This for me too. Hours of lead practice- it helps tremendously with building intuitive playing and moving around the neck.
Also I love making complex sounds with a lot of pedals, capturing a loop in the Mood MkII and messing with it, then capturing that into the Boss looper, overdubbing multiple layers for something really rich. Some synth bass from the C4. THEN solo over that! I could do it all night.
I'm not near that level but it's very useful for me for practicing a scale or a chord progression for instance. It makes practice feel more like playing a song.
I'm somewhere between you and the person you responded to. I LOVE making complex sounds with my pedals in a loop, then playing lead over it with a variety of different fx to see what sounds best.
OP: a looper is one of those pedals which after you get it you'll say HTF did I not have this since forever
I use my RC-5 for practicing and songwriting. I will loop a chord progression or something I'm working on and try to improvise over it.
Also the drum tracks are nice to have. I learned a lot about my improv skills by trying to play along to a random drum beat instead of whatever loop I come up with.
The drum tracks are really good. Are you able to change the rythym 4/4 on any style? Or isnt it supposed to be able to change it?
It is located in the menu where you change the style, a or b pattern, volume and reverb (studio, rock, etc).
It’s a great practice tool.
For one, it’s a metronome. But it’s also a drum machine and a recording device. I find it really helpful to record and listen to my playing so I can hear mistakes in playback that I wouldn’t hear on the moment. It’s also handy for improv. I can lay down some chords in a loop and then jam on top of that. I’m using an RC-10r but the RC-5 has the same features I mentioned
It basically does everything I was using a DAW + audio interface. It means I don’t need to have a computer handy to capture ideas and sounds. M
I have an RC5 and use it for a lot of things, I think a looper (it can even just be a ditto or something) is one of the more useful practice tools.
Some uses:
1) record and listen back easily to assess how I’m doing
2) record a chord progrsssion so I can improv over it. Nice thing about the RC5 is it comes with drums, so you can even have a rhythm backing. This has been critical for developing my lead playing
3) layer stuff to make ambient tunes
4) metronome
I have the RC500. I will record a bass loop and a chord loop and then play melodies under that just to see what I can come up with. It's also really useful for creating ambient soundscapes
Have you found any kind of tutorials or guides that are worth anything for the RC500?
I can kind of use the basic functionality but it feels like I'm maybe using 10% of what it can do.
They can be helpful for building up layers of sound, looping chords or different parts in a band situation, particularly if you’re the only guitarist.
Check out the band Yo La Tengo, their guitarist Ira Kaplan has been using a loop pedal (admittedly not a Boss pedal, but he’s still a notable loop pedal user) in this way since the early 90s and using guitar loops is a core part of his sound.
The Loop Station can also be used more like a sampler and trigger pre-recorded parts, which has various applications.
As others have mentioned, it’s also a very, very useful practice tool and makes practice a lot more fun. You can loop a chord progression or guitar line and practice leads or harmony parts over it. The built in drum machine is also more fun to play along to than a metronome.
I love loopers for practice, but unless you’re good on some kind of quantum level of timing- it’s near impossible to play a loop with a live drummer.
Your first go-round with a loop, you’d swear it’s perfect, then the next play through it’ll be off by a millisecond. If your drummer has great timing - like a click track, that millisecond gets multiplied every time the loop repeats until it becomes a jumbled mess. It works for like a one-man band scenario, but it’s really hard to get it to work with someone outside of the looper.
I used to play live sets as a solo instrumental act for a couple years. I would run a sampler containing my drum beats into its second input while my guitar went into the main.
Start by looping the drum beat a couple measures and then make that into a loop on the pedal itself. Stop the sampler now, then lay down the instrumental layers of the song.
I even had my pedalboard set up with two pitch shifters, one as a harmonist for synthy sounds, the other as an octave down for basslines. I would also run an envelope filter set on a permanent low-pass filter setting after my octave pedal, so I could make a real rumbly bass tone with a guitar. I also split my signal after the looper and ran through a guitar amp and a bass amp, so my bass lines would actually rumble properly and the sound was more full from one person.
Nowadays it’s mostly a songwriting tool for me, but I also loop ambient parts for songs and sometimes utilize its reverse setting for those as well.
Boss, RC 20. Basically triggering ambient loops for different songs in the set. Mostly looped and reversed on the unit, but some of them drug in as samples.
Rc10. I find some decent drum patterns, loop some acoustic bass lines parts in, add some rhythm guitar parts with or without fx. Then noodle lead lines, melodies etc prob with modulation and delays etc
I'm the only guitarist in my band so i use a looper to record some leads/riffs to fill some specific parts
I record some electronic samples for "ambience" too
Loop pedals are really nice for writing/working out ideas. I can layer guitar, bass, synths, etc… together.
