Pack of 3 Herdim picks. Use The Edge with a Delay pedal

Herdim Blue Heavy Guitar Pick

Pack of 3 picks.

The Edge’s guitar picks (and holding them correctly) are the key component of his chime-y guitar sound. Edge’s guitar picks (Herdims) have a dimpled half and a flat half. The dimpled half is supposed to be where you hold the pick (it gives it a better grip). Apparently Edge holds the pick either backwards or sideways so that the dimpled part of the pick grates the strings to sharpen the sound and give it a slightly grating punch - what some people call a ‘chime’ sound. Add a modulated delay and you're ready to go!

Brand new picks.

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Delays (150ms-550ms, almost always set in tempo with the song)

Delays make up a big part of Edge’s sound. He uses modulated delays which add a vibrato/chorus effect to the delay repeats. In most songs, he uses 2 long delays in parallel set to different tempos and sends them to different amps, as in the diagram above.

His Korg SDD-3000s are mostly used for the long delays. Though the SDD-3000 is a digital delay (it allows you to exactly dial in the delay length which is crucial), the modulation section of it adds a nice warmth. He splits usually his signal at the end of his other effects chains and runs it into 2 SDD-3000s. Those feed directly into his amps (usually Vox AC30s).

Edge uses the open strings a lot as ‘drone’ notes, often the low A and D strings. This technique is often used in traditional Irish music. Incidentally, it is probably why many of the songs are in the key of D and many of the riffs are around a D chord - the D and A strings work best in that key. ‘Bad’ is an obvious example.

Palm muting is also a needed technique if you use a lot of delay. I think he uses a very slight palm mute in the main riff of ‘Streets’ and obviously in ‘Bad’. To keep the notes sharp and not droning into each other as the delays echo, you don’t want a lot of sustain. Try resting your palm just behind the bridge so that part of your palm slightly touches the strings. You get a more staccato feel and almost a harmonic quality to the notes too. This technique was used by many of the punk bands which were early influences on Edge, although they would use it with distortion instead of delay.

Left-hand muting (as in the verses in ‘Streets’) work well to add some breathing room if you’re using a lot of delay in a song.

Compression? Actually, you don’t need to use it. In most cases, if you’re using a lot of delay, you probably want rhythmic, staccato-y notes -- the very opposite of what compression gives you (compressors give you more sustained, legato-y notes). Edge uses a strong compressor (the MXR Dyna Comp pedal, with high output and low senstivity) whenever he uses a slide (‘Gloria’ solo, ‘Bullet’). There’s some compression added to the overall guitar track during mixing - doing this on the mixing board is probably the best place to do it since you have better control over how much to use.

I hope this helps you to get the sounds you're still looking for!

