anybody use a bow on guitar?

[Elliott Damage]

ala Jimmy Page?
I just bought one and i gotta say its fun if not a little ineffective. Add some overdrive and echo and play powerchords is fun. I've got it to work pretty well by playing right in front of the bridge.

cliche i know...but fun :p

[Wilbo26]

Definatley cool, but not something you could ever do frequently. Power chords are the way to go.

[cona pala]

I have 2 bows which I only use back in the mix of the weird spacey jams or in the back of the mix on really depressing songs because a screeching bow just has a really creepy vibe about it you can't get with anything else.

I use the ebow for anything else.

[GuyaGuy]

i'm recording some songs and play bow on the low E for some cello counterpoint. with ample reverb, it sounds remarkably cello-like.

[Elliott Damage]

Originally posted by GuyaGuy
i'm recording some songs and play bow on the low E for some cello counterpoint. with ample reverb, it sounds remarkably cello-like.

i agree, it is very cello-like. anything i do with a volume pedal i'm going to try and do with the bow.

[Seth Carmody]

Originally posted by Wilbo26
Definatley cool, but not something you could ever do frequently. Power chords are the way to go.

Try telling that to Jonsi from Sigur Ros.

[GuyaGuy]

Originally posted by Seth Carmody


Try telling that to Jonsi from Sigur Ros.

that's true.
and let's not forger Daniel Ash of Bauhaus and Love & Rockets!

[Elliott Damage]

Originally posted by GuyaGuy


that's true.
and let's not forger Daniel Ash of Bauhaus and Love & Rockets!

and let's not forget Elliott Damage. he will surely overuse the bow.:p

[Bunny Manfurr]

Originally posted by Elliott Damage
ala Jimmy Page?
I just bought one and i gotta say its fun if not a little ineffective. Add some overdrive and echo and play powerchords is fun. I've got it to work pretty well by playing right in front of the bridge.

cliche i know...but fun :p

I prefer to use a raw wood drumstick for bowing (no finish). It gives you pretty much the same results and you don't get rosin on your guitar.

In fact...with this song I did with my band The Girlfriend Experience, the second half of the song...the part that sounds like "keyboard/synth"...that's all actually guitar I bowed with a drumstick. I layered about 3 tracks to get it right.

Kiss, Kiss (http://www.girlfriendexperience.org/TheGirlfriendExperience-WhenInRomeDoAsTheLions/The_Girlfriend_Experience-Kiss_Kiss.MP3)

[Ben Fulton]

Originally posted by Elliott Damage
ala Jimmy Page?
I just bought one and i gotta say its fun if not a little ineffective. Add some overdrive and echo and play powerchords is fun. I've got it to work pretty well by playing right in front of the bridge.

cliche i know...but fun :p

In a tiny bar called "The Iron Pot" in Napier, New Zealand, about 14 years ago I forced my band to play the entire live version (SRTS version) of "Dazed and Confused". Including the bowed solo bit. HAH! (I was only 16 so I can be forgiven......sort of). The key to good bow tones is Rosin...... lots and lots of Rosin.
I still think one of the best parts in that whole film visually and musically is the section before the bow - you know (zep heads), the Em to C section; "If you're going.........to SanFrancisco........be sure to wear....some flowers in your hair" The bit where they show Jonsey and Bonham glance at each other and laugh and then launch themselves into providing the most wonderful accompaniment to Page and Plants glorious melancholy.


Anyways........ Cool bow tone = Muchos Rosin.

Cheerio,

ben

[Elliott Damage]

Originally posted by Ben Fulton


In a tiny bar called "The Iron Pot" in Napier, New Zealand, about 14 years ago I forced my band to play the entire live version (SRTS version) of "Dazed and Confused". Including the bowed solo bit. HAH! (I was only 16 so I can be forgiven......sort of). The key to good bow tones is Rosin...... lots and lots of Rosin.
I still think one of the best parts in that whole film visually and musically is the section before the bow - you know (zep heads), the Em to C section; "If you're going.........to SanFrancisco........be sure to wear....some flowers in your hair" The bit where they show Jonsey and Bonham glance at each other and laugh and then launch themselves into providing the most wonderful accompaniment to Page and Plants glorious melancholy.


Anyways........ Cool bow tone = Muchos Rosin.

