Volume Swell Effect
Hi, I'm Grey and this is Hub Guitar. This is going to be a very short video about how to create a special effect on your guitar using only the volume knob. Plugging the guitar into amplification creates a whole new set of possibilities for special effects. This effect is probably more appropriate for electric guitar, but you can definitely do it on an acoustic guitar as well. In order for this to work, your volume knob must be within easy reach of your picking hand. On the electric guitar, the volume knob can usually be reached by the pinky finger—even if the other fingers are busy playing notes. Using our fretting hand, let's set up a dramatic cord. My favorite is probably Emin9. 024000. [fret diagram] Now, using the volume knob, let's roll the volume off until the guitar completely silent. Not strike a chord, and quickly raise the volume. And voilà–you've got a rising crescendo sound. Now you can try rolling the volume up and down rapidly to create more of an tremolo sound. That's all for this trick. Try it yourself!
You can use your pinky finger to manipulate the volume knob on an electric guitar, creating this special effect.
The volume swell is an effect for electric guitar that takes advantage of the amplification system to add a sort of “crescendo” to the player’s sound.
Sometimes this is called “violining”. The technique is pretty straight forward. Grip the volume knob of the electric guitar with the pinky of the picking hand. Lower the volume to zero so there is no sound output. Now play a note or chord with the silent guitar, and use the volume knob to increase the volume of the chord.
As the creator of Hub Guitar, Grey has compiled hundreds of guitar lessons, written several books, and filmed hundreds of video lessons. He teaches private lessons in his Boston studio, as well as via video chat through TakeLessons.