Alright, I freely admit to being a gear junky when it comes to live music or studio recording. I've been really good lately about resisting those impulse purchases as I wander the music store, but I have to tell you about my latest acquisition....

Newly placed in my musical arsenal is a brand-new-on-the-market TC-Helicon VoiceTone Harmony-G pedal. OK, I can hear you now - another guitar pedal? This is the big deal? Well, yes, this is a  big deal for all you singing guitar players out there, because this pedal is backup singers in a box, generating up to two harmony voices behind your lead singing based on your vocal input and the chord structure coming from your guitar as you play - in real time, with zero latency!

At the real risk of sounding like an advertisement for TC-Helicon, I'm going to gush over this unit for a moment, so all you anti-consumerism types can just block your ears or crochet a plant hanger for a few minutes whle I carry on. Those of you still reading are probably, like me, singing guitarist (or guitar-playing vocalists depending on the mood), and , if you're like me, play a lot of solo shows and/or can't find good, reliable backing singers for the band. Here's where the Harmony-G comes in, and it couldn't be easier to integrate into your setup. I received my little black box on Thursday afternoon, tinkered around with it for a bit, then used it live Friday night without a hitch. Easy!

But how does it sound? It sounds like, well, like you singing 3 vocal parts at the same time. Whether this is a good thing or not depends rather heavily on how good a singer and guitar player you are. The pedal is somewhat forgiving of slight pitch and/or chord deviations/finger slips, but if you sing or play out of tune, the harmonies generated by the unit will reflect that, and believe me, that ain't pretty! I look on this particular pitfall as a teaching tool - if the sound is bad, it's YOUR fault, so fix it! Tune the guitar or stop wandering off pitch in the vocals.

The other question I hear coming is "How did the crowd take it?" Short answer is that they were blown away. I've been playing solo shows or shows in which I am the only singer for a long time. Last night, thanks to the Harmony-G pedal, my live performance more accurately reflected the sound of my studio recordings - brilliant! It was also amusing to watch the faces in the crowd as folks puzzled out where the other singers were hiding! Not bad for a relatively small $300CAD, delivered! I would definitely recommend this unit for everyone who sings and plays guitar at the same time!

Ok, I'm done now. All you crocheters can tune back in now, How's the plant hanger coming?