HELP - One guitar quit - now what????

[Toddbass65]

Need some advice here.....
My band had 2 lead guitars until one decided he didn't want to play anymore and just quit! So what should I look to do in order to fill out our "new" sound by myself???? We are a heavy progressive type of sound, like older Queensryche maybe. I run a Carvin BX1500 with two BR410 cabs - running dual mono 300watts per cab. I don't currently use many effects, but I do have distortion (Ibanez) and a chorus (TRex) and compression pedal. My current setup is more of a warmer low end sound which worked great with 2 guitars. Just wondering where to look when we rehearse this week for the first time as a 3 piece. Open to ideas here for what to try. Thanks as always guys for your help!!!
PS: I think I am gonna like the freedom once I get my sound right

[JohnMCA72]

It kinda' all depends - as usual. Both you & the remaining guitar player may want to alter your tones somewhat to make up the "hole" in your sound. Figuring that out can be a lot of fun if you let it. Trouble is, nobody who hasn't heard your band can tell you what's "missing". Even if they could, it's really all up to your ears & taste.

Best advice I can offer: Don't try to change everything up all at once. Apply more or less of 1 thing at a time, try it a little, & see if you like it. Repeat until you're happy. You & the guitar player might consider taking turns making changes, so everybody will know what made things sound different.

[Gearhead17]

Originally Posted by JohnMCA72

Best advice I can offer: Don't try to change everything up all at once. Apply more or less of 1 thing at a time, try it a little, & see if you like it. Repeat until you're happy. You & the guitar player might consider taking turns making changes, so everybody will know what made things sound different.

Octave pedals of some sort so the upper part of your tone is all distortion and the low end/low mids are still there. Add a blend pedal (Xotic X Blender for example) and you can do a blended tone at your feet and both of your 410's can be distorted. You send the sound man a signal of just your bass and one of the miked distortion tone.

I play the Carvin BX1200 - I am very confused why you are not just blasting the Carvin 410's in bridged mode? More power at your finger tips and some more headroom is easily available here. It's not necessary to do this, but to me, it's like buying a Ferrari and only driving to church with it.

[seamonkey]

Add in some backing tracks. It's done all the time these days.
Drummer is going to need a click track and play to the beat, which can be the biggest obstacle.

[Toddbass65]

thanks for the ideas - Gearhead17 - I am actually loud enough in dual mono - but if we are outside sucker is gonna be bridged .
I was thinking about some sort of octave pedal. I also wondered about some of the cool bass synth pedals. First rehearsal went well and we sounded good. Like most other three piece bands I have heard locally - good until solo time, then just solo with a bass line behind it. Think I am looking to get my sound to be broader so it has more of the sound we had before with myself and the other guitar playing a rhythm part. I know, impossible....but like to try and get it a little closer. Everybody else is happy but me - I guess I just always want to try and be a little better no matter what. Any ideas on some pedals to try? Thanks guys!!!!
****Singer did say she didn't know how good I was until she heard us as a 3 piece. That was nice to hear if nothing else. Maybe the other guitar was hiding me a little

[Duckwater]

Get another one, or take one of mine. I have 4.

[kanonfodr]

Consider trading your Ibanez distortion for something akin to a Marshall Guv'nor Plus? I've found that with the extra tone shaping for your drive, you can really help fill in where a 2nd guitar might go bashing on the power chords.

For an even better effect, the Fishman Fission Power Chord is an octaver that replicates an additional fifth on top of that, doing the same thing.

For the skills solution, possibly play one root note on an open string and move your line up an octave to fill more room?

Peace,
Greg

[Stumbo]

Record your next rehearsal and go from there. +`1 to making small changes as you go.

The remaining guitarist can also try changing his chord positions to possibly make things sound fuller.

[derrico1]

To fill out the sound of a trio, you can take on a more active role in the arrangements and sonic space.

• Vary what you play (bass lines that are less repetitive, slightly more harmonically active. Look for gaps *around* the lead voice to fill—but don't fill absolutely all of them)

•Drop out or simplify lines at times. Don't always play harder/faster/more to compensate for the loss of a rhythm guitar. Part of what a second guitarist brings is added texture, so in compensating for the absence of rhythm guitar you don't want your playing to get so busy all the time that the arrangements take on a single flat texture.

• Add effects in line. Distortion, overdrive, delay, filter/wah, phase, synth—these can all change the flavor of your supportive lines, or help mark shifts b/w the supportive and lead parts of your role. Do be careful about setting gain and not losing the bottom end in your tone.

• Keep more bottom by putting effects in a blend bypass loop pedal. This lets you dial in a balance b/w your clean signal and the effects. It also lets you kick in multiple pedals at once by just activating the bypass loop pedal.

•As an more dramatic version of a blend loop, run some effects (set up via an A/B/Y stompbox) to an additional guitar amp that handles just the effected part of your signal, with a high-pass keeping out the speaker-eating lows. This way your regular bass signal is in your bass amp, and switching in the second (effects) amp makes it sound like another instrument is riding on top of your lines.

•Mix and match the approaches above.

[mpdd]

i play super hard with my fingers and a clean tube amp, which i find makes the horror punk band sound bright and pianoesque, but with the gothic drone band, i do a slight od to a very dark sound which works, because the other bass player is using heavy od into an envelope filter into a guitar amp and we aren't fighting each other for the same sonic space, so i'm either punching through a wall of od or laying a deep and thick foundation, but i contrast the tone of the other instrument, which is what i think you need to do

[bigsnaketex]

I've got 14 pedals on my board so I don't even know where to start.........just know that there is lots of tone out there to be hand through your bass. I'd start with a Micro Pog (or a full sized Pog if you're rich) and start your new sound from there.

"Suggest" to your guitar player that he use more open chords or at least play closer to the headstock for a more full sound on the rhythm parts. But be careful - guitards are sometimes very peculiar beasts.

[godofthunder59]

When I joined JOHNNY SMOKE 13 years ago they lost one of two guitarists and their bass player at the same time. When I joined I suggested moving forward as three piece with vocal they said no way the second guitar was to important. After three months of rehearsal They saw things my way. I use tube amps (Hiwatt) round wound strings, a lot of gain. Pedals Big Muff, Ibanez Bass Tube Screamer, Micro Pog. My style incorporates a lot of cords, drone strings octaves and covering melody lines when needed. Your bass will have to be higher in the mix, most bassists get short changed in this area I make sure I am not, your going to have to fight for it. We are a original band but our live set include covers. Here is a song where at the end I cover the guitar part while peddling a open E. http://youtu.be/OUZ5R6eMuz8