AMBIENCE, OUCH
This second area of replacement might be a tough one for you reverb lovers to handle, but it’ s a worthwhile truth. At times it can greatly improve the clarity of the band’ s mix to pull back the ambience, reverb, shimmer, or pads present in your sound and let the electric guitars on stage handle filling that washy space.
You could make a decent chicken and the egg analogy as to which instrument really originated the‘ pad it out’ role that both guitars and keys players now love to play, but regardless of where you land there are definitely times where one or the other needs to consciously sit back, dry up, and settle down while the other ascends to the modulated heavens.
It’ s important to note that this is just as much about the time involved, as it is about the space taken up. Guitars and keys can often peacefully coexist with lush, modulated tones, but if both instruments take ten or more seconds for each note to decay, you’ re gonna end up with a soupy sonic mess.
LEADERS LEAD
This last one is tricky. Sometimes you should stop doubling the vocal melody in your right hand. When a strong lead vocal melody is carrying the song, it can be tempting to double down on that strength by mirroring it in your right hand with piano parts. But sometimes this doubling can actually get in the way of that strong vocal part, especially if there are already harmonies at play, or if the timing isn’ t rock solid.
Instead of doubling the melody, try sitting back on the chords and then embellishing with short, passing phrases during the vocal rests. This skill takes time to develop, and it may not come as naturally, as you can’ t just take your cues from the melody verbatim, but tastefully filling the spaces between can help ensure that lead vocal really shines when it needs to.
HALFCOURT SHOT
I hope that you recognized a rut, habit, or opportunity in one or more of the areas I shared. Whether you choose to stay a bit further away from the lead vocal, to defer that next shimmery part to your guitarist buddy, to simplify your rhythmic complexity, or to get back out on the court and practice your layups, the effort you put into developing your finesse behind the keys or on the court will make you a better team member and don’ t worry, I promise it’ s still okay to pull out a last second buzzerbeater once in a while.
David Pfaltzgraff Founder and Lead Sound Designer at SundaySounds. com, a site that resources worship keys players and guitarists around the world. David currently resides in Des Moines, IA with his wife and two boys. He enjoys volunteering in his church’ s worship ministry, old synthesizers, and a good super-hero movie.
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