Combining 2 Different Guitar Sounds

[robotbraineater]

well guys, one of the guitar players in the band im in is big time into metal, and wants to write his guitar parts accordingly. on the other hand, our other guitar player is heavy into ambient guitar. i think that these two styles combined, along with my pop-punk basslines and our drummer's hard rock stylings, make for a potentially extremely interesting and unique music style. any advice on how we should approach writing in this situation?

[Joey3313]

Originally Posted by robotbraineater

well guys, one of the guitar players in the band im in is big time into metal, and wants to write his guitar parts accordingly. on the other hand, our other guitar player is heavy into ambient guitar. i think that these two styles combined, along with my pop-punk basslines and our drummer's hard rock stylings, make for a potentially extremely interesting and unique music style. any advice on how we should approach writing in this situation?

Write whatever and play what comes out?

I don't know how it works for everyone else here, but when I try and write stuff fitted for specific genres or whatever, it usually just comes off as sounding forced.

IMO, just let it flow out. Whether or not people can see your individual influences is unimportant. Writing good songs is. I get that it is just different styles, but I think it tends to work better when you write your parts with the song in mind, and not with your "style" determining what you play.

[robotbraineater]

yeah i mean thusfar, our songwriting process has been just kinda letting things flow, but its also been a little all over the place. im really excited for the possibilities though. thanks for the advice

[pklima]

Lots of possibilities... here's one way to do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJaiRYnpXMc

[Yools]

This reminds me of an interview I read about Faith No More years ago. That was a band with players coming from very different directions - a thrash/metal guitar player, a keyboard player into pop and dance music, a drummer who was all about heavy classic rock and groove, and a bass player who was a punk/metal player with a real sense of funk (oh, and a singer who was most likely from another planet). They got together and created something that was not only unique, but sold a lot of albums. One thing about the interview (it was probably with Billy Gould) that really stood out in my mind was that, even though the guys in the band really didn't get along all that well personally, they all respected each other musically and were all open to other's suggestions and opinions. THAT is the key to making it work.

I've experienced both sides of that in my own history. I come from a metal/hardcore background and wanted to do soemthing different; I once started a band with a guy who was more of a rock guitarist (lots of flange and chorus, wanking solos, etc) and a drummer that was more pop than rock, and I wanted to do something similar to what FNM did. It failed miserably, because the guitar player was incapable of listening to what I was trying to do or to my suggestions about songs, and the drummer was afraid to do anything different or challenging. I later formed a band with a rapper and two brothers (guitar and drums) that were into a lot of pop-punk, and had the opposite experience - everyone respected everyone else's opinions, and everyone was willing to speak up and to take criticism without taking it personally. We created a fairly unique sound, and that band was the most successful band I was ever in.

The unfortunate thing is that you can only control this in yourself; if your bandmates have closed minds and closed ears, you can't change that. The best you can do is recognize it and get out before you invest too much of yourself in it.

One last thing... putting together different types of players is IMO the best way to create something new. Best of luck - I wish I could find a group like that.

-Y

[chrisisnotevil]

Metal meets ambient... Give the band Hellas Mounds a listen, search on MySpace and last.fm for them. I'd put a link up but i'm posting from my phone, sorry.

[robotbraineater]

well hats off to yools because 3 of us came into practice ready to go, but unfortunately after just a few practices together, the guitarist who i mentioned that was into ambient stuff big time, was a no show. he's also avoided phone calls, text messages facebook contact,etc. however, its really a good thing, because its better for him to leave now than to ditch us after a year like the first guitarist we ever had did. furthermore, we are still keeping a very unique sound with the 3 of us, and i couldnt be happier i love the way all of us individually blend together musically, and it seems that the second guitarist was simply unwilling to be open about the music. the 3 of us are having a good time and starting to write some lovely music, and i think we've got a lot of talent and creativity. what more can you ask for?