Ways to beef up guitar when you're the only guitarist?

Danny1969

I don't think anyone has any problem getting any song beefy with one guitar while the main meat of the song is being played. The problem is when you take a solo and now there's nothing underpinning it. 

Lets take a song like John Mayer's Gravity, it's gonna be fine in the verses and chorus but when it comes to the solo it's gonna go flat unless you have another guitar or keyboard to back it up, using distortion on the bass won't help, it doesn't have a driving bassline, adding more drums won't help, it's too sparse a pattern. In a situation like this where you want to do a faithful rendition of the song you have to add some sample backing yourself or get your drummer or bass player to do it. You know what chords need to be there so it's just a case of recording them into an SDP or similar and then someone triggers them

Doing originals or your own version of songs is a different kettel of fish and you can take all kinds of liberties. Last Sat I watched my favorite local covers band do Vienna with just one guitar bass and drums - their version mind but it sounded great. 

monquixote

An organ emulator pedal can be good to add a bit of something extra. 

I've got a Boss MO-2 in the classifieds. 

slacker

octatonic said:

I'd use actual beef:

STEAK KNIFE!!! oh wrong thread

FarleyUK

Danny1969 said:

I don't think anyone has any problem getting any song beefy with one guitar while the main meat of the song is being played. The problem is when you take a solo and now there's nothing underpinning it. 

Lets take a song like John Mayer's Gravity, it's gonna be fine in the verses and chorus but when it comes to the solo it's gonna go flat unless you have another guitar or keyboard to back it up, using distortion on the bass won't help, it doesn't have a driving bassline, adding more drums won't help, it's too sparse a pattern. In a situation like this where you want to do a faithful rendition of the song you have to add some sample backing yourself or get your drummer or bass player to do it. You know what chords need to be there so it's just a case of recording them into an SDP or similar and then someone triggers them

Doing originals or your own version of songs is a different kettel of fish and you can take all kinds of liberties. Last Sat I watched my favorite local covers band do Vienna with just one guitar bass and drums - their version mind but it sounded great. 

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.... however, that's all new to me - any suggestions on what I'd need to get in order to record the chords and then trigger them?

Travisthedog

DesVegas;1104583" said:

@rocknrolldave & @travisthedog do you have octave pedal before the fuzz or after the fuzz?

I go fuzz octave delay

Get your bass player to use a POG too

Revolutionised our sound that has. When I solo he plays his bass up a bit and kicks in the fuzzy octave down sound - we sound massive when he does that

RocknRollDave

DesVegas said:

@rocknrolldave & @travisthedog do you have octave pedal before the fuzz or after the fuzz?

I have mine after....but in all honesty with what I personally do there isn't much call for fuzzy-octave freakishness. Does sound great though.

That said, my fuzz pedal thickens my sound up enormously on its own. Much fatness.

RocknRollDave

monquixote said:

An organ emulator pedal can be good to add a bit of something extra. 

I've got a Boss MO-2 in the classifieds. 

Modulation in general can beef up the sound - phaser or trem or flange..(I detest chorus, but that is just me)

DesVegas

thanks @trav and @RnRD i have an octave pedal in the cupboard of despair (OC-3) but no room on my board  .. i was thinking of maybe having it off board where the wah is.. anyways, my fuzz sound it pretty darn enormous too so i'll have a play and maybe a juggle if it is worth it .. My zoom 100BT has an octave in there so maybe that'll come to the rescue as it's already on the board post fuzz

Danny1969

FarleyUK said:

Danny1969 said:

I don't think anyone has any problem getting any song beefy with one guitar while the main meat of the song is being played. The problem is when you take a solo and now there's nothing underpinning it. 

Lets take a song like John Mayer's Gravity, it's gonna be fine in the verses and chorus but when it comes to the solo it's gonna go flat unless you have another guitar or keyboard to back it up, using distortion on the bass won't help, it doesn't have a driving bassline, adding more drums won't help, it's too sparse a pattern. In a situation like this where you want to do a faithful rendition of the song you have to add some sample backing yourself or get your drummer or bass player to do it. You know what chords need to be there so it's just a case of recording them into an SDP or similar and then someone triggers them

Doing originals or your own version of songs is a different kettel of fish and you can take all kinds of liberties. Last Sat I watched my favorite local covers band do Vienna with just one guitar bass and drums - their version mind but it sounded great. 

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.... however, that's all new to me - any suggestions on what I'd need to get in order to record the chords and then trigger them?

I use a Roland SPD sample pad which is actually designed for drummers but very easy to use with your foot. I play the chords on a keyboard and then record them into the Roland. Most songs only need 4 or 5 chords and the Roland has 6 easy to hit pads and 3 small ones so it's generally enough

This vid shows the general idea, you wouldn't do this live, it's just a bit of fun and I got myself in a twist at the end but it shows the concept 

FarleyUK

Danny1969 said:

FarleyUK said:

Danny1969 said:

I don't think anyone has any problem getting any song beefy with one guitar while the main meat of the song is being played. The problem is when you take a solo and now there's nothing underpinning it. 

