Any experienced jazz or funk player can
easily tell you the importance of compressors in these music genres. They help
with sustain for chords and longer single notes, as compressed guitar signals
take a lot less time to decay. They also help to clean up note runs, which can
be extremely important for players who need to do a lot of clean, fast scales
easily. The compression process consists of an attack and release that happens
at a time which can be set by the player themselves. This process results in a
really crisp sounding note, perfect for emphasizing every note in a quick
passage and keeping everything neat, tidy and separate.
These guitar pedals
are however really useful in all kinds of music, not just in traditionally
clean genres like jazz, funk, reggae and country. A lot of rock and metal
players will swear by compressor pedals in
their rigs. For one thing, the sustain can be incredibly useful for soloing in
rock music, particularly if you are a fan of long notes and slow bending. Clarity
and emphasis are also extremely useful when playing faster lead lines in solos
as well as rhythmic riffs and licks.
One aspect of the compressor which is very
useful to a rock guitar player is how well a compressor will compliment most
distortion pedals placed after it. Compressors focus the signal, which means
that when the compressor is turned on a more precise signalis goes into the distortion pedal. This means that the distortion pedal
will work a lot better on the guitar signal, and the resulting tone will be
fuller, richer and a little louder and more present also. For this reason, in a
lot of different circumstances, the compressor can be used almost like a boost
for your playing, giving just the right amount of extra power needed for a
strong lead guitar line.