Cheerio,

ben

it took like a half hour of 'rosin'in up' before it made a sound!
i was wondering what the hell was wrong with the damn thing! :p

[Ben Fulton]

Originally posted by Elliott Damage


it took like a half hour of 'rosin'in up' before it made a sound!
i was wondering what the hell was wrong with the damn thing! :p

Rosin + Echoplex + hill climb behind Boleskin house = Bow Heaven

:p

[Bunny Manfurr]

Originally posted by Ben Fulton

Anyways........ Cool bow tone = Muchos Rosin.

Cheerio,

ben

I'm tellin' ya...raw wood drumstick...it does the same thing and it won't get your strings all covered in gunk.

Check out the clip above to hear it...it's the "synth" sounds in the second chorus...it's all guitar bowed with a raw wood drumstick. No rosin (or synths). :)

[orourke]

I used a bow for a while back in the seventies, it got rosin all over my SG, nasty sticky stuff.

[stereotypy]

Originally posted by Bunny Manfurr


I'm tellin' ya...raw wood drumstick...it does the same thing and it won't get your strings all covered in gunk.

Check out the clip above to hear it...it's the "synth" sounds in the second chorus...it's all guitar bowed with a raw wood drumstick. No rosin (or synths). :)

great sound! how have you "bowed" the guitar with the drumstick? like with a real bow or in another way?

and btw/ what pedals have you used on that track?
;)

[gambit]

that drum stick thing sounds cool. how do you play the strings with it? just running the drum stick legnthways across a single string?

what effects/extra processing did you do? can it work in a live situation?

[threm]

There was some talk when the Piranha `guitar bow` came but not much to find from users.

Grubgoat wrote back in August

"I've got one. You have to practice at it, cause like a real violin, it can be hard to get a good sound if you don't know what you're doing. Its *definately* not an instant-ebow kind of thing...
But, from what I can tell (I got bored with it), you can't get the kinds of sustain like an ebow, or even a violin - its not long enough for that, and its not maneuverable like a pick.
Coolest thing I've been able to get it to do is do the big-chord thing like Pete Townshend - Not the same, but you get that violin sound on one big chord, and that's kind of neat. But overall, there's not a lot of sounds there."
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=997892&highlight=Piranha+Bow

http://www.piranhaguitarbow.com/piranhasg.jpg
http://www.piranhaguitarbow.com/

Check the ultimate guitar for bowing!
http://www.bowedguitar.com/

Don`t forget the ebow, listen to some of the clips
http://www.ebow.com/ebow/sounds.htm

Heard this guy using two ebows simultanously. Cool! One for a drone tone, the other for the melody.


Daevid Allen from Gong used `stainless steel gynecological instruments` to get these sustainy ethereal glissando sounds, the basis of Gong's spacey signature sound.

Robert Rich tells;
"I use a stainless-steel rod from a tool set (the metal shaft of a nut-driver) that has the proper smooth matt steel texture, and I bow the string at the fret point. The reason my sound is different from Daevid Allen's (more like a human voice, perhaps) may be due to the fact that a steel guitar has a higher bridge and no frets, so I can push into the string a bit more for greater dynamics and expression. I basically use this technique as a substitute for the human voice, since it has a similar timbre and expressivity."
http://www.robertrich.com/rrintguitar.html

Btw. It is possible to use the ebow on bass guitar, just harder to find the sweet spot. Michael Manring use it throughout his Thonk album.

Manning writes
"Hi Ian. I’m so glad to hear you’re having fun with fretless! For the most part I use standard, off-the-shelf Ebows and I find they work beautifully on bass. There have been a number of threads here on how to use the Ebow as well as some dealing with learning to play fretless and many folks have offered good advice, so you might want to look those up. Of course, if you have further questions we’d be happy to help out. Good luck!"
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142413

[threm]

Dr.Bow has a site with mp3`s


http://www.angelfire.com/indie/bowedguitar/dr._bow2.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/indie/bowedguitar/Arpeggione1.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/indie/bowedguitar/

[gambit]

the pirahna guitar bow is crap. utterly useless for bowed notes that last longer than half a second.

[itstartsstoppin]

Originally posted by Elliott Damage
ala Jimmy Page?
I just bought one and i gotta say its fun if not a little ineffective. Add some overdrive and echo and play powerchords is fun. I've got it to work pretty well by playing right in front of the bridge.

cliche i know...but fun :p

how much did you pay for it, i have been wanting to get one but couldnt find any under $50

[NiceAndBlue]

Originally posted by itstartsstoppin


how much did you pay for it, i have been wanting to get one but couldnt find any under $50

you can get a cheap violin bow for around $20. I wouldn't spend any more than that.

