Loop Pedal Guide: Create Layers of Sound

Playing any instrument is a sign that someone has an artistic mind and soul. Music can be a great way to express yourself and even if you play an instrument as a hobby, you can get a lot of benefits from it. This is especially true if you know how to play the guitar. Playing the guitar can do wonders for your confidence, and you can be THAT person at parties. Playing the guitar can also help you relieve stress and serve as a getaway activity.
Even a strumming session as short as 15 minutes can make a big difference in your mood. Practising how to play the guitar regularly helps you enhance your concentration and it also helps improve your memory. Memorising patterns as well as chords is something you’ll do on the regular which can also help improve your hand-eye coordination. This is why keeping your guitar safe is as important as keeping your music production levels at a top-level. Just like you would invest in keeping your instrument safe, you should also consider investing in the production of better music which often starts with a guitar loop pedal.

What is a Loop Pedal for Guitar?

A looper pedal is a device that goes on the floor and comes with pedals to help you record your guitar. But why would you do that in the first place? If you want to play a chord or riff sequence, and want to have it playing in a loop you use guitar loopers. A guitar looper allows you to do this and with the press of a pedal you keep the loop going by overdubbing it. 

What to Look for in a Looper Pedal

Loop Length

Since the core function of a guitar loop pedal is all about creating loops and using them together, you have to consider the length of the loop that can be stored by it. When you can make a longer loop, then you have more options at your hand, or rather, foot. It’s important to know the loop length of the pedal since it will determine how much you can do depending on the tempo of your song.

Inputs

If you want to be able to create complex loops, then you must consider guitar looper pedals with multiple inputs. For example, having a microphone input allows you to add vocals or a shaker to the mix and a foot stompbox can let you add some bass kick into your loop. 

Number of Footswitches

The number of footswitches on guitar loopers determine what and how much of it you’ll be able to do. If you get a guitar looper with only one footswitch then you’ll only be able to record, play/stop, erase, and overdub. But if you want to do more than just the basics, then you should go with more than just one footswitch. Having two footswitches can make things a lot more flexible since you can now split functions over the two pedals.

Loop Effects

If you want to be able to apply effects to your loop without affecting your tone, then you should consider a guitar loop pedal with loop effects. These effects are often reverse, half-speed and lo-fi, but you can have more options if you are going to use loop effects often. 

Reverse Looping

You either want this feature really bad, or you don’t. There is no in-between since a reverse looping feature does exactly what it says – it reverses the loop. With reverse looping, you can play the loop backwards which is a great way to add some texture to the background of your music. This comes standard on most looper pedals nowadays.

External Footswitches

If you can’t make up your mind about how many footswitches you might need at first – it’s okay, because you can add them externally after the fact. Having the option for external footswitches is never a bad idea, even if you get a simple looper. External footswitches can change the way you use the looper and help improve your music too.

Stereo/Mono

There are mono and stereo loopers. With a mono looper, you can do a good job for at-home use or when you’re just having fun. But if you mean business, you should go for stereo loopers as it puts no limits on how the effects you put through it will go. With a mono pedal looper, you won’t be able to use the pedal wherever you want.

MIDI Sync

If you have an external MIDI device, you’ll also be able to sync the pedals to it. With a MIDI sync feature, you can rest assured that any other machine you add will be synced up with the loop. If you don’t have such gear, then this features is of no importance to you, but if you do much more than just intertwine loops to add effects, you can take advantage of this feature.