That Black Thing on My Guitar
That black thing is a Roland midi pick-up, more specifically it's called a "GK-3" divided midi pick-up. You can switch from between the Guitar, to the MIDI, or you can have a mix of both.
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The unit includes a volume dial along with two buttons that allow you to scroll up and down the controllers sound banks - switching from one midi effect to another.
The GK-3 on the guitar communicates with the brain of the device that sits on the floor. The brain center that I personally have is an older unit and it's model name is the Roland GR-20.
Now, I need to state that I've had this unit for probably 10 years and the GR-20 is the older model of the Roland Guitar Synth line. Nowadays, Roland makes a new model that is a lot more powerful than the GR-20 and it's called the, GR-55.
What this crazy looking thing does is use a special type of pickup, (its called a HEX pickup) to judge each strings frequency much like a tuner does. Basically, this pickup tells us note value. And, this is routed to the controller to be able to relate the data of the note as a digital signal. It is able to communicate frequency, peak amplitude and duration to the controller.
The controller can overwrite any sound that's programmed as a parameter onto that signal from the pick-up. This means I can dial in a sound established in the GR-20 for my guitar. The GR-20 and GK-3 will work together to make the sound come across like the setting. This could be a; synth, a piano, a saxophone even an organ. It's pretty cool.
This also means that I don't have to use my piano as much I used to and I don't need to think like a piano player to add harmonies and layers. I can just call up the instrument effect I'd like, and then continue thinking like a guitarist. Much easier!
So, there ya go... my explanation of - that black thing on my guitar... If you want to learn more about what I do as an online internet guitar Dude, head over to my website at creativeguitarstudio.com and get your FREE lifetime membership... And, when you want more, you can always upgrade to either a Basic, or a Premium lesson package!
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