I fought an ebow for a while, then decided life is too short for me to master it, and switched to Syd Barrett/Steve Hillage/Daevid Allen style glissando guitar which works better. For me at least.

I'd love to be able to get the ebow to work, but the technique just won't happen right for me. Though I remember it was much easier on the guitars I have set up for slide with heavy strings and moderately high action. The open chord tunings also made my slips, bumps against strings I didn't intend to play etc. a bit less horrible than in standard tuning. :-)

tlw
I fought an ebow for a while, then decided life is too short for me to master it, and switched to Syd Barrett/Steve Hillage/Daevid Allen style glissando guitar which works better. For me at least.
...

 
http://pedrosena.com/photos.htm
 
Loved the stuff that both Daevid and Stiv have gotten out of the glissando. Also special is the couple of CD's of more than one person playing the glissando ... sort of like an orchestra ... really special stuff.
 
I'm curious to find out how many of the ECM folks played around with the Ebow ... Egberto Gismonti sure sounds like he plays with it some, but I can not tell for sure. Eberhard Weber and Charlie Haden come to mind, but I think Charlie was a bit more about his touch than anything else, at least this is what is visible in the videos of him with Gismonti and Garbarek.

Higher action. This has got to be a big part of it. Many thanks for the reminder. All my guitars are set up almost too low.
 

jamesg1213
Just to inspire annoy you...
 

Inspired
 
Kenny
 
PS now I want to buy an E Bow...good thing I bought Duke his bag of food first this month

Moshkito
I'm curious to find out how many of the ECM folks played around with the Ebow ...

Given that selling ebows has kept the makers in business for decades there are surprisingly few recorded or live examples of it being used. I think out of the possibly hundreds of guitarists I've seen on stages I've only seen three or maybe four use an ebow.

tlw

Moshkito
I'm curious to find out how many of the ECM folks played around with the Ebow ...

Given that selling ebows has kept the makers in business for decades there are surprisingly few recorded or live examples of it being used. I think out of the possibly hundreds of guitarists I've seen on stages I've only seen three or maybe four use an ebow.

It takes a lot of skill to use an E Bow correctly .Some guitar players may not want to put the work into it getting good with using one .Also , a lot can go wrong while playing live on stage . At least in some of the dumps I've played
 
Kenny

I love my e-bow, and it's on at least 50% of the songs I write & record.
As mentioned above, Delay is a great effect to smooth it out.  I don't usually need high gain, but HB pickups will help.
My only problem is that I can never change strings smoothly.  I don't know how others do it so well.
 
I sometimes use a slide with the E-bow.  It almost makes it sound like a Thermin - there's no attack or decay, and the notes flow, because you're bypassing the frets.
I thought i was innovative, but here's a clip of someone else doing it (it's really only noticeable in video at around 0:10, but it's a solid atmospheric treatment):   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGaz7Ff0WvM
 

tlw
I fought an ebow for a while, then decided life is too short for me to master it, and switched to Syd Barrett/Steve Hillage/Daevid Allen style glissando guitar which works better. For me at least.

I'd love to be able to get the ebow to work, but the technique just won't happen right for me. Though I remember it was much easier on the guitars I have set up for slide with heavy strings and moderately high action. The open chord tunings also made my slips, bumps against strings I didn't intend to play etc. a bit less horrible than in standard tuning. :-)

Huge Hillage fan here.  I also got the chance to see Gong with Daevid Allen in maybe 97-98 at Hammersmith Palais in London.  I think I was the only person there not on LDS.  

Hi. I've wanted an E-bow since I saw it the 1st time, a long time ago.
I've never tried one, but always thought I'd have fun with one.
Perhaps some time in the future.
All the best.

Raised the action on one axe and it helps. Macho practice ahead.
 
Another factor maybe?
I'll never be Phil, but I can't get anywhere near the response of his Yamaha. The skating across strings is more than just technique. I can at least understand that the axe is about as important as the bow. It takes time to hammer a string into response.
My guitar collection, probably 20 or more doesn't have a single hollow body. Forgot how many I have. (sob...can't believe I got rid of my two vintage Rickenbackers and Gibson 335).
 
Anybody have an opinion about hollow bodies being more suited to resonating with an E-Bow?
 
John