Stomp Box

I was first introduced to the concept of the stomp box when I saw Tom Rodwell playing at the Sheffield Blues Festival in 2007. From the setup he had, it looked as though he was using a bespoke box for this (?mic in a box!). Whatever it was, the combination of his use of bass strings on his electric guitar combined with a tapping foot gave a groove that was hard to resist. A quick look on the Internet showed that there wasn't much out there to do this kind of task. The best site for info appeared to be at http://www.ellisguitars.com/stompbox.html. This is a company based in Oz. Lots and lots of info on the box and vids of a wide variety of musicians using it. Getting it in the UK is a bit limited and I got mine via Music Central, Newport, Isle of Wight. Plug in a 1/4 inch jack from the box to the guitar amp (Marshall AS50R), turn down the treble and turn up the bass on the channel for a good 'thud' sound. I've also tried it through some FX on the Boss GT6 for a laugh too, but the raw sound direct from the box seems best when I need a beat to help drive along a blues tune. Experimenting on whether to use my heel or toes to tap out the beat. Great fun - I'd recommend trying one.

Influences

Started to add some links to other sites which I've found useful as resources for Blues ideas. The sessions at the Red Deer pub run by Andy of Bluesome Twosome have been very useful as has the band's website. Tom Rodwell plays some amazing 'spiritual' blues, setting up a groove that is impossible not to move to! His use of the bass notes on his electric together with the stomp box are great and have encouraged me to add a stomp box (ellisguitars.com) to my setup. Donnie V has some great Blues tunes with words that add the Christian dimension to the Blues - coz some of the great Blues tunes have some really stupid lyrics (!) and the origin of the Blues is within an environment that recognised the spiritual dimension to our lives. I've included some links to YouTube (some great stuff, which can also leave me feeling rather depressed that I'll never get to that standard!).

First Gig

Saturday 21st June 2008
Pete and I played on the Ponderosa, Sheffield at St Stephens Church 150th Birthday Party along with Jellybean and King Quentin. Zero time to warm up, so it was straight into a set of 7 songs - originally going to be more but stuck to the more upbeat songs due to the wet weather! Felt it would have been a bit depressing to have 'my wife just left me and my dog died' kind of Blues when your audience is standing in the rain. Songs went very well, although we raced through the first one so I think we'll need to try and change that for next time. Need to dare to improvise more on the guitar too - and start smoking to to make my voice rougher! Also need my own amp next to me for added foldback and a few pedals too. Still, was pretty glad about the way it went for our first gig and learnt alot. We were on a lorry which converted into a stage - kept us dry but some of the electronics in the PA setup looked a bit wet at the end! You can see there are barriers up to stop our fans from rushing the stage!!