Using Violin Bows on Electric Guitar

From the drones Eddie Phillips created for The Mark Four to Sarah Lipstate's lush modern soundscapes, Joe walks us through a brief and unique history of guitarists using violin bows.
Read more on Reverb : bit.ly/2L8v7Yf

[@LoueWhose]

a bow works okay - but for the ethereal, hypnotic, heart rending melodies I create - nothing produces a better tone then a slightly frozen garden snake

[@radiofaber]

you just named him but he deserve a lot more words in this episode! Jonsi of Sigur Ros is a master of the bow played on the guitar! Jimmy Page has done something but Jonsi is exploring a loads of new soundscapes and colours on it! He's the master of bow on electric gtrs..

[@thefrankcoda]

radiofaber i couldn’t have said it better!

[@groovyhippie1165]

I'm glad they mentioned Jonsi and also Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead. Two of my favorite bands. I can't get enough of both their music.

[@chrisharrison809]

Totally agree

[@esteban_666]

Bowed guitar--> Wikipedia--> Jónsi photo en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowed_guitar

[@Youdiments]

Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo are my favs for this.

[@ARogolino1]

I love when used drumsticks too

[@danielbrown8556]

Have they used bows? Thought it was just drumsticks etc

[@LikeigiveAFaboutU]

@@danielbrown8556 they have used pens, nails, drumsticks, bows, saws, gongs. Hell. Nearly everything.

[@axelbergstrom3644]

Moore and Ranaldo are like Yin and Yang

[@danielbrown8556]

Gary Miner do you know which tracks they used bows for?

[@stefankarlssonice]

I feel Jónsi of Sigur Rós popularised this in the most recent cycle - starting with 1999's Ágætis Byrjun album

[@GavinBuchan77]

Came here to post this, opening notes to Svern G Englar are spine tingling!

[@screenheads3812]

I was looking for a comment on Sigur Ros

[@randallparker8477]

An old friend of mine used a bow and slide on his old dobro (psychedelic country rock) back in the 70's.

[@Kezzeract]

A bow and a tonne of reverb is MAGIC.

[@gi5089]

Delay and distortion too!

[@louisdutoya857]

In the mockumentary "Spinal Tap", the guitarist use a violin as a bow for the joke

[@andrewpappas9311]

I remember that scene, Nigel Tufnel was indeed an innovator in more ways than one

[@brianmoran8998]

No. That was deadly serious.

[@brianmoran8998]

😁

[@jrpipik]

It's a rockumentary, thank you very much.

[@richieheyward161]

Look Reverb, I love you. But if you’re gonna talk about bowed guitar you can’t just fly by Jónsi and mispronounce his name. He’s been using a bow on his guitar for 23 years straight. He’s THE poster child for bowed guitar. But still, thank you for shedding light on one of my favorite guitar techniques.

[@kalebgarrett127]

Jonesy is sooper gud dude. Talks funny.

[@MarkPeotter]

After visiting the Musical Instrument Museum, I was amazed at how many countries made music with one string stretched tightly along an arced stck. You can bow it, pluck it, strike it. Some countries place frets on the stick, some do not.

[@yeahrightbear8883]

Someone should make a bridge for guitars that is designed to be used with a bow.

[@stevenwhaley7368]

Jonsi from sigur ros has a guitar with a bridge made for bowing, there's some videos about it on youtube

[@drpibisback7680]

With the right set of strings and an allen key on a bridge with individual saddle heights, you could probably get close to the curve needed with no special parts. Just raise saddles 3 and 4, raise 2 and 5 less, and leave 1 and 6 where they are. The guitar body being so much wider than the string area is where most of the problems would come from that method, you can't easily approach from the right angle because the bow will get stopped by the body (why violins and other bowed instruments have the hourglass shape, the middle scoops let you reach the outside lower strings by coming in from below.

[@jedhawkins1769]

This is an underrated technique that deserves more attention from rock and metal fans!

[@TheHuntron3000]

Jonsi needs way more of a spotlight in this video.

[@KeeperOfPoops]

i'm so glad you mentioned Jonsi of Sigur Ros otherwise i would've flipped

[@TheDemarius]

This would've been the second channel (the first being Music is Win) to make a video about violin bows on guitars and not mention Jonsi.

[@mHerlow]

Noveller is a fantastic bow player and inspiration. This is a great opening for new people to get into her music, she’s got a great catalogue.

[@RafaelRechia]

I'm a Sarah Lipstate fan, amazing musician!

[@jrpipik]

I'm surprised someone hasn't developed a guitar with a rounder crown to the neck to make this technique more like playing a violin, allowing people to play fast runs and melodic lines instead of just atmospheric drones.

[@EpicStuffMan1000]

they actually have! you can find them here: www.thomann.de/gb/violins_and_violas.html?viewMode=block

[@onlyfromadistance7326]

Jimmy Page got me doing this for years!

[@TheMusicalElitist]

Yeah it was actually Eddie Phillips was from The Creation

[@pinkled4429]

@@TheMusicalElitist how is that related to what the op said? Jimmy was more popular or doing it

[@sk1mmyj1mmy]

I've done this live with a drumstick for a couple years. Makes for a good visual effect.

