on the pedal’s right side while the output is on the left side. For those who only have one pedal, you will only require two cables for your entire rig.

Connect your guitar into your pedal’s input jack. Afterward, plug the other cable into the pedal’s output jack. This cable will then connect the input on your guitar amplifier. Most model of amplifiers features the guitar input in front. Meanwhile, others have their input on the back or top.

Knowing this, you should buy long output and input cables for the guitar pedals you have. Longer cords will allow you to place your pedal away from your guitar amplifier if you wish to, which is especially useful when performing on stage.

Aside from that, always have an extra-long cable ready with you. With this, you can change the cable you are using if you want to move more freely.

Connecting One Or More Guitar Pedals

Another thing you need to know to use guitar pedals is how to join them. To start, you need more cables like three if you have two guitar pedals. You will need one cable to join the guitar to one of the pedals, another to connect the two pedals, and the last one to connect the pedals to the amplifier.

You can use patch cables, short cables that are intended to link pedals together, to connect the two pedals you will use. These short cables can keep your pedalboard tidy and nice instead of using long cables. These are essential, especially if you wish to connect two or more guitar pedals. Aside from creating a neat look to your pedalboard, utilizing patch cables also helps to make everything organized.

If you have two guitar pedals, you only need to buy two long cables and one patch cable to connect the guitar, the two pedals, and the amplifier. If you add one more guitar pedal, you need to add another patch cable to make things work.

Here are some of the highest quality patch cables you can find online:

Donner Patch Black is one of the best patch cables for guitar pedals. It is six inches in length and is durable and long-lasting. If you wish to add more aesthetic to your setup, you may also get this Patch Cable from Guitar Capo & Cable.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these are only some of the existing long list of guitar pedal effects. If you wish to advance your guitar skills, discover more guitar pedals from here on. While these tools are useful for changing the sound of the guitar, beginners don’t need them. Besides, most modern songs can be played even without the help of guitar pedal effects.