Guitar Doubling Tip

thegummy

Just passing on a tip I heard from Tim Pierce who heard it from Joe Satriani:

If you've done a guitar part on a Gibson style guitar, do the double on a Fender style (or vice versa) - the theory being that even if the parts are perfect and the guitars are exactly in tune, the difference in the scale lengths will alter the sound to give a chorusing effect.

Bill_S

I think that should read Fender - great tip, thank you! 

Danny1969

Yep good advice, the scale length does make a difference. 

Generally if you have more than one guitar use them for different parts too. Same with amps. It will generally sound more interesting 

thegummy

Bill_S said:

I think that should read Fender - great tip, thank you! 

Thanks, corrected it

roberty

Oh dear does this mean I have to buy a fender scale guitar

bloodandtears

even doing one take on the bridge pickup and the other on the neck is a good start

goldtop

You can do a similar thing with chords/arpeggios with a single guitar:

1. play and record your chords/arp as normal
2. add a capo to (say) 5th fret
3. play and record another track with the same chords/arp
4. instant girth, more subtle phase/tuning variation

Different shapes you have to play helps and you are also changing the (relative) pickup position.

roberty

goldtop said:

You can do a similar thing with chords/arpeggios with a single guitar:

1. play and record your chords/arp as normal
2. add a capo to (say) 5th fret
3. play and record another track with the same chords/arp
4. instant girth, more subtle phase/tuning variation

Different shapes you have to play helps and you are also changing the (relative) pickup position.

I recently got a baritone for this reason

Roland

How would you do this live, ie with just one guitar signal to play with?

thegummy

Roland said:

How would you do this live, ie with just one guitar signal to play with?

It's not applicable for live.

goldtop

Roland said:

How would you do this live, ie with just one guitar signal to play with?

Not easy. Maybe if you had one of those hex-pickups (or piezo) you could create two feeds from (say) alternate strings and pan L+R into the PA? Maybe add a super subtle delay on one side?

But, even then,unless you have a Floyd-quality PA, I think it'd get lost in the mix.

Fez

Live is different but two amps and/or a doubler pedal. 

PolarityMan

Roland said:

How would you do this live, ie with just one guitar signal to play with?

turn up the volume

pintspiller

I quite like P90 on one side, humbucker on the other. I tried humbucker on one side with coil split humbucker on the other, but didn't like it as much as the former.

My SG and Gordon Smith are obviously (I assume) the scale length.

Nerine

I don’t buy into the scale length theory. 

But yes. Different guitars, pickups, tones for sure. 

I’ve double tracked guitars using the same sound and I’ve managed to almost collapse it to mono because the takes are too similar. 

It’s the differences that create width for the most part. 

Cirrus

Nerine is a name I did not know I was missing.

But I missed in nonetheless.

LastMantra

I'd say the different pickups would make more difference than the different lengths. 

Nerine

Cirrus said:

Nerine is a name I did not know I was missing.

But I missed in nonetheless.

I’m confused? How so? 

Cirrus

Nerine said:

Cirrus said:

Nerine is a name I did not know I was missing.

But I missed in nonetheless.

I’m confused? How so? 

Just haven't seen you for a bit, and I enjoy your contributions

poopot

Roland said:

How would you do this live, ie with just one guitar signal to play with?

Two amps and pitch shift the signal 100% to one of them... not by a lot... no more than +or- 7cents  and stick the second amp the other side of the stage to where your first amp is!...


edit... try it i your DAW... duplicate a track and apply the ps. Pan one left a bit and the other right a bit... instant biglyness!... delay the shifted track by 10ms and its bigerated even more!...

LastMantra

Chorus pedal?