"controlling" feedback

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tom18222

yes
if thats what you want to call it. all the time you hear guitarists have feedback (purposely) and they can change the notes of it without making it stop. is there a trick for this?
 
I never really thought about it, but I think you have to wretch about and gyrate your body violently, make some strange faces, etc, but mostly you just need to turn up the amp real loud and point the pickups at it and move the guitar around or maybe use the whammy bar.

You could also use a sustainer pickup like Steve Vai or use an ebow.

If you're talking about when you're fretting a note and it just swells into that harmonically rich feedback, you can keep that going if you've got the right touch. I don't know that this is what you're talking about though.
 
I've been making little tunes out of feedback since before I could play very well (not that I play very well now but you know what i mean). I never really thought about it either. It was just something I happened upon as a rookie and went "hey, cool!". Just hold the note down until it feeds back. Maybe give it a bit of vibrato to keep it going. You'll need some distortion, maybe pickups facing the speaker (although I've not really ever conciously faced the speaker for it myself), and maybe the volume up a bit.
 
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metalhead28 said:
I never really thought about it, but I think you have to wretch about and gyrate your body violently, make some strange faces, etc, but mostly you just need to turn up the amp real loud and point the pickups at it and move the guitar around or maybe use the whammy bar.

You could also use a sustainer pickup like Steve Vai or use an ebow.

If you're talking about when you're fretting a note and it just swells into that harmonically rich feedback, you can keep that going if you've got the right touch. I don't know that this is what you're talking about though.
Click to expand...

I thought it was because you had crappy frets and a warped neck that wasn't intonated... damn :) shows me something...:)
 
i knwo how to make the guitar feeback, i'm talking about changing the notes of the feedback itself, without making is stop. i see guys just have one continuous beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep and they make it change notes.
 
you need a cranked up tube amp - doesn't have to be high powered i use 5 watts, high gain pick ups or a boost or distortion pedal or both and a light weight guitar, some guys do it with a les paul but i find lighter guitars to feedback easier and more controlled.

just stand within a 6 foot radius of the amp and fret a note. if it doesn't start to feedback help it a little by shaking the guitar, changing position, vibrato, whammy bars, ...
 
You can change it by changing your orientation to the amp in both closeness and degree, by changing frets (you can do it without sounding like you're changing frets or strings), bending will sometimes cause it to change. Some guitars are just naturally better at this than others. My old rig for this was a 100watt marshall, fender strat with lace sensors, and a '78 big muff.
 
Rory's explanation is really close to how I do it as well. Turn the amp up loud, turn on the distortion, turn towards your amp so that your guitar's pickups face the speakers, pick a note and let it ring. Different notes will feed back at different positions in different rooms.

I use a Boss CS3 and with the level and sustain turned up, its a feedback machine. Even more so if I use my amp's boost channel. You can also use an EQ pedal to help filter out the unwanted feedback frequencies or emphasize frequencies that you want to feed back more.
 
Every guitar / amp / cabinet combination is different when it comes to feedback. All of them will have some kind of sweet spot(s) where feedback is easier to initiate. Once you've gotten one spot on a string going on its own, you can control its intensity with the guitar's volume, and move up or down on that string over maybe a fret or two while maintaining it.

If you are just going full tilt with a big tube amp and a guitar with hot pickups, all you have to do is take your hand off the strings and chaos will ensue.
 
I'm not sure this is what you're talking about, but my PRS with my Mark III or Legacy amp is a sustaining beast in a very musical way. What I do is set the volume such that it's almost sustaining or really on the verge and turning to or away makes some difference, but then I touch the Guitar head to the cab to get the full Monty.

Here's a clip (other clips in my sig) using this technique...

http://www.funender.com/music/download.php?band_id=14338&song_id=35697&mode=song_hifi
 
The only way to "play" feedback like that repeatably is to PRACTICE. The control is about muting technique (both left and right hand) and distance/angle to the amp, and any pedals active.

Oh, yeah, here's ONE secret... good use of a wah.

And another secret... it's generally only possible to get harmonically related notes. Going up a fifth, or an octave, can be done. Going up a minor sixth? Impossible. Oh, and you can generally go up, but not down, not without re-triggering the feedback (I actually do this a lot, by feeding back a different string).

Your choice of guitar matters a LOT. The heavier and more solid-feeling a guitar is, the harder it is to both generate and control feedback. Semi-hollows are generally best, but can sometimes be TOO enthusiastic and thus hard to control. My best feedback guitar ever was a Gibson Blueshawk. These days, I'm using a Tele and a Squier '51, which are both okay. Les Pauls require way too much volume.

So anyway, a LOT of it is about getting to know your equipment. I've been relying on the same distortion pedal for 20 years now for consistent feedback (ProCo Rat II), and the same cheap awful wah (Dan-o-wah!) for several years.
 
One of the tricks I have used for years to change the feedback note is to simply fret the note with my left hand and use a right hand finger to stretch the fretted note behind the held note. I can accurately stretch it up by a fret easily and then slide down the neck with the next notes as well.
 
Its also a lot easier to initiate the feedback without picking the string, unless you want to delay the start of the feedback. Just turn up the volume and place a finger on a fret. The G on the A string, 10th fret, is a good place to start as that one will trigger the open G and the fretted G. If you get that feeding back, you can slightly bend the A string you've got fretted and the difference in pitch between that and the open string can cause the pitch to change in the feedback.
 
how i get feedback

did you try
1) kicking your amplifier
2) letting your drummer hit your guitar strings with his drum sticks
3) grating your strings on his ride cymbal
4) putting your guitar between your legs and acting like your fucking it in the ass
5) dragging a beer bottle up and down the neck
6) doing backflips
7) hitting your guitar with your singer's microphone
8) accusing the bass player of nefarious behavior prohibiting your feedack from overpowering the retarded guitar
9) drinking dark rum and yelling incoherent things about freedom
10) invoking the memory of the late Ronald Reagan
11) providing free liquor for underage girls
12) getting a frontal lobotomy?

or some combination of these?

works for me. :cool:
 
funny how? So now I'm like a.. clown? :)

maybe... possibly... up you mids on your amp just a little bit?
 
So every amp should hae 3 channels? Clean, dirty, and feedback?:p
 
Didn't a Beatles song start out with accidental feedback because of a guitar being set down by and amp or something?
 
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