Sirion
Well-known member
I have always been attracted to the concept of the guitar synth. Around 2004 I briefly owned a Roland GK-33, but sold it after tampering with it for a while. At the time I wasn't playing in a context where I could find too much use for it, and the whole thing mosly ended with me playing with using a church organ patch for playing slide (you'll never hear that anywhere else!). I sold it with a slight profit, but from time to time I have regretted it since.
Today, though, I can see so many things that might have been usable for. For me I think the eureka moment for me was when I first hear Judas Priest's Turbo album. Never mind it being a much-maligned album; I was deeply impressed by the way they mixed conventional guitar sounds and synth sounds to create a dark Cyberpunk soundscape you don't really hear all that often. They had also grasped the essence of the beast: a guitar synth is still more guitar than synth. Guitarists are "one-handed pianists" and will remain so. Once one treats it like a guitar, however, I can see immense possibilities with mixing traditional guitar sounds and synth effects in manners one cannot do with a traditional synth. I was onto the track of this with the aforementioned organ patch, but failed to capitalise on it. For instance, I can see things like distorted synth sounds being given texture by adding a synth sound with a delayed attack; it wouldn't be heard during active passages, but held chords would be thickened. Of course it can also work as an easy way to conjure an acoustic guitar, or even more exotic plucked instruments in a pinch.
If I ever get a new band project up and running, I suspect I will be getting one of these again, and make it an integral part of my guitar work. Are there anybody else who have been using them, or are still, who have found interesting ways to use it?
Today, though, I can see so many things that might have been usable for. For me I think the eureka moment for me was when I first hear Judas Priest's Turbo album. Never mind it being a much-maligned album; I was deeply impressed by the way they mixed conventional guitar sounds and synth sounds to create a dark Cyberpunk soundscape you don't really hear all that often. They had also grasped the essence of the beast: a guitar synth is still more guitar than synth. Guitarists are "one-handed pianists" and will remain so. Once one treats it like a guitar, however, I can see immense possibilities with mixing traditional guitar sounds and synth effects in manners one cannot do with a traditional synth. I was onto the track of this with the aforementioned organ patch, but failed to capitalise on it. For instance, I can see things like distorted synth sounds being given texture by adding a synth sound with a delayed attack; it wouldn't be heard during active passages, but held chords would be thickened. Of course it can also work as an easy way to conjure an acoustic guitar, or even more exotic plucked instruments in a pinch.
If I ever get a new band project up and running, I suspect I will be getting one of these again, and make it an integral part of my guitar work. Are there anybody else who have been using them, or are still, who have found interesting ways to use it?
