This is a really weird question but: At the part where Bono has the spotlight on Edge, does the light have anything to do with the sound of the guitar. Its seems (or at least in the DVD version) that when light is near the guitar it seems to be distorted and when he moves it away it sounds normal. Like I said, really obscure. But its kind of bugging me.
shareI think you're totally right.
share[deleted]
Nice theory, but unfortunately incorrect. Edge plays the solo with a bottleneck, a small metal tube strapped over the middle finger of his left. That´s what causes the "buzzing" vibrating sound, as he moves the bottleneck up or down quickly the string in order to change the tone. Listen to Ry Cooder´s slide guitar music, then you´ll figure it out.
shareAs a musician, let me give you a little explanation about that 60-cycle hum. On "Bullet," Edge is playing a Fender Stratocaster with single-coil pickups. Pickups are essentially electromagnets.
Single-coil pickups are notorious for picking up electrical signals. I recall playing a gig several years ago where there was a HUGE flashing neon Budweiser sign above the stage. We had requested that the sign be turned off during the show, but the owner wouldn't do it. The guitarist (a guy named Tony) played nothing but single-coil Fender guitars: a couple of Strats, a couple of Telecasters, and I believe a Jaguar. Sure enough, when the sign came on, you'd hear this intermittent BZZZ-BZZZ-BZZZ sound coming through his amps. After two songs, Tony had enough and went behind the stage and unplugged the sign.
Now, guitars with humbucking pickups (Les Pauls, SG's, etc.) eliminate most of the hum. The secret is that humbucking pickups are essentially two single-coil pickups put side by side, but they're wound opposite of each other. That cancels out a lot of the hum.
Back on track... Even to this day Edge refuses to use a noise gate, which is amazing since he uses so many outboard effects in his chain. Easily the most of any guitarist I've ever seen. The U2 crew even gave it a nickname: The Edge Orchestra. Edge generally uses the same guitars and effects on stage as he does on the studio recordings. Oddly, even though he's the guitarist, Bono's actually the guitar collector.
As for the slide bit, a lot of the noise comes from two things: 1. Edge really doesn't mute properly; and 2. His guitars aren't set up for slide. The "action" or string height is set too low and you can hear the slide hitting the frets.
Well said dude.
sharethis is a really late reply...
and i haven't seen the film in a little while....
but there is also a chance that Edge is using his Ebow (sp?) during that part as well.
It's a little gizmo that vibrates metal strings using a magnetic field.
I've been told that he even had a guitar setup with ebows built in under each string.
Many of those early U2 songs had The Edge sustaining those long "feedback sounds" using the ebow.
And lots of "old school" guitar guys would have lots of silly arguments about how he controls and sustains what essentially wasn't "feedback" at all.
blah blah blah...
that's such a great concert moment.
Edge has used an Ebow before, but not on this particular song. "Bullet" is half normal/half slide.
By the way, the long sustain on the Joshua Tree version of "With or Without You" is not actually from an Ebow either, but it sounds like it. What he's actually using is an Infinite guitar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Guitar
However, in recent years, he's taken to using an Ebow for the song.
Fernandes has their own version called the Sustainer, which is built into the pickup. Edge uses one of these on "Discotheque," and the guitar is reportedly Bono's.
re: Bullet the Blue Sky.
I've just got four words for you: "Stranglehold" by Ted Nugent.
Very cool response.
Thank you.
I was completely ignorant to the "infinite guitar" thing.