Kill switch
A button on the guitar that momentarily breaks the signal to the amplifier, producing a stuttering, percussive effect when tapped in rhythm.
Because it interrupts the output rather than changing the pitch, the effect is rhythmic and based entirely on timing, and it can be made with a dedicated button, a volume knob turned rapidly, or a pickup selector thrown back and forth. The electronic version is simply the hot signal routed through a momentary switch to ground, and it can be fitted to almost any guitar with a spare hole. Its character depends on how fast the player's hand can move.
Example: tapping a kill switch in sixteenths over a sustained chord produces the machine-gun stutter heard in a lot of modern technical playing.
See also
Related
- PageVolume pot
- PageActive pickup
- PageAlnico
- PageBlade pickup
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley
- PageAd-Rock
- ReferenceCircle of fifths