I searched but didn't find anything so here it goes...

I recently got kicked out of my band. Luckily, I have another joining another band now. Thing is, I'm probably going to be the only guitarist, and I haven't got any experince in playing alone guitar in a band. So, any tips on how I make my playing stand out and not sound boring? Like should I alter my solo style so it doesn't get boring? I know I might be overreacting about this whole thing, but still, I don't wanna look like a fuckin' jerk when we hit the stage.

Practice with your new band alot! I've seen bands with 1 gutarist who sound better than bands with 2. It's all about style!

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no offense but IMO when i hear bands with one guitar, 90% of the time it sounds pretty boring.

kind of like old Metal church, their riffs just sound too plain with no lead over it.
but maybe that's just me

Also i forgot to say most of them had a loop pedal when playing alone.

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Decapitated on their last US tour had only 1 guitarist and they did fine...Just the rhythm when Vogg was doing leads weren't there...other than that it worked out perfectly fine.

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I am the only guitarist in my band. We are mostly doing thrash right now. And it's fine. We may get a second guitarist latter on but for now we are fine.

Don't worry about sounding the same. The key to having a great sounding bands is catchy riffs. Don't relly on technicallity or trying to wow people. Even if your songs follow a simple structure keep it that way. Look at Sodom, Destruction, Venom or Bathory. All one guitarist. Very simple guitar work but memorable. Don't try and wow people with 50 notes cause there are few bands that can be both overly technical and catchy (Rigor Mortis comes to mind). Sometimes extreemly technical guitar work can become boring after a while. Focuss on what made rock popular...Riffs...and a bad ass attitude.

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Add in little extra accents every now and again to keep it interesting

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Check out bands with only one guitarist aswell. I dunno what you're into. Shit like Sleep Terror, Cattle Decapitation, etc.

You do have something called a bass guitarist I'm guessing?

Use him. Use him the way you would a rhythm guitarist. Make sure he isn't just playing the root of everything, you're a BAND, everyone should be filling those gaps and pulling their weight, and riffs shouldn't be boring anyway, lead over them or not.

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Vogg has been their only guitarist since Jacek Hiro(live only) left on their Winds of Creation(1st album tour), so generally they're a 1-guitarist band. They do indeed need a backing rythm for the leads.

Morbid Angel back in the Covenant tours had only Trey on guitar, and they worked out awesome. Hate Eternal generally only had 1 guitarist too. And well if you're not into brutal stuff, Manowar are a band that have always had only 1 axeman.

If you write good music it shouldn't matter if your band has 1 guitarist or 3. I personally WANT to be the only guitarist in my band, because it's much easier to express what you want to hear as far as melodies/harmonies and let the bassist handle the low end(not just root notes like someone said) and then come up with basic drum patterns and let a drummer interpret it how he wants. Besides, that way, your songs will sound very different live and in many cases be a lot more interesting if you throw in some improvised/accented bits.

It also depends what kind of music your doing. Btw, here is some live videos of Kagerou. They have only one guitarist and they sound great live. They do Metal and Jazz.

Metal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0h-QosQoRE&NR

Jazz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGjq...related&search=

Check them out.

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Get a loop station to 2nd guitars so u wont sound boring. PLus u got ur bassist backing u up, so just play what ur supposed to play and its all good.

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Lol whats wrong with old Metal Church??


Toxik only had 1 guitarist for thier 1st album. I watched them live at Dynamo, thats when i 1st realized they only had 1 guitarist. He sounded better than most bands with 2. But thier music is more technical than the majority of other 1 guitarist bands.

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And you bassist could always put some distortion on his signal while you are doing solos to give the illusion of two guitarists if that what you are going for.

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Yea, i forgot to mention that. You could get your bassist to hook themselves uop with a Boss Me-50b or something like that to fill the gap that the rythem guitarist would normaly fill

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Manowar is a fuckin' excellent example of what a band can pull of when a guitarist and a bass player are totally giving it 100%. Let's not forget either the mighty Coroner - it's sick how much Tommy pulled off all by himself.
Being the only guitarist in your band is something I like actually, it leads you to try to figure out all kinds of ways to broaden the scope of your playing.

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Coroner - Perfect Example

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All and all bro i say go for it and just do your best and follow some of the advice given.

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can you say RUSH? one guitarist

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Not jazz at all.

I figured they didn't have a second guitarist cuz they were in the US...didn't know they haven't had a 2nd guitarist since Winds of Creation...I'd totally go see them again if I knew they got a second guitarist for those backing rhythms...

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There is some jazz influences.

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Thanks for the help. I'm gonna talk with our bass player about the distortion thing, although I highly doubt that he will have something against it.

It may not be an issue at all, seriously, hundreds of bands only have one guitar, and if they are boring it's probably not down to the fact there is only one guitar, or that the bassist isn't using distortion.

All it may take it spice things up if you're worried is a slightly different approach to song writing that you would take with having 2 guitars.

