These Pedals Just Keep Getting Smaller...

Greetings and Salutations to all in Shred Nation!

HELLO all and welcome back to another exciting edition of the Shred newsletter. It’s a little colder in Long Beach this week which means people like me (C-tier Rivers Cuomo impersonators) can start wearing cardigans again.

Let’s celebrate by diving right into the good stuff:

Rick Moranis Keeps Shrinking Things! EHX NYC DSP Series
Nobody Talks About Elliot Easton and everybody SHOULD
Welcome to the Future! (of Wood Alternatives)
Let's Play: Enter Sandman (the TOMMY EMMANUEL way)

EHX NYC DSP Series Pedals - Rick Moranis Keeps Shrinking Things!

If you've got limited space on your pedalboard though these might have the opposite effect on your wee wee ; 0

Old EHX pedals were fucking HUGE. They kept downsizing with normal human sized ones, then minis, then nanos, and now we’re here at these adorable little "pico"-sized offerings. Some will argue that because they’re DSP-powered they won’t sound as good, but much of their line has been digital-ish for a while.

Electro Harmonix is not my favorite pedal company (I feel like a lot of the verbs and modulation stuff change your base tone more than it needs to) but you can’t deny some of their classics (duh muffs but also the Poly Chorus, POG, HOG, electric mistress).

I love the POG so I def will purchase a pico version since I actually WILL be able to cram it into my crowded pedalboard and also cram it elsewhere inside my body that it just doesn’t belong.

Check out the full new line HERE

Size Matters: "All Digital" Mail Enhancement

Elliot Easton '24

Man nobody talks about Elliot Easton and everybody should.

As far as “guitarists in bands” go, he might be my favorite and he is unequivocally one of the best. His tone is always perfect, he has serious chops, and his leads and solos are always exactly what a song calls for and nothing more. Flashy shit but never too flashy.

He is my favorite left handed guitarist. Sorry - I know most guitar people keep ONE specific famous lefty in mind when they think "best guitarist"

Easton also manages to throw some legit country stuff onto power pop. Check out the solo from Best Friends Girl and maybe you can also become an unsung hero:

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE

As you might imagine, the term “sustainability” comes up more often than not. You may be familiar with wood alternatives like Richlite for fretboards, aluminum for necks or bodies.

Purists fear not however! The TL;DR of all this shit is that wood is still cheaper and it’s what everyone wants to play.

Honestly here's a cool article though and worth checking out in between insta videos of dogs making friends with farm animals.

Check it out HERE.

TOMMY EMMANUEL CHORD MELODY

My good friend Sean (Chords vs. Nature) was talking about this Tommy Emmanuel interview he watched and what a great player he is. Just to be contrarian I replied simply, “no.” Turns out Sean was right!

Since it’s pretty sleepy at 5 am when I woke up let’s learn his version of “Mr. Sandman.” I really like this arrangement I found floating around. Not sure if it is a Tommy arrangement of a Chet version or if it's just an alternate take of a Chet version? Seems different than the famous Chet ones I've found.

In any case, worth learning and worth learning about Tommy too.

Mr. Sandman Tab PDF

FARE THEE WELL

WOW we're back at the airport and made it to the end of this newsletter with 9 minutes to spare before boarding. Wahoo! Does anyone remember that computer game Let's Explore The Airport? That game was the fuckin shittttt. With Buzzy the Knowledge Bug.

Whenever you're stuck at an airport just think about this game. Perspective is everything.

We'll see you next time and let me reiterate that when you sign up for the Shred Patreon you get uninterrupted internet access to me 24 hours a day literally you can Discord message me asking about edge picking at 3:16 AM who cares? I don't care just do it!

UNTIL NEXT TIME