8 Essential Pedals Every Guitar Player Should Own

Looking to get started with guitar lessons? You’re on the right track. Playing guitar is described as therapeutic, calming, and creatively challenging by even the greatest of artists. It’s the ideal form of escapism, a bridge between the player and their busy mind. Being able to play some of your favourite songs is an incredibly rewarding experience that fills you up with pride and joy. What’s stopping you from getting there?

While long practice sessions and dedication are certainly admirable qualities, you’ll need quality audio products to turn your vision into reality. It’s no secret that musicians rely heavily on their instruments if they want to be good at what they do, much like artists rely on their art supplies to put their vision on paper. For guitar players, there’s one piece of equipment that can make all the difference – various kinds of pedals.

Are Guitar Pedals Necessary?

The short answer is no, they’re not. You can most definitely play guitar without them. But despite the fact that they’re not a crucial tool, they’re a handy accessory to have. They’re attached to your guitar with quality instrument cables with the purpose of amplifying the sound and helping you achieve the exact tones and melodies you’re looking for.

If you’ve watched any live performance ever, you’ll probably notice that guitar players step on some sort of pedal every now and then. That’s there for a reason. So, if you’re planning on taking things seriously, you should consider adding quality pedals like the compact guitar looper pedal to your musical arsenal.

What Pedals Should Every Guitar Player Have?

Since guitars are a vital component of almost any type of music genre or style, it makes sense that there are different types of pedals to accompany them. For the most part, the choice of pedal depends on the kind of music you play as well as the effect you want to achieve.

Loop Pedals

This one’s pretty convenient because it saves recordings of past musical performances and plays them back in real time. You can gradually build on the number of recordings you have on your easy-to-use guitar looper pedal to create the illusion of a mesmerising symphony of sounds, despite only using one instrument. It’s a useful device for all guitar players, regardless of the kind of music you play.

This is a great way to experiment with different melodies to figure out which sounds work well together. Most models have lots of dedicated storage and can save up hours of recorded performance for you to enjoy. If you’re not satisfied with the results, all you have to do is press a pedal on the guitar looper to delete your recording and start off with a clean slate.

These features allow you to crank your music up from its simplest form and into a creative blend of sounds and tones. You can easily go back to a recording you did months ago and combine it with something new. Evidently, a looper is a convenient practice tool that allows you to track your progress and improve your skills and timing as you go. This gives you the opportunity to perfect your piece and stick to the desired key and tempo.

Some types of guitar looper pedal offer advanced functions such as playing the recording in reverse or slowing it down to half-speed. These are particularly useful features if you want to add a unique twist to your tunes and make them sound more interesting. It’s definitely worth trying out, wouldn’t you agree?

Distortion Pedals

If you use these pedals, you won’t necessarily distort the sound beyond recognition but you will give it that extra edge and aggressive tone that defines the alternative and heavy metal scene. The crisp and saturated lead sounds are hard to miss and will definitely help you stand out from the crowd.

Reverb Pedals

Also known as the delay pedal, this one differs from the outstanding guitar loopers in the way it creates an echo effect surrounding the sounds you produce. Shorter delays are a common sight in the music world these days while prolonged echoes create a cascading texture. It’s normally paired with other pedals to highlight and complement its tones.

Overdrive Pedals

These produce similar sounds to their distortion counterparts but with a slightly sharper and grittier undertone. The idea here is that if you amp up your tunes that you originally intended, they start to ‘clip’ or go into overdrive. The resulting sound is very crunchy and energetic, something that classic rock and blues are very familiar with.

Phaser Pedals

For fans of repetitive sounds and similar tones, phaser pedals have a lot to offer. They create a filtering effect with distinct sounds, often alternating between the peaks and rough of guitar riffs. This is quite noticeable when you’re playing the same note or chord over and over again.

Chorus Pedals

For a more dramatic effect, chorus pedals split your sound into multiple ‘voices’, hence the name. In other words, it takes a single string of chords and replicates it to make it sound like there are multiple guitar players in the background. This harmonious mix of instruments playing the same notes is incredibly satisfying and a pure joy to listen to.

Acoustic Pedals

Not everyone has the funds to invest in both an electric and acoustic model and that’s where these pedals come in. If you already own an electric version and want to make it sound acoustic, you can just use the pedal and you’re good to go. This function allows you to switch between the two styles whenever you feel like it, giving you more freedom to improvise.

Synth Pedals

The long-standing appeal of glitz-pop and synth-heavy music is quite admirable. If you want to replicate those sounds without buying an actual keyboard, you can take the budget-friendly route and use a pedal instead.