What is a loop pedal

As an integral part of guitar (and bass) effects, the loop pedal, also known as a looper or loop station, lets you record the instrument’s signal and loop it indefinitely. Unlike Delay, which is an effect used to echo a sound, a looper is a tool that repeats a recorded signal identically.

If it was the guitarists who used this device first, then all the instrumentalists started. First the electric bass players, then the other amplified instruments then finally the acoustic instruments using microphones.

USE OF A LOOP PEDAL

FOR THE LIVE

One of the main uses is in concert!

You can play a song by yourself (with a suitable loop station of course) either by having recorded the tracks beforehand or by replaying them track by track (and even instrument by instrument if your looper allows it). If you play them one by one, it has the merit of being quite spectacular and entertaining for the audience.

FOR COMPOSING AND ARRANGING

You can also use it to compose and arrange your songs. Let me explain, you have found a riff or a series of chords that seems cool to you and you want to develop a little. You record it, loop it, and try other things on top: chords, harmonization, melody, solo, interventions, etc.

If your loop station allows you can save everything and keep it on your pc either to work on it later or to keep it.

FOR THE IMPRO

A very interesting aspect of the loop station, which has not yet been mentioned, is to work on improvisation. You record your harmonic context: riff or suite of chords or grid (blues or jazz). And you can improvise on it. As the grid will be created as you wish, you will be able to work what you want. So you will make your backing tracks.