How To Play Ambient Guitar #20 - Combine Hybrid Picking with Ambient Swells (Advanced)

Learn how to use hybrid picking to play a rhythmic bass line while using the volume pedal to create ambient swells - all at the same time!
Features the awesome Strymon Riverside, the amazing Source Audio Nemesis and the always wonderful PRS SE 277 baritone guitar.
Chords of Orion Amazon Affiliate Link: amzn.to/2eKzHwf
Equipment used:
PRS SE 277 Baritone Guitar amzn.to/2nac3Oc
Wampler Ego Compressor amzn.to/2iGtW6a
Strymon Riverside Mulitstage Drive
Morley Little Alligator Volume Pedal amzn.to/2es8L2M
Source Audio Nemesis Delay amzn.to/2n4f15d
Neunaber Immerse Stereo Reverb
Focusrite Saffire Pro 40: amzn.to/2es9elp
Apple Logic Pro X
FOLLOW Chords of Orion on Spotify:
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chords of orion - ambient/post-rock guitar music for the mind and heart.
bill vencil - guitars
web: chordsoforion.com
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[@BillKeilt]

Excellent lesson! I keep coming back to this #20 to pick up little details. Frankly, this type of "ambient" music, which incorporates rhythmic ideas, is one of the factors that separates "ambient guitar music" from the rest-of-the-world "ambient music" which is so keyboard and computer-generated. Must be my rock roots always reaching for the surface..... thanks Bill!

[@dweezil990]

Amazing! The chord harmonies at the end were astonishing. Just bought a little alligator.

[@jemsophia]

Super useful as always. Your videos really help me figure out how to work musically with effects :)

[@MrAlexhollins]

The volume pedal is so underrated and yet so vital for experimental music.

[@chordsoforion]

Agreed. It is a critical tool for what I do.

[@rumbachumba330]

Thanks for all the videos you put out dude. They're very entertaining to watch and always learnin something. I'll try this out but instead of picking I'll get that beat with a slap see how it goes.

[@timbaugh1944]

Excellent lesson Bill ... some nice ideas. Thanks for sharing.

[@chordsoforion]

Thanks Tim!!

[@tantocomoaqueldia]

really its wonderfull! its a very nice sound!

[@johnleventon9575]

Baritone guitars sound so good for ambient music. I had barely heard of them before I subscribed to your channel early last year. I have tested all the baritones that you use. The solid body PRS SE 277 in this video is my favorite and the guitar that I now own. Thanks for the inspiration.

[@chordsoforion]

Excellent choice! I've been finding more and more for the solidbody version of the SE 277 over the last couple of months. The coil split option works really well.

[@aludamin]

Damn, fell in love with this man.

[@joonatankaija8998]

You're very good! It's nice to see different guitarists on youtube! Seems like every one is a super shredder. Nothing wrong with that it's my kind of playstyle aswell. But you are so good with your own thing and you explain it very well! Keep up the good work.

[@chordsoforion]

Many thanks!

[@HarryFullerCT]

Sounds great Bill. Thanks for the lesson.

[@chordsoforion]

Thanks Harry!

[@MikhailMedvedev]

"dark side" shirt goes well with ambient and rythmic structures)

[@chordsoforion]

:-)

[@ronaldhenry5129]

Great Job Sir 😊

[@RyanHarris77]

I do solo baritone ambient/drone stuff, and this is really helpful. I usually rely heavily on overdubbing loops, but it's nice to experiment and change things up. Thank you for creating this! Time to practice it.

[@chordsoforion]

Glad you found it useful!

[@MathieuAlepin]

Brilliant stuff! Thanks.

[@chordsoforion]

Glad you found it useful. Thanks!!!

[@ducas8937]

The reference to my comment (aka cloud or whatever sky) cracked me hahahhahahaha You're such an awesome guy, Bill, an incredible teacher as well

[@chordsoforion]

:-) I was indeed thinking of your earlier comment and was trying to remember the name of the Mooer pedal! :-)

[@williamroark]

You need to get ahold of that left leg action 😉 (Kinda takes away from that “AMBIENT” thing) (Lovin’ the t-shirt B.T.W.)

