The amazing E-bow!

[esskay]

E-bow! Guitar players who only have the time or the patience to learn one instrument. It's a small synthesizer that you hold with your picking hand. You can recreate string instruments with ease, or unique sounds that would have never made themselves available otherwise. It can add depth to your live performances. Check it out. I'd like to hear other's opinion on it. Or experiences using it.

[brandondrury]

It's a small synthesizer that you hold with your picking hand.

That's not technically accurate. A synthesizer creates sound out of thin air. The ebow just shakes a guitar string to give you inifinite sustain. The result tone is synth-like so I guess in that sense you are right.

You can hear the Ebow on U2's "With Or Without You" in the keyboard sounding swells.

Brandon

[rexde]

It was also used heavily by "Big Country" (mid-1980's). The sound that most people think is bagpipe is actually E-bow. I've had one since then. Played around with it a bit. meh. Seems very tempermental. Also, because of the way it works, it is very sensitive to string guage, placement relative to bridge/pickups/fretted note, different sounds on different strings, tides, etc.