GUITAR
HOW TO BLEND WELL WITH ANOTHER GUITARIST | Chris Rocha & Jonathan Diaz
When playing in a band having more than one guitar on stage can be a great thing if both guitarists are on the same page . It can also work against you and be very frustrating . In this article I want to talk about how you can maximize two guitar players and take the music experience to the next level .
We as guitarists have the tendency to want to be the center of attention . I ’ ve dealt with many guitarists that do not work well with other guitarist in a band setting and sometimes they won ’ t work well with the band that they ’ re in , due to the simple fact that they want to focus on only what they ’ re playing .
What distinguishes a good guitarist from a great guitarist ( and even a good musician from a great musician ) apart from technique , is listening and being aware of what everyone is doing . Apart from playing the right chords at the right time , we as guitarists have to be aware of context , which in modern music is already hard enough because guitar is not the main focus anymore . But now throw in another guitarist and we have to be more careful than ever to not overplay , oversaturate and potentially kill a song .
In order to play well with other guitarists and blend in nicely with the band you most learn your music . As simple as this sounds , it is the foundation of everything . But learning the music / song / songs doesn ’ t just mean learning the chords of the songs and learning the solos . It also means memorizing song structure , listening and being attentive to what the rest of the band is doing , paying attention to dynamics , learning any important melodic lines ( even if it ’ s not a guitar part ), emphasizing any important hits or accents that are essential to the song , and even learn how to play it in other keys . The point is that the more we know and understand the song , the more we can do our best to serve the song .
Once we ’ ve learned everything about the song and understand exactly what the songs need then we start to split parts . In many songs nowadays , the guitarist does not carry the main melody or have much weight . But in most Christian worship contexts , the guitar does . For example , most of the time a guitar line will start a worship song with a riff and the same melody is being doubled by a synth of some sort . If there are two guitarists in this context we can easily assume that one guitar is playing the main melodic line , while the other is playing some rhythmic part underneath that . But what about the rest of the song like verse , chorus , and bridge ?
One easy thing to do in a verse is have one guitarist play a simple melody while another focuses on chords . But let ’ s not get too carried away as guitarists while we play a melody in a dynamically low section of a song , this is not an excuse to play an improvised solo . Instead both guitarists are adding layers to the song to help serve it . Like grandma always said , “ There ’ s a time and a place for everything ”. The chorus gets a little bit tricky . Since the chorus is usually the part of the song where things start to pick up , we as guitarist tend to want to show off here . But if there ’ s more than one of us we have to be careful what we play , and how we play it . So , playing the same thing but in different octaves or even on different inversions helps give the chorus a wider and bigger sound . And sometimes playing different rhythms can help give the song a wider feeling also . For example , in a fast song the guitarist playing the higher octave part can play a faster rhythm , while the guitarist playing the lower part can play quarter notes , or even eight notes which can also give the song a bigger / wider feel .
The solo can be approached the same way as the intro , one guitarist takes lead while the other plays the rhythm , but make sure that the rhythm is not taking the focus away from what is up front .
The rest of the song structure is more of the same until the end of the song . But the important thing is to listen to each other and the rest of the band , and make sure that we are not getting in the way of each other while playing .
ADJUST YOUR EFFECTS When we add another guitarist , everything is multiplied by two . More distortion , more reverb , more delay , more everything . If both guitarists are playing with distortion , turning down the effect will help with there being too much noise or sound that will get in the way of the song sounding clear . The same can be said about the delays and reverbs . Modern worship guitarist tend to have a lot of reverb and delays . Once we multiply that by two then we might have a little bit of a problem , some songs might feel like we ’ re underwater because of how much reverb and delays the guitarist have , so bringing that down will also help for everything to sound clear .
ADJUST EQ Just like the effects , we must be aware of our EQ . When we play alone at home , we want our guitars to sound big and loud , but that ’ s not the case when we are playing at church , or anywhere else that we might be playing with another guitarist . Make sure to cut some low-end and high-end to give each other the appropriate space .
Even something as simple are one guitarist using a single-coil guitar and the other using a Humbucker guitar will help separate the difference in sound and will also help distinguish between each guitar and their respective parts .
Following these guidelines and suggestions will not only help when you ’ re playing with another guitarist , but even in context with a whole band . We always want to do our best not only for the bands and music sake , but for the Lord .
~ Colossians 3:23 ~