Multi-Site Worship

Ok. If you’re really going for a full sound, I would advise using 2 electric guitars and 1 acoustic in your band. You want to make sure though that the electrics aren’t playing the same thing. That just makes everything muddy and very 1 dimensional. Make sure that one electric is taking care of the rhythm parts (power chords etc.) and the other electric is doing the high parts (melodies, coloring tones). Assign them a part and make sure they stick to it, even if it means that they don’t play anything until 1 min. into the song. Most songs today already have this arrangement so it shouldn’t be a problem. As far as the acoustic in this scenario, they need to strum open chords as much as possible. This will add a very nice texture to the overall guitar sound. Remember that the acoustic serves 2 purposes. It provides a very broad frequency filler and also acts as a percussion instrument when strumming down and up in 8th notes. If you bring it down in the mix, just a little lower than the electrics, you’ll hear the pick hitting the strings and it will almost sound like a shaker. This really gives a lot of energy to songs in any tempo.

If you only have 1 electric and 1 acoustic, you’ll have to be a little more creative. If you’re playing a song and the guitars are doing their parts but a guitar solo is coming up, the first thing you’re going to notice when they take that solo is that the mids to low-mids is going to drop out because the electric is no longer playing rhythm. They’re playing a solo. They can’t do both. Or can they? Probably not. So, what to do. One thing you can do is bring up the acoustic guitar. What? Bring up the acoustic during the electric guitar solo? Yep! It works. Of course you’re going to bring up the electric too, but loosing your mids during the solo will suck the life out of a song fast. Another thing you can do is have your bass player play octaves or play power chords. Hey, they’re there, might as well use them right. Just kidding Seaweed!

There are few more little things you can do with the guitars in this area. TUNING! Always keep your guitar tuned. But please, if you’re going to tune your guitar on stage, have it muted. No one wants to hear someone tune up. Let’s keep it professional. NEW STRINGS! These things do wonders for a guitar, especially an acoustic. The percussive aspect of guitar strumming will really stand out with new strings.

Hope this stuff helps. Like I said in one of my previous posts, I am not a trained engineer. This stuff just comes from my years of trial and error in various bands. Check back soon as I’ll be discussing the role of keyboards and vocals.