[Bunny Manfurr]

Originally posted by stereotypy


great sound! how have you "bowed" the guitar with the drumstick? like with a real bow or in another way?

and btw/ what pedals have you used on that track?
;)

For the most part you use it like you would use any other bow.

The fact that the stick has no finish on it helps it to grip the string as if it had rosin on it without the sticky mess. You can also get a big sound from it without requiring a lot of surface area.

You can also bow it like a slide over particular notes without having to fret the note.

As for pedals...

For the clean sounds I mic'd 4 different clean amps played at the same time and they are slightly boosted with a Keeley Katana clean boost.

The distortion sound is the Hybrid Fuzz card from my Foxrox Captain Coconut 2 and the T+2 card from my Foxrox ZIM pedal.

As for the bowed sounds, one of the tracks is clean and I'm pushing it with a Keeley Katana and an Analogman Bi-Comp...for color I added some Analogman Clone Chorus and for color and sustain I used the "Analog" delay setting on my Line 6 Echo Pro rack.

The other bowed tracks used the same delay setting but I'm using either my ZIM's T+2 card or my Keeley modded BD-2.

[Bunny Manfurr]

Originally posted by gambit
that drum stick thing sounds cool. how do you play the strings with it? just running the drum stick legnthways across a single string?

Yes...and depending on how your guitar is set up you can play more than one. I have bowed whole chords with it. I find it works best when bowed directly over the notes you want to play.

Once you get the hang of it you can bow chords and arpeggios.

what effects/extra processing did you do? can it work in a live situation?

See my other post above. And yes...it will most definitely work in a live situation.

I also have found that lengths of copper pipe will work well too if you're looking for a brighter sound with a little high end squeal to it. It works better than bowing with most slides because you have a longer traveling length. A 6-8 inch piece of pipe is all you need.

If anyone's interested, I will tell you how to make cool melodic runs using a couple of hair driers, a delay pedal and a distortion pedal. :)

[stereotypy]

Originally posted by Bunny Manfurr


For the most part you use it like you would use any other bow.

The fact that the stick has no finish on it helps it to grip the string as if it had rosin on it without the sticky mess. You can also get a big sound from it without requiring a lot of surface area.

You can also bow it like a slide over particular notes without having to fret the note.

As for pedals...

For the clean sounds I mic'd 4 different clean amps played at the same time and they are slightly boosted with a Keeley Katana clean boost.

The distortion sound is the Hybrid Fuzz card from my Foxrox Captain Coconut 2 and the T+2 card from my Foxrox ZIM pedal.

As for the bowed sounds, one of the tracks is clean and I'm pushing it with a Keeley Katana and an Analogman Bi-Comp...for color I added some Analogman Clone Chorus and for color and sustain I used the "Analog" delay setting on my Line 6 Echo Pro rack.

The other bowed tracks used the same delay setting but I'm using either my ZIM's T+2 card or my Keeley modded BD-2.

wonderful!

:thu: i really liked your sound! does your band have a webpage?

[Bunny Manfurr]

Originally posted by stereotypy


wonderful!

:thu: i really liked your sound! does your band have a webpage?


Thanks. You can find us at www.girlfriendexperience.org or on MySpace at www.myspace.com/girlfriendexperience

The track I posted is from our upcoming album we recorded with Sylvia Massy (producer for Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers, System Of A Down, Love And Rockets, Johnny Cash, etc.).

The tracks that are up on our site are from our first demo EP. They're OK, but the new album is sounding great. We go back in the studio to finish it up in a couple of weeks.

[Bunny Manfurr]

If anyone's interested here's another example of the bowed guitar work...the intro uses a combination of bowed guitar and tremolo picked guitar. In the transitions before the big heavy distorted parts the "keyboard" sounding parts are also bowed guitar. It's kind of a Television meets Black Sabbath sort of ditty.

Coke Buddha (http://girlfriendexperience.org/TheGirlfriendExperience-WhenInRomeDoAsTheLions/The_Girlfriend_Experience-Coke_Buddha.MP3)

And here's another track...there's no bowing, but I'm happy with how my feedback parts came out. I also like how the fuzz bass on the intro came out. :)

Cross The Eyes (http://girlfriendexperience.org/TheGirlfriendExperience-WhenInRomeDoAsTheLions/The_Girlfriend_Experience-Cross_The_Eyes.MP3)

[threm]

Originally posted by Bunny Manfurr
The track I posted is from our upcoming album we recorded with Sylvia Massy
Nice guitar work there, Bunny!

How is to work with Sylvia M?



