I try and address different aspects of the practical side of playing electric guitar in church music.
This week we’ll talk about Reverb, Reverb Pedals, and how that works in a church band.
The simple definition of Reverb (or Reverberation) is that it is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air in a room. The Reverb effect has been in use for Decades, from 50’s rockabilly, to 60’s surf. From 70’s classic rock to 80’s New Wave. Reverb was key to Pearl Jam influence on the “grunge” sound and Radiohead’s OK Computer (as well as every other Radiohead album). John Mayer, The Shins, Kings of Leon. Everyone uses Reverb. Everyone talks about Delay in The Edge’s U2 guitar sound, as well as Coldplay ripping off that sound, but the truth is that without reverb neither band gets the classic sounds they are known for.
I’m not going to talk about settings or different pedals or anything like that. There are a lot of good reverb pedals out there and you should go and check them out. What I want to talk about is why I use reverb and how I use reverb.