“DON’T GET MARRIED to your effects.” “Effects are no substitute for playing well.” Over the years, guitarists have made these and similar comments in music magazines (even in the pages of Guitar Player). For his part, Reeves Gabrels is having none of it.
“Effects sometimes get a bad rap, and I don’t know why,” he says. “Effects can be marvelous tools to express yourself, but you have to use them creatively. I think the problem comes when guitarists don’t apply them with a sense of imagination. Copy-catism is the real issue, and who wants to be a copycat?”
Thus far, nobody has had the nerve to suggest to his face that he relies too much on effects, but if such a scenario occurred, Gabrels imagines he would handle the situation in one of two
