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The Recording Guitarist: Are You Playing for theSong—or for Your Butt?

Joe GoreJuly 21, 2015

If I had a nickel for every guitarist I’ve interviewed who uttered some variation of the words “I play for thesong, not my ego,” I’d have … well, somewhere between 15 and 20 dollars. Some of those players are lying.Some interpret that as “I won’t necessarily storm out of the studio if they don’t ask me to play a 32nd-note

shred solo on an acoustic ballad.” And many are 100 percent sincere! But just because we want to play for thesong doesn’t mean we do—or even can.

We guitarists hold some great advantages over other instrumentalists. Unlike most band and orchestral

players, we can perform complete-sounding arrangements entirely on our own. We’re also largely unburdenedby centuries of pedagogy decreeing the “correct” way to play. We’re freer to fly by the seats of our pants andjust make shit up. That’s generally a plus—what other instrument boast such a wealth of styles, or so readilyinvites new ones?

Class dunces. Still, the ways we learn and practice can make us dunces when it comes to recording. One

remedy (or at least a worthwhile thought experiment) is to distance ourselves from our amps—physically,sonically, and conceptually.

Now, when I say “dunce,” I don’t refer to theoretical stuff, like the way most guitarists suck at music reading.But compared to other instrumentalists, we usually have less experience playing within ensembles. (This also

contributes to our reputation for having poor senses of rhythm.) Putting in hours with a good band makes usbetter at aligning our performances with other players’ parts, but doesn’t necessarily help us objectivelyperceive our contributions within the larger sonic picture.

Considerhow most of us practice: with loud amps aimed at our butts. Yeah, it’s fun, but it can cultivate awarped sense of how parts should sound in context. Over time, that butt-thumping sensation becomes

synonymous with “good tone.” Hearing ourselves from any other source—studio monitors, say, or the crappylittle computer speakers and ear buds used by most of today’s music consumers—feels wimpy in comparison.That can make us play too loudly, mix ourselves too prominently, and monitor ourselves so deafeningly whilerecording that we can’t hear ourselves within the production.

Keep your distance. It may help to get in the habit of evaluating your performances as they emanate from

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monitors, not from your amp. A few techniques worth trying:

When tracking in a studio with a control room, try playing from behind the desk, not from the floor. (Thisalso provides a huge psychological advantage: hearing the comments and reading the body language of thefolks who will decide whether to keep or flush your part.)

If tracking while wearing headphones, experiment with turning your performance way down. You may besurprised by how little level you truly need to play well. (In some cases, hearing yourself quieter than usualcan make you dig in harder for a more intense performance.) Try focusing on anything but  your part. For

example, if you’re playing to a good drummer, try monitoring her hi-hat louder than your guitar. (And thatgoes double for acoustic guitar tracks.)

Years of practicing next to amps makes us crave loud, fat sounds, but “quiet and

skinny” often works better within an arrangement.

Listen analytically to your favorite recordings—not for the tasty licks, but the amount of space each partoccupies, both over time and within the frequency spectrum. How continuous is each part? How much does itvary? Which frequency ranges does it occupy? You can even geek out and map the arrangement on graph

paper: When does each part occur, and where does it sit within the frequency spectrum? Next, map out one of your own productions. Are the visual patterns as interesting and varied? Is there as much white space?

Fat or fit? Years of practicing next to amps makes us crave loud, fat sounds, but “quiet and skinny” oftenwork better within an arrangement. (The illicitly leaked “Multitrack Masters” bootlegs of classic rockrecordings with each track soloed are an invaluable lesson. Search for those words on YouTube if you haven’tyet. Spoiler alert: Many classic guitar parts have fewer lows and low-mids than you might think.)

It may also help to practice with amp modelers, even if you hate them. Whenever amp modelers getmentioned in a guitar mag article, someone inevitably bellows, “Modelers suck! My [insert pet amp name]blows them all away.” I get it—hearing a modeled sound through monitors seldom feels as exciting and

immersive as a loud amp blasting your butt. But if you compare the recorded  sound of that butt-blasting ampto a modeled sound, the gap narrows to near insignificance.

(I’ve created and administered blind listening tests for audio industry clients, and I’ve got the numbers: Whilemany guitarists can distinguish amps from models while performing, only a miniscule percentage canconsistently do so by listening to recordings—and we’re talking guitarists, not general listeners.)

In any case, working with modelers can teach you to perceive volume independently from tone quality. I’mnot saying don’t use analog amps—they’re awesome! But time spent evaluating yourself via headphones ormonitors rather than a blazing amp can recalibrate your ears and teach you to hear yourself more objectively.

Play like a producer. A generation ago, fewer players needed to worry about this stuff— they’d just set upand play, leaving the tone sculpting to producers and engineers. But nowadays, even leading session playersare likely to be fine-tuning their own tones in small project studios. And of course, many of the greatest

recording guitarists always crafted parts and refined tones with an objective sense of frequency and space.(I’m looking at you, Pagey and Gilmour.)

Ironically, evaluating your parts with detached objectivity can create more emotionally engaging recordings.And that’s what truly matters—assuming you play for the song, not your butt.

San Francisco-based Senior Editor Joe Gore has recorded with Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Tracy Chapman,

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Courtney Love, Marianne Faithfull, Les Claypool, Flea, DJ Shadow, John Cale, and many other artists. Hismusic appears in many films and TV shows, plus an incriminating number of jingles. Joe has written severalthousand articles about music and musicians and has contributed to many musical products, including Apple’sLogic and GarageBand programs. In his spare time Joe produces the Joe Gore line of guitar effects and edits ageeky guitar blog (tonefiend.com).