Bands with two guitarists - mixing the two guitars in a live situation

Cols · January 2020

pmbomb said:

Jalapeno said:

pmbomb said:

for practice our drummer uses an electric kit, saves about 30 minutes set up/take down time and keeps volumes at sensible, tinnitus free, levels.

As long as they can't fiddle with the mixer

we wedge him in the corner so he can't get out.

But he undoubtedly has a volume knob on his kit and may know the trick of sound-checking with the control on 50% and then sneakily cranking it it up when the rest of the band isn’t looking.

Musicwolf · January 2020

MattNovak said:

Play different guitars, amps and chords.

We do the 'different chords thing' quite a lot in my band but I'm thinking that we may do better if we tried 'same chord, different inversion'. The other guitarist also tries to make space by playing outside of the timing of the song (very thoughtful). He's even gone as far as to start playing a completely different song to the one that the rest of us are playing in order to achieve maximum searation.

pmbomb · January 2020

Musicwolf said:

MattNovak said:

Play different guitars, amps and chords.

We do the 'different chords thing' quite a lot in my band but I'm thinking that we may do better if we tried 'same chord, different inversion'. The other guitarist also tries to make space by playing outside of the timing of the song (very thoughtful). He's even gone as far as to start playing a completely different song to the one that the rest of us are playing in order to achieve maximum searation.

Smart. @Cols ;and I have also been known to experiment with different keys simultaneously.

Cols · January 2020

pmbomb said:

Musicwolf said:

MattNovak said:

Play different guitars, amps and chords.

We do the 'different chords thing' quite a lot in my band but I'm thinking that we may do better if we tried 'same chord, different inversion'. The other guitarist also tries to make space by playing outside of the timing of the song (very thoughtful). He's even gone as far as to start playing a completely different song to the one that the rest of us are playing in order to achieve maximum searation.

Smart. @Cols ;and I have also been known to experiment with different keys simultaneously.

I prefer to call it “unconventional harmonisation’.

ICBM · January 2020

I’ve always found a capo is a good cheat’s way of doing that. Make sure that it’s on at a different fret from the other guitarist - less is more, ideally it needs to be only one fret above or below their one.

Keefy · January 2020

As a lazy sod, I much prefer being the only electric guitarist in a band. I don’t mind working with an acoustic guitarist though.

WiresDreamDisasters · January 2020

The received wisdom that the guitarists need to be separated is wrong.

Some parts require it. Some parts require them to glue together and create a huge wall.

soma1975 · January 2020

You're thinking of builders

WiresDreamDisasters · January 2020

Oh. Yes. Sorry.

springhead · January 2020

WiresDreamDisasters said:

The received wisdom that the guitarists need to be separated is wrong.

Some parts require it. Some parts require them to glue together and create a huge wall.

When we were learning House Of Loves I Don’t Know Why I Love you our drummer wanted the two of us on guitar to do exactly that. Only he phrased as “on the intro you two need to rub your balls together”. We took it figuratively rather than literally. And he’s right, sounds great.

Fez · January 2020

Cols said:

pmbomb said:

Musicwolf said:

MattNovak said:

Play different guitars, amps and chords.

We do the 'different chords thing' quite a lot in my band but I'm thinking that we may do better if we tried 'same chord, different inversion'. The other guitarist also tries to make space by playing outside of the timing of the song (very thoughtful). He's even gone as far as to start playing a completely different song to the one that the rest of us are playing in order to achieve maximum searation.

Smart. @Cols ;and I have also been known to experiment with different keys simultaneously.

I prefer to call it “unconventional harmonisation’.

I call it Jazz.

Fez · January 2020

@WiresDreamDisasters makes a good point, sometimes it can be very effective to have two guitars lock in and play the same part. However good arrangements should avoid doing that too often.

TheBigDipper · January 2020

Fez said:

@WiresDreamDisasters makes a good point, sometimes it can be very effective to have two guitars lock in and play the same part. However good arrangements should avoid doing that too often.

As is often the case, it's back to the composition. If you want the wall of sound that two guitars playing in unison can bring, then that's what you do. If you want to hear to different, complementary parts, then you have to do things differently. There's a problem when you're playing the second type, but set up like the first...

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Bands with two guitarists - mixing the two guitars in a live situation

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