Lets take a song like John Mayer's Gravity, it's gonna be fine in the verses and chorus but when it comes to the solo it's gonna go flat unless you have another guitar or keyboard to back it up, using distortion on the bass won't help, it doesn't have a driving bassline, adding more drums won't help, it's too sparse a pattern. In a situation like this where you want to do a faithful rendition of the song you have to add some sample backing yourself or get your drummer or bass player to do it. You know what chords need to be there so it's just a case of recording them into an SDP or similar and then someone triggers them

Doing originals or your own version of songs is a different kettel of fish and you can take all kinds of liberties. Last Sat I watched my favorite local covers band do Vienna with just one guitar bass and drums - their version mind but it sounded great. 

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.... however, that's all new to me - any suggestions on what I'd need to get in order to record the chords and then trigger them?

I use a Roland SPD sample pad which is actually designed for drummers but very easy to use with your foot. I play the chords on a keyboard and then record them into the Roland. Most songs only need 4 or 5 chords and the Roland has 6 easy to hit pads and 3 small ones so it's generally enough

This vid shows the general idea, you wouldn't do this live, it's just a bit of fun and I got myself in a twist at the end but it shows the concept 

OK, thanks! 

bobblehat

I think most things have been covered.I play in a 3 piece and really enjoy the freedom that brings.When done right sounds much more dynamic and alive. imho an extra guitarist just adds an extra layer of mush.

Couple of things I do:

Use a small amount of delay on most songs

Put a small amount of guitar through the PA  

Think about song selection and modify solos if necessary (some will just die on their arses no matter how well you play them) 

Dont try to fill the void with a big mushy rhythm sound. Unless your rhythm playing is a bit shit!

Try playing a song with open tunings.eg. Hard to handle sounds great in open G and you can hit a few chords during the solo.

And ........enjoy being the centre of attention!

  

FarleyUK

Cheers guys! Will try going through the PA and scoop the mids a bit for solos - have also ordered a JamMan Stereo looper to experiment with, so I can try and get some backing chords going during the solos.

koneguitarist

Play less guitar, but make the parts count more. It's more down to your rhythm section working differently than you as guitarist. 

Work out parts for song and leave gaps so the rhythm section can fill them, less of an issue when you solo, and also solo will have a bigger impact not less. 

Dynamics are key not notes!

ESBlonde

/\ Wizzed/\

ICBM

koneguitarist said:

Play less guitar, but make the parts count more. It's more down to your rhythm section working differently than you as guitarist. 

Work out parts for song and leave gaps so the rhythm section can fill them, less of an issue when you solo, and also solo will have a bigger impact not less. 

Dynamics are key not notes!

That's probably why I came to prefer being the sole guitarist.

I'm not very good at notes, but I can hit the guitar really hard if I want to.

fretmeister

Get your bassist to learn to play like Jack Bruce.

[\thread]

english_bob

Danny1969 said:

Lets take a song like John Mayer's Gravity, it's gonna be fine in the verses and chorus but when it comes to the solo it's gonna go flat unless you have another guitar or keyboard to back it up, using distortion on the bass won't help, it doesn't have a driving bassline, adding more drums won't help, it's too sparse a pattern. In a situation like this where you want to do a faithful rendition of the song you have to add some sample backing yourself or get your drummer or bass player to do it. You know what chords need to be there so it's just a case of recording them into an SDP or similar and then someone triggers them

I was intrigued to know how the man himself had done it when he was doing his trio thing. Like this:

Looks like they just set up some sort of drone that plays the root note (or 5th chord) all the way through with a Hammond-y sound.

english_bob

fretmeister said:

Get your bassist to learn to play like Jack Bruce.

[\thread]

I would have picked Andy Fraser, but if you're doing blooze-rock the principle is the same. 

Jalapeno

english_bob said:

Danny1969 said:

Lets take a song like John Mayer's Gravity, it's gonna be fine in the verses and chorus but when it comes to the solo it's gonna go flat unless you have another guitar or keyboard to back it up, using distortion on the bass won't help, it doesn't have a driving bassline, adding more drums won't help, it's too sparse a pattern. In a situation like this where you want to do a faithful rendition of the song you have to add some sample backing yourself or get your drummer or bass player to do it. You know what chords need to be there so it's just a case of recording them into an SDP or similar and then someone triggers them

I was intrigued to know how the man himself had done it when he was doing his trio thing. Like this:

Looks like they just set up some sort of drone that plays the root note (or 5th chord) all the way through with a Hammond-y sound.

Well that AND Pino Palladino

Danny1969

Yeah what he's doing kinda works for the intro and verse but not the chorus. I have the other chords for the chorus in my SPD and I just step on the right pad to change chords. On a song like Gravity there's plenty of time to do it