Looking for tips for using reversed guitar parts

[Mr songwriter]

I'm using a fairly basic sequencer program to record guitars and bass to my soundcard; I'm just recording clips and then using the software to reverse it, but just about everything I've recorded like that so far just sounds like generic reversed guitar, what I'm wondering is if anyone knows of anything unusual I can do in terms of how I play my guitar (eg, palm muting, etc) or FX pedal usage that might result in some more interesting sounds that might make people think 'wtf?' instead of 'Oh, reversed guitar'

 

[Fishybob]

YES! To have your part play forwards and still confuse people...


Reverse it. add huge long reverb. then reverse it back again - so that the reverb starts first and, sort of, drags the notes out of the air... tres cool!

 

[Mr songwriter]

Wow, very cool tip, I hadn't thought of applying effects to it after I'd reversed it. Will definitely be trying that one out later on.

 

[andyhix]

There's a cool sabbath song that has a similar fx using delay on Ozzy's vocals (vocals are reversed, delay is applied (at the end/beginning of a phrase, then vox reversed again). I think the song is Meglomania. Check it out - it's a great song (on a great album - Sabotage) Would be very cool with guitar too.

 

[lmiller1220]

andyhix-

Sabotage is a great album! Megalomania is an amazing song! You are taking me back to my smoke-hazed teen-hood.

Just had to comment on that reference- that is a trip!

 

[FALKEN]

what I'm wondering is if anyone knows of anything unusual I can do in terms of how I play my guitar (eg, palm muting, etc) or FX pedal usage that might result in some more interesting sounds that might make people think 'wtf?' instead of 'Oh, reversed guitar'

are you trying to impress other guitarists and engineers or normal people? most normal people will think 'wtf' regardless. I would go easy on the attack..the hard attacks end up sounding like really percussive whereas an easier attack will make it more smooth....also if you add delay and reverb before reversing it that is also a cool effect..

 

[Mr songwriter]

are you trying to impress other guitarists and engineers or normal people? most normal people will think 'wtf' regardless. I would go easy on the attack..the hard attacks end up sounding like really percussive whereas an easier attack will make it more smooth....also if you add delay and reverb before reversing it that is also a cool effect..

Well, some of the people I play my stuff to are musicians so they would probably spot normal reversed guitar pretty easily.Good point about the attack too, I might try playing through a compressor pedal and turning the compression ratio right up. Another thing that's just occured to me is that there's a Vib-trem effect on my POD which might produce something interesting.

 

[mu5ik16]

Well, some of the people I play my stuff to are musicians so they would probably spot normal reversed guitar pretty easily.Good point about the attack too, I might try playing through a compressor pedal and turning the compression ratio right up. Another thing that's just occured to me is that there's a Vib-trem effect on my POD which might produce something interesting.

if your just looking for something crazy, on the POD find a preset that is jacked up and wierd add the rotary effect, save and then turn on the swell/delay effect great over acoustic guitar or elec. piano!!!! just a note every once in a while, trippy sounding and great for space/atmospheric/phsycadelic music. then again you could reverse all that... maybe cool. the POD is fun, though, definately!

 

[bardo]

I love backwards stuff!

After goofing around w/ reverse GTR,I've tried to reproduce in forward mode,lots of back bends and sudden stops.
Remember that you need to peak at the beginning of the solo and smooth out at the end.

 

[Mr songwriter]

if your just looking for something crazy, on the POD find a preset that is jacked up and wierd add the rotary effect, save and then turn on the swell/delay effect

I'd forgotten about the swell/delay effect, that's worth a try. I've also just tried the reverse guitar/apply reverb/reverse again thing and it's excellent, especially as the clip is actually playing forward, so the accents won't be out of time with any backing track. I was tapping the strings lightly with the side of my thumb too to reduce the attack.

After goofing around w/ reverse GTR,I've tried to reproduce in forward mode,lots of back bends and sudden stops.
Remember that you need to peak at the beginning of the solo and smooth out at the end.

I was thinking along those lines too, except I was going to play a simple chord progression and then work out a solo that would sound right over the chords when the solo was reversed, I've heard it's a lot harder than you might think though.