E-Bow

[Boceephus]

I’d be interested in hearing some of the best instrumental tracks featuring E-Bow. I’ve heard it on a few songs over the years, but I’d like some ethereal song list of the most experimental music made with the sustainer.


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[GuitarGeek]

I think the first time I saw someone using an E-bow, was a Big Country concert on MTV, back in 85 or whenever it was, where Stuart Adamson, I think, used one on one song, but I don't know which one it was.

A few I do know the titles of:

Fred Frith: What A Dilemma
Elliott Sharp: Union Of Scabs (I thnk that's the title I'm thinking of)
Psychedelic Furs: Dumb Waiters
David Gilmour: Take It Back and Keep Talking (where he uses it on an acoustic guitar)

Guitar Player did a big article on the history of the E-bow back in 1988 (July, I thnk i twas, it was the issue with Albert Collins on the cover), and they interviewed Frith, E#, Jon Ashton of the Psych Furs, Henry Kaiser, and a few other guitarists. I know Zappa was one they interviewed who said he tried using it onstage, but could never get comfortable with it, so he abandoned it after only using it a few times.

And for the record, Steve Hackett did NOT use an E-bow when he was in Genesis. I don't care what anyone in whichever tribute uses, the E-bow didn't even exist until 1976. On the official website, it says Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir were their first customers, having bought a couple E-bows at one of the NAMM conventions that year, and as far as anyone can determine, the first record where one was used was Eugene Chadbourne's The Lesson, where Henry Kaiser it on a track. Yeah, Hackett used one in the 80's (before he got his Fernandes guitar with the "Sustainer" gizmo built in), but he certainly wasn't using it on stuff like Firth Of Fifth or whatever. And Fripp didn't use on Heroes either, which a lot of people seem to think also.

[markwoll]

Fred Frith - Guitar Solos - No Birds

[Halmyre]

First I heard of it was when Bill Nelson used it on 'The Love That Whirls'.

REM actually namecheck it in 'E-Bow The Letter' from 'New Adventures in Hi-Fi'.

[Rarebird]

I think Steve Hackett used one on the album Cured.

[StarThrower]

Pat Metheny used one on The Way Up. There's a YT clip of the first 10-12 minutes where you can see him in action. Phil Keaggy used the E-Bow quite a bit. There's a 6-7 minute video on YT where he uses it throughout the entire piece.

[Gizmotron]

I sure enjoy using mine. (Generally, I use it with a looper and effects so that I can get Fripp-like sounds/compositions.)

[MudShark22]

Rothery uses one as a guest soloist on the first Enchant album...forget the track name

[GuitarGeek]

Oh, and just for the record, Since You're Gone by The Cars isn't E-bow either. Elliott Easton said that was the sound he was going for, but this was in the early 80's when the E-bow wasn't available (apparently, Greg Heet hit upon distribution problems or whatever, so for a couple years they were basically unobtainium). So he came up with this scheme where he sat in the control room, with the monitors cranked up, and he basically did the whole thing with natural feedback, same as Fripp did on Heroes. He said he taped off all the strings except for the one that he's playing, which I think he said was the G string.

[rapidfirerob]

Don't Fear The Reaper after the guitar solo. I saw them many times where a roadie or guitar tech would catch the
device from Eric Bloom.

[progmatist]

In this video, Steve Vai uses a pickup which does the same thing as an E-Bow on all strings simultaneously. I believe Alan Morse also has one in his trusty old Strat. I don't know who makes it or what it's called.....

[GuitarGeek]

In this video, Steve Vai uses a pickup which does the same thing as an E-Bow on all strings simultaneously. ]

There's two different things like that. One is the Fernandes Sustainer, which both Fripp and Hackett use. There's also something called the Sustainiac, which is what Adrian Belew had in the Strats he used in the 1994-2003 era King Crimson. He may have one in the Parker Fly he uses now.

And it doesn't quite do the same thing the E-bow does. It does give you infinite sustain at any level, but it does it through a different principle. It allows you to dial feedback, you know, where you play one note, and then it fades into the feedback note an octave higher or whatever. And really, you can't use it on all six strings simultaneously, it really only works on one string at a time. So you can't, let's say, play a chord and get infinite sustain all the strings at once.

Also, there's a lot of things you can do with the E-bow that you can't do with either the Fernandes Sustainer or the Sustainiac. For instance, if you push the drive channel down so that it actually touches the string, you get this sort of screaming sound. And there's also tricks like bouncing the Ebow up and down from the string, which sort of emulates a cellist or violinist bouncing the bring on their instruments.

[GuitarGeek]

Don't Fear The Reaper after the guitar solo. I saw them many times where a roadie or guitar tech would catch the
device from Eric Bloom.

Maybe onstage later on, but certainly not on the studio version, or the early versions, where it's just feedback.

[interbellum]

Early Big Country was very much based on the E-Bow:
(edit: didn't notice you were looking for experimantal stuff)

[nosebone]

Both guitarists in the NY band The Good Rats used twin Ebows for really cool melodic solos.

Ebows at 1:30

[rapidfirerob]

Maybe onstage later on, but certainly not on the studio version, or the early versions, where it's just feedback.

Yes, on stage. Invented in 69 and first appeared at NAMM in 76, the year Agents of Fortune was released.

[EinTon]

Fred Frith Guitar Quartet - Freedom is your Friends II (from Album "Ayaya Moses"), with four E-Bow played Guitars:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECjMn7T5dcA#t=38m25s

[syncopatico]

The soaring sustaining of Mr. Bill Nelson
(the E-Bow section starts at 2:22)

[Progbear]

Played by Todd Rundgren:

[iguana]

[iguana]

Rothery uses one as a guest soloist on the first Enchant album...forget the track name

this and “curtain call” (the outro to “heart of lothian” on side 1 of “misplaced childhood”) as well as the eerie end part of the song “season’s end” as part of MARiLLiON. there is also a bit in “the last straw”.

the first ever gig that i went to was BiG COUNTRY in 1986 not least because i was so intrigued by their use of the e-bow (as per album cred) and finally wanted to see this in action. the upsurge of post rock and shoegaze as genres has seen a revival of this great little gizmo. if i played guitar (which i don’t) i’d splash it all over my playing.

[Rarebird]

How about the gizmotron?

[proggy_jazzer]

Paul Richards uses the ebow nicely in several California Guitar Trio tracks, including 'Relative Illusion' from Whitewater:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0CtdZqjF-o

[GuitarGeek]

this and “curtain call” (the outro to “heart of lothian” on side 1 of “misplaced childhood”) as well as the eerie end part of the song “season’s end” as part of MARiLLiON. there is also a bit in “the last straw”.

I think he also used on Pseudo Silk Kimono. I think there's live footage on Youtube where you can see him using it.

[iguana]

I think he also used on Pseudo Silk Kimono. I think there's live footage on Youtube where you can see him using it.

you are absolutely right.