As a direct result of a post from Mario regarding this item I was wondering if any members here are now, or have used the Ebow in the past? I know the samples here on the
The Ebow home page are interesting to say the least.
If you have please share your experiences with me and other forum members.
PS: Looks like Mario is doing his part to get me to help the economy!
Thanks,
Yep. I have one and use it when I want to simulate a cello or violin. For me I am not good enough with it to use it as a primary instrument but when RB does a violin or cello track and I want to thicken it I add a line with the ebow on my Ibanez Gio. The neck pickup on that guitar is just right for the sound. The Strat and Tele don't do it as well. Just turn on the neck pickup, put the ebow on a string over the switched off bridge pickup (it rides on the 2 adjacent strings) and slowly move it toward the neck pickup. As the thing gets closer the electromagnetic vibrations it creates will start your string playing. The good ones can coordinate better then me where you slide your finger from note to note as you move the ebow back and forth for stronger and weaker volumes to create the bow effect. Collective Soul used it on the intro and bridge in The World I Know.
There are some good instructional clips on youtube, one of which is Phil Keaggy. He uses a LOT of echo with it.
My Ebow is a One Trick Pony that, while it does indeed do that one trick well, does not get a lot of use here.
But I can also play the keyboards, so that anything that requires Padding, I usually will go to the keyboard for that. A guitarist-only, on the other hand, might find the Ebow useful for that, although these days the money is far better spent on a MIDI guitar or MIDI guitar pickup and converter, which would allow the guitarist to easily play Pads such as organ, strings, synth pads, etc.
Pads can be extemely important in a mix. I like to call them the "glue" that can make several or more "choppy" tracks stick together.
--Mac
Also Mac, I suppose a volume pedal will get close to the same result. Or the Keaggy "pick with volume off and then bring the volume knob up" technique. I think I spent maybe an hour playing with the thing the day I got it and have used it 3 times since. And 2 of those times I erased the track then played it in straight and used the gain change/volume fading in RB to get what I wanted.
Danny, I have one. It is one of my many one trick ponies! Slide, Talkbox, Wah pedals, you name it. Mix it all up and come up with something new.
I believe each of these additives give the artist an open door to experiment. The Ebow site shows so much more than what we see in traditional artists that mostly use it as a pad. The fact that the unit can even be used as an alternative to the pick was a novelty as well as sales pitch to me. It does have a bit of a learning curve though. But, if you are willing to explore, it really can do some amazing tricks. I recommend it. But, go beyond the traditional "Pad" sound and post a song on here.
The folks I know that use their show regularly get effects and sounds that are more interesting to me than keyboard pad sounds. They have worked at it to get to that point.
Thanks guys for all the feedback.
1st of all I am a bit surprised how many of you already have one. I would love to hear something you did with it if possible as opposed to the Ebow homepage demos.
I guess I should have qualified that I would be using it to add a little something new to my live gigs. Heck for 99.00 bucks if nothing elese it will keep me busy for a few hours a day for a week or so anyway.
Thanks again,
Danny C.
