So I feel my practice routine is getting stale. Lots of technique, lots of bending exercises, lots of licks and riffs and old standard songs (that I transposed into second position), and lots of jam tracks.
Been playing seriously for about a year now - average at least an hour a day - but am starting to feel stagnant in my routine (lately I've taken to walking a couple miles down a dusty dirt road while playing). While I'd like to jam with real people - a guitar and bass player maybe, just for fun, not with an eye toward performing - that doesn't seem likely. I've tried placing ads seeking interested folks (older ones, like me) but am finding no joy. I live about 50 miles from the middle of nowhere, so not many folks around and even fewer who play any instrument (let alone blues . . . this is hard-core country country).
One of my best friends called tonight (he's played lead and bass for several decades on Bourbon Street and in various locales around the country/world) and suggested I get a looper. He recommended one called Ditto. Since I also play guitar and a few other stringed instruments (and also write) he thinks this would be a great way for me to expand my harp skills. Basically, he says I'll be backing myself via use of a looper.
The problem . . . I'm very tech challenged. He didn't have time tonight to give me a real good explanation of how these doohickies work.
So . . . who can give me a VERY basic Looper 101 intro? How do they work? What other equipment would I need (right now I'm strictly acoustic, though I do have an old Pignose 20 someplace around here).
Again . . . I'm very tech challenged. The more elementary the explanation the better.
Thanks for any assistance
Last Edited by Rontana on Oct 15, 2015 7:27 PM
Great idea. I don't loop myself but I know a bit about it. Some of those pedals are very sophisticated now but that Ditto makes a feature of being simple. Video below. It looks like your friend is doing a good job tuning into your concerns.
If you are just putting your guitar/other string instruments through the looper, then playing the harmonica over it acoustically, then all you need is this pedal, your existing amp and a couple of guitar leads.
Looks like with the Ditto, you press once to record, press again to play the loop. If you want to add more notes to the loop (overdub) you do that again and it builds up the sound. Then you sit back and play your harmonica over the top.
If you want to put the harmonica through the looper instead of the guitar then you'll also need a microphone, mic stand and possibly (depending on the type of mic) an 'impedance matching transformer' that makes the mic signal suitable for going into the Ditto. If you want to do that, say, and I'll give more details.
Oh and most looper-users seem to sit down it seems, so you'll need a chair :)
...and I can't let this go by without sharing this vid of my favourite looper of all time. Son of Dave. Not just because he plays Lee Oskars either. You can get busy with shakers and tambourine too!
I need to see if I can find one in a music store the next time I'm around a city. Kind of need to see how someone uses the doohickey in person. I don't quite get the difference between using this or just recording a track in Garage Band and playing along with it. I must be missing something.
My guitar is acoustic, so I'm assuming I'll need to mic it, as I would a harmonica, and plug it into the Ditto (I see they make a version for acoustics, and I do have a clip-on pickup).
I do understand the chair part . . . so that's something :-)
You're right there isn't much difference, other than the pedal is more 'in the moment' and you can use it more easily to build something up in performance. Like with that Son of Dave track, the looper performance often makes a feature of building up the backing from scratch, and dropping it in and out.
The looper style is often on one chord, although I don't think it has to be with more sophisticated pedals that allow multiple loops. With Garage Band you might record the accompaniment for a whole song.
With Garage Band you can save your accompaniments and use them again.
Myself I don't loop, but I do more the Garage Band thing. Actually Audacity, and before that a little Tascam multi-track recorder.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Oct 16, 2015 11:38 PM