[@kbushehri]

🍗

[@GorditoJalcon]

Lee Ranaldo also inspired me to play with a bow and experiment with new stuff, that happened when I met him 2 years ago lol

[@lukeomalley]

Don't forget Sigur Ros

[@DylanPank71]

07:24

[@lilstjimmy]

sigur ros uses the bowed guitar to perfection - it's such a lush, full sound in songs like glosoli and saeglopur

[@Pandamasque]

I have two older cousins. When I one played bass in a band, the other one played cello. Guess what I did while visiting them when I was little.

[@jamiesoph9796]

I've been waiting to see a video like this and of course, Reverb came through with it. Please keep reading my mind! Love you guys

[@SpinesAndSplines]

I just ordered myself a new violin bow recently, so finally felt comfortable using my old one on my guitar, and wrote a Songfight! song with it last week. With just a little bit of eq, some planning and a touch of reverb, it sounded very cool. My main reference point was a song by Foy Vance called “The Wild Swans on the Lake”.

[@DeadWhiteButterflies]

I do like how quarantine (at the time of writing) has allowed us to see into the Reverb gang's various different gear caves / studio spaces. 😁 I just found my own bow today still in its cardboard tube when I first got it, after looking for it for years. I've only got a few spacey effects on hand, but I'm definitely gonna spend some time with it for the next few days at least.

[@stevenwhaley7368]

Sigur ros should be focused on more in something like this

[@lunchpin403]

I feel like Reverb always drop the ball a little on stuff like this

[@MD-gx4bw]

@@lunchpin403 I feel like Joe and the team were probably trying to use the platform to spotlight some talent rather than tell it's audience things we already know.

[@Foochapig]

Jonny greenwood used a bow quite a bit too cool video

[@NoUploadJustComment]

Unexpected interview was unexpected. Interesting for sure (and I've seen her before open for Iggy), but it sorta stopped the video dead.

[@thebreakfastmenu]

Skylar Skjelset of Fleet Foxes uses a bow as well.

[@matthewpaluch777]

- Adrian Vandenberg - Whitesnake " Still of the Night "

[@cobraglatiator]

as a metal head, i really dug that last bit w/ the bow and guitar. that was sick, real kinda gothic-y really horror soundtrack ..y...

[@bogeaqYT]

Hey you should do a video showing us your personal instruments and gear, since we're all stuck at home anyway.

[@marcot117]

All of you should take a look on julio revueltas, a Mexican guitarist that plays la viotarra, basically an electric versión of a violá de gamba, he plays jazz fusión and metal

[@mauricemusician7636]

There used to be an instrument called the Arpeggione. It was a guitar played like a cello.

[@AnkothOfficial]

Nowadays there's the cellotar. Pretty much the arpeggione. Has been used a lot by Film Composers, notably, for example, in the score for Gladiator.

[@jonahlouque9621]

It is so hard to play guitar with a bow, I have no Idea how Jonny and Jonsi do it so effortlessly.

[@zachmullings7265]

How is this video 8 mins long with only a passing mention of Jonsi from Sigur Ros? This was a missed opportunity.

[@indieguy81]

I wonder how much the neck radius factors into the kind of sound you get with a bow. You'd think with the smaller, "vintage" radius guitars, it would be easier for the bow to make contact with single strings, whereas that might be impossible with flat radius necks.

[@SonicRave1]

I just recently bought a bow so that I can get a more sustaining sound on a new song I wrote and recorded over the last few months. I wasn’t super happy with it and kind of had an thought that maybe a bow would get me closing to what I heard in my head.

[@5688gamble]

I have started to learn the violin, naturally I have tried using my bow on my electric and acoustic guitars, with the right angle you can sort of play melodies on the e strings, but you cannot hit any other string on it's own and into the bargain muting the strings is less effective, for playing chords it ends up sounding strange and dissonant most of the time, fretting a string often lowers it just enough to where it won't sound properly, I'd see it more as a novelty, perhaps if you are after a strange psychedelic effect or a drone, it may be effective, but otherwise I don't know, maybe I just don't know what I'm doing, plus I find it difficult to hold comfortably, either have to set the guitar down and hold it like a cello bow or hang it from my thumb and use my fingers to stabilize it, both holds that feel unnatural. I have had success with a popsicle stick coated in rosin on acoustic guitar, which lets you hit any two adjacent strings. But with a bow? Not really working for me!

[@MateusVerde]

What's the butterscotch guitar in the wall on the left? Awesome video btw!

[@joegeorge1002]

that'd be my Reverend Double Agent :)

[@christopherdicicco9252]

I'm in good company. What was her side project called? sounded like Vex Vero?? Google search came back with ???

[@meow7791]

i've been watching you for years and just learned your name was actually joseph lol

[@Pandamasque]

3:44 I don't know what is written on that t-shirt.

[@slayerus23]

Pan Damasque trop

[@denisborzov8406]

I see what you did here

[@sumedhhhh]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@karl-oskarholm8452]

0:07 I thought i was watcing a cod zombies video

[@Kochie11]

A few of electronic artists tend to do this as well. Like Odesza. It’s an interesting technique haha

[@iiivanoeee651]

Mr. Jonny Greenwoooooood!!

