Layers of Sound: My Live Looping Guitar Setup

Most of my days go to watercolor. I build a painting in layers: a wash goes down, I let it dry, and the next layer goes over it and changes what's underneath. Lately I've been doing the same thing with my guitar. I'm working toward a live looping, electronic guitar sound, and it's starting to come together.

Here's what it sounds like right now:

The rig

It's a small setup, and I like it that way. Three pieces:

• TC Electronic Ditto X4, a looper with two tracks.
• Line 6 HX Stomp XL, where the sound gets shaped.
• Boss EV-30, an expression pedal for moving things with my foot while I play.

On the Stomp's screen in that photo is the preset I've been living in, "01D TJ Aurora Pad," with three blocks lit up: SWELL, ECHO and CLOUD. That's the heart of the sound right now.

Describing a sound instead of clicking for it

The HX Stomp can do almost anything, but getting there means a lot of menu-diving on a small screen. Turning knobs, scrolling through parameters, saving, trying again. It works, but it pulls me out of the music.

So I found a better way. I describe the sound I want, in plain words, the way I'd describe a color or a mood, and Grok Bot builds an HX Stomp settings pack I can upload straight to the pedal. Then I play it, listen, and describe what I want changed. It's the same way I use AI elsewhere in my work: as a power tool for trying out choices quickly, so I can spend my time on the part that matters, which is playing.

I still go into the UI to fine-tune. But starting from a description instead of a blank preset gets me to something musical much faster.

Swells and pads

The auto-swell is one of my favorite things in the rig. It takes away the pick attack, so every note fades in on its own. Run that into echo and a big cloudy reverb, and single notes turn into pads that hang in the air. It feels a lot like wet-into-wet watercolor: the edges soften and the colors bleed into each other.

The throb

Then there's the other side. With the EV-30 controlling the Stomp's throbber, I can sweep the pulse with my foot and get a wobbly, dubstep-ish sound out of a guitar. It's a lot of fun, and it gives the loops some movement and grit against the soft pads.

Layering loops in and out

What I'm really working on now is layering: building a loop, bringing a part in, dropping it out, bringing something new over the top. That's where it starts to feel like a live electronic set instead of a guitar with effects.

The limit right now is the looper. The Ditto X4 has two tracks, and two layers only gets you so far before you have to start erasing things you like. I'm thinking about moving to a six-channel looper soon, so I can keep more parts going and shift between them, the way I'd keep several layers working in a painting at once.

Learning with Chris Flanders

None of this would be moving as fast without Chris Flanders. I can't recommend him highly enough as a teacher. I've only just started taking formal lessons with him, but he's been inspiring me for a long time.

We started playing together at poker parties at Charlie's house. Chris has a deep repertoire — lots of Beatles, plenty of 90s pop — and he can figure out almost any song. He's fun to play with: he backs a lead when you take one, he takes leads himself, we trade turns, and he gives clear instructions without killing the jam.

He's also sharp on guitar mechanics. Two pieces of advice I've practiced for months: keep your fingers closer to the fretboard — it's more efficient — and explore triads. In a recent lesson we worked on open chord shapes that keep one finger down as an anchor between changes, and on putting riffs between those changes, little tricks that make the transitions feel like music instead of chores.

Here's that lesson, from late October: ATS Session TJ 10 24 26.

I'm taking lessons with him for a while. I'm glad to have him as a friend and as a musician. (Around the Sound Guitar Studio)

Where this is going

I don't know exactly where this ends up yet, and that's part of the fun. Right now it's me on the studio floor, learning what the rig can do and following the sounds I like. The clip above is where it stands today. I'll share more as the layers grow.

Thanks for listening.

TJ