Guitar Synth in Church

I just picked up a used Roland GR-20 at GC for a very decent price, and mounted it on my Artcore Archtop. I got a lot of surprised/confused looks from people while playing a straight keyboard sound during worship. I also used the choir 'aahs' patch on a couple songs, and people thought it was us singing....lol.

The worship leader is really excited though, she said there's a lot of songs she always wanted a violin on. I have like a thousand times more versatility now.

Have fun with that!!!

Got pictures? I really don't understand how these work at all.
Does that just plug straight into your amp or do you have to go thru some kind of box or computer first?
Sounds very interesting.

Rodeo Tex
it has as special pickup that you mount right next to the bridge, then it feeds into a special control box that mounts on top of the guitar. From there, you plug the 1/4" output from the guitar in to the control box also.

Then you run a 13-pin wire right into the synthesizer, which is basically just a floor pedal that is a little bigger than my digitech multi-effect RP-200.

Once you're in, you can pick any of almost 500 synth sounds, which is comparable to any decent keyboard style synth. You can also blend with the guitar's natural sounds, or process the guitar sounds seperately. TON's of options!

There are tons of YouTube videos out there, just search on GR-20. I'd post some links but right now I have to get ready for work! Check it out though! :cool:

Check out Danny Kortchmar's work on Don Henley's 80's CD Building the Perfect Beast. Best use of guitar synthesizer in a pop/rock setting eh-vaaar.

I find those really intriguing. However, I have decided against getting one, mostly because I would be messing with all the patches rather than just practicing to be better on the guitar. Seems like a lot of time could be sunk on looking at / listening to patches.

OTOH, I hope you have good luck with yours. They do appear fun.

...I would be messing with all the patches rather than just practicing to be better on the guitar. Seems like a lot of time could be sunk on looking at / listening to patches.

Oh, that is definitely an issue! But, I also play keyboards and when I owned a decent Yamaha synth previously, it was much more of a time waster.

It's better now because I love my guitar and I can selectively choose a patch here and there without falling into the trap of going off on too many tangents. I use it more like an effect (a good one)

Sounds awesome, I've been thinking about getting that sometime, mostly for my bass though, as I can usually only get my bass to sound good for punk or metal (I'd use the upright bass setting).

I used a Roland VG88 modeler and GR33 Synth for several years. It's really cool in a setting were you need fill space and don't have all the players. Like most things "Less is more" is a good guideline. Some of the B3 patches are also really good for layered background when there are multiple guitars on stage.

I have a GR 33 I use with a Roland-ready Strat and I can get some pretty strange looks sometimes. I once had someone come up after I finished playing and asked me where the horns were. I told them they were in my fingers and left them guessing.:lol: