What Are The Best Blues Guitar Rigs?

Home » Blues Guitar Tips » Blues Guitar Rigs

By: Mike Hammil

There are some basics you can learn about blues guitar rigs that can help you get started and then you can take what you have learned and develop it over time. No musician should ever stand still on technology or the ability to improve and evolve their sound. Every musician that is successful is always looking for that one thing more that can really push their sound over the top and you should be the same way. I guess first we should probably describe what blues guitar rigs are. A blues guitar rig is the equipment you play your guitar through. It is all of your effects pedals that are plugged into your amplifier and it doesn't matter if you have a regular amplifier or if you like interchanging amplifier heads and cabinets, the point is that your blues guitar rig is that equipment set up you will use to play out of and what you plug your guitar into. There are a lot of ways to do it but there are some very basic ways you can get started and then some good advice you can use to build your sound the way you want it. Starting With The Basics All you really need for a good starter blues guitar rig is a nice amplifier. If you are going to be playing with a band then 50 watts should be more than enough and you also want this basic blues guitar rig to have something called reverb on it. Reverb gives a guitar sound depth and makes it sustain a little which makes each note sound like it goes on forever. You can turn your reverb maybe half way up. If you want a round thick sound then use a lot of bass. For a more high end sound turn up the treble. Always make sure your amplifier has a bass, midrange, and treble knob on it so you can adjust the sound on your amplifier. This is important to getting just the right sound and you can find a sound you like by listening to records made by your favorite blues players. Once you have your basic clean sound set up it is time to add flavor to it. A Little Of This And A Little Of That Some blues players avoid foot pedals and effects and others live for them. In all honesty if you want to experiment with different sounds you are going to need to get comfortable with effects pedals. There are the basics like delay and distortion and one of the premier pedals for distortion in all of blues is a pedal by a company called ProCo and the pedal is called The Rat. If you can tame The Rat then you are on your way to finding a sound that works for you. Don't be afraid of pedals, use them and see what sounds they make. Eventually you will find your sound and when you do you will most certainly know it.