GUITAR
HOW TO SOUND BIG WHEN YOU ’ RE THE ONLY GUITAR PLAYER ON STAGE | Chris Rocha
I remember back in the day before there were click or stems , us guitar players had to figure out ways to sound big and fill up the songs because we didn ’ t have the rhythm , 2nd rhythm and lead tracks backing us up . It was a different time then . As the times have changed , I can see the advantages and disadvantages to having stems play alongside of us . The good definitely outweighs the bad , but I do feel that we tend to leave too much responsibility to the backing tracks instead of making the song happen ourselves .
I remember being in a rehearsal last year with one of the biggest churches in my area and the band was extremely talented . It was time to practice a new song but the stems were not working and the band froze . The music director told the service coordinator that we couldn ’ t practice the song cause the stem wouldn ’ t trigger and we needed that to move forward . I had a mutual friend there and he walked up to me and whispered , “ What kind of times are we living in where we can ’ t even play a song without the stems ?” I remember feeling shocked and in awe of this fact .
That same mentality has held us back from truly displaying our potential as far as artists with our instruments . We don ’ t need to rely on tracks to tell us exactly how to play the songs . Our responsibilities as far as musicians is to create a wonderful atmosphere to where God can move and touch people ’ s lives . Sounding huge all on our own is very important and I want to list how exactly I achieve that .
Confidence and preparation is a must . I always make my own charts and show up prepared . I believe it ’ s hard for a musician to instill his true sound in something if he ’ s wasting all of his creative energy just trying to get by and play the right notes . Once you know all the details of the song then you can make it your own and dominate the sound you ’ re going for .
Prioritizing and creating your parts is also important . While I ’ m learning the song I define the melodies and parts of the song that make it special . Sometimes I have to combine different parts for the song to really come to life . Other times I make my own parts that I believe will take the song where I want it to go . I don ’ t want us guitar players thinking that we don ’ t have any creative space to do what we think is best for the environment we ’ re in . There are exceptions here though , and that ’ s when the music director requests certain melodies of the song , but other than that I encourage you guys to experiment when it comes to creating your parts .
Using effects like delays and reverb are one of my specialties . I use these effects all the time to give my sound the body and hugeness I want .
I ’ ve always been told that I tend to take up a lot of space when I play . I also have to take that into consideration when I play with other musicians . I don ’ t want to take their creative space away but I definitely want to do my part to make the songs epic . Being able to sound huge all on your own is one of the best ways to get called back for a live gig or a studio production .
I wanted to invite my good friend Andrés Castro to get his input on this subject . He plays for one of the biggest worship bands in Colombia ( Generación 12 ) and has achieved a massive sound .
[ Chris ] Andrés how do you sound big when you ’ re the only guitar player on stage ?
[ Andrés ] Hey Chris , thank you for having