Jeff McErlain’s Guitar Effects Survival Guide

A must-have tone almanac for electric guitar players

If you’re one of those “I plug directly into the amp and don’t need no stinkin’ effects” kinda dude, then godspeed and thanks for stopping by. On the other hand, if you own a pedal board upon which you trip the light fantastic, stick around — the Guitar Effects Survival Guide will validate what you might know, illuminate what you don’t know, and quickly help you generate a massive and highly versatile sound palette.

Your effects sensei Jeff McErlain is a tone hound from the word go. Over the past 30 years, McErlain has chased down the effects, chains and parameters that power the entire rock, blues and pop tonal spectrum. Jeff can tell you how to easily replicate virtually any tone with the pedals, amps and guitars that you likely already have in your closet.

The Guitar Effects Survival Guide is organized into two sections. In the first section, Jeff drills down deep on the parameters, settings, sonic qualities and applications for 16 essential pedals; Boost, Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz, Octavia, Reverb, Analog Delay, Digital Delay, Tremolo, Chorus, Flanger, Univibe, Phase Shifter, Compressor, Volume and Wah.

In the second section, Jeff presents 33 individual effect chain video tutorials demonstrating how to produce, and tweak to your liking, a vast range of tones suitable for virtually any classic or modern style of rock, blues and pop. You’ll learn how to select the right combination of pedals, how to arrange the pedals in the chain, and how to tweak the parameters of the pedals to dial in that “perfect” tone.

To reduce external factors that might effect tonal qualities, no super-expensive pedals, amps or guitars were used in any of the demonstrations. Jeff exclusively worked with the same strat-type guitar (Tuttle), small tube amp (Lone Star) and 16 commonly found, affordable pedals for everything that you hear and see in the Guitar Effects Survival Guide.

Every pedal and effect chain video tutorial also features text guides and graphic schematics depicting the pedals used in a particular chain, the order of those pedals, and the exact settings used in the tutorial. Plus, an interactive schematic creation tool is also included with the course so that you can record and print out your own chains and settings.

DISCLAIMER! The Guitar Effects Survival Guide will not reduce the fiscal risks of the G.A.S. Affliction, nor will it prevent future purchases of bright shiny things that promise to shape tone in new and wonderful ways. The only warranty made herein is the guaranteed transfer of priceless grey matter that will significantly aid in the shaping of tone and aural ecstasy.

Pssst… dude who just plugs directly in but is still reading this description: go ahead, you know you want to, we won’t tell.

More courses from the same author: Jeff McErlain