Members Uh_Me Posted June 25, 2012 Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 So I'm in a band with a singer, drums, and me on guitar. I play through two amps to thicken my sound, and it works great when I'm just doing rhythm. But when I begin to play the solo for the song, it gets.... quiet. The thick, luscious sound we had disappears. Any ideas on what to do? I really want to avoid omitting the solo, but am I going to have to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted June 25, 2012 Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 Teach yourself to play solos that are not single note things. Your band's instrumentation requires the guitarist to play fuller solos or use tracks. My guitarist is very good at using chords and multiple notes for his solos. All his solos sound full unless he is trying for a more sparse sound. Hard for me to explain as I'm the bassist but sometimes I end up using intervals for my solos, too. A guess if you want fuller solos, learn to play fuller solos. A little verb and slight delay might help, too. I'm not sure two amps really thickens the sound. Sounds to me like more thought needs to go into the whole performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members leftyjay Posted June 25, 2012 Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 i tend to think it'll be a problem without some kind of bass or rhythm filling the void. if you're not a chet atkins style player that can play a solo and rhythm at the same time, i think most guitar soloist usually dont take solos unless they are chord style solos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Uh_Me Posted June 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 Well As far as the the two amps one has a lot of natural bass tones in it. I don't know why exactly, but it does. Then the other is more shimmering. They fill in each others gaps I guess. I'm a huge White Stripes fan. And I've heard them live and he didn't look like he was using too many multi notes and the sound was never too empty. Maybe I need a hearing aid :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members John Ellis Posted June 25, 2012 Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 It sounds like an eq thing to me. Do a search on ''complimentary EQ" It takes a bit of tinkering but what may sound good by itself gets washed out in a band setting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted June 25, 2012 Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 Get a rythm guitarist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Uh_Me Posted June 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 I've had such bad luck with musicians. I've lost so many because of the stupidest reasons. I actually started out with a five piece band. And I've looked for other musicians, but they ended up needing to quit for whatever reason. :,( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted June 25, 2012 Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 What kind of amps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Uh_Me Posted June 25, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 An egnater Rebel 20 head with a 2x12 VHT Standard cab. Then an old Kustom Solid state amp with a matching 4x12 cab. It's the one with the bass. I'm in the process of looking for a better grade amp that has the same kind of and is in my price range. Also, if it matters, I'm using a Gretsch CVT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fingerpicker Posted June 25, 2012 Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 get a looper and make sure your drummer can hear the loop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JBassJohn Posted June 25, 2012 Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 Get a rythm guitarist Get a bass player Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted June 25, 2012 Members Share Posted June 25, 2012 Get a bass player DING, DING, DING, DING - We have a winner..... As interesting a guitar/vocal/drummer duo would be, I think it might be a little boring and monotonous without a bass or second guitarist. I do remember seeing a trombone and guitarist jazz duo that was actually pretty awesome. The trombone played behind the guitar solos and it worked great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted June 26, 2012 Members Share Posted June 26, 2012 DING, DING, DING, DING - We have a winner.....As interesting a guitar/vocal/drummer duo would be, I think it might be a little boring and monotonous without a bass or second guitarist. I do remember seeing a trombone and guitarist jazz duo that was actually pretty awesome. The trombone played behind the guitar solos and it worked great. oh? i dont know about that... we work as a duo and i'm a drummer... i play djembe and percussion in about one third of the show and switch off between guitar and banjo for two thirds of the gig... the other guitarist also plays bass, upright or electric depending upon the night... i think it really depends upon the musicians and their ability to apply different flavors to the evening... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve mac Posted June 26, 2012 Members Share Posted June 26, 2012 another shout for a looper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted June 26, 2012 Members Share Posted June 26, 2012 I play through two amps to thicken my sound, and it works great when I'm just doing rhythm. But when I begin to play the solo for the song, it gets.... quiet. Generally when you combine two sounds you get less output at a number of the frequencies, especially as the notes get lower in frequency (which is the "louder" part of a sound). This is because when two signals add perfectly they can only double in intensity. But when they cancel (because of phase cancellation, a fancy way of saying that all of the frequencies of a sound don't arrive together at exactly the same time) they can cancel to infinity. So when you add the small plusses and the big minuses ... well you get what you are experiencing. You might try switching to only one amp for solos and boosting the volume. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 certainly regardless of EQing, amps and tones, etc, you still need to play over the top of something for it to make sense. If a looper works, cool. Otherwise you really have to carry the song's chord progressions within your soloing arpeggios and chord-based leads that allow the song structure to be heard and understood during the soloing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 certainly regardless of EQing, amps and tones, etc, you still need to play over the top of something for it to make sense. If a looper works, cool. Otherwise you really have to carry the song's chord progressions within your soloing arpeggios and chord-based leads that allow the song structure to be heard and understood during the soloing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 DING, DING, DING, DING - We have a winner.....As interesting a guitar/vocal/drummer duo would be, I think it might be a little boring and monotonous without a bass or second guitarist. I do remember seeing a trombone and guitarist jazz duo that was actually pretty awesome. The trombone played behind the guitar solos and it worked great. There is a trio around here that is set up as lead vocalist/sometimes acoustic guitarist (he sometimes just sings), electric guitarist/harmony vocalist, and a drummer/harmony vocalist. No bass player. I wouldn't be happy playing in a band like that. I like to feel the low end in a group, even in an acoustic duo/trio situation. It just sounds fuller and tighter to me and I love that sound. It would be too thin and empty to just have a couple of guitars with some drums. Like others have said, maybe a partial solution would be to use a looper to keep the rhythm going while the OP does a solo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted June 27, 2012 Moderators Share Posted June 27, 2012 a looper...and a compressor to keep the guitar's 'presence' from dropping out, but the key in this situation is the drummer. Using two amps will not compensate when the sound goes from multiple strings ringing to one or two...just basic stuff. When I did power trios in the olden times, I noticed how the overall level just couldn't be compensated for by turning up...the 'fatness' was gone. Compressors help somewhat with keeping the solo out front, but what I eventually discovered was the drummer needs to help fill in the void! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 but the key in this situation is the drummer. This. Even something as simple as riding the bell of the ride cymbal or letting the high hat ring open will fill in tons of sonic space during solos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 Also, a very slight delay between the two amps will fatten up your tone...many digital delays have stereo outputs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MDLMUSIC Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 I do a lot of gigs with an oldies/classic rock trio-guitar, bass, drums. Me as the only vocalist using a harmonizer. When I switch from strumming rhythm to playing lead, I usually kick in a sound with a little more dirt to fatten it up. I also have the drummer switch to his ride cymbal to simulate the guitar strums. The bassist will not usually change much, although sometimes he'll do some chording, especially on slow songs. It never seems to me like something has dropped out, and, so far, no one has complained. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Dey Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 Get a guitar synth and set up a patch where the low E and A strings produce a bass sound. The other 4 strings could be another guitar sound or a realistic organ sound. Of course you'll have to learn to play bass and chord leads at the same time, but it'll be the fattest sound you can get without adding more musicians. Or play along with sequences with your drummer playing along to a click track in his headphones. Whatever happened to keyboardist/drummer duos? I always thought that was the best way to do a duo. The keyboards produce a full sound and there's also the freedom to play without backing tracks. Anybody doing this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lz4005 Posted June 27, 2012 Members Share Posted June 27, 2012 Whatever happened to keyboardist/drummer duos? I always thought that was the best way to do a duo. The keyboards produce a full sound and there's also the freedom to play without backing tracks. Anybody doing this? Keyboard players love drum machines. And thinking they sound better with them than with real drummers. Which is too bad, because a keys/drums duo can be a great sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted June 28, 2012 Members Share Posted June 28, 2012 This. Even something as simple as riding the bell of the ride cymbal or letting the high hat ring open will fill in tons of sonic space during solos.but you really have to have SOMETHING underneath dictating the song structure/chord progressions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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