Filling text / type with Photoshop gradients in numerous ways for all kinds of wonderful visual effects
Select the type tool and create some characters on the current document. Go to the type menu and convert to shape command. Select the rectangle tool or another shape tool and then go to the fill option at the top of the application and select the gradient option and select a preset, the artwork is now filled with a colorful blend. You can change the color of the preset at any point as well as style such as linear or reflected
Create some characters and go the select menu and load selection and use the transparency for the letters. Go to the layer menu and then select new fill layer and the second option and give it a name along with setting the mode (you can leave it as normal but you can always set it to difference or darken etc but this can also be changed later via the panel. You can select a preset from a long list of colorful designs as well as the style and angle and scale as well as the method to be used (perceptual, classic etc). You can also interactively move the effect added to the characters by changing the origin position. You can also drag to the selection from the presets panel. You can also add multiple players to the design and then use blending modes as well to tweak it and they are all still live, so you can change them at any point by going to the layers panel and double clicking the entry and setting a new preset as well as style, length, origin and angle etc.
You can select the characters and then go to the layer menu and layer styles and select the gradient overlay. You can then select the preset to use as well as opacity and blending mode and style and angle and scale. The great thing about this technique is that is live, you can always update the characters to change the words and sentences etc and the design will update accordingly.
You can also click the small plus button next to the gradient overlay and add another overlay and then use that with blending modes and perhaps a different origin / style etc and you can create a more unique artwork with your characters. At any point, you can go to the styles panel and store this gradient design as a new style and then re-apply it at a later time. You can also use the stroke feature and select gradient there and use a variety of styles such as linear and radial for the stroke along with an unique style of shape burst which is great for creating a variety of edges to a stroke.
Never been a fan of the mask type tool but you can use selections. Create some basic characters as a layer and then go to the select menu and load selection and use the channel transparency and you will now have a selection around your design, you still can't use it with a colorful presets. Go to the layer menu and rasterize and select the artwork and then you can go to the gradient tool and apply it to the design. Another approach would be to go to layer menu and flatten image and then use the selection with the gradient tool. You can then add the colorful blends to the current selected layer.
Select the characters and then go to the layer menu and layer mask and reveal all. You will now see a thumbnail for the mask appear next to the entry in the layers panel. Go to the panel and select. Go to the tool and then apply the current preset to the characters but instead of adding color, they will be become more or less transparent depending on the gray scales of the preset applied in the mask. This is live so you can change the preset at any point. You can then combine multiple objects in numerous ways without the need for blending modes etc
Flatten the image via the layer menu and then add a Gaussian blur or perhaps another blur such as box blur to the image and then go to the image menu and adjustments and map adjustment and select a multi-stop preset (not a two stop or one stop one) to create an unusual colorful design. You can vary the preset. You can also re-apply the blurring and map adjustment multiple times to create even more unusual colorful designs (perhaps creation an action for this via the actions panel). You can also fade the result of the map adjustment via the edit menu and combine with blending modes. You can also use multiple layers and then apply different maps to each and use the blending modes in the layers panel.