Can anyone figure out what’s being played at the very beginning of the song Once Around The Block by Badly Drawn Boy. The only thing I was able to find makes mention of “a funky shimmering wah-wah effect-laden guitar lick,” but that doesn’t sound right.
It sounds to me like an accustic guitar played through an effects rack. I hear distortion and wah for sure but there might be other stuff on there too. Anyway, it’s definitely some kind of accustic guitar, possibly a dobro.
Yep, sounds like a very mildly distorted acoustic to me, run through a pedal - my ex used to have something he called an “autowah” (always thought he was saying Ottawa!). Sounds very, very like that, to my ears. I could be way off, though. It’s been many years.
I think there’s some auto doubling or real time pitch shifting happening in there too. I wouldn’t be so sure it’s a guitar. Something about the timing of the notes - feels more like there’s a left hand / right hand keyboard thing going on rather than a guitar.
OK - just listened again… it’s a guitar. Sticking with my real time pitch shifting story though…