Leaderboard

Chris, DianeB nailed it. Especially when you are starting out with an amp that models various pedals (which you can try before you buy for your board). I have a "Travel Board" that I use for practice and taking with me to Jams that contains a TC Electronics Polytune2 Tuner, a Boss OC-3 Bass Octave (to simulate a bass player sort of), a Looper (I went with Boss RC-3 to take Backing Tracks with me) and a Singular Sound Beat Buddy (metronome that simulates a Drummer sort of). I REALLY wish I would have started with these (Tuner and Looper first, then metronome, then whatever pedal came up) and saved myself a ton of money (to put into Guitars until I found the "One" for that week LOL). To save money up front DianeB is right, all you need is a Tuner you like and a Ditto looper (which I also have on my home board for a clean loop set, after compression and distortions/drivers, the other looper is later after mods). My home pedal board is too big, but it sure was fun trying out new ones over the years, and I'm sure I'll continue to experiment. Brian

@ChrisJ032, great advice above. I will 3rd Diane's recommendation for Steve's video. I have watched it and referred to it many times. It is just excellent. There is also a cheap book that I bought sometime ago which I found very helpful: "Guitar Tone and Effects" by David Brewster. I bought it before Steve came out with his video. If I had owned Steve's video first I'm not sure I would have purchased the book. But, as I said, it is cheap and it was helpful. There is also the Session on Electric Guitars in L&MG, S15? Steve talks at length about pedals if you want to sneak ahead. We won't tell! You had mentioned three pedals. Coincidentally, Steve talks about 3 basic groups of pedals you should have on your pedal board at first: a distortion, a chorus and a delay. The very addictive, expensive rabbit hole you are about to go down is deciding which one in each food group. But it will be a fun journey. BTW, my pedal board has the following for each of these groups, respectively: 1) Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer (if it was good enough for Stevie..), 2) Boss DC-3, and 3) TC Electronics Flashback (way more functions than I will ever use. It also uses what they call "Tone Print" so I can download presets. And it has a built-in looper.) To further feed your impending obsession is this e-mag called Distortion LTD. it is dedicated to nothing but pedals and tone. Just a fun occasional read. Keep us posted as you add to your board!

Chris, Since you are looking at the Boss Katana 50 I would just go slow as others have said. The Katana has many of the well known Boss effects that are included in the setup that you can try out first. This is just what I copied from their description of the amp you are looking at: Stage-ready 50-watt combo amp with a custom 12-inch speaker Five unique amp characters: Clean, Crunch, Lead, Brown (derived from the Waza amp), and Acoustic (for acoustic-electric guitars) Choose from a huge selection of customizable effects and effect routing configurations with the BOSS Tone Studio editor software Dedicated gain, EQ, and effects controls for adjusting sounds quickly Four Tone Setting memories for storing and recalling all amp and effect settings Power Control for achieving cranked-amp tone and dynamic response at low volumes Three Cabinet Resonance types for fine-tuning the tone and feel Mic’d cabinet emulation on the USB and phones/recording outputs, with customizable tone via three Air Feel settings Channel and global parametric EQs for refined sound shaping Built-in tilt stand for optimal monitoring and sound projection Pro setups available at BOSS Tone Central Katana Version 3 Newly Added Features Effects selection expanded to 61 different types; Roland DC-30 Analog Chorus-Echo, BOSS GE-10 Graphic Equalizer, and 95E pedal wah added Assign favorite effects parameters to the front-panel effects knobs Assign specific effects parameters for control from an expression pedal connected via the rear panel Record with stereo mod, EQ, delay, and reverb effects in a DAW via USB I have an older Fender Mustang IIIv2 that has so many effects I will never use them all. Plus you can download presets that others have made and posted that you can try out and modify. The Katana amps seem to be hot right now from what I have read. Plus for $230 for the Katana 50, that's less than what 2 "real pedals" cost. Might still need a looper as Diane said. Good Luck, GH

Chris- Diane gave great advise above. Those three pedals are a great start for beginning guitar to assist in your learning process and start working on your sound. Hang out with other musicians and listen to their pedals and pay attention to the order they have them on the board. Other sources like "Rig Rundown" from premier Guitar is a good source of information. Go to the music store and listen to pedals that they may have on display. Steve's video is essential information on setting up a board. The set up order is important to the interaction between pedals & the sound you get. I won't recommend a brand because it is so subjective. Look at professional pedal boards and you will see the whole spectrum of pedals. Have fun, it is part of the journey.

@ChrisJ032Chris, this is sure to elicit a spirited response! My first recommendation for you is Steve’s video on how to set up an electric guitar pedalboard. You’ll probably find a tuner convenient from the outset. I like my TC Electronics PolyTune; it’s now in its 3rd iteration. Beyond tuning, it gets really subjective and depends on what and how you want to play. My second pedal was a Ditto looper to help in practicing. There are several models but the basic version has been fine for me. Around the time I was preparing for my first outing with my band, Steve had stocked a supply of the CAL MK.4.23 clean boost, which he swears by. I found out why. If you’ll be playing in an ensemble, consider a signal booster like this. I added a compressor, and put the four on a Pedaltrain Nano with a OneSpot power supply and patch cables. It’s good for me, for now; the delays and distortion and other effects can wait. As Steve advises, go one pedal at a time, and try them out as you go. It's part of the fun!

The Day the music burned. Universal Studio Vault Burns Down Losing 500k Original master song. from a lot of past artist. Some songs never ever heard. From old time greats. Happen in 2008 but was never reported til now. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/magazine/universal-fire-master-recordings.html

You guys are an inspiration! "Wave" is new for me. Very nice. I sure have listened to the rest umpteen times over the years. Love your renditions of them. But Mandy--TIMMMBERRRRR!!! The look you gave the mic scared it so much it forgot to fall. I laughed. Thanks for leaving that in. :-) Danny, you nailed that twangy hook in "Mama Tried." I haven't listened to stuff-kickin' music in many years, but now I want to play and sing some of that old stuff. From back when country was its own thing. Lots of names come to me from that time. Thanks y'all. Back to practicing... Phil

@BluzCruz Yup https://www.learnandmaster.com/piano/resources/ You can also use for the LMG Guitar https://www.learnandmaster.com/main/pages/resources/ Both links still work

I had never heard anything about this, Blue Dog. Staggering. The masters of so many great artists.

Don't know if you've been watching American Idol, but there's a new star by the name of Laine Hardy. Think he's something special. Here he is singing one of Elvis's hit, so you can compare. Lotsa luck.