[@lightnintrucker]

Great lesson man! I can't really say I've tried hybrid pickin', but that certainly don't mean I can't do it! I do think it'll be worth givin' a try and I am gonna try it out. I think it'd be easier fer me to use my thumb and fingers instead of a pick. And I do agree, it will take some practice. Keep up the good work!

[@chordsoforion]

Good, glad you are going to give it a whirl!!

[@DrewDrums]

You gained yourself a sub!

[@chordsoforion]

Why thank you!

[@Tfrne]

3:15 thought he was gonna start playing One of These Days

[@jessegarcia4361]

Bill, I Truly appreciate your videos, and am learning a lot …keep it work ! Have you personally modified any of your volume panels, in particular the Morley little alligator, such as adjusting the LED lights inside or the black card stock by enlarging & reshaping the spatula looking hole , to obtain a wider range of sweep ? I’ll look forward to your reply !

[@EzyoMusic]

I was looking at the Morley Little Alligator and thought I clicked the wrong video because I recognized you from another video, probably about the Neunaber Immerse. The coincidence!

[@chordsoforion]

Cool! Glad you saw both of the vids. Are you in the market for a volume pedal? If so, I highly recommend the Little Alligator. I've had mine for 10 years or so. I should buy a couple more as backups!

[@fatyeet6882]

Dope video, dropped a sub ^.^

[@chordsoforion]

Thanks very much!!

[@jpdenk]

Just want to say that I love your music and videos, very inspirational and informative, thanks so much for your generosity with sharing your knowledge and music. :-) Regarding the Morley Little Alligator, I'm ready to buy one myself, but I'm seeing a couple reviews that mention that over time, the pedal loosens up and won't hold the position of the pedal when you take your foot off of it. Have you had any issues like that?

[@chordsoforion]

Thanks very much for the kind words! My Little Alligator is 15 years old, and the pedal works perfectly. If it did get a little loose, it would just be a matter of tightening the bolts and nuts at the fulcrum point.

[@quiet216]

Sounds good. You should make a song with that riff.

[@chordsoforion]

+Slayer7861 I did! Hopefully, it will be on the next album.

[@GabrielStrozi]

Bill, thank you so much for share this kind of content. You have too much talent and technique. I'm listening to Chord of Orion right now and it's wonderful!! Do you know ayahuasca? Your music fits perfectly on the ayahuasca cerimonies here in Brazil. I have some questions about my gear: I have a line 6 dl4, a ditto looper (the small one), a zoom 2.nu (for reverbs and compressing), a joyo overdrive, a joyo flanger and a mxr fuzz/octave. If you have the same gear, what routing you would use? And, I want to record some loops in stereo, but if I put the ditto before the dl4 all the loop receive the effects, and I don't like this. But if I put the dl4 before, I can't record on stereo. Do you have any insight of how I can record loops in stereo? I also have one amplifier and an audio interface with 4 in and 4 outs. Cheers from Brazil!

[@chordsoforion]

1. Not at all familiar with ayahuasca. I had to look it up! 2. I would place your effects in the following order: Zoom (compressor only), Joyo Overdrive, MXR fuzz/octave, Joyo Flanger, Ditto Looper, Line 6 DL4. I would not use the Zoom for reverb, as I prefer reverb AFTER delays, and I definitely would want the DL4 at the end of the chain to use its stereo capabilities. Also, I generally prefer the looper before delays, given the way I use delays and loopers together. 3. If you want a looper after the DL4 and preserve the stereo field, you will need to upgrade your Ditto to one that supports stereo inputs and outputs. Hope this helps and thanks for the kind words!!!

[@GabrielStrozi]

1. I'd like to suggest you to check the video named "Tierra Vida | An Ayahuasca Journey" on youtube. 2. Thank you so much for the explanation! I'll try this setting of chain! 3. Yes, now I see. Thank you so much for the answer and keep the great work. Cheers!!

