Opposite sides of the brain I guess

jimistone

jimistone

long standing member
I tried for 3 hours to get a good guitar performance on a recording to day and STILL don't have a decent one.

Does anyone else find it hard to engineer the recording and play the guitar too?
It's like I make stupid mIstakes on engineering the recording like not rewinding...
Not arming the track...
Forgetting to turn the monitor amp off..
When I finally do everything right on that part and hit record...it's stupid mistakes on the guitar time
My mind goes blank on what I should be doing on the guitar
Or my pick isn't sitting there...
Or the headphone cord is binding and I'm trying to play all humped over
And of everything is right and I'm playing away...i forget about the stop or kick that's coming up in the song.
Then everything's perfect and I'm so amazed by it that I just completely fall apart on my guitar performance.
SHIT!!!!

Man it is frustrating!
 
A few candles, a lava lamp, and a deep breath. Maybe a drink or a puff?

Just sounds like you are not in your comfort zone to play man. Find that. :)
 
that never happens to me Jimi.
:D

Just take a break for a bit. Or hit the bong. :)

What I usually do is walk away for a few minutes or an hour or even the next day if it's really pissed me off. In fact, last nite, I was attempting some drums on this project for a friend and it frustrated me to the point of PISSED OFF.
So I shut everything down, walked away, had a beer and played with my dogs.
Great stress relief there.
:)

If ya don't have a dog, I have 7 and can lend you one. Nobody at the house will even notice.
:D
 
Well, it doesn't help that the song needs the 2 styles of picking that are my weakest:
The first lead ride is that real fast clean country guitar and then slide guitar. I only have the country guitar one time around before going into the 3rd verse but after the 3rd verse I have the slide ride going 3 times around with a kick the whole band does everytime the song hits the turnaround.

Another thing that probably is hindering me is that I'm playing off the top of my head and don't really have a set gameplan for the guitar solos.
I've always been pretty good at just plugging in and going for it with great result.

The 2 styles being my weaker areas on guitar combined with me having to Fiddle around with the recorder is really screwing me up. Plus, I want the 2 solos to really burn and I have culled some performances that others may have deemed "good".
I want it flawless and it also has to move me when I hear it. (that's where the rehearsed solo many times falls short)
Recording by yourself can be a challange.
 
"Comp tracks"!

When I'm doing a lead track most times the first take is the best 'overall'. I'll record 3, 5, however many full takes, then I just need to go back and comp a few small places in the best one track.
 
I've comped tracks lots of times for other people. It works well, they like it, but it makes me cringe in disgust.
 
I do the whole track in one performance. Fills and the ride.
No punches. The end result is usually better IMO that way.
Of course the country pickin and the slide are two separate performances and on different tracks.
With someone else running the recorder I can nail it. I'm just not good at doing both the playing and running the recording gear at the same time.
I will get someone else to run the recorder next time.
That way I only have to concentrate on the playing.
 
I typically just do a few short practice runs, noodling with mic placement and playing light up to full volume, make sure the tone and dynamic range sound plausible, then just hit record and go. I usually leave little quirks/mistakes in. If they're the kind only a guitarist is likely to notice, I usually keep it. I tend to prefer one fairly natural sounding take to a bunch of heavily worked ones. As long as the peaks are close to full recorded volume and there isn't too much unwanted sound on the recording I try to keep it. Can always alter the dynamic range to make it fit alongside other tracks better.
 
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