Thrive Live

Eight steps to onstage acoustic success

Plug into the PA and away you go… hang on, not quite. Playing with your acoustic onstage can often feel like an afterthought compared to how we fuss over our electric tones, but there’s always room for improvement. You’ll be surprised at the difference it can make.

1 It starts with your plectrum

Let’s begin with something simple. Essential but often ignored. Your plectrum choice has a big impact on the feel and the sound of your playing, no matter what guitar you’re playing. With an acoustic it’s just as important. Heavy plectrums are going to make for a more percussive sound (too heavy and you could risk string breakages) but also volume. They’ll also help any picked parts cut through in a band mix. A softer option (around .60mm) could be better for strummy chord parts, or when you’re playing solo and need a mellower approach that’s easier on the audience’s ears and not fighting in the mix to be heard.

Tip: Try using a medium and lighter plectrum for different songs in the set depending on the dynamics. Keep them handy by tacking them on your mic stand or the upper bout of your guitar.

2 Consider your pickup choice

One of the key components of your sound after the guitar itself is the pickup and preamp system. But if your guitar isn’t an electro you can still plug in with a retrofit soundhole pickup system. These are often either single-coil or humbucker magnetic pickups that can be active or passive. Some more expensive options will also include a small condenser mic that can be blended in. But it’s really worth trying a few out to consider what they offer for your tastes and needs. As a rule of thumb, piezo systems that are usually preinstalled on acoustics with active preamps will be louder and clearer in the mix without external help than soundhole pickups. The downside is they can often sound ‘plasticky’ if they’re not EQ’d carefully. Soundhole pickups will tend to create more of a metallic tone by their nature because they are amplifying the string vibrations, though some, like the popular LR Baggs M1, capture the body vibrations of the guitar’s top too.

Tip: Feedback blockers aren’t just applicable for the soundholes of guitars with piezo systems, you can cut one into two pieces and fit it around your soundhole pickup.

3 Shape your tone

There’s more you can do to shape your tone than what guitar preamps can offer. Preamp pedals can offer a varying range of features to shape your tone – from three-band EQ to control the bass, mid and treble in your sound, to phase buttons to help eliminate the common feedback issues a hollow wooden instrument can cause when amplified. Preamp units can act as a DI too with output via jack or XLR to the board. They offer more control over your sound, especially if you’re not planning on buying a combo. But another means of shaping your tone has surfaced in the last few years, fuelled by the rapid development of digital technology in stompboxes. So-called ‘enhancement’ pedals like the Xvive Mike, TC Electronic BodyRez and the Boss AD-2 are now available. These units allow you dial in an EQ and compression preset to give your piezo more of a resonant, organic and all-round acousticnatured sound.

Tip: Your EQ preamp and piezo enhancement pedal needs should vary according to playing solo acoustic or with a band. You’ll usually need to dial in more mid and treble to cut through the mix of a band, while there’s a balance with piezo enhancement between a natural sound and overly zingy processing. Experiment.

4 Amp it up

The increase in acoustic sales has seen the market for acoustic amplification grow. That’s good news for players because the features offered on combos for the money has increased too. As well as EQ there will often be useful additional tone-shaping options such as we saw with the amps in last issue’s TG test. They’re an investment that could save on the cost of a preamp pedal if your guitar is offering limited onboard features. And if you’re looking to play with others, or low-key gigs solo, most of these amps offer two channels for acoustic instruments or vocal and guitar.

Tip: You don’t have to treat an acoustic combo like a traditional amp – consider it as a monitor with a DI to the mixing board at gigs, then you can turn it towards you instead of the audience for your own guitar monitor.

5 Think dynamic duo

If you’re playing acoustic with another guitarist you need to think about the sound spectrum – do you want to double up or widen your sound? If it’s the latter, why not have a clean-to-lightly overdriven electric as the second guitar to avoid stepping on each other’s tonal toes. That electric will also make its presence felt for lead parts easier. If you have two acoustic guitars, think about your tone and your parts harmonically. A lower-end guitarist and another higher in the EQ spectrum is one thing (and a parlor/dreadnought dynamic can also complement this) but consider the chord voicings too with that low/high approach. You’ll cover more ground with a bigger sound in depth and girth.

Tip: Think about using a capo to give your guitar more of a mandolin quality in the mix, but remember you will need to transpose your parts accordingly.

6 the mighty boost

A lot of acoustic players don’t consider a boost pedal but playing harder or softer only gets you so far when you’re onstage with a drummer and other instruments. A good clean boost can be just the ticket for helping lead parts shine, or stepping up the intensity for a big chorus. Make sure you get your levels right before the gig; pushing your tone into the realms of distortion just isn’t for everyone – least of all your audience.

Tip: A volume pedal could also be useful for players who don’t just need to adapt on the fly, but want more extreme expression too – effectively 0-100. You have to be really careful not to waken to wolves of howling feedback but if you’re a non-singing guitarist, you can give a volume pedal a gentler touch. And just think of those volume swells!

7Tune, And tune again

Sounds obvious but you’d be shocked how many times we’ve stepped out onstage with guitarists without so much as a clip-on tuner to their name. Acoustic instruments are even more susceptible to the effects of temperature changes, so it stands to reason that you’ll need to be on the ball with tuning in the practice room and on the stage. Tune between every song. But what if your next song requires a different tuning? Well, there’s a couple of ways to avoid the kind of ‘dead air’ silence that ruins momentum and atmosphere. The most obvious is

8 Effects are your friends

Who doesn’t love a pedalboard… so why should electric players have all the fun? But it’s not just about strutting onstage like a heavyweight stompboxer; pedals can unlock potential for acoustic players that laugh at the notion that they’re a one-trick-pony. Here are three effects you can use tastefully in your tone...

Delay

Clean tones always work well with delay and you could add some epic bounce to your intros and atmospheric mid sections. Analogue and tape delay settings are always our first ports of call.

Reverb

One simple way of adding more ambience to your acoustic sound is to dial reverb into the mix. A touch of hall echo can work wonders.

Compression

Some preamp pedals have this included but most don’t. Subtlety and transparency are key here because a compressor does tend to limit the natural range of your dynamics and you don’t want to suck out the highs too much. Used subtly, compression can even things out between hard strumming and picking, add presence for fingerstyle in noisier venues and sustain for blues styles.