The king of looping himself, Ed Sheeran, has given Jimmy Fallon a looper pedal masterclass, with the pair teaming up for a unique performance of Shape of You.
Looper pedals have been around for decades, but Sheeran’s success has brought the pedal’s magic to the masses. During his recent appearance on the late night talk show, Sheeran explains to Fallon how his love affair with the tool first began.
“I went to go and see a band that I loved when I was about 14, and the guy opening up for them was a guy called Gary Dunn. He was hitting his guitar and recording it, and it sounded like a drum,” the Lowden signature artist recalls. “I remember watching it being like, 'He doesn't need a band!'
“At the time, I wasn't the coolest kid, and people didn't want to be in a band with me. So I messaged him on MySpace, and he taught me how [to use it].”
The apprentice soon became the master – so much so that he launched a line of looper pedals last year.
Sheeran goes on, “As I've grown from small bars to stadiums, the pedal has grown with us.” So, it’s no surprise to see one of his namesake loop stations on the TV studio floor, ready for Sheeran to become the teacher in a quirky full-circle moment.
“It's all about the timing,” he underscores, offering his top tips for aspiring looper fans. “If you get the timing wrong, it's wrong for the whole thing.”
He then lays down two rhythm tracks, first using dead string hits, and then hitting different parts of his acoustic guitar to replicate drum sounds.
Sheeran gets a huge cheer from the audience as he plays the song's core hook on the keyboard, before turning the mic to Fallon for some vocal layers. It all comes together so effortlessly – even if Fallon does initially fluff his lines...
In related Sheeran news, the guitarist learned that “even global stars must follow the rules” when police cut off his busking session in India earlier this year, while his surprise foray into electric guitars, via the Lowden GL-10, now has a semi-solid sibling.
After the successful launch of his looper line, he later turned to ultra-portable, busker-friendly PA systems for players wanting to follow in his footsteps.