Edge used a 225ms delay (1-2 repeats, slightly audible) for all songs on the ‘Boy’ tour. During this time, he used an EH Memory Man Deluxe, which has a range of 5ms-550ms. The Memory Man units vary by model and year, but for what it’s worth, here is a rough outline of its settings: 225ms (used most of the time) is at the 3rd ‘mark’ out of 8 total on the delay knob, clockwise from the bottom (40% of the knob’s full turn). 140ms (used for the album version of An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart) is at the 2nd mark (25%). 280ms (used for the album version of The Electric Co.) is at the 4th mark (50%). 360ms (used for Stranger in a Strange Land) is at the 5th mark (65%). Songs that use 3/16 delay *:   What type of songs work well with this setting? 3/16th delay adds depth and rhythm to a guitar part, especially when you play in even time: straight 1/8th or 1/16th notes. Looking at the key riffs for the songs in this group, they are almost all played in even time (from ‘Electric Co’ to ‘Walk On’). Arpeggios are effective. String bends don’t usually work well. If you use the delay heavily (as in ‘Bad’ or ‘Streets’), keep your playing very simple: for example, ‘Bad’ is 2 sets of 3 notes repeated over and over. ‘Streets’ is a 4-note arpeggio. Use left-hand string mutes to add breathing room. You’ll almost never use more than 1-2 repeats and it is usually present throughout the song. This delay setting has a strong influence on the character and sound of a song! Electric Co (275ms)   Stranger in a Strange Land main riff (360ms)   Surrender slide solo (400 ms) A Sort of Homecoming (375ms) Pride (418ms - panned right)   Wire (317ms)   Bad (467ms) See the '2 delay' section below   Streets (350ms) See the '2 delay' section below   Still Haven’t Found (450ms) See the '2 delay' section below   With or Without You (410ms)   In God’s Country intro and solo (360ms) One Tree Hill (360ms) Spanish Eyes (310ms) Heartland (420ms) Silver and Gold (360ms) Even Better TTRT (345ms - louder during slide solo) One solo/outro (500ms) Until the End of the World (420ms, softly) The Fly intro/solo (415ms) Mysterious Ways (450ms, very softly) Ultraviolet (Light My Way) (400ms, panned right) Discotheque - main riff and bridge (372ms)   Please outro 4:01-end (440ms, 6-7 repeats) (there's 2 guitars, only one has delay) Walk On (420ms) See the '2 delay' section below   Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own (475ms) City of Blinding Lights rhythm guitar (320ms) Songs that use 4/16 (1/4) delay:   What type of songs work well with this setting? 4/16th delay works well with simple, sparse riffs, such as the 1 chord going into the ‘New Year’s Day’ chorus, or a couple of notes played slowly, as in the ‘Miracle Drug’ intro. Typically used sparingly in certain sections of a song. Works well with 2 or more repeats. A Day Without Me intro/outro (380ms - 155 bpm) Stranger in a Strange Land fills (480ms - panned left - 125 bpm) New Year’s Day chorus (450ms - 4-5 repeats) Promenade (580ms - panned right / song is in 6/8 @ 97 bpm) Acrobat (450ms) Do You Feel Loved? (520ms) Gone Whammy-outro 3:52-end (660ms) Beautiful Day guitar (440ms) (intro is on piano; see below) Miracle Drug intro (480ms)   Songs that use 2/16 (1/8) delay:   + Tap 1/8th notes What type of songs work well with this setting? 1/8th delay adds a slight urgency to a guitar track. It works well with multiple repeats. While audible as a delay, it fades into the background and does not affect the character of a song - this is a ‘boring’ delay. Edge uses it rarely, probably when a song is already becoming too busy and a delay with more character (like the 3/16th) would clutter it up too much. ‘I Will Follow’ is a good example. When he does use it, it's often only during a guitar solo, background fills, or a bridge. I Will Follow (200ms)   This is louder during the harmonic bridge, but you can also hear that   he’s using this delay during the verse at 41.5s. Gloria solo (205ms) ‘40’ background fills (385ms - 4-5 repeats) Bullet the Blue Sky - slides parts + solo - live version (400ms - softly, panned right) Trip Through Your Wires solo (410ms) Exit - main delay (250ms, panned right)   '- See the ‘chain together 2 delays’ section below All I Want Is You acoustic/rhythm guitar (325ms) Unchained Melody (440ms, panned left; capo 4, key: G) Zoo Station outro solo (G---11--9-7-) (230ms, 6-8 repeats) Beautiful Day piano (220ms) Original of the Species piano and guitar (340ms - panned right) Additional delay times and settings: Songs that use a 1/3 of a ‘quarter note triplet’ = 1/6 * delay: What type of songs work well with this setting? Edge uses this delay rarely and usually very soft in the mix and panned to the right. It has an unsettling and distressing feel - the ‘delay’ equivalent of a Major 7th chord. I doubt if Edge uses this setting purposely, he probably dials it in for these couple of songs based on feel. This delay feels somewhat ‘off’ and that’s probably what he was looking for. After all, for most of ‘Bullet’, Adam’s playing an ‘E’ in the bass while Edge plays a ‘G’ chord - discordant indeed. For the ‘All I Want Is You’ solo, he also plays a discordant and out-of-key note (a high ‘C’ over a D chord/key of D). This delay setting is between an 1/8th and 3/16th delays (slightly closer to 3/16). Bullet the Blue Sky - slide parts + solo - album version (533ms - softly, panned right)   Bullet the Blue Sky is at 75bpm. He used about 400ms during the Joshua Tree tour   (Rattle and Hum version) and at the Slane Castle show (including the wah-wah solo section,   where he turned it up), which is a 1/8th delay. Usually 2-3 repeats, mixed softly.   The delay on the album is very soft. You can hear it best in the slight feedback   note at 34.25 seconds if you slow the track down 2x or 4x.)   He turns the delay off during the slide-free rhythmic verse/chorus sections. All I Want Is You solo (425ms) (*) There are 2 ‘quarter note triplets’ per bar, both with 3 notes each. So this is delay time is equivalent to 1/6 of the length of a bar.  See the What Is.. section below for information on calculating this delay time in your own songs. Songs that use 1/16 delay: An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart (140ms - panned right) (See note on left side) J. Swallow lead guitar (150ms - panned left) Still Haven’t Found (150ms) See the ‘2 delay’ section   Songs that use 5/16 delay: God Part II- live, during solo (690ms @ 110bpm) Songs that use a 3/32 delay: Crumbs From Your Table (260ms @ 86 bpm) Since ‘Crumbs’ is so slow, Edge chose to use a delay that is twice as fast as his usual 3/16 delay - it has a similar effect. If you use the Line 6 pedal (see below), set it to the above setting and tap 1/8th notes instead of 1/4 notes - in other words, tap twice as fast as usual to set the tempo. Songs that use a 3/8 delay: The Unforgettable Fire (666ms @ 135 bpm) Same as above (for 3/32), but twice as slow as the 3/16. There is very little guitar in the song, and this delay mostly affects occassional fills. Songs that use 2 separate delays (signal split to 2 amps):  Bad:     '- 3/16 (467ms)  and  3/32 (221ms)  Indian Summer Sky:     '- 2/16 (215ms - panned right)  and  3/16 (320ms - panned left)  Streets:     '- 3/16 (350ms - panned right)  and  9/32 (525ms - panned left)  I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For:     '- 1/16 (150ms - panned right)  and  3/16 (450ms - panned left)  Walk On:     '- 2/16 (290ms - panned right)  and  3/16 (420ms - panned right)  Walk On - Live from Slane Castle:     '- 3/16 (420ms)  and  1/4 (560ms) (~107 bpm)     The live version has the same 3/16 delay, but the 1/4 delay is louder, interestingly.. Songs that chain together 2 delays: Exit: 1/8 (250ms) with 3-4 repeats panned right is the main delay on all guitars.     However, on the guitar track that you hear during the fade out (and on that     track throughout the song, the track has this delay first and the track is then fed     into another delay at 3/4 (1650 ms = 1.65 secs!) with 1-2 repeats. Both delays are     soft, both are panned right. The 1.65 sec delay was probably added during mixing     to the entire guitar track. (Similar to the ‘End of the World’ solo (see below). Zooropa: 1/8 (320ms) with 6-7 later repeats at 1/16 (160ms) Earlier songs with a generic 225ms ‘slapback’ echo: 11 O’Clock Tick Tock Out of Control Rejoice With a Shout Songs with ‘random’ delay times: The Ocean (10ms, 4-5 repeats, softly) Fire (260ms, 1-2 repeats, ~146 bpm = 5/32) 4th of July (440ms, 6-7 repeats, ~115 bpm) Until the End of the World solo (500ms, 1 repeat, 102 bpm)

