Repeating Myself: Discovering and Rediscovering the Joys of Delay    

Do you remember the first time you heard an echo? As a kid, I remember being endlessly fascinated by the concept. Even to this day, I love clapping my hands loudly and observing the acoustics of a given space. It’s no wonder that I’ve felt drawn to delay pedals. It’s a way of rekindling that excitement every time I step on the footswitch, hearing whatever I’ve just played repeated and effected, twisted like a strange, mechanical game of “Whisper Down the Lane.” Musicians have been utilizing electronic echo effects since the 1950s and it’s an effect that I rely on practically any time I plug in an electric guitar. But it wasn’t always that way… 

My first foray into the wonderful world of echoes was the Line 6 DL4. This bright green, lima bean shaped pedal is now an icon in the effects pedal world as it brought a unique functionality to the land of delay pedals. It housed 15 different flavors of delay and echo sounds from history, 3 presets, tap tempo, and a full-blown 14-second looper. This pedal showed up in the rigs of TONS of the guitarists that I idolized at the time, so my 15 year old self plopped down the $250 (the most I’d ever spent on a pedal at that point)and my pedalboard now featured this huge piece of real estate. I devoured the manual, learning about all of the different effects in there and the myriad ways that I could tweak them to my heart’s content. Soon, I’d discovered how to make the pedal self-oscillate and it was like I’d been let in to some secret club of forbidden guitar noises.

That DL4 lived in my rig for probably more than a decade. It had to be on every board I assembled and yet… I rarely used it. I had my presets laid out, based on a couple of my favorite songs: one for Incubus’s esoteric alt-metal track “Pardon Me,” which features some atmospheric swells and staccato repeats throughout the song’s verses, and another for Pink Floyd’s “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” which features, in my opinion, one of the most iconic uses of a dotted-8^th style delay rhythm as the often-inseparable intro to “Another Brick in the Wall, pt.2.”The third preset was set to instantly self-oscillate so I could get on my knees and twist the knobs every which way, causing the sound to spiral in unpredictable and exciting ways. But that was the full extent of my use for it. I tried to get the hang of the tap tempo but could never get it to work how I wanted it to. Occasionally, I’d practice with the looper, often resulting in my parents wanting to pull the plug on me after they could no longer bear the endless repetition (I’m sure many of you reading this know the struggle!). Still, for some reason, that big green bean had to stay on my board. Maybe it’s because all of my guitar heroes were using it and I still desperately wanted to be part of that club. I’d read interviews with some of these players detailing how delay was their favorite effect, or how it was the one effect they couldn’t live without. It didn’t quite make sense to me.

Fast forward a few years. I spent an enjoyable evening with some family, the highlight of which was talking about music with my uncle. He let me borrow two CDs from his collection. One was Chicago’s debut album (Chicago Transit Authority) since I had mentioned how much I loved Terry Kath’s guitar playing but had never listened to the older albums. The second was Regatta de Blanc by The Police. Both albums blew me away and captivated me, becoming instant favorites. But there was something that was so fresh to me about Regatta de Blanc. Andy Summers’ textures and playing were sophisticated but never overshadowed the song. I became obsessed with learning his chord shapes (coincidentally I had been learning many of them in my jazz guitar lessons at the time), solos, and how he was getting all of those sounds. I picked up a bunch of tricks from him but the single most important thing I picked up from him was a newfound appreciation for delay.

Andy primarily used delay in one of two ways: 1) in a rhythmic context that uses repeats set as either quarter notes or dotted-eighth note or 2) as a way to create ambient textures. Sometimes, the delay would perform both functions! I quickly began utilizing delay in similar fashion, turning it on practically any time I was using a clean sound with my band(s). More importantly, I gained a much better understanding of how to use the effect. 

Delay is one of the most versatile effects that a player can have in his arsenal and I love using it in a wide range of contexts. I primarily use it with a clean sound set to either a quarter-note or eighth-note repeat, depending on the tempo of the song. This gives the guitar a subtle ambience, not unlike reverb, that doesn’t get in the way since the repeats are occurring with the downbeat of the music. I like to use a “Tape Echo” style delay with this as it provides a slight coloration to the dry sound with a touch of shimmer as the repeats “wow & flutter.” This same approach works very well with lead parts (with or without distortion) and adds some much welcomed space to guitar solos, resulting in the kind of soaring tone that is oh-so-satisfying. 

Sometimes, I’ll use delay in a more overtly obvious rhythmic context. One of the most popular approaches is setting it to a very quick delay, known as “slapback.” I always associate slapback with Telecaster-twanging country licks or rockabilly riffing but it’s quite useful in a wide range of genres. Another popular use in this context is setting the delay to a dotted-eighth note repeat. You’ve heard this effect all over U2’s records, as well as in the aforementioned “The Happiest Days of Our Lives” and “Another Brick in the Wall” tracks. This gives the illusion that you’re playing far more notes than you are and can create some unexpected ostinato patterns. Though it’s very important if you’re using this approach that you have a good sense of timing and a stable drummer! Digital delays often excel for this purpose as their repeats are the most accurate to the original guitar source, offering a hi-fi clarity to the echoed sounds.  

Lastly, one of the most fun uses for a delay is to create a “wall of sound.” This doesn’t require the timing to be any specific rhythm, just slightly longer with higher repeats or “feedback” (delay circuits use a feedback loop system to control the amount of repeats). This works great with simple tremolo picked lines, the notes all messily crash into each other like a massive wave. Analog delays are often favored for these applications as their warmer repeats don’t overpower the dry guitar signal, instead laying as a bed for the guitar to float over.

Still, there are many more uses for delay pedals and why they are seen as a “desert island” tool for many guitarists. At extremely short time settings, they can fulfill the role of a chorus or flanger and add some nice movement and texture to the guitar. Some folks will utilize the preamp of certain delay units, such as the Echoplex or Deluxe Memory Man, as a “secret weapon” for their tone. Some people will use an extremely long delay time with a single repeat to act as a type of “Sound-on-Sound” machine that is continually looping whatever they’ve just played into it and allowing for a type of duet where they assume the role of both players. And, of course, several delay pedals have full blown loopers, which are a tremendous tool for not only practicing but for engaging your creativity. There’s no wrong way to use these pedals and half the fun comes from discovering happy accidents with them along the way!

If you don’t own a delay pedal (or several like some of us delay junkies), I can’t stress enough just how effective and useful they can be. Their flexibility can fit a wide range of genres and playing styles and their functionality can be addicting. So try one out! Who knows… you might have some fun. Just try to avoid making a mistake, otherwise you may hear it played back at you a few times! Chris Capitanio 2020