Using Guitar Multi Effects to Simulate a Violin

One of the most interesting sounds a guitar can produce is the violin effect. This has been made famous by rock legends such as Led Zeppelin, and used more modernly by groups such as Radiohead and Sigur Ros. It is an effect that produces a very powerful and affecting tone, and can be used to sustain notes in a way that the guitar cannot obtain under normal playing technique.

The way these rock groups performed the violin technique was with an actual violin bow. When slowly pulling a bow across the guitar strings, you create a sound in the exact same way that a violin does, with the only difference being that an electric guitar picks up the sound and amplifies it differently. The strings of the two instruments are also different, which further separates their respective tones.

This article, however, is going to tell you how to make a violin effect with your guitar that does not require destroying a violin bow. Not everyone has an extra bow lying around that they can sacrifice, but with a decent guitar multi effects pedal, a similar sound can be produced.

The first element that your multi effects pedal must have for this to work is a volume pedal. This will be the main aspect of your violin tone because it can vary the attack and sustain of the notes you play.

If you observe an average violin note being played, it has a sound that is not very percussive. The sound has a quick fade in and a slower face out. These characteristics can be simulated with the volume pedal on your guitar multi effects board.

Before a note is played, you can have the volume pedal all the way down so that no sound is produced. This will eliminate the percussive plucking sound of a guitar note. Right after the note is plucked, begin raising the volume pedal to let the sound through. This should create a fade into the note that already brings your tone closer to a violin’s. It may take some practice to get the timing right, especially on faster runs on notes, but this technique with the volume pedal can be useful to have mastered.

Note that some more extravagant multi effects pedals may come with a patch that already creates this sort of effect on each note, but you will want to learn it with the volume pedal anyway for the increased control it gives you. The more direct control you have over your sound, the more expressive your playing can be.

With the volume aspects of the violin tone down, the next thing to add is some slight delay and reverb. These will serve to replicate the acoustic sound that a violin produces in a room. You want your tone to sound like it’s jumping out of your amp in every direction like the sound that springs from a violin’s hollow body.

The last main part of this effect is a bit of distortion. This will account for the slight scratching sound that you hear from a violin. When strings are rubbing against each other, there is going to be some extra noise beyond the pure tone, this is part of the characteristic of the sound and a small amount of distortion is the best thing to emulate this.

With all of these elements in place, and some good footwork on the volume pedal, you should be able to get a pretty realistic and interesting version of the violin guitar sound. Unlike the rock stars earlier mentioned, you do not have the liberty to buy violin bows constantly, and this is the best way to do it in their absence. Guitar multi effects pedals can be very powerful tools with the ability to create any sound you can imagine, which is why the guitar is such a great instrument.