Jump to content

Who here is brave enough to loop live?


Chris Loeffler

Recommended Posts

  • Members

While evaluating the EHX 22500 Stereo Looper and considering how much more than simply creating a loop today's loopers are capable of, I still came back to feeling that making a looper a part of your live performance requires a lot of practice to make sure you don't fudge the loop. Who here uses a looper live, and how do you handle it when loops go awry?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

I have cut back my looping, but was doing it regularly in my solo act. I started with the Boss RC-30, based on a lot of comaprison testing [there is an old thread here about it], and I still have the unit, but it got to the point I found I didn't actually need the storage [plus the retrieval process is a bit slowwith more than a few stored, something I didn't consider during my initial evaluation]. I have gone over to the simplest of loopers, the TC Ditto. Yes, I've had occasional miscues*, and I simply kill it and soldier on.

 

About a year or so ago, I decided to shrink the footprint of my pedals when I got reasonably proficient with hte Beat Buddy+ the external switchbox, do the RC-30 gave way to the Ditto, the Digitech Voalist live 4 gave way to a TC H1 Intelligent Harmonizer.

 

I have since reduced my use of most of the pedals [beat Buddy, Ditto, H1], mainly to focus on my pure live performance, which also has allowed me to make subtle changes in how I react in response to audience feedback.

 

*usually this is when I try something really slick like a change on the Beat Buddy [usually a fill to buy me time, out of a chorus to a verse] followed immediately with a looped rhythm from earlier in the song to solo over...but, yeah, sometimes the 'tap dance' is off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I play a keytar which does not have the richness of sound that a guitar does so my entire 'act' is based around a loop pedal. I use a Jamman solo XT and a beatbuddy drum pedal. Basically you are right, it takes practice to get it right. Plus you have to figure out how best to make whatever looper and other gear you are using work for you.

Not only that but you have to become an arranger to some extent because you need to figure out which bits to loop, when to turn the loop off, bring it back in etc and yo have to do that for each song. Oh, and you've gotta sing as well if you sing.

I did see one guy do it a while ago at an open mic (guitar and looper) and he was very good. He obviously knew his way around the songs he was playing and the loop pedal as well, as well as how to play the guitar well.

 

I don't do bars etc, I just busk (farmer's markets) and do the occasional open mic so screw ups aren't to much of a problem, I just grin and move on. Even in a real performance situation though I think you've got two choices, either rescue it (sometimes that's possible) or just admit you screwed up, laugh it off and move on.

 

I think loopers are like a lot of things, you're not going to get the best out of them straight out the box, just as you were not a great musician the first day you started playing (or maybe you were!). Start of simple, learn to use it, get comfortable with it but be prepared to put in some extra effort to get the most out of it.

 

Just my $0.02 worth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It's terrifying. I use it for Hooked on a Feeling (start with the loop) and Free Fallin (end with a loop). I've never been seamless with it like some performers I've seen. When it goes wrong, I laugh and shrug. It's the only move I've got.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I use it every gig, not much, about 6 or 8 songs. I just play a chorus or verse and hit the loop pedal while I'm singing over the chords, and then use that loop to play a solo over. My looper isn't much, just A little Jam Man but it does everything I need it to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

pretty much where I am now, just a few songs per set. I felt it was getting a bit gimmicky [and honestly, too complicated for my aging brain], and I'm moving away from 'guitar solo' type songs to more vocal-centric material...and even there I am using the H1 and BB less and less, going for a more natural sound and using the 'toys' to spice up a few songs toward the end of the sets or if the crowd seems to need a jolt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I use the one in the TC helicon play acoustic which doesn't have an undo. I am probably the least proficient person here in about everything , so my loops are eith simple chord progressions to solo over or percussive effects. If they go wrong and to be honest they are so simple they seldom do, I just. Stop the loop and don't do the solo.

Some examples I did at my last outing was Walk on the Wild side, which was a couple of chords overdubbed with the bass line then a thump for percussion.

I also did what's up , which was at first just the chords for me to solo over and then at the end I added the backing singers part so I could sing lead over it.

Finally I did an acapela version of the lion sleeps tonight, which is basically just wim a waying overdubbing .

 

Tonight I am going to try looping Silhouettes on the shade , chords and baseline , but like others say it's easy to over egg it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...