After all, if you think about it, how many bands have you seen where both guitarists play exactly the same damn thing throughout a set? I've seen loads where I've thought they really didn't need two guitarists, other than the extra power and fuller mix the second guitar gave, but really, a tiny bit of reverb and or chorus (not enough to make things muddy...) could help that. I for one prefer my rhythm completely dry though.

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in my band we only had 1 guitar for a while... so to fix the rhythm under leads... we gave the bassist a boost pedal... so when i dropped off to do a lead, miss bassist hit a boost so her rhythm was louder... its kinda works...

(edit: added) wow i guess i should have read the thread first

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Dimebag. End of story.

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^ You act like he was the shit or somethen man. He was good but damn bro he wasn't all that great.

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Agreed. I've never liked Pantera and I think Dimebag is overratted.

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Agreed, and i'm not a big Pantera fan. You two ^^ I think are biased because you don't like the music and/or attention.

I can see this thread going down the shitter right here... it isn't about how good/great/average Dimebag was or not.

But seeing as the point has been raised, the Pantera live album is killer to listen to with only one guitar (whereas the studio albums obviously have multitracked guitars) because they did write cool songs.

I think thats where the answer lies, not in equipment.

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Exactly what Martin in Decapitated does, it makes the bass sound like a wall of fuzz. Almost like a guitar but just insanely fuzzy and muddy. From a bassist's point of view it probably sounds like shit but it gets the job done.

I am also the only guitarist in my band. It is no big deal. Eric Clapton was/is the only guitarist in Cream, and they make good music. Eric can rely on the bass guitar. So can I.
We decided to do a Fear of the Dark cover, in which we decided to give every instrument (two violins, keyboard, bass, drums, guitar) a solo. After those solos, we return to the song (the passage 'Fear of the dark!!' with solo in it), and it sounds very good.

The most important by the way is not the solo!! Music is music by a group of people playing together, not by one playing a solo (unless this is the only thing you and your band are doing). Most guitarists mistake on this thing. The most important is that you can play well together with the rest. Solo is something to worry about later, when you have some material and you agree that a solo would really add something to the song.
Perfection is reached only when there is nothing more to delete without damaging the original, not (as many people think) by adding so much until you know nothing to add anymore.

For example:
Cream - Sunshine of your Love
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters
Dimmu Borgir - A Succubus in Rapture
Children of Bodom - Kissing the Shadows

Songs like these would be no more without solo.

For example:
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Cradle of Filth - Desire in Violence Overture

Songs like these have good solos, but the song can easily do without.

For example:
the Black Dahlia Murder - Funeral Thirst
Cradle of Filth - Coffin Fodder

Songs like these have solos that definitely add something to the music, but deleting them does not totally destroy the song. On Coffin Fodder, I do not mean the second riff (in which the two guitars play something different.)

Listen to these songs and try to imagine what sense they would make without solos.

For example:
Cradle of Filth - The Forest Whispers My Name
Finntroll - Trollhammaren

These songs have no solo, and they would make no sense if you imagine them with. They can do without.

Let there be no mistake about this: I like all of these songs, but except from 'Nothing Else Matters' and 'One', I do not really like Metallica.

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I never said he was not a great guitarist. He was but I think people esspecially fans put him on a higher rank than he deserves. There are a lot of guitarist who are dead and worked their asses off harder and deserve more recognition than a self taught guitarist who generally made up most of his guitarwork as he went. I respect his playing skill and song writting but there are people who should be put ahead of him.

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It's not a contest

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pantera. ozzy osbourne. dream theater. its all good

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Municipal Waste has 1 guitarist and they fucking OWN live!!

You see IRON90, it is no big deal you are the only one. As long as you kick ass on stage:P.

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dude does your singer play an instrument cause if he doesn't he could play some thing behind the solo's

dream theater???

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your bassist better be awesome

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everyones bassist should be awesome. It pisses me off when I see a band playing gigs all over the place And Ive never played a single one, but their bassist is playing songs at like 60BPM with a pic and struggling with it, so the band puts him up like he's some kind of god.

I've dubbed myself the "band killer" because I get into an almost successful band and someone moves, or gets a huge ego or something causing everyone else to split.

WHAT THE FUCK!

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A plus. But not a necessity.

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I smell bullshit......
NEVER just settle for a half-assed frustrated guitarist/bassist. wait, and get someone decent.

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Obviously if the just tottally suck then yeah. But everyone can learn and improve no matter how good or bad. Even if your bassist just follows the guitar or covers his base signal with distortion at first he will improve with time. The bassist I play with used to play with a pick and just have distortion on this bass. Now he is using his fingers and and switching back and forth from clean to distorted. Don't wait and get someone decent cause chances are it's gonig to be a while. There is no time like the present. As long as your bassist can keep a steady rhythm than your fine. Get shit done, and then improve on that and expand. Don't twiddle your thumbs and don't spin your wheels.

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true, I read that wrong, I took it as though you were saying the bassists skill level didn't matter, because its only a bass.
sorry about that

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It's cool.

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bla bla bla look at Beneath the massacre there is only 1 guitarist and they sound like 2, he uses a pedal to alternate between 2 speaker...for some riff he uses one and sometimes the second and 2 speakers for general sound

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