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Studio Guitarists Survival Guide
(11 Jan 05)
The what should I be able to do's
To be in good shape for recording sessions there are a lot of things you can practice at home. Be prepared and know your abilities!
Here is what you can do and what you should work on:
A solid rhythm:
- Practice 8th notes, triplets, 16th notes and rests with a metronome or drum machine.
Practice strumming patterns and picking patterns for acoustic.
A good ear:
- Practice ear training! Figure out chords, progressions, intervals by ear. Be able to get a grip on phrases quickly.
Clean playing:
- Muting and dampening strings, changing chords with little or no sliding noises.
Dynamics:
- Hear how volume and sound differ if you pick the strings softer or harder and get comfortable with this. Be able to include it in your phrasing to feature accents and to add more life to your playing.
Variations:
- Practice chord inversion, chord changes with little overall tonal movement, changes in different inversions all over the neck.
If you play the inversion the producer hears in his head quickly you save time and this can also get you the next job.
To practice this skill, write and arrange guitar parts that contain 3 or more different guitar tracks that fit well layered over each other.
Versatility:
- Be able to play different styles with their distinct details as reliable as possible. You could be listening to Slayer in the car and run into a country session. To work on this skill switch through radio channels and improvise over what you hear in that certain style.
Earpleasers:
- the usual cliche things. No one needs a wholetone lick when a simple pentatonic doublestop does the job. To know what the producer wants - to listen as fast as possible -- is one of your most valuable weapons!
Vibrato and Bendings:
- I think it was Steve Lukather who once said that he could hear if a guitarist is good or bad by just listening to him bending a note. I agree with him. To make a perfect bend or vibrato can tell you how much control that guitar player has. The more control, the better. Adding a sweat vibrato to a note is better than just waiting for a note to fade away.
Lead sheet reading:
- practice reading lead sheets and be able to write your own.
Sometimes you have to figure out progressions by ear, sometimes you get a lead sheet. They can differ in quality and are subject to change a few times during the session. Make sure you can read chord symbols and their variations.
A lot of lead sheets are written by Keyboarders or Pianists. It is possible that they don't
write out the chords as you would see them. For example:
They would write Dsus cause they want a suspended sound there but you would see the
chord as a C/D. Or they think of a Amin7/C which could be your average Cmajor
shape. Be aware of those differences in chord spelling. Be flexible.
Simplicity:
- don't overplay. You are not recording a guitar album. A lot of times you are just there to fill spaces or to just deliver the sound of a guitar. Do this. Listen closely to the beat and melody, maybe vocals if available as well and fill spaces logically. Listen to jingles and hitsongs, basically everything that is commercial and figure out at which places the guitars are added. If you are used to play whole melodies, try to play just every second note. Same with chord changes.
Know your gear:
- be in tune. Tune before every take if necessary.
A good guitar (bridge, nut and tuning machines) can save you that hassle and saves time and nerves.
If you bring your own pedal(s), know how to tweak the sound quickly
(thinner, less distortion, more mids etc.).
Most of the times your small multieffect unit does the job and no hi-tec racks or Marshall walls are needed. In some situations even the distortion is processed directly with the computer and you plug the guitar into the studios tube pre-amp that's connected to the computers soundcard. That makes it possible for the sound engineer to adjust the amount distortion in the mix.
If you realize a slight delay between you plucking the strings and you actually hearing it through the monitors, ask the sound engineer to adjust the latency. Don't dare to play like that or you'll be wondering how messed up your timing will be.
Relax:
- don't panic, no matter what. You'll get sweaty hands and your muscles will tense up and you'll have a hard time sounding relaxed.
You are dealing with human beings and mistakes are natural for everybody.
Have fun. Smile and have a laugh if you hit the wrong note. You are doing this because it's fun and nobody forces you to do it. Don't be afraid to play even when you get corrected a few times.
Know your abilities. If you honestly feel that what you are asked for is beyond your abilities, be fair and humble and admit it. That will save valuable time and stress, plus they will know better for which situations you can be booked in the future.
Nobody can be perfect in all situations.
Know what you do:
- To know what key you are in helps how to play harmony parts for example.
Be able to double a take exactly. Maybe the producer wants to pan the
guitars, or they were not recorded in the first place.
If you offer possible guitar lines that you would play, and the producer goes "yes, that's exactly what I want", you should be able to redo it.
The cashtalk
Last but not least a few words about money:
Of course you should be paid for what you did. But be fair.
Maybe you can ask around and find out how much that studio usually pays to be not too much off.
Don't write a 400 dollar bill for playing two straight power chords and insist in getting it - especially if it's your first job at that studio. Be realistic, fair and understand that if the producer gets 500 for the job, he won't pay 400 to the guitarist.
If you are a pain in the butt he might do it, but you'll never hear from him again. Remember that a good reputation is what gets you jobs in this business.
If you can sort out a good deal that works for both parties, they'll be happy to call you for the next job. I'd even suggest doing the first job for free depending on the situation. Be someone to get along with well and don't show up with dollar signs in your eyes.
A word on Home recording
Doing home recordings surely helps to know the basic procedures of recording and gives you a picture on what you sound like on tape.
Nothing helped me more with sounding good than doing home recordings. There were times when I was recording and re-recording just a few seconds of a solo for hours and hours, 1000 takes maybe until it sounded the way i wanted it to sound.
The product is what you will be judged by. Nobody will ask you how many hours you spent in front of your 4 track, as long as they hear quality playing.
Before you decide to learn all the modes of the feng shui scale, take what you can already play and make it sound perfect - don't compare yourself with your high schools best guitarist but with world class players. Push the limits higher and always mess with the best. Even if you fail, let your goal be precious and valuable and you can be sure to succeed on your way.
Work on all the tiny bits and details, listen with the ears of an elephant and be highly critical with the stuff you record.
If you want to impress a girl you would take care in ensuring your words don't fall out off your mouth like stones as well, wouldn't you?! The notes and musical phrases are your words and sentences now- let them be as perfect, meaningful and true as possible - then you can pass on your recordings and be assured, even if someone doesn't like the music you are doing, that you have done everything possible to express what you wanted to say.
You should record yourself (a tape recorder can be enough) over and over again to check your playing from a listener's standpoint. You may be surprised if you are doing this for the first time. It's like hearing your voice on tape for the first time. You might go "Oh my god, is that really me?", but that is how everybody else hears you. If you don't like what you hear, analyze it and change what annoys you with practice.
Be brave, and good luck.
Sven Stichter
Some of the studios I had the chance to record in:
http://www.hestudiotechnik.de/deutsch/referenzen/union_studios/union.htm
http://www.parkgatestudio.co.uk/
http://www.redrock.de/
http://www.kangaroo-digital-audio.com/index.html
and others..
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Sven was born in 1974, raised in Germany and first picked up the guitar when he was 13. He completed his studies at the American Institute of Music (A.I.M.) at age 17. After having been focused on rock and metal, his musical interests diversified into other styles such as pop, country, hip and triphop without losing sight of the essentials of being a good guitarist and performer. Tone, musicality, technical ability, a good commercial ear combined with his own personal magic have made Sven a well booked musician in a variety of categories.
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