Building a Layered Guitar Track From a Single Guitar Outline

Found this to be really interesting and useful in creating guitar backing tracks. Would be interested to know if you have a similar method of creating your tracks?

[youtube]9PLVMckLzfs?si=RJEO33vh3L6-D93H[/youtube]

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Somewhat related is how to write a Nashville Numbers Chart

[youtube]6a1HNmIq_3A?si=86nm9_xUmWkgXRZi[/youtube]

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cool process Gerry, always fun to see how others run through a track or idea. one thing i do differently is i rarely play entirely through a track. i usually try and get a piece as dead-on as i can (aligned to the metronome/bpm grid). so like the intro to verse might be a part i record. i'll work on that until it's satisfactorily aligned and tight. then i'll move on to the chorus, same thing, a few takes to get it tight and to my liking. depending on my mood, i may have a transition element to get back to the verse, or it's just a hard cut to it. the next time around for the verse, it's a copy and paste, since i've already done a good take on the verse, same for the next upcoming chorus, copy/paste. maybe there's a bridge, so a new piece, then back to the chorus (copy/paste), then maybe verse (copy/paste) and outro (record the outro) or just fade the verse.

the stacking/layering will come either throughout or after the song is layed out. just depends. if i feel it needs something else, i'll put in some other layers of guitar. it's also a not so straight-forward decision. the question i ask myself, am i leaving any room for other guitar players to join in? if i layer a bunch of guitar, i'm pretty much making a decision to exclude other guitar players from adding/contributing (for the most part, i'm sure some can always find room :) ), but that's the trade-off with adding more and more layers of guitar. i guess it just depends on the 'vision' of the song and how much you want to drive it and how much you want to leave it open for interpretation.

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Thanks for your input Nick, some great ideas in your post, I like the idea of copying a pasting parts that you've already recorded to your liking, I tend to do that on vocals in songs sometimes too. I can see your point about leaving room for others to add over the part or parts you've added in your initial template, something I need to be more aware of I think. It's great to hear how others go about creating their templates, yours are always inspiring.

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Interesting discussion. One thing I noticed recently while re-working some old tracks is that I tend to get bored quite quickly with using identical parts. It`s not really a conscious decision but I somehow always put in a slight variation into each of the verse parts. It is of course a different thing when you`re last in line and the guitar, drums etc have already been recorded and you`re just putting your keyboard stuff on top of that but even on those rare occasions where I start a track from scratch I usually have these variations.

The one situation where I use copy/paste is when I start to chart a track right at the beginning. That`s when I record the verse, bridge and chorus parts as midi events and stick them together to get a better idea of the song structure. But the result of that is more like a framework to give me some orientation which after the real recording I`ll throw away. The "real" recording that happens afterwards is never copy/paste nor do I record parts separately. What does happen (often) is that after a complete take I cut out the parts that I don`t like and punch in a new take.

The thing about leaving spaces for others is one of the most challenging aspects of Wikiloops - for me at least. It`s much easier to do that in a band context with back and forth discussions. But in the normal WL situation I think you can only nudge tracks in a certain direction by - as nick said - pre-deciding where to leave spaces without knowing what others will eventually add. Just take putting vocals to a track instead of another instrument. Both I think would have different demands of where and when they need space to do their thing.

Just my 2 cents worth

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Composing a harmonic suite full of surprises isn't for everyone, especially when it comes to a classic blues.

I remember being very pleasantly surprised to play along to Jeff's Blues #306202!

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Thanks for your input MySounds and DidierS, very cool to hear your thoughts on this subject, hope others will find it interesting too.

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really cool discussion, i feel there are no wrong answers to this kind of question. everyone approaches a track or idea differently. sometimes you may hear it in your head much fuller and you layer and add more and more. other times it's maybe a very simple progression and that's all.

as we also apply it to Wikiloops, that's where it gets interesting. i've always found is pleasantly surprising when a track goes in a direction i never saw coming. usually it's the case of something very simple, where less was more, and then someone really spins it off into a direction i never envisioned...those are always cool and fun to hear.

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Yes, exactly Nick, that's the great thing about creating music your own way, number one rule is there are no rules and what works for someone may not for someone else. It's great to see tracks progress with adds that transform the flavor away from the original intended recipe...sorry to get back to food again, I must be hungry :)

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More guitar tips for recording and mixing...
[youtube]pRKDOiUMbAQ?si=e82rZjJR6l9f9ofE[/youtube]

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