GUITAR
HOW TO BLEND IN MORE THAN ONE GUITAR PLAYER AT THE SAME TIME | Chris Rocha
photo : Levi Ventura via Unsplash
I ’ ve played with so many different types of guitar players and we all have our own sound . We all have something special that we can add to the songs . However , if we ’ re all playing the same thing we ’ re not really adding much to the song . There ’ s also the awesome element of adding an acoustic guitar . In this article I want to talk about how we can add two electric guitar players and one acoustic guitar player at the same time . I ’ ve played in scenarios where all guitar players involved did a great job understanding their roles and it sounded unbelievable .
First off , I want to talk about the importance of being able to hear each other in your monitor mix . I remember once I played in one of the biggest churches in the world with a world renown guitar player playing the other electric guitar position and he was all over the place . I remember he ran all over me and I was having to switch up everything I was playing . I came to the conclusion that he must have had me turned off in his mix because there was no way he was paying attention to what I was playing . It was a very frustrating experience and I ’ m sure that happens all the time . I always make it a point to hear the other guitar player … that way I can work my parts along with what he ’ s playing .
So , let ’ s get into how we can define our guitar parts . These days a lot of us use stems so within the stems we can hear the different guitar parts . Back about 10 years ago you had one guitar player playing the “ rhythm ” part and one guy playing the “ lead ” or one guy playing the lower parts and the other guy playing the higher parts … but times have changed . Nowadays you can have both electric guitar players playing within the same range , but you do have to be careful that they don ’ t run into each other and clash . The last thing you want is to be working against each other . With ambience being an essential part of worship songs , you can work that element in as well . You can have one player taking on those ambient roles and the other player playing the dryer parts and melodies . There really aren ’ t any specific rules as to how we can blend both players , so we do have a lot of creative options to have fun with . We just must prioritize the song that we ’ re bringing to life .
Let ’ s talk about the acoustic guitar player role , this particular instrument adds so much in a song . I remember this rock producer I really look up to said that he records acoustic guitars on songs that don ’ t really need it but he still added it because of the wonderful percussive
element it adds . I think that in the worship realm the acoustic is a lot more important than in some other genres , so it can be more than just a percussive element . I think that one thing the acoustic guitar players need to keep in mind is that the role of the acoustic guitar is more of a rhythm role . I ’ ve seen some acoustic players try to force licks and busy playing when that ’ s not what the song needs . Another thing I ’ ve seen a lot is that some acoustic players don ’ t sync well with the drums and shakers so the music can sound dirty . It ’ s important that the rhythms and strumming patterns sync up well with the grooves that are being played .
Getting all of these three elements working together is such a beautiful thing and can revolutionize the feel of a song . I always encourage bands and worship teams to have more than one guitar player at the same time . Give some of these concepts a try .
Chris Rocha Chris Rocha is an American Christian producer , guitarist , business owner and pioneer in the Spanish Christian music industry . He is a two time Dove Award winner , has worked on two Grammy award winning records and has produced or recorded guitars on 5 Grammy nominated albums .