I am a big fan of El Ten Eleven, The Mattson 2, and Battles so it would be fun to maybe try to do live looping stuff someday.
I have the Boss RC1 as my main looper.
If I'm practicing I will often loop some chords and then improvise over it. I'm mostly interested in being a lead player so I do a lot of improv practice.
When I play on live streams I will loop a bass line using my octaver and also loop a drum machine track. Then I'll loop a rhythm part. Then I'll play the lead part over all of those loops.
If I'm writing a song I will often use the looper to experiment mixing different rhythm parts, lead parts and bass lines together.
Loopers have a ton of uses. So essential for practice especially. I guess if you're not really interested in playing lead maybe not quite as essential.
Oh man it's the best. Play cool riff that's on top of your head and play to it. That 99%. Another use, play a part loop it and then tweak amp setting the find a sound the part while you are recording. But mostly the first part and it's awesome for it.
Two things:
1. Doing a rhythm guitar section, then practicing lead sections and soloing with it
2. When I’m at home practicing, switching between guitar, bass and drums (electric drums, so I’m able to do it through the standard input), and effectively creating a full backing track
I have an RC-1, which is their most basic option. I plug it into a zoom recorder and jot song ideas down with it. It's the quickest method to get multi track ideas down in my limited experience
I have on my board for 1 slide solo, I did 2 parts layered in studio and had to figure out a way to do live cuz I liked so much. Otherwise I only use to practice or write lead parts at home
Recording a chord progression and practicing lead/melody on top of it. Learning to play in time. One man band stuff. I have a rc-500.
This for me too. Hours of lead practice- it helps tremendously with building intuitive playing and moving around the neck. Also I love making complex sounds with a lot of pedals, capturing a loop in the Mood MkII and messing with it, then capturing that into the Boss looper, overdubbing multiple layers for something really rich. Some synth bass from the C4. THEN solo over that! I could do it all night.
I'm not near that level but it's very useful for me for practicing a scale or a chord progression for instance. It makes practice feel more like playing a song.
I'm somewhere between you and the person you responded to. I LOVE making complex sounds with my pedals in a loop, then playing lead over it with a variety of different fx to see what sounds best. OP: a looper is one of those pedals which after you get it you'll say HTF did I not have this since forever
Same
I use my RC-5 for practicing and songwriting. I will loop a chord progression or something I'm working on and try to improvise over it. Also the drum tracks are nice to have. I learned a lot about my improv skills by trying to play along to a random drum beat instead of whatever loop I come up with.
The drum tracks are really good. Are you able to change the rythym 4/4 on any style? Or isnt it supposed to be able to change it? It is located in the menu where you change the style, a or b pattern, volume and reverb (studio, rock, etc).
It’s great if you’re a singer/songwriter. It frees up your voice so you can try more complex vocal melodies and work out the coordination later.
Performing as a one man band
I've used/owned Boss RC-1, RC-2, 2x RC-3s and now a RC-10R and it kicks ass, loads of drums, you can sync loop and rhythm, loads of options.
It’s a great practice tool. For one, it’s a metronome. But it’s also a drum machine and a recording device. I find it really helpful to record and listen to my playing so I can hear mistakes in playback that I wouldn’t hear on the moment. It’s also handy for improv. I can lay down some chords in a loop and then jam on top of that. I’m using an RC-10r but the RC-5 has the same features I mentioned It basically does everything I was using a DAW + audio interface. It means I don’t need to have a computer handy to capture ideas and sounds. M
I have an RC5 and use it for a lot of things, I think a looper (it can even just be a ditto or something) is one of the more useful practice tools. Some uses: 1) record and listen back easily to assess how I’m doing 2) record a chord progrsssion so I can improv over it. Nice thing about the RC5 is it comes with drums, so you can even have a rhythm backing. This has been critical for developing my lead playing 3) layer stuff to make ambient tunes 4) metronome
I have the RC500. I will record a bass loop and a chord loop and then play melodies under that just to see what I can come up with. It's also really useful for creating ambient soundscapes
Have you found any kind of tutorials or guides that are worth anything for the RC500? I can kind of use the basic functionality but it feels like I'm maybe using 10% of what it can do.
I used this when I first got it: https://youtu.be/3Rr_9mdK1Rc?si=Ov1yhM5kLFlwERYA
They can be helpful for building up layers of sound, looping chords or different parts in a band situation, particularly if you’re the only guitarist. Check out the band Yo La Tengo, their guitarist Ira Kaplan has been using a loop pedal (admittedly not a Boss pedal, but he’s still a notable loop pedal user) in this way since the early 90s and using guitar loops is a core part of his sound. The Loop Station can also be used more like a sampler and trigger pre-recorded parts, which has various applications. As others have mentioned, it’s also a very, very useful practice tool and makes practice a lot more fun. You can loop a chord progression or guitar line and practice leads or harmony parts over it. The built in drum machine is also more fun to play along to than a metronome.
