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Guitar Soli recording, am I doing it wrong ?


Demonofthefall

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I'm trying to record some guitar solos for my band's upcoming demo and I sincerely think this is the most difficult thing I've done in my whole life.

 

Basically, I play with a metronome and record each group of 15-20 notes about 400 times. Usually there are 3-5 takes in there that are acceptable. This process is extremely long and painful ... so I'm wondering, is this the common approach to record guitar solos ?

 

Are there really people out there that can play a one minute long solo and record it as a whole ?! I guess the stuff I'm trying to play is not easy (see youtube link in my sig for Live performance!). I have been practicing like hell for the last 3 months and that's not enough, I'm no Petrucci. Even though I hate the idea, I should probably simplify my parts.

 

Ampwise, I currently use a Mesa Mark IV but I'm thinking about switching to something more forgiving like a recto.

 

Apart from that, any studio tricks that could help me ?

I know I'm asking for a "garbage in, magical pony out" kind of trick so I don't expect much. And perhaps I should stick to rhythms since I'm apparently not good enough for leads:facepalm:

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if you use a DAW you could set it to loop record and stack the tracks up and do take after take ,you should eventually get a good one or then cut and paste them .



I think that is pretty much what I am doing except that I set up loops in Guitar Pro. Another thing is that when I play, I can't tell if a take is good enough because I tend to focus more on the backing track. It would help to have someone else in the room with me that would say stop whenever I have a good one ... but hey, who wants to sit next to me as I play the same 15 notes a few hundred times :confused:

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I'm trying to record some guitar solos for my band's upcoming demo and I sincerely think this is the most difficult thing I've done in my whole life.


Basically, I play with a metronome and record each group of 15-20 notes about 400 times. Usually there are 3-5 takes in there that are acceptable. This process is extremely long and painful ... so I'm wondering, is this the common approach to record guitar solos ?


Are there really people out there that can play a one minute long solo and record it as a whole ?! I guess the stuff I'm trying to play is not easy (see youtube link in my sig for Live performance!). I have been practicing like hell for the last 3 months and that's not enough, I'm no Petrucci. Even though I hate the idea, I should probably simplify my parts.


Ampwise, I currently use a Mesa Mark IV but I'm thinking about switching to something more forgiving like a recto.


Apart from that, any studio tricks that could help me ?

I know I'm asking for a "garbage in, magical pony out" kind of trick so I don't expect much. And perhaps I should stick to rhythms since I'm apparently not good enough for leads:facepalm:

 

 

400 takes per line? You

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If it's taking you that many takes you need to simplify that parts. Like you said, there's no magical pony option. If you can't get it right in 400 tries all the way through, how do you think you sound in a one-shot live performance situation trying to play this stuff? Better simplify!

 

 

see my youtube vids in my sig for live.

It's far from perfect and I'm the first to admit it but somehow, for the regular crowd ... it's not too bad ... and we're not a headliner band.

First lead at 0:43, second at 4:21. And I must say I'm now way better than that ... but yeah I know I have to simplify ... it's just hard to accept, it feels like giving up ...

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