I Shot A Man In Reno

"Every man knows he is a sissy compared to Johnny Cash."
Bono

[Bunny Manfurr]

Originally posted by threm

Nice guitar work there, Bunny!

How is to work with Sylvia M?



I Shot A Man In Reno

"Every man knows he is a sissy compared to Johnny Cash."
Bono

Thanks man. Sylvia is awesome to work with. She basically let us kinda do our thing and she would come in an make some suggestions here and there. She spent the most one on one time working with the vocalist.

She's created a really great environment for recording...very relaxed and low key. It was a lot more effortless than some recording sessions I've done. We spent two weeks on site at her studio in Weed, Ca. It was nice being able to wake up in the morning, grab a little breakfast and then hit the studio.

[Bunny Manfurr]

Originally posted by NiceAndBlue


you can get a cheap violin bow for around $20. I wouldn't spend any more than that.

Go to high schools just before school lets out for the summer and stop by the music department. I used to get old ones that they were throwing out that were slightly worn for free when they do their end of the school year inventory.

They're worn, but if you're using them for guitar, there's still plenty of life in them for that application.

[threm]

Originally posted by Bunny Manfurr
Thanks man. Sylvia is awesome to work with. She basically let us kinda do our thing and she would come in an make some suggestions here and there. She spent the most one on one time working with the vocalist.

She's created a really great environment for recording...very relaxed and low key. It was a lot more effortless than some recording sessions I've done. We spent two weeks on site at her studio in Weed, Ca. It was nice being able to wake up in the morning, grab a little breakfast and then hit the studio.
Cool!

A friend of mine stayed with her quite some time a year ago mixing a record he`d tracked in his own studio.

[papa taco]

Bow? No.
Ebow? Yes.
Bono? No.
Boner? YEs.

[Bunny Manfurr]

Originally posted by threm

Cool!

A friend of mine stayed with her quite some time a year ago mixing a record he`d tracked in his own studio.

Your friend wouldn't happen to play for Animal Alpha, would he?

[threm]

Originally posted by Bunny Manfurr
Your friend wouldn't happen to play for Animal Alpha, would he?
No, but you knew they`re from Norway? They`re up and coming.

I was talking about the singer/gtr.player of BigBang, more straight forward 70`s than A Alpha and one of the established acts here.

He has a great 70`s API board, 2 x 24 track analog machines, etc in his `Grand Sport Studio`where he tracked the last record, "Poetic Terrosism".
I sold him two EMT140 tube plates which I sometimes regret painfully. :freak:

http://www.tromsoby.no/images/upload/20050415173055201.jpg


http://www.vg.no/bilder/edrum/1113557078054_474.jpg

[Bunny Manfurr]

Originally posted by threm

No, but you knew they`re from Norway? They`re up and coming.

Yep. I saw their video on Sylvia's site and I went to see them when they came to SF per Sylvia's suggestion.

I was talking about the singer/gtr.player of BigBang, more straight forward 70`s than A Alpha and one of the established acts here.

He has a great 70`s API board, 2 x 24 track analog machines, etc in his `Grand Sport Studio`where he tracked the last record, "Poetic Terrosism".
I sold him two EMT140 tube plates which I sometimes regret painfully. :freak:

http://www.tromsoby.no/images/upload/20050415173055201.jpg


http://www.vg.no/bilder/edrum/1113557078054_474.jpg

Cool...yeah...I think I saw the BigBang's name on Sylvia's client list or something. Do they have any tunes online? I'd like to check them out. :)

[threm]

Originally posted by Bunny Manfurr
Do they have any tunes online? I'd like to check them out. :)
I checked their sites and some online CD stores here and didn`t find a single track. Quite weird, they topped the charts as you see here
http://lista.vg.no/show_list.php?ListsOp=showWeek&week=16&year=2005&listID=2
http://lista.vg.no/artist_info.php?ArtistOp=show&artistId=300



http://www.smallbang.net/
http://www.poetic-stars.com/
http://home.no.net/wildbird/

[percyexpat]

someone mentioned jonsi from sigur ros before but if you really want to hear what a bowed guitar can sound like go here and listen to viðrar vel til loftárása.

http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/media/

although every song is great that one has an epic bowed guitar swell.

then again you all might already have heard, i dont know.

[Nostragarlic]

The gift that keeps on giving. Luv it! Also, Sigor uses one

[ck3]

I prefer 100% wet reverse gated reverb. :p ;) :D

[44ofjuly]

http://www.dramm.de/botar-ge.htm