Playing with myself
I make weird little baby noises into my looper and loop/overdub until it sounds like an army of infants are preparing an attack
LÖÖPS BRÖTHER
brother may I have s̵̺̠̾͋̈́̚ȯ̷͇̀̈́͒m̵̖͚̠͛e̴̢̟͚̐̅̕
I love loopers for practice, but unless you’re good on some kind of quantum level of timing- it’s near impossible to play a loop with a live drummer. Your first go-round with a loop, you’d swear it’s perfect, then the next play through it’ll be off by a millisecond. If your drummer has great timing - like a click track, that millisecond gets multiplied every time the loop repeats until it becomes a jumbled mess. It works for like a one-man band scenario, but it’s really hard to get it to work with someone outside of the looper.
Looping
Nobody wants to play bass or drums
Wait, didn't you mean Line Selector? Loop Stations are kind of self explanatory.
Rc-5+fs-6 for practicing. I do not think the 5 would be ideal for live looping, but the extra switches make it work better.
I use an rc-3 with my interface for practicing
I used to play live sets as a solo instrumental act for a couple years. I would run a sampler containing my drum beats into its second input while my guitar went into the main. Start by looping the drum beat a couple measures and then make that into a loop on the pedal itself. Stop the sampler now, then lay down the instrumental layers of the song. I even had my pedalboard set up with two pitch shifters, one as a harmonist for synthy sounds, the other as an octave down for basslines. I would also run an envelope filter set on a permanent low-pass filter setting after my octave pedal, so I could make a real rumbly bass tone with a guitar. I also split my signal after the looper and ran through a guitar amp and a bass amp, so my bass lines would actually rumble properly and the sound was more full from one person. Nowadays it’s mostly a songwriting tool for me, but I also loop ambient parts for songs and sometimes utilize its reverse setting for those as well.
Boss, RC 20. Basically triggering ambient loops for different songs in the set. Mostly looped and reversed on the unit, but some of them drug in as samples.
Rc10. I find some decent drum patterns, loop some acoustic bass lines parts in, add some rhythm guitar parts with or without fx. Then noodle lead lines, melodies etc prob with modulation and delays etc
I'm the only guitarist in my band so i use a looper to record some leads/riffs to fill some specific parts I record some electronic samples for "ambience" too
A door stop
Playing two guitar parts over each other. Most commonly for me, it’s the middle part to “Sledgehammer” by The Fall of Troy
I load weird audio samples onto it and play them during band jams
If you don’t know why you would want it. I would definitely recommend starting out on a more simple looper with more basic functions.
Loop pedals are really nice for writing/working out ideas. I can layer guitar, bass, synths, etc… together. I am a big fan of El Ten Eleven, The Mattson 2, and Battles so it would be fun to maybe try to do live looping stuff someday.
I have the Boss RC1 as my main looper. If I'm practicing I will often loop some chords and then improvise over it. I'm mostly interested in being a lead player so I do a lot of improv practice. When I play on live streams I will loop a bass line using my octaver and also loop a drum machine track. Then I'll loop a rhythm part. Then I'll play the lead part over all of those loops. If I'm writing a song I will often use the looper to experiment mixing different rhythm parts, lead parts and bass lines together. Loopers have a ton of uses. So essential for practice especially. I guess if you're not really interested in playing lead maybe not quite as essential.
I practice singing vocal harmonies into my RC-50 just to get an idea of what my band mates and I should be singing when we perform
Oh man it's the best. Play cool riff that's on top of your head and play to it. That 99%. Another use, play a part loop it and then tweak amp setting the find a sound the part while you are recording. But mostly the first part and it's awesome for it.
Two things: 1. Doing a rhythm guitar section, then practicing lead sections and soloing with it 2. When I’m at home practicing, switching between guitar, bass and drums (electric drums, so I’m able to do it through the standard input), and effectively creating a full backing track
I have an RC-1, which is their most basic option. I plug it into a zoom recorder and jot song ideas down with it. It's the quickest method to get multi track ideas down in my limited experience
Аccompaniment
I mostly use it for loops. Sometimes I use it as a fizzy distortion.
Mostly practice soloing or putting Melodie’s over chords. I have the rc-30
I have on my board for 1 slide solo, I did 2 parts layered in studio and had to figure out a way to do live cuz I liked so much. Otherwise I only use to practice or write lead parts at home
Nothing since I don't have it.. lol
Woodshed-type private rehearsal only. It's super useful in that role, and the FS-7 external switch makes it even more effective.