blackscot
New member
Hello folks. I just joined this forum so thought I’d give a little intro. I’m hoping to hear from people with similar interests from whom I can learn.
I started playing guitar somewhere around 14, which I’m now 46 (will be 47 Monday...gasp!). For many years I just played acoustic, jamming with a couple buddies in high school, then just on my own in adulthood as a way to unwind after work. Mostly the 70’s organic-type rock that I grew up with like America, Crosby Stills etc. Sometime in my 30’s I was looking for something new to get into and started playing electric guitar, again just on my own for a couple of years working out more material from my youth but now broadened to include some of the heavier stuff like Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, etc. It never really stood on its own though like the acoustic could (and I can’t – repeat CANNOT – sing worth a hoot, so that’s a definite NON-option). I really wanted to try some of the lead-guitar parts I’d heard over the years, which of course wouldn’t really sound like anything without having some kind of back-up. I realized I could try getting into a group, but for food and shelter I’ve sadly become a busy “professional” and knew I’d never have enough time (or patience honestly) to go that route. Enter home recording…..
I’d heard of multitrack recording and thought: what if I could record all the back-up parts, then I could play it all back together while I played my lead guitar to it. Sort-of a virtual back-up band. So several years ago I got one of the Tascam 4-track-cassette porta-studio dealies and put together a few projects, including tunes by bands like Pink Floyd, Santana, Gordon Lightfoot, and Jethro Tull. For sound generation, I linked a keyboard controller to a Roland JV1010 synth. Worked pretty well and was a lot more fun than playing the electric guitar alone. I’ve focused on 70’s era tunes that have what to me are “inspirational” lead-guitar parts, something that sounds like you just want to belt it from the top of your lungs like an opera singer. A prime example is my very first project: Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”. If you know it, you know what I’m talking about.
Of course there were technical limitations I soon ran up against using 4-track cassette, so as a quantum leap forward I bought a PC and dedicated it to a Digidesign Mbox, now about two years ago. I still use the Roland so a lot of my material is MIDI, but also with some audio where needed such as acoustic guitar strumming, etc. (but NO vocal). I tried some of the bundled software that came with the Mbox, but ended up going back to the Roland. My first couple of projects have been re-makes of two I had done on the 4-track cassette, but now brought to a far greater scope and depth. I’m now working on a wholly new one, Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ in the Years”. If anyone is interested, is there a way to post .wav files here? I’ve got a couple of the earlier projects.
So, I am interested in hearing from anyone doing home recording basically as a means to provide a backing band for your “real” instrument, and especially if it happens to be guitar. Is there anyone out there doing the same kind of thing? If so, what tunes have you put together (or would like to), what challenges (technical or musical) have you run up against (I've got a couple with my current project), what "tips" can be shared, etc.? Do you pretty directly emulate the original version, or come up with more of your own arrangement (I've used both approaches)?
Most of what I've read about home recording is people making wholly original music, where the recording is the end in itself (which is great). For me though, recording is the means to an end, i.e. playing lead guitar.
Thanks for reading this far, and looking forward to learning lots of good stuff here.
I started playing guitar somewhere around 14, which I’m now 46 (will be 47 Monday...gasp!). For many years I just played acoustic, jamming with a couple buddies in high school, then just on my own in adulthood as a way to unwind after work. Mostly the 70’s organic-type rock that I grew up with like America, Crosby Stills etc. Sometime in my 30’s I was looking for something new to get into and started playing electric guitar, again just on my own for a couple of years working out more material from my youth but now broadened to include some of the heavier stuff like Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, etc. It never really stood on its own though like the acoustic could (and I can’t – repeat CANNOT – sing worth a hoot, so that’s a definite NON-option). I really wanted to try some of the lead-guitar parts I’d heard over the years, which of course wouldn’t really sound like anything without having some kind of back-up. I realized I could try getting into a group, but for food and shelter I’ve sadly become a busy “professional” and knew I’d never have enough time (or patience honestly) to go that route. Enter home recording…..
I’d heard of multitrack recording and thought: what if I could record all the back-up parts, then I could play it all back together while I played my lead guitar to it. Sort-of a virtual back-up band. So several years ago I got one of the Tascam 4-track-cassette porta-studio dealies and put together a few projects, including tunes by bands like Pink Floyd, Santana, Gordon Lightfoot, and Jethro Tull. For sound generation, I linked a keyboard controller to a Roland JV1010 synth. Worked pretty well and was a lot more fun than playing the electric guitar alone. I’ve focused on 70’s era tunes that have what to me are “inspirational” lead-guitar parts, something that sounds like you just want to belt it from the top of your lungs like an opera singer. A prime example is my very first project: Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”. If you know it, you know what I’m talking about.
Of course there were technical limitations I soon ran up against using 4-track cassette, so as a quantum leap forward I bought a PC and dedicated it to a Digidesign Mbox, now about two years ago. I still use the Roland so a lot of my material is MIDI, but also with some audio where needed such as acoustic guitar strumming, etc. (but NO vocal). I tried some of the bundled software that came with the Mbox, but ended up going back to the Roland. My first couple of projects have been re-makes of two I had done on the 4-track cassette, but now brought to a far greater scope and depth. I’m now working on a wholly new one, Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ in the Years”. If anyone is interested, is there a way to post .wav files here? I’ve got a couple of the earlier projects.
So, I am interested in hearing from anyone doing home recording basically as a means to provide a backing band for your “real” instrument, and especially if it happens to be guitar. Is there anyone out there doing the same kind of thing? If so, what tunes have you put together (or would like to), what challenges (technical or musical) have you run up against (I've got a couple with my current project), what "tips" can be shared, etc.? Do you pretty directly emulate the original version, or come up with more of your own arrangement (I've used both approaches)?
Most of what I've read about home recording is people making wholly original music, where the recording is the end in itself (which is great). For me though, recording is the means to an end, i.e. playing lead guitar.
Thanks for reading this far, and looking forward to learning lots of good stuff here.
