What your first Pedal board build should have

Building a pedal board is a task that's never finished. And it's daunting. So many different options, so many people saying different things, ... Hopefully this article can help you a little. Here are a few that you probably should get eventually.

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Tuner pedal

The tuner pedal is easily the best pedal to get first. Also because it's the first one that goes in the logic flow when you string multiple pedals together (usually).

First off, it's dead easy to use. You step on it, pluck a string, and boom - you're in tune. No fiddling with apps, little headstock tuners or guessing if you're hitting the right note.

Second, they come quite cheap. Personally I use the Behringer TU300. Sure, it's not made of metal and it's a budget brand. But it's simply works, all the time, every time. It's been on my board for 3 years, it's got dust and grime and it has never failed once. But feel free to do your own research.

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Looper Pedal

Looper pedals are just amazing. They can be a bit hard to get used to, but friends of mine all agree: The looper pedal has made the biggest difference to improving their playing out of all their gear.

You basically can record and then autoplay sections you play. So if you start by plucking a baseline on your lower E string, then strumming 4 chords in a simple progression and layer them on top of each other, you can let that play on automatically.

Now, you can freestyle on top of that to your hearts content. It makes it so you can experiment way easier. Learn new combinations of chords and notes, learn to solo, ... the sky is truly the limit.

I invested in the Boss RC-3 a few years ago. Not the cheapest, but the options it has made it worth it to me. It has recently been replaced by the Boss RC-5 that comes with a fancy LED screen now. Cheaper options also definitely available.

Look up a few YouTube tutorials on how to use them as soon as you've nailed down 2 or 3 you're eying though.

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Distortion Pedal

Alright, let's dive into the world of distortion pedals – your ticket to the big, bold realm of rock n' roll right in your bedroom. You know those classic rock songs with the killer guitar tones that make you want to air guitar in front of the mirror? That’s distortion at work.

But wait, here's the kicker – in your bedroom, you can't crank your amp to eleven without the neighbors knocking or your cat giving you the evil eye. A distortion pedal gives you that amp-on-the-edge sound at levels that won’t get you evicted. You get all the attitude and none of the trouble.

And it's not just about volume. It's about character, the soul of your guitar's voice. With a distortion pedal, you get to sculpt that voice. Want it gritty like a gravel road? Or maybe a smooth, singing lead tone? You got it. It's like being a chef, but instead of spices, you're mixing up sounds to get that perfect sonic stew going.

There is this mythic pedal, now worth thousands, called the Klon Centaur. I bought a Chinese clone off of AliExpress and it's actually been a great experience. It sounds sick. There are still listings out there but I don't want to be associated with any potentially bad experiences out there so tread carefully.

Other great options I considered were the Behringer UM300 (I mean, it's pink so that makes it awesome automatically) and the Boss BD-2, a classic.

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Some non-essential-but-fun pedals

A volume pedal

Think of a volume pedal as the breath of your guitar – with a press of your foot, you can take your sound from a whisper to a scream. It's perfect for those moments when you want to sneak into a solo or back off for a gentle, quiet part. It's like having a third hand to control the dynamics of your playing while your actual hands are busy working the strings.

Dunlop probably has the most famous ones, but they're probably all pretty much the same.

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A drop pedal

I listen to different styles of music, so I want to play different styles. Going from standard tuning to drop D is easy enough, but for some of that real heavy stuff, you need to re-tune your whole guitar a few steps lower. Or, you can use a drop pedal.

A drop pedal is like a teleportation device for your guitar. With one tap of the foot, your standard-tuned guitar can drop to a heavy, chugging low end that metalheads dream of or match that alternative band's unique tuning you've been trying to nail.

I can personally vouch for 'The Drop' by Digitech.

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The Wah Wah Wah pedal

Every went "Wah Wah!" during a solo to sort of mimick the sound? Well you've been mimicking the Wah pedal. A Wah pedal adds a throaty, expressive tone to your guitar's voice, making it almost vocal. Perfect for solos.

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Honorable mentions

• Delay: Echo...echo...echo... A repeat of your sound that trails off with precision
• Chorus: A swirl of harmonies that makes one guitar sound like many.
• Reverb: The illusion of space around your notes, from the small "buh-boom" of a bathroom to the grand "ahhhhhh" resonance of a cathedral.
• Flanger: A whooshing "fwew-fwew-fwew" as if a spaceship is zooming by, or the sound of the sea captured in a swirling "woosh," oscillating around your original signal.
• Fuzz: The gritty "zzzzz" of a bee in a jar, a thick, saturated growl that can make a riff sound "fuzzy" and aggressive, yet warmly nostalgic.
• Whammy: The "wheee-oooo" dive bomb of notes bending.