The compact digital looping pedal is nothing less than a revelation. Sure, loopers are commonplace now, and most guitarists have at least a general familiarity with them, but it seems that few among us have a full appreciation for the many advantages with which they provide the modern musician. You don't have to be one of those crazy solo looping guys that creates an entire backing band on the fly (shout-out to my homeboy Phil Stendek, 2010 Boss looping champion!) to make use of all that a looping pedal has to offer. Any guitarist can benefit enormously from acquiring a simple looper and taking the time to learn how to use it. Here are a handful of ways that a looping pedal can improve your skills, fill out your sound, and make your musical existence happier and more rewarding.
Looper as practice buddy
One of the best ways to get better at guitar is to practice with another guitar player. The way this scenario often works out is with one guitarist playing a rhythmic figure or chord progression, while the other one solos or works on melodic passages. This is a really great way to learn, and develop both a sense of rhythm and an ear for how melody and chord changes work together, but there are downsides to this method. For one, it requires another person, preferably one with patience and the appropriate repertoire of musical skills. A practice buddy with a short attention span, limited chordal knowledge, and a terrible sense of timing won't do anyone much good. And even if an ideal human practice buddy is available from time to time, chances are that this person can't be around every time you want to jam or work on your soloing. This is where a looper can step in and save the day.
A looper pedal can be available any time you have a few moments to practice, it doesn't take up much space, doesn't have any annoying personality flaws, and it has a perfect sense of timing. Many even have a quantize function, so if your rhythm is a little off the looper can rein it in and tighten everything up. Simply play a riff or progression into it and rock out. Back in the bad old days, guitarists and other musicians practicing alone would use a cassette deck in a similar fashion when rehearsing or songwriting, but this usually entailed playing a riff or song over and over again ad nauseum to avoid having to constantly rewind the tape. Even then, there was an awful lot of tedious rewinding, poor sound quality, and the occasional eaten tape. With a digital looper at our feet, we can leave these dark days behind us.
Looper as a songwriting tool
In much the same fashion that a looper can be the perfect practice partner, it can also be the ideal songwriting companion—an Oates to your Hall, a Garfunkel to your Simon, a Nash to your Crosby and Stills. It won't create parts for you, but it will be there to play the parts you have without complaint, in its relentless, robotic fashion, allowing you to easily audition and overdub every musical or vocal idea that pops into your head. Whether you're coming up with a solo section or composing intricately layered vocal harmonies, the looper will have your backing tracks on lock, and can play them perfectly for as long as you want, without taking even a single smoke break.
The main benefit of the looper as a songwriting companion is its endless repetition capability. This is important because there is no better way to really get inside of a song than to hear it repeated over and over, and when combined with the looper's ready availability, it gives the songwriter all the time in the world to internalize the parts, compose melodies and harmonies, and work on the perfect lyrics. It also frees up one's hands from the burden of self-accompaniment, which is nice for those of us that don't excel at playing guitar and singing at the same time.
Looper as second guitarist
As I mentioned previously, there is a community of a solo looping performers in the music world that specialize in creating an entire backing band for themselves on the fly, usually with a stage full of instruments and a fairly complex system of loopers, microphones, and mixing devices. While most of us can appreciate the skill this takes, few of us have the desire to do something similar as a primary musical endeavor. When considering the looper as a performance tool, most guitarists would rather do something a bit simpler, having the looper function as a second guitarist for filling out the live sound or playing harmony lead lines. For players operating in a power trio scenario, this is a really cool capability. With practice, a looper can be employed on stage for anything from ambient background drones, to layered harmonies, to functioning as an invisible rhythm guitarist to support one's melodic flights of fancy.
Using a looper to fill the role of a second guitarist does require a bit of practice and a thorough knowledge of the device's functions, however. Live looping can be tricky, and it helps to know your looper inside and out to avoid on-stage blunders and loop trainwrecks. It also helps to have all the parts thoroughly planned out and rehearsed in the context of a full band practice session, so that your bandmates know what to expect as well. If you and your bandmates are excellent, cool-headed live improvisers, you may get away with ignoring this advice.
Looper as instrument in its own right
Some adventurous guitarists, upon diving down the looping rabbit hole, have found a veritable wonderland of creative and expressive possibilities within. These artists often get so deeply into looping that the looper begins to function as an instrument unto itself, rather than a simple digital recording and playback machine. One such guitarist is David Torn, who is widely known for his deftness and artistry with his rack of looping devices, both on his records and in live performances. Torn twists and manipulates loops beyond recognition, applying fuzz, pitch-shifting, massive reverbs, and other effects until they no longer resemble anything guitar-like. In the studio he might build a song around these loops, and in live situations he often creates them on the spot to function as harmonic and rhythmic beds for his remarkably musical and dramatic improvisations.
Get a looper!
Every electric guitarist owes it to themselves and their art to explore the possibilities of digital looping devices. A looper can function as an easily manipulated, rock-steady bandmate that doesn't take up much space and doesn't create any weird smells in the tour van, but even if you don't want to get into live looping, these devices are invaluable to us as practice companions and songwriting partners. The market is full of loopers from several different companies, varying from extremely powerful devices with tons of storage and inputs for an entire band's worth of instruments, to mini-pedal sized boxes perfect for the casual loopist. They're inexpensive and you can get one just about anywhere, so get one already!