Dual Guitar Parts: Making the Most of It
- The American Guitar Academy
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
There are numerous pros and cons when it comes to being involved with additional musicians, although today we will talk about working with other guitar players specifically.
We will explore some of the reasons that certain musical scenarios would have more than one guitar player, analyze some examples and also think about what you should not do.
Why?
Harmonies
Whilst you can use external effects to simulate guitar harmonies, often quite convincingly, there is nothing quite like having someone else to play those harmonies with. You have the freedom to adjust the harmony as you go, whereas the effects I mentioned a moment ago tend to stick to specific intervals and within a certain scale.
Providing Rhythm Guitar
You may have come across a song that has only one guitar player in the band, but under the solo you can hear a riff or some chords being played in another guitar track. In the studio this is easily achievable. However, it might be that, in a live situation, the band loses some dynamic nuance, or simply chooses to employ another guitarist.
Filling Out the Sound
There is a common phrase used in amateur and professional studios world wide - double tracking. This is where two separate but identical guitar performances are recorded, perhaps with minor differences in tone though this is not necessary, and played simultaneously. This gives the overall sound a bigger, wider feel which is further exemplified when panned left and right. It is the microscopic, millisecond differences between those performances (on account of being human!) that allows our brain to subconsciously realize that they are two separate takes.
You may think that just copying and pasting the track, then panning the two copies left and right will be the same - this is, of course, incorrect. As there is no difference between the tracks when you do this, the only change is an increase in volume.
Building Harmonic Strength
You can create harmonic interest, or stay harmonically the same, but still build textures as you go when working with another guitar player. You can use triads, different chord voicings or extend triads in ways that would be impossible to achieve by yourself.
For example, if you were strumming a standard open C Major chord, it would be nice to have another person strumming or arpeggiating a 1st inversion of a C chord higher up on the neck.
Camaraderie
All too often people forget the simple joy that comes from playing music with your friends for fun and nothing else. It is great to have another guitarist play with you, purely to share the joy with them.
Examples
Here are some great examples of two guitars being used in popular songs.
Power and the Glory - Saxon
This is a classic tune from New Wave of British Heavy Metal pioneers, Saxon. The ‘80s were full of guitar harmonies amongst other signature sounds, but we discuss that further another time.
Part of the main riff in this tune (keep your eyes on the American Guitar Academy YouTube channel for a short on this soon!) is played identically between the two players, but it splits in order to harmonize part of the riff. See below for an excerpt of this!
The harmony is based around the A natural minor scale, and to me it feels like the main melody is the higher part played by guitar 1. Therefore, they have curiously decided the harmonize lower, which I think sounds really cool!
Rope - Foo Fighters
This band uses three guitar players, it can quickly become messy if everyone tries to do something different and, like Iron Maiden, Foo Fighters arrange the guitar parts in such a way that everything is well put together.
The example below is what I consider to be the main riff, and if you listen to the song you will hear some higher chord voicings being played in conjunction with this. The chords they have chosen fit well with the tune as a whole, and perfectly match the chords the riff outlines.
Chase the Devil - Max Romeo & The Upsetters
This reggae tune was first introduced to me in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a game that was heavily altered for the Japanese market, but unchanged in Europe and the United States. I played this game a lot growing up, and this was one of my favorite songs from the game.
Notice how guitar 1 has the typical offbeat rhythm and fragmented chord voicings synonymous with reggae music. On the other hand, guitar 2 plays a supporting riff that highlights the chord changes, but uses staccato notes and 16th notes to fill in the games. Thanks to the piano part in this song, the music would work with either guitar part - I still think it should always have both, though!
What Not To Do
Don’t Over Do It!
There is a very famous band, and the guitarist of which is renowned for building vast sounds by layering harmony upon harmony, usually in a less than conventional way. It has become a signature sound of his, though it is reported that he often had to be restrained by his bandmates for fear of overcomplicating the songs and thus placing the band at a greater risk of alienating potential listeners.
Just a simple harmony can be as effective as the most complex of arrangements, and bands like Iron Maiden tackle this with two guitarists harmonizing and the third playing the riff underneath.
Playing the Same Thing
Despite my praise of playing the same thing above for the purpose of double tracking a guitar part, sometimes it is completely the wrong thing to do. In certain situations, it would be pointless to play exactly the same thing, when the song or live performance can be improved by building the harmonic strength as I mentioned before.
This is obviously a very fine line, so it will take a lot of trial and error, and a really good knowledge of what you are playing, in order to make the best decision.
Guitar Sounds
I have mentioned this in previous blog posts, or alluded to it at least, but I think that you should avoid using the same guitar tone if you are doubling things up. This should obviously stay within the realms of the genre in which you are playing. For example, Joe Pass was famous for plugging his guitar directly into the PA system with no signal processing - this would not work very well if he were alive and playing a set with Cannibal Corpse!
Final Thoughts
There is an age old saying - “too many cooks spoil the broth”. The same is true for musical projects where the outcome would be better served by a musical director of sorts. Guitarists are seemingly egotistical by nature, and generally do not like being put in their place - this is not true of everyone, though! You may have to concede a significant amount of creative control and play what you are told, or it may happen that you are responsible for directing at least the other guitar player - I have been in both situations many times!
There are exceptions to the rules, as always. For example, Russ Parish, better known for his role as Satchel, the lead guitarist from tongue in cheek 80s hair metal outfit Steel Panther, is the only guitar player in the band, but he uses backing tracks only to play riffs under his solos, or harmonies where they are absolutely essential.
Remember, you do not have to do everything yourself! Delegating certain guitar related tasks to others can free you up for another task you are better suited to, even though it might be difficult to relinquish some of the responsibility.
Many of the guitar teachers at the American Guitar Academy have material that is designed, or at least arranged, for two guitar players. I have often found it useful to teach a student both parts in this situation, so they can better understand the role that each part plays.
Keep rocking!
