3 guitars question

GWAR is interesting. [any] "Religion" basically is wrong in my opinion. But that's a huge topic that could easily de-rail this thread.
 
I don't think anyone cares if a Christian calls them a "heathen". I really doubt that anyone would be offended. Don't worry about it. Me personally, I am a fucking heathen. :D
 
Lt. Bob said:
that's how I saw it ..... looked like you were just using it humorously like it was said to you in the first place.
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thx.. except we all know for sure GregL is the exception ;-) He flys to a different tom tom.
 
mixmkr said:
GWAR is interesting. [any] "Religion" basically is wrong in my opinion. But that's a huge topic that could easily de-rail this thread.
Click to expand...

.. or we could really derail this thread with talk of The Mentors and make GWAR look innocent.
 
In addition to being an all around drummer, I play in a contemporary Church band on Sunday mornings. You didn't say which guitarist thought the acoustic should lead the way. I'm going to assume it was the acoustic player. No self-respecting electric player would move themselves into the background as a supporting instrument. LOL

Ok. You say this is a Christian band. You aren't playing for drunks and hochies; you're playing for Christ. Make that your center. Get rid of any egos. (Hell, do that even in the drunks and hochie band) Now, the acoustic player should be amplified so you all can hear them. ALL OF YOU. Including the drummer. Get your electrics to come forward sometimes and drop back into beautiful harmonics and bell tones sometimes. The electric can do that so use them that way. When it is time to rock out, shove them up front with power chords. You'll still hear the acoustic. Now for the big secret:

In the studio a lot of heavy metal guitar is doubled on the acoustic. The acoustic makes the electric sound bigger.

Good Luck,
Rod Norman
 
GWAR and religion aside, I'd like to point out that not every instrument needs to be playing all the time. Some of the best song arrangements in big band jazz and in orchestras have entire sections sitting on their hands for substantial portions of a song. Your band isn't quite that big, but it's a good size with a reasonably diverse instrumentation, so you might consider having instruments moving in and out of your arrangements. The songs will breath better and the times when the whole band is playing at once will be more powerful because of the contrast.
 
Rod, actually it wasn't the acoustic player that suggested this. Really, I asked this question to see what everyone's opinions were, I already had my own and most everyone has supported my own thoughts.

menofsticks, I agree and I think others have pointed this out.
 
Let me give you some examples that may help you focus. I don't know exactly which genre your working toward, but many Christian bands use multiple guitars/keys/banjo/etc. in their sound. Listen to Building 429 or Third Day if you want to hear how to do Rockish Contemporary with multiples. Maybe Needtobreathe or Neverclaim if you want to hear how banjo can fit WELL into contemporary music. Obviously you are not trying to sound like Royal Taylor or Gungor with your choices of instruments, but on the worship end of contemporary lie bands like David Crowder and Matt Redman that use acoustic and electric with keys and mixed gender vocals...there are lots to choose from. My examples are all mainstream, but there are literally THOUSANDS of different bands with THOUSANDS of different sounds.

So as far as what sound you SHOULD have, and I don't believe anyone else covered this point: You should sound like YOU! Even if you are doing covers of other Christian music, you should sound like YOUR band doing THEIR music. If you're only in this for doing covers and sounding like someone else, you may enjoy it, but Three things: 1) getting your own sound, 2) (as was stated earlier) defeating your egos and 3) having fun with it, will bring your band closer together and maybe you'll be the next Third Day or Jars of Clay; playing music into the next decade and beyond.

Whatever you decide to do, ask God to bless it and keep Him the focus! Christian bands usually lose out when they lose that vision.
 
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