[@jhowellkc]

The guy from Pram bowed guitar ages ago too.

[@firmamentofficial]

Sick!!

[@stiffrichard2816]

Pink Floyd did it in '67 on Piper as well but not much video evidence of it other than a photo.

[@long-timelistenerfirst-t-us2yy]

*i really liked this video. there was a **_"moral of the story"_** :-P*

[@SwirlyWhirlyXYZ]

Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth has definitely used a bow, but maybe not until later in their career

[@bcklndt]

Peter Distefano’s bow work with Porno For Pyros on “orgasm” & “blood rag” (both from their first album) is pure sexual energy & out of this world amazing .. Gracias señor Distefano ❤️🎉🌈

[@tarkenton3895]

There's an instagram guitarist under the username @bowed_guitar (I think) who does this in a pretty cool way. He's got this custom guitar with a fretboard more like the board of a violin or cello radius which helps obviously. Worth checking out. There's also a guy around manchester where I live that busks using a bow with an ovation acoustic. Quite skilled but I always forget to ask if he has any online content.

[@MarkRigler]

Where's Nigel Tufnel?

[@goodnightmediaintl]

oooooo good content

[@BenjiH23]

I ask this one every video, but can someone please tell me what that black reverse jag style guitar is please?

[@BenjiH23]

Found it, it’s Framus Idolmaker!

[@sugarmagnolia5g153]

Bruh when he plays the guitar it sound like the PS2 home screen 😂

[@weareprisonerscinema]

I’m pretty sure Syd Barrett used a bow as well

[@amayacai]

Can we use a bow on normal guitar strings?

[@lunchpin403]

Yes, but use rosin on the bow and clean your strings after. If you have a spare less valued guitar laying around use that

[@moka6730]

@lunchpin403 I am thinking of building a 4 string bass kit guitar and building it optimised for bowing. Fretless with bowed bridge, fretboard etc. Is it imaginable that guitar strings with bowed raisin would make it playable like a cello at all pitches? Is i

[@bellay3748]

1:15 As a violinist, that hurts real bad.

[@ProfessorKenneth]

These led Zeppelin sycophants keep saying "zeppelin were the greatest band ever!! Jimmy is brilliant he made up the bow to the guitar!!! They wrote all original music!" 😂 Lol...does page give credit to Eddie Phillips? Didn't Eddie kind of bring it to the front. Zeppelin covered a few great songs but they are nothing more than a cover band, collage artist....

[@olssong7941]

Don't forget that Page slept with kids

[@samueleastman4775]

Sergio Altamura. Look him up!

[@chairmankaga101]

Godspeed needs no bows when screwdrivers work even better.

[@ivanvelichkov6763]

this, a tenor sax and a theremin :))

[@Susan_R]

7:44 sounds like electronic whales. Very cool!

[@MountSec]

* Hears fiddle* * has ptsd *

[@esteban_666]

Jónsi = Bowed guitar

[@texanfournow]

It's like slow shoegaze...

[@kronoscamron7412]

Yes problem is bow will break hair in two days... and bows are expensive.

[@madmac66]

Bowed guitar sounds amazing, but do you ever look like a tool bowing a guitar with a full size cello bow. If these musicians were truly innovative they would have created a half size bow that’s less cumbersome to play on a guitar strapped over your shoulder

[@joshuavargas1281]

Jimmy Page and Johnny Greenwood are great at this

[@falconpowerful2362]

I still prefer Nigel Tufnel using the actual violin instead of the bow... then tuning said violin.

[@davegibbs6423]

Eddie.

[@Cairah2013]

Zhrine!

[@BuzzcutGtr]

Well there's 5-1/2 minutes of my life I'll never get back. :-/

[@airamarrocha29]

well I´ll buy a bow....

[@ParkerOwens-hp2uu]

I hate to say it but she definitely lied about that story

[@andrewpappas9311]

If Jimmy Page did it in The Yardbirds and Zeppelin then why can we?

[@Legabis]

its sounds bad :D

[@RafitaPapita2099]

Always thought using a bow was very cringe and gimmicky

[@damianpimpinella977]

The millions that went to zeppelin concerts disagree

[@richardg5301]

@@damianpimpinella977 So their opinion is superior?

[@ZoSo1973]

Richard G Yes. Because we’re right, and you’re wrong.

[@richardg5301]

@@ZoSo1973 I never gave my opinion, so how would you know?

[@chastitywhore6141]

Page nicked Eddie Phillips from The Creation, and Plant emulated Steve Marriott from The Small Faces singling style. Both Mod bands.

[@jimroth6681]

I like to see that baglama behind you :D

[@alcosexualsuicidemachine]

If you have a Digitech Polara reverb- try putting it on halo mode, everything else on 100%, tuning your guitar to facgce and bowing all the strings. You can also press fret 5, works well together.

[@afew1700]

Jónsi is far better at bowing a guitar among all the others. He plays more with a bow than with his fingers or a pick. Really. Check out any Sigur Ros live show. It sounds natural and not avant-garde like.