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Comment by unwind | Hacker News Reader

Uh, I'm not anything with regards to music (and sometimes, I guess, I'm a cranky dad) but isn't it kind of obvious that you're not going to be using your hands to manipulate something, if you're playing guitar at the same time? Also, the product is called a _pedal_, isn't that kind of a clue-stick?

Not to talk down you dad, obviously, but it seems like such a strange thing to not "get". :( I guess I'm sorry for your sake, that you didn't get to enjoy the gift fully.

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it is an interesting phenomenon that people can have such strong opinions about things they have no interest in actually learning about.

reminds me of when I was planning my first gaming PC build as a teenager. my dad kept going on about how "it's great that you're planning something that can run all these games, but have you made sure it will be able to run ms word for school?" I tried to explain many times that 3D games require (by a large margin) a superset of the resources needed to run word, but all he heard was that I didn't care much about school.

They're even called foot pedals, so the hint is in there twice.

I have definitely broken a couple by stepping on them a bit aggressively in my youth, but that's all part of the rock and roll process.

Yes, for example the FAB line is probably the anti-stomp box. They're mostly plastic, so you would definitely break them after a few good gigs.

Some wah pedals are notorious for breaking down from even "standard" use. Especially the kind that have a plastic "zip tie" mechanism.

> They're even called foot pedals

Which is actually weird and redundant, since foot operation is literally the definition of "pedal." Foot operation is the defining and only characteristic of a pedal. It's even plainly obvious in the etymology of the word.

See also: “advance warning” “past experience”

Some of the foot pedals have LCD display.

Some foot pedals are digital, some are analog, and some are hybrids. Likewise some LCD displays are run by analog circuits. Simple LCD screens are nearly always analog. Advanced LCD screens are nearly always digital. But even then, there is a lot of overlap.

So there is a whole lot of overlapping variation on this subject alone.

It was a joke. OP complained about the name "foot pedals", so I used "LCD display" which is also redundant. I'm sorry and I'll avoid the urge next time.

I mean at least your example is something that isn't plainly obvious from the widely-known definitions of words. The pedal example is literally someone being upset about using a pedal as a pedal.

Not judging the original commenters Dad, but I had parents like this, and quite honestly there is only one word to describe it and it's ignorance, close-mindedness, or whatever you want to call it. My therapist is quite happy that such a things existed, in my case. LOL.

    if you're playing guitar at the same time?

Pretty common for folks on stage to reach down and futz with them manually between the songs, or even during the songs. That happens all the time. How else are you going to adjust the knobs on the dials?

You know that songs aren't 100% uninterrupted consecutive guitar notes right? lol

So, parent poster's dad's mistake is a little more understandable than you're giving him credit for.

In fact, if you're not watching the guitarists closely, you might not even notice them stomping on the pedals. You might only notice them bending over to fiddle with the pedals manually.

It's not common to adjust dials, especially during songs. Between songs is less rare but still uncommon. A significant number of bands do have a rhythm guitar that's going almost non-stop.

I take a picture of every pedal board I see at every concert I go to, so I'm actively looking for this stuff. Some people even tape the dials so they aren't bumped during shows.

I wonder how his dad thinks a wah wah pedal is supposed to be used? :-)

With one's forehead! ...have I been doing it wrong? Whatever, happy to have sacrificed those brain cells to rock and roll.

On the box it usually doesn't call it a pedal, just something like Boss DS-1 distortion.

Don't worry I stomped on it while jamming with a band. But at home it was on the desk :p

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