The GR-20 Guitar Synthesizer is both a very cool and an extremely versatile piece of guitar gear that makes performing high-quality synth and instrument sound off your guitar as simple as could be…
To be absolutely honest – right up front – I absolutely love this thing. When I had purchased this guitar synth (back around 2007) I was busy performing with multiple genre Top 40 Bands (for years).
My purpose for buying the Roland GR-20 guitar synth was because of the fact that there had been far too many instances (in my nightclub playing situations), where my band could not secure a keyboard player for a show – which would leave us having to omit several songs off our set-list.
This Roland Synth pedal-board was a serious game changer! There are so many sounds and variables for instrument options to what can be possible with the GR-20, I just don’t know where to begin with describing them all.
Number one, the GR-20 is built as solid as a rock – which is important for any piece of gear that hits a nightclub stage.
The controls on the floor-board never once disappointed me and the synth has dozens of flexible parameters for adding all types of layered instrument sounds to fit just about any style of music.
While working in the top-40 scene through the 2000’s and beyond, I mainly used this unit to blend my guitar with multiple soundscapes out of the Roland GR-20 menu. My go to sounds included; strings, organs and piano. But, there were many others that I would touch on occasionally as well!
Fast-forward to today, (2022) my top-40 nightclub gigs are well behind me, and my focus has shifted to writing a lot more original music (along with providing backing tracks for commercial clients). I’ve since altered my playing style and my use of this wonderful Roland GR-20 has become less important.
Sadly, these days my trusty ‘ol GR-20 doesn’t see the same level of use that it once did. Instead of the GR-20, I now use my Yamaha MODX keyboard to add interesting synth and instrument effects to my current projects.
At the present time (yr. 2022) my GR-20 is a discontinued model. The latest Roland Guitar Synth is their Roland GR-55. If you’re after a unit like this then check their new model out, it’s a revolution in guitar synthesis even beyond the amazing technology of my GR-20.