Violin Bow an electric Guitar.

[som3d3vil34]

So my neighbor was having a garage sale and they were selling a violin that their daughter use to play for school. I was interested (after seeing Jimmy Page and Sigur Ros) in the sound you get from a bow on an electric guitar. So I borrowed the bow from them and tried it out. Got nothing. It makes no sound.

Im obviously doing it wrong, but I have no idea how it's done. Has anyone ever tried this and/or know how it's done? Fat chance, I know.

Thanks

[bwyatt1]

I've tried it. I could only really get a good sound from bringing it across either E string at an angle. You may also need some resin for the bow string to get the friction. I did get a good sound though from hitting it against the strings with an echo effect like Page does in Dazed and Confused.

[som3d3vil34]

Ya there must be some trick to it. I can't find any sort of web site either.

[cgroman]

Well, there are a couple things you'd have to do... bowed instruments are strung with their bridges having a pretty healthy sized curve to them, and to get it to really work, you'd have to set the action pretty high on the middle 2 strings (G & D) and work your way down. But to be honest, that's alot of work. The statement about the rosin is also correct, you can't do anything without it, but prepare to have your strings covered in tree sap if you do... It'll kind of work if you really want it to, but bowed instruments also only have flatwound strings, so yeah, put simply guitar just isn't a bow instrument, but you can get some wicked feedback with it... but i've seen it royally fuck up my friend's finish too...

[Pat M]

Resin?

[BenPezzner]

Yeah... it would only work with a LOT of rosin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosin), and even then I can't imagine it would work all that great. Plus you'd make a mess on your guitar and it would be hard to clean off the strings.

Ben

[Pat M]

Oh, I'm an idiot. I don't know why I thought it was resin.

[BenPezzner]

Oh, I'm an idiot. I don't know why I thought it was resin.
Because rosin is resin. :)

[Pat M]

Oh, ok. So I sort of win.

[som3d3vil34]

Ok, so it doesn't really sound like it's worth it. Thanks everyone for the responses; very informative.

[Dr. Strangelove]

If you really want a cool bow-like effect on an electric, you should use a heavy steel slide. No, I don't mean how you'd normally use it. I mean holding the slide in your right hand (if you're right-handed) and moving it up and down across the strings at a fairly quick pace (like you would a bow). Delay helps with this a lot. David Gilmour was doing this in the early 70s. Watch Live at Pompeii. He's making a chord with his left hand and sliding the slide up and down the frets while moving it up and down. It's hard to explain. It sounds basically like an e-bow does, but it was before the ebow was invented and is full chords, not just single sustained notes. Let me find a nice audio clip of it...

Ok, I made a short clip of the beginning of Echoes from Live at Pompeii. All you're hearing is the keyboard and a guitar played the way I described above. It's a really awesome sound. Like I said, there's just some delay added to get the sustains really nice. Gilmour, while often recognized as a great player, was also extremely inventive and creative and usually doesn't get much credit in that area. Bands like Radiohead are still doing this trick. :)

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=2468D7C65D569C65

[som3d3vil34]

Hey, thanks a lot Dr. Strangelove. This sounds very good, and a lot easier than a bow. I actually have the Live at Pompeii DVD, so I'll have to take a look and see how he's doing it. Thanks for putting that clip together.

ps - The Pulse DVD is finally out today!!

[Dr. Strangelove]

Hey, thanks a lot Dr. Strangelove. This sounds very good, and a lot easier than a bow. I actually have the Live at Pompeii DVD, so I'll have to take a look and see how he's doing it. Thanks for putting that clip together.

ps - The Pulse DVD is finally out today!!
Oh great, you have it. Yeah, just watch his right hand and you'll see the slide in it.

[cgroman]

... you could also pick up an e-bow, that'll do the same thing as the slide concept, just a little more efficiently, can't be more than what, 30 bucks? Shit, i'm just a bass player, I don't keep track of all your damn guitar accessories and buggywhips and such

[FunkyNewGod]

... you could also pick up an e-bow, that'll do the same thing as the slide concept, just a little more efficiently, can't be more than what, 30 bucks? Shit, i'm just a bass player, I don't keep track of all your damn guitar accessories and buggywhips and such

beat me to it



e-bow my man e-bow

[Dr. Strangelove]

... you could also pick up an e-bow, that'll do the same thing as the slide concept, just a little more efficiently, can't be more than what, 30 bucks? Shit, i'm just a bass player, I don't keep track of all your damn guitar accessories and buggywhips and such
That would be too easy!

:lol

;)

[som3d3vil34]

e-bow is actually like 80 bucks. That wouldnt be easy on my wallet ;)

[earl]

I have chosen not to include any music because, really there isn't any need, this is simply a how-to page to inform any guitar players how to make some noises with a violin bow on their guitar. When you purchase a bow, the hairs are loose and slacked. To play, you must tighten them by turning a metal knob on the end of the bow where your hand goes, the hairs should be about a pencil's width away from the bow where the hairs are closest to the wood. After the bow is tightened, you need to apply some resin to the hairs. Resin is sold separately and looks at first like a small puck of a dark hard substance. To use the resin, you must first sand the top of it until the darker outer surface is gone and a powdery substance is visible. Once this is done, apply the resin to the bow hairs by running the hairs along the resin back and forth, you want to put resin on every part of the hairs. For a new bow, you'll need to do this for a while, running your bow back and forth around thirty times should be enough, but don't be afraid to do more. Now theat your bow is tightened and has resin on it you're ready to go. To make any noise just simply run the hairs over the strings for a nice full violin sound. To play only the higher strings on your guitar, you should use the end of the bow furthest from your hand and move the bow back and forth relatively quickly (just like Jimmy does). Experiment with full chords or single notes, pretty much try whatever you can to make unique sounds that you never thought possible on a guitar. I hope that I've helped any confused experimenting musicians, because I know I was feeling really stupid when I couldn't figure out how to get the resin on to the bow, so send any questions to me at harryandmarv@hotmail.com and I'll do my best to answer them, but I'm not promising I'll be able to. Good Luck!

http://www.wholenote.com/default.asp?iTarget=http%3A//www.wholenote.com/cgi-bin/page_view.pl%3Fl%3D6965%26p%3D1%26a%3D0

[som3d3vil34]

Does anyone have any experience with the e-bow? Do you like it, not like it so much??

[Surfer X]

I use the E-bow on my Stick...It works ok...I decided to switch to both a glass and metal slide and it works a lot better...

Of course, you could always try this:

http://www.maniacworld.com/hannes-coetzee-teaspoon-slide.htm