Psychedelic Rock Guitar: The Creepy Factor

Psychedelic Rock Guitar: The Creepy Factor is a blog that covers the history and effects of psychedelic rock guitar.

The Origins of Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s. The style is defined by its use of distorted guitars, feedback, and various other sonic effects.Psychedelic rock often incorporated elements of other genres, including folk, blues, and country. The style is generally associated with the counterculture of the 1960s.

The British Invasion

The British Invasion of the 1960s brought a new sound and style to rock music, and psychedelia was one of the most influential genres to emerge from that era. Psychedelic rock guitar is characterized by extended solos, experimentation with effects pedals, and a generally trippy atmosphere. The genre was pioneered by bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and it continue to be popular today.

The Summer of Love

In the United States, the Psychedelic Rock scene began to coalesce in 1965 around the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. It reached its peak in 1967, commonly known as the Summer of Love. Musicians associated with Psychedelic Rock used Drugs such as LSD, cannabis (and possibly peyote) to achieve altered states of consciousness. This was intended to replicate the experience of taking a psychedelic drug.

The Sound of Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock is a subgenre of rock music that emerged during the mid-1960s. The sound of psychedelic rock is often characterized by distorted guitars, mind-altering lyrics, and trippy sound effects. If you’re a fan of the genre, then you know that the sound of psychedelic rock can be both creepy and cool.

Electric Guitars

The electric guitar is the defining instrument of psychedelic rock. It’s hard to imagine what psychedelic rock would sound like without the hypnotic, swirling sounds of the electric guitar. The electric guitar is also one of the most important instruments in creating the “creepy factor” in psychedelic rock.

The “creepy factor” is created by a combination of factors, including the use of feedback, reverb, and delay. Feedback is created when the sound from the amplifier is picked up by the guitar’s pickups and then fed back into the amplifier. This creates a sort of feedback loop that can create a very intense, almost otherworldly sound. Reverb and delay are effects that can be added to the sound of the electric guitar to create a more eerie, psychedelic sound.

The use of feedback, reverb, and delay is what gives psychedelic rock its distinctive sound. Without these elements, psychedelic rock would just be another type of rock music.

Distortion

Psychedelic rock is known for its heavy use of distortion. This is often achieved by using a fuzz box, which is an effects pedal that gives the guitar a distorted, fuzzy sound.

Distortion can also be achieved by overdriving the amplifier. This is done by turning up the volume on the amp so that it starts to distort the sound.

Overdrive and distortion can be used together to create even more extreme sounds.

Reverb and Delay

Reverb and delay are two essential effects for creating the sound of psychedelic rock. Reverb is an effect that simulates the natural echo of a room or environment, while delay creates a repeating echo that can range from a subtle echo to a full-on wash of sound. Both effects can be used together to create a dense, psychedelic texture.

The most common type of reverb used in psychedelic rock is spring reverb, which uses physical springs to create the echo effect. Spring reverb was originally developed for use in Hammond organs, but it quickly became popular with guitarists looking to create a more psychedelic sound. Many classic psychedlic rock songs make use of spring reverb, including The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm” and The Grateful Dead’s “Dark Star.”

Delay is another important effect for creating the sound of psychedlic rock. Delay can be used to create everything from a subtle echo to a full-on wash of sound. One of the most iconic uses of delay in psychedelic rock is on The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows,” which features a heavily delayed loop that creates a sense of paranoia and disorientation.

The Guitarists of Psychedelic Rock

Eerie, dark, and often downright creepy, the electric guitar played a vital role in the development of psychedelic rock. This genre of music emerged in the mid-1960s and was characterized by its dense sound, extended improvisation, and use of feedback and other sonic effects. The electric guitarists of psychedelic rock were responsible for creating this signature sound, and their playing style was often imitated by other guitarists in the genre.

Jimi Hendrix

No discussion of psychedelic rock guitar would be complete without including Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was already a well-established force in the music world when he released his landmark album, Electric Ladyland, in 1968. The album featured several of Hendrix’s most iconic songs, including “All Along the Watchtower” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).”

Hendrix’s distinctive style of playing was characterized by his use of feedback and distortion to create expansive soundscapes. His approach was both highly technical and highly improvisational, and it had a profound influence on subsequent generations of guitarists.

Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck is one of the most influential guitarists in the history of rock music. He pioneered the use of electronic effects and helped to popularize the use of feedback and distortion. His work with the band The Yardbirds in the 1960s established him as a major player in the nascent psychedelic rock scene. He went on to form the Jeff Beck Group, which released a series of highly influential albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After a period of relative inactivity in the 1980s and 1990s, Beck returned to prominence with a series of critically acclaimed solo albums in the 2000s and 2010s.

Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page is best known as the guitarist for Led Zeppelin, but his contributions to psychedelic rock cannot be understated. As a member of The Yardbirds, Page was one of the first guitarists to experiment with feedback and distortion, helping to pioneer the use of these sonic elements in rock music. He would go on to further explore these effects in his work with Led Zeppelin, crafting some of the heaviest and most influential riffs in all of rock.

The Legacy of Psychedelic Rock

Psychedelic rock guitar is one of the most iconic and recognizable sounds in rock music. It’s a sound that’s been imitated and copied countless times, but never really duplicated. Psychedelic rock guitar is the sound of a generation that was breaking new ground and expanding the possibilities of what rock music could be.

Psychedelic Rock Today

Psychedelic Rock is an approach to music that began in the late 1960s and originally was used as a term to describe the music of bands such as The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The Byrds. The sound was characterized by extended instrumentation, electronics, and feedback, and was designed to create an altered state of mind in the listener. Psychedelic Rock’s influence can be heard in many genres today, including Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, and even Pop.