Advice on getting band ready?

Niallseroreilly

Ive played in rhythm and sang in an acoustic duo for a few years. I can strum, finger pick and play pretty decently.

An opportunity has arose to play in a full band trio with bass and drums. Ill be covering lead and rhythm parts.

Im a bit apprehensive about being ready for the job, anyone have any advice on getting songs with both rhythm and lead parts down?

What should I emphasise in practice?

digitalscream

It's all about transitions, really - making it smooth between sections of each song.

To be honest, though, there's not a lot you can do on your own that'll help; playing in a full-band context is really the only thing that'll do it, and you'll find it happens pretty naturally.

Roland

Best prep I can think of is to watch a few YouTube videos. In a trio the guitar is often playing part chords and fills. There's not a lot of opportunity for block chords unless the bass or voice are providing melodic interest. YouTube will show you how other people tackle it. The real fun is how you bring your existing experience to bear. Don't belittle what you can already do. There are a lot of electric guitarists who couldn't insert a finger picked run at a pivotal point in a song.

AlasdairDavis

Learn the songs before you turn up for your first practice so that the first rehearsal is all about fitting in comfortably.

Vibetronic

as above, just learn the stuff thoroughly, plus listen to the songs a fair amount first so they stick in your head. The skills you've already got should stand you in good stead - there's not much room to hide in an acoustic duo, so I don't think you've got anything to worry about  

John_P

Just make sure the songs suit you - I try to form bands around songs that suit the singers voice.     Then learn the parts and be as comfortable as you can. 

TheBlueWolf

Learn the songs, but give yourself a little room for feeling the whole thing out with the others too. As you're playing a lead/rhythm combination use your ears... a lot more than usual. You'll probably be playing a lot of fills so transitioning smoothly helps

Cirrus

When it's just you, tone counts for a lot. Not in the guitar forum/snobby "good tone" way - what I mean is, use contrast to thicken out sounds. In music, everything is relative. So if you're the only guitar and you go from a rhythm part with full bodied chords to a lead part with single note runs, you need to do something to make the single note runs not feel like the bottom has just dropped out of the band. So use more distortion, or more volume, or a fuzz that throws extra harmonics into the mix. It's a cliche, but things like delay and reverb really help with this too.

The other thing is, try not to think about the guitar part as "rhythm" and "lead". It's all guitar playing. Chords don't have to be full chords, and lead doesn't have to be single note runs. Double stops, droning strings, octaves, you can use them all to thicken out what you're doing while still playing the recognisable melody lines/ riffs.

The bassist and drummer can help too. If there's a point in a song where you can't help but feel like you're not filling enough space, get the drummer to wash his ride or get the bassist to turn on a bass fuzz or something, or play chords, or fill out the sound in some way. Sometimes speeding up subtly can help, as the extra energy more than outweighs any actual thinning out of the sound. Look at the who for a masterclass in this.

Finally, sometimes you should just embrace the space that's not being filled by the second guitar. They say music's as much about the notes you don't play, and some of my most exhilarating experiences have been the times I've gone for that single note up the neck where the audience might have expected something much fuller - just let it hang there, unsupported, sometimes it'll be the only time the audience has heard that in a long time and it's a brave call.

Hope it goes well for you! 

Niallseroreilly

This is all good thank you

HAL9000

Cirrus said:

Finally, sometimes you should just embrace the space that's not being filled by the second guitar. They same music's as much about the notes you don't play, and some of my most exhilarating experiences have been the times I've gone for that single note up the neck where the audience might have expected something much fuller - just let it hang there, unsupported, sometimes it'll be the only time the audience has heard that in a long time and it's a brave call.

^This. Don't feel you have to fill the spaces. The drums and bass will do that. Play just as much or as little as you're comfortable with.

Barney

Try to use space a lot more and dont overplay ....there is nothing worse in my opinion than trying to compensate for lack of other guitar or keyboard .....probably you will notice it more when doing a solo...but instead of trying to take the solo up take it down instead iff you know what i mean...it can always be built up later..

People when listening become accustomed with a sound and iff you overplay a lot it sounds that way ....lots of light and shade i would say .. 

BigLicks67

Emphasise timing in your own practice, if you have been playing solo for years that will probably be your weak point. So play to a metronome or drum machine before a full band practice, also as above use the space created by the bass and drums to work on accenting the song rather than playing 100% of the time.

Teetonetal

For a trio, it's all about learning to love space and dynamics for me. I think we can get quite used to a dense / full sound which can then make the solo sections feel sparse as our comfort blanket is whipped away. 

Get a bit of a clean boost and delay going. Make sure the bass player and drummer are on it - in a 3 piece they need to be tight but also have the scope to expand their playing a bit too. 

Niallseroreilly

BigLicks67 said:

Emphasise timing in your own practice, if you have been playing solo for years that will probably be your weak point. So play to a metronome or drum machine before a full band practice, also as above use the space created by the bass and drums to work on accenting the song rather than playing 100% of the time.

TIming is an issue, thank you ive started practicing over songs with a looper, but getting a beatbuddy.

Niallseroreilly

Teetonetal said:

For a trio, it's all about learning to love space and dynamics for me. I think we can get quite used to a dense / full sound which can then make the solo sections feel sparse as our comfort blanket is whipped away. 

Get a bit of a clean boost and delay going. Make sure the bass player and drummer are on it - in a 3 piece they need to be tight but also have the scope to expand their playing a bit too. 

Delay makes sense brilliant.

Lozboy

Learn to love,adore and worship drummers & bass players.They can can be very helpful if treated with kid gloves.
 Thats my personal experience anyway.