tips for play bowed electric guitar?

C

cutout

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I'm trying to write music for an EP that is all guitar music. All percussion, etc, will just be from beating on the guitar, raking strings, making loops etc. But I also want drone-y sounds so I'm using a second guitar with heavy gauge strings for bowing with a psaltrey bow. Has anyone had good experience with this?

Basically if I crank the amp and use a bit of gain I can bow the low E string with the guitar sitting on my lap and get the sound I want. Sort of. There is still a lot of friction on the strings. Should I be using flat wound strings? Would the hairs on the bow slide across them more evenly? Right now there is a lot of squeaking and a lot of rosin coming off the bow.

Anyone tried different sizes of bows? Any other tips to optimize the sound?
 
The problem with bowing a guitar is in the set up. You can only bow E or e' individually. Thats why a bowed instrument has a radiused bridge, fretboard and nut. If you want to do anything more than sloppy chords and are looking for single notes you need to re-design the string plane and also the fingerboard so you can get clearance on each string without bowing the adjacent string. If you are just after that gimmicky Jimmy page thing then you'll be OK but it's been done and it's fairly limiting.
 
You will also need to consider the ergonomics. Bowing a guitar slung round you neck is not easy. Better is to sit it like a cello and bow under hand. For a view on a fretted bowed instrument google the viol. Although it is a Renaissance instrument the bowing technique is what you will need.

Good luck.
 
Good points. The SG guitar I'm using for bowing only has been stripped of strings except for the low E and A for this reason. I would only be using the bowed guitar for certain moments when I wanted a big ominous single-note for certain sections, otherwise would keep it minimally gimmicky. I'm thinking of trying a cello bow instead and maybe flat wound strings?
 
cutout said:
Good points. The SG guitar I'm using for bowing only has been stripped of strings except for the low E and A for this reason. I would only be using the bowed guitar for certain moments when I wanted a big ominous single-note for certain sections, otherwise would keep it minimally gimmicky. I'm thinking of trying a cello bow instead and maybe flat wound strings?
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The string and bow are largely unimportant as long as both hold tension and rosin. Go for good quality bow hair and good quality rosin. For a string length and tension and mass of a guitars E and A strings I would suggest that you bow underhand and maybe a bow with a little extra tip weight.
 
I have tried an Ebow but it wasn't really the sound I wanted. It was more like a swelling or backward guitar. I need big long cello-type sawing sounds. I'm going to try to find a higher quality cello bow and flatwound strings and see how it goes...
 
Flats'll help a little but everything else that's ben said is accurate: it ain't easy!
I bought a cello instead & learned to play that.
Muting e - a & playing only on the low e is a good way to go if you want the clarity that comes with a raduised bridge.
There is a preset effect on the Yamaha FX500 called soft focus that , with a little tweaking, does a good job of sounding like a cello.
Old machine though & you'll have to search for one (I have the 500 & 900 because i like it so much).
 
Go to my youtube-other people page: and look at the Carbon Leaf videos - in a couple the lead guitarist is playing a 'guit-cello' - a cutaway cello body with fretted fingerboard. Gets exactly the sound I bet you want. Yuo can also hear it in some songs on Carbon Leaf's new album.
 
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