TALES FROM NERDVILLE by Joe Bonamassa
SWELL TIME
One of the most expressive tools for electric guitar players is the use of the volume swell. An essential element in the arsenals of such legendary players as Danny Gatton, Roy Buchanan, Walter Trout, and, of course, Jeff Beck, a volume swell is produced by raising the volume of the guitar from zero to “on” after picking a string.
SWELL TIME
One of the most expressive tools for electric guitar players is the use of the volume swell. An essential element in the arsenals of such legendary players as Danny Gatton, Roy Buchanan, Walter Trout, and, of course, Jeff Beck, a volume swell is produced by raising the volume of the guitar from zero to “on” after picking a string.
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MusicTranscript
00:00 [music]
00:09 What's up ladies and gentlemen, Joe Bonamassa here for Guitar World Magazine.
00:13 Today we're going to talk about volume swells. Now I would like to explain this
00:17 using the front pickup but I will demonstrate
00:20 what happens when a guitar sits around for too long.
00:24 So we're going to talk about volume swells and I'm going to use the only
00:29 pickup that's working in a right now. And I use these a lot.
00:34 I really like them. I think they're very emotive. I learned from,
00:38 to me, the best was Danny Gatton, Roy Buchanan,
00:43 and even Walter Trout was like really stellar at it. And a lot of people
00:48 have done a Jeff Beck and you know there's a bunch of people.
00:50 But when you bring the dynamics down in a band, so if you're playing in C minor,
00:56 you'll always get the crowd going if you play something like this.
01:00 [music]
01:16 [music]
01:36 So what you can do, and the technique is, is every time,
01:40 you know, like use your thumb and every time you pick down,
01:44 it's a counteraction. So your little finger
01:47 is linked to the volume control. So down, down, up. So you see my thumb down, up, down,
01:54 up, you know. And you just find the sweet
01:56 spot on the guitar, every guitar is different.
01:58 You find the sweet spot. So...
02:00 [music]
02:15 And you just kind of practice until you find this, you know, this,
02:18 this place where you can either do single or no.
02:22 [music]
02:34 And just watch the fans come up to you and say, "Hey, you know that part that
02:37 sounds like a cello? I really like that. That was my favorite
02:40 part of the night." You're like, "But I play other stuff too."
02:43 But that's my volume technique. And a little pro tip on the setup,
02:49 it's nice to have a delay, nice to have a reverb on it. I know this is
02:53 dry, I'm pretty honest. But if you put a little, little effect on it,
02:57 and you can really get some cool sounds,
03:01 and with the, with the, with the volume control,
03:04 and, and these kind of volume sweeps.
03:08 [music]