* What is a ‘3/16’ delay (or 1/16) -- and how can I use it in my own songs? Edge almost always has his delay times in tempo with the song. His favorite setting is ‘3/16’, which is where the delay length is equal to 3 1/16th notes. This setting works very well if you’re playing straight 1/8th notes, which Edge does often (such as ‘Streets’) since the 3/16th delay will fall in between the notes you play. It also adds depth to straight 1/16th note riffs (such as ‘Pride’). If the song is 100 beats per minute (bpm), that means that there are 100 quarter (1/4) notes per minute. For example, at 100 bpm: Each 1/4 note lasts exactly 600 milliseconds (600ms = 60 seconds / 100 bpm). Each 1/16th note would last 150ms (150ms = 600ms / 4). And a 3/16th note would last 450 ms (450ms = 150ms * 3). Here’s the simple ‘shortcut’ formulas for calculating the delay time when you know the tempo of the song: 1/16 = 15,000 / # of bpm. 3/16 = 45,000 / # of bpm <--- Edge’s favorite setting!   (Testing with the example above: 45,000 / 100 bpm = 450ms which matches the above calculation). 1/4 = 60,000 / # of bpm. (Edge rarely uses this) These settings have only been used on one or two songs each: 1/3 of a quarter note triplet (= 1/6) = 40,000 / # of bpm (‘Bullet’, ‘All I Want Is You’ solo) <- this delay time sounds ‘tense’ and unsettling. 3/32 (‘Crumbs from your table’) = 22,500 / bpm (or half of 3/16).

You'd be surprised the difference it makes to your guitar tone using the right pick!