Playing Ambient Guitar

 When you are a beginner at playing the ambient guitar it might seem at first that you are never going to get any good at it. The very nature of the ambient guitar style is sometimes more indistinct than other styles. There can be times when the tones are so meshed with effects and the use of things like Strymon pedals that it can be hard to do basic things like define individual notes and hear the rhythm. But actually, you can get closer to playing some great guitar tones sooner than you might think when you have a basic understanding of playing technique and effect units.

Play might seem random but it is not

The important thing when you are learning to play ambient guitar is not to get caught up in the mistaken belief that the sound is random because it is not. You should have a  plan for the notes you are playing to complement the chord progression in each song. When you keep that in mind tones fall into three aspects, size, layering and decay. Different pedals, gamechanger audio pedals and others can be used.

• Size - Size is about how large you want the guitar to sound but this is not the same as volume. A good pedal that provides size is the BOSS RV-5. You can switch it to modulate and you get a great expansive and spatial reverb sound. On the pedal set using the other trio of knobs at about 2 o’clock, there is a big reverb tone that is controllable.
• Layering - Most agree that layering is the more subjective aspect of ambient guitar playing. To avoid losing the note definition when the chord changes it makes sense to mix on top of the lower chords, higher octave notes. It depends on the situation, for example in a full band the bass player covers the lower octave so you would mix higher register notes with the mid register. After all, the more octave registers the band can cover, the better and fuller it sounds. Another layering method is to vary the guitar’s tone, engage gamechanger audio pedals, switch pickups, or perhaps use a tremolo effect even.
• Decay - Decay is the musical term for seeing how long you can get your effects to last. Ambient guitar playing calls for longer decay on your delay pedals and reverb pedals. But when you take that too far and too long, chords and notes can become hard to separate. You need to have a balance between having no decay time at all known as ‘dry’ and having too much decay known as being ‘muddy’. Using a Strymon flint pedal is a good way to create a lingering sound that does not overpower the notes. Other Strymon pedals like the Strymon Timeline delay pedal work well too.

Summary

When you focus on these three aspects of tone for the ambient guitar it will help you achieve the big tones all ambient players want to achieve! Just keep playing and have fun as you learn and experiment.