[@theunionbeats1]

Does the little alligator have a smooth taper till all the way depressed? My m2 Morley passive does not. Thanks

[@chordsoforion]

No it does not. It has an audio taper that has a fast swell in. I love it!

[@shatnershairpiece]

Have you ever consider a pog 2 for volume swells? It is very smooth, adjustable, and leaves you free to concentrate on music, not thinking about foot timing.

[@chordsoforion]

I don't own a POG2, but do have several pedals that have auto-swell capabilities. While I like them and they all have a place, I generally prefer to use a volume pedal. For me, tt is much more organic and expressive, and there are techniques that you can use that ADSR could never do. And I never think about foot timing. Just takes some practice - like anything else in regards to playing guitar.

[@shatnershairpiece]

Chords Of Orion good point. I have never used a volume pedal but I am thinking about it. They re all so damn big though for carrying in my guitar bag. Need a good mini. Why the alligator? What did you like about it more than other pedals? Read that many people had to make led adjustments on the alligator for proper taper. Not keen on doing mods.

[@chordsoforion]

I have been using Morley volume pedals for 35+ years (has it really been that long?!?). I really love the active/optical circuitry - there is no pot or string to wear out. Also, because Morley pedals are active buffered circuits, there is no "tone suck". As far as the Little Alligator goes, it's the sweep of the swell that works really well for me and drew me to the pedal. You can make minor adjustments very easily by moving the LEDs in the pedal, but I have not found it to be necessary. There are other Morley volume pedal models with different sweeps, if you do not like the LA.

[@shatnershairpiece]

Chords Of Orion Yes, I liked the 'never wears out' part! I go through wahs once a year. Also checking out the mission vm pro, but that might be overkill.

[@shatnershairpiece]

Chords Of Orion Did you ever try the morley mini volume pedal?

[@silenceismycanvas]

Again, great video! What scale is that baritone?

[@evbushkov]

27.7 " (B to B). And the guitar is PRS se 277. I know it because purchased it a week ago, can't wait.

[@chordsoforion]

Exactly right!!!

[@AlexCVeach]

Does anyone know if the Valetron EP1 Volume pedal is good for decent volume swells? Just wondering cuz I'm looking into a separate volume pedal apart from my Digitech Rp1000 and don't wanna spend more than $50(I'm on a pretty tight budget lol)

[@tweedguitar9103]

Can you send signal out of the volume pedal to the delay, by depressing the volume pedal, then raise the pedal to allow the playing melodic material over the pad delay created by sending signal out of the volume pedal to the delay, and out to the monitor ? thanks for your advice, cheers

[@chordsoforion]

Normally, when you raise the pedal on standard volume (like the one I use), all signal stops. You would need some kind of pan/volume pedal and 2 different signal paths to make what you are suggesting happen. Alternatively, you could get a delay with hold/freeze feature (Strymon DIG, Boss DD-500, etc.), and use it to create a drone/pad of the delays that you could solo over.

[@LCRLive687]

Hi Bill, I was wondering if you have the older Morley little Alligator or the newer one. I keep seeing the older ones on ebay being alot more expensive than the newer version.

[@BCTGuitarPlayer]

Bill: do you normally have your pedals setup on a rack or just set them up quickly on the floor as needed, as seen here?

[@chordsoforion]

Since shooting this video, I bought a Pedaltrain board, so I quickly set them up on that instead of the floor. :-)

[@rickovideo]

Do you prefer the Source Audio Nemesis over the Strymon DIG?

[@chordsoforion]

No, absolutely not. The DIG is the master of patterned delays - that's it's specialty. In addition, the DIG's delay sound is simply gorgeous. To me, it's like an additive drug! The Nemesis is an adept "jack of all trades", sounding great overall in all of it's modes. It's an excellent choice for someone who wants one delay with lots of options.

[@shovonchowdhury3954]

can I use my bass for ambient music

[@chordsoforion]

Absolutely!

[@organicproductions]

@@chordsoforion agreed. I love experimenting with my bass, and creating new sounds

[@jeanenviedapprendre]

Do you ever play a 7 string?

[@chordsoforion]

No - I do not own a 7-string. Maybe at some point in the future...