So.. three guitarists?

[Triple7]

Get the Cult Of Luna dvd, watch it, study it, embrace the awesomeness of 3 guitar players.

 

[vampiregenocide]

Theres already a thread on this subject just so you guys know, so there will be more info here.

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/general-music-discussion/87955-bands-with-3-guitarists.html

 

[MF_Kitten]

when recording, i have 3 guitars: left, right, centre. alot of the time, they play the same parts. the middle guitar just fills the sonic spectrum a little. i turn it down until it blends into the "wall of guitars", maybe a little lower than the two other guitars. that way you retain the wide stereo feel, but with a fuller fatter sound.

 

[hide]

Not sure if ss.org will like Amia Venera Landscape, but I think they're one of the few local bands around here that I think being great at what they do.





Yes, guitars are not discernable one another, but that's what makes for the "shade" of the songs.

 

[Tyrant]

What's not to get? He asked : "How, exactly, does that work out, without sounding like mushy shit? And is the bassist EVER heard?"

And I answered that Maiden do it fine, althought they may have 3 guitarist on stage potentially only two of them are really being heard since no one cares about the 3rd

My comment was more towards what you said about Jannick

 

[Demiurge]

I often hear in albums (and have performed live with 3 guitarists for afew shows) which use simple 2 or 3 note repeated lines in the background as "drone lines".. it adds an extra element to normal music which makes it more unique and fuller. Any song can have layers added to it.

I saw a band playing awhile back with a 3 guitarists and one of them was doing something similar, playing exclusively with an eBow.

 

[Antimatter]

That band has got it going on, hide

 

[XeoFLCL]

I'm pretty sure this is the video he was talking about where to him it sounded like a mess of noise.

I'm not the kind of person to make negative comments here, but if someone thinks this clip sounds like noise, they need to get their ears checked. That first part where they play Insomnia is flawless. The only thing bad about that video is it sounds like it was recorded on a cheap digital cam.

Anyways I was in a band with 3 guitarists momentarily and we had a few problems because one of the guitarists was having trouble keeping on beat. Keep in mind the more guitars you add the more precise you have to be with your playing or it's going to sound sloppy.

Oh, and Whitechapel is another good example of a band that has 3 guitarists and makes it sound good.

 

[MFB]

Explosions in the Sky also do it sometimes as their bassist also plays guitar. Not sure what songs they do it on since most tabs I've seen for them have bass playing as well so it's a bit odd

 

[nhersom]

The Acacia Strain had 3 guitarists on there first cd. One of the songs actually has a part where all 3 are playing individually before a breakdowns.

 

[hide]

That band has got it going on, hide

I met the drummer once, he's a top guy too!

 

[Espaul]

Maiden seems to do it fine but I have a feeling they just turn Janick down to 0 and let Dave and Adrien do the songs

I saw maiden couple of years ago (seen them 3 times I think) And Dave always struck me as the best guitarist, but the last couple of times both Jannick and Adrien smoked his ass well, they were clearly better anyways.

 

[Antimatter]

I met the drummer once, he's a top guy too!

yeeaaahhhh

 

[anne]

I have up to five guitars in my thingie I'm doing now. Three leads/two rhythm (different chords). It's pretty difficult to fit into a mix if you're trying to make everything heard at once, but that's dumb anyway. Relatively quiet stuff can still have a useful function. Also panning is your friend.

 

[Sang-Drax]

I wouldn't know how to make it work without making it redundant, TBH... unless the singer is a growler (at least most of the time). In that case, 3 guitars might actually be very interesting for using several layers like old In Flames, without ever conflicting with the vocal melody line (because it doesn't exist).

For the same reason, it's not too uncommon a line-up for instrumental bands - like Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky (though the later lacks a bass when using 3 guitars).

At any rate, it's got a bitch to mix that, specially when playing in smaller venues with easily annoyed sound technicians. Using amps with different voicings might be worth considering.

 

[Konfyouzd]

I've seen three BASS players play together w/o creating mush. It has to do w/ respecting each other's "space" so to speak.

Obviously all three of you don't need to be soloing at the same time. Likewise all of you aren't needed to play a riff at the same exact time either. You could have 2 play the riff and one play a lead. Or you could have one play the riff while the other 2 play a harmonized lead.

There are plenty of options.

When I saw the bass players do it--I believe it was Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller and Stanley Clark--one took the bottom end, one took the mids, and the other would solo. It sounded fantastic.

You can have an entire ORCHESTRA of guitar players if they all know their role (Perhaps that was a bit hyperbolic, but you get the idea).

 

[Sang-Drax]

^ True, I've seen a video of these 3 bass players. Really cool stuff

 

[Triple7]

 

[BenEllerGuitars]

My band Arc (ARC (new song up NOW) on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads) has 3 guitarists in it. we DO have to be careful about how we shape our tones to get everything to cut through when we're practicing (lots of mids, not a lot of gain or bass... thats the key!).

a lot of the times we do layering, like where one guitar will be playing a riff, another guitar will be picking out a chord progression based on that riff, and another will be playing a melody over it. there are also a lot of parts in some of our songs where there will be a chord progression, and both of the other guitars will be playing different melodies over (one might be a simple trem picked thing changing notes on the beats, while the other is higher and busier). sounds pretty damn good to me!

 

[anne]

My band Arc (ARC (new song up NOW) on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads) has 3 guitarists in it. we DO have to be careful about how we shape our tones to get everything to cut through when we're practicing (lots of mids, not a lot of gain or bass... thats the key!).

a lot of the times we do layering, like where one guitar will be playing a riff, another guitar will be picking out a chord progression based on that riff, and another will be playing a melody over it. there are also a lot of parts in some of our songs where there will be a chord progression, and both of the other guitars will be playing different melodies over (one might be a simple trem picked thing changing notes on the beats, while the other is higher and busier). sounds pretty damn good to me!

Good stuff!