Using a floyd equipped axe to record solos, but not use them live?

[MetalHex]

Heres my silly situation,

I love guitar solos with some whammy wankage as long as its done moderately and tastefully. I dont like KKing type excessive wankage.

I like the idea of recording using floyd guitars for solos as i can do dive bombs and dimebag squeals and all that cool stuff. For instance, on my single that we recorded in the studio that we are releasing in a week, I recorded the whole song and solo with a guitar with a fixed bridge......but i thought adding in a dive bomb and squeal at the very end of the solo would make it sound killer. So i used my floyd equipped guitar to do just that part and it sounds killer!

However, I also dont really like floyd equipped guitars as i find them not too comfy for my picking hand when compared to a fixed bridge. And i dont enjoy maintaining and setups....socim not really a "floyd guy" per se.

My question is, (and I know, I can do whatever I want to do) but, is it silly or lame to record a solo using a floyd guitar but then when playing live to just use a guitar with a fixed bridge? Or is it that, once i record solos with a floyd equipped guitar, now I HAVE to play one live? ( i am thinking about getting another floyd equipped guitar since ive just sold that one, but not necessarily becauae I feel that i have to, but its good to have one on hand.)

 

[cardinal]

Not silly at all. Lots of big names cut a record with a very different guitar than they use live.

 

[guitaardvark]

It's your music, so change it however much you want when you play it live. Unless the use of the Floyd is somehow a foundational part of the song, there's nothing wrong with not using it.

 

[budda]

Is it integral to the song? Can you improve on it?

 

[Discoqueen]

I don’t think it’s stupid or silly. Most people won’t notice, either, I would imagine.

 

[aesthyrian]

It's your music you can do whatever you want.

Though, as a fan, I would expect you to pull off live what you performed on the album. So, if I really love that solo and am expecting that sweet dive bomb and squeal but instead you just play a pinch harmonic or something else I would be pretty bummed and disappointed. Whenever that happens I'm simply left wondering why the artist felt the urge to include a part that they had no desire/ability to perform live?

But that's just me, most probably don't care about that sorta stuff.

 

[MetalHex]

Is it integral to the song? Can you improve on it?

Its not integral to the song, its an a junction between the end of the solo to the ending... So its not super important but it did make that little section alot better. When I post it up next week feel free to take a listen.

 

[MetalHex]

It's your music you can do whatever you want.

Though, as a fan, I would expect you to pull off live what you performed on the album. So, if I really love that solo and am expecting that sweet dive bomb and squeal but instead you just play a pinch harmonic or something else I would be pretty bummed and disappointed. Whenever that happens I'm simply left wondering why the artist felt the urge to include a part that they had no desire/ability to perform live?

But that's just me, most probably don't care about that sorta stuff.

Thats kinda how I feel as I wonder about those things to. And yes i probably would throw in jist a pinch harmonic live haha. But you are right most people dont care

 

[spudmunkey]

It's your music you can do whatever you want.

Though, as a fan, I would expect you to pull off live what you performed on the album. So, if I really love that solo and am expecting that sweet dive bomb and squeal but instead you just play a pinch harmonic or something else I would be pretty bummed and disappointed. Whenever that happens I'm simply left wondering why the artist felt the urge to include a part that they had no desire/ability to perform live?

But that's just me, most probably don't care about that sorta stuff.

I'm of two minds:

On one hand, I kinda sorta half expect a life performance to be a scaled down version of a recorded piece. I assume more tracks are used in the studio, doubled-up guitars, perhaps some little sound effects or background vocals, etc.

On the other hand, I do get that disappointment. I saw Page & Plant on the Walking into Clarksdale tour, and it was effectively a "live led zeppelin" show. However, Robert Plant just...skipped over all of the higher notes, or sang them an octave lower. Still one of my favorite shows, but that was a bummer. Immigrant song, for example, and none of those "Ahhahhaaaaaaa Ahhh!" yells. It just went from instrumental intro, to the verse.

 

[Mathemagician]

I was watching a video of commentary by the A7X guys talking about recording an older album and how they were having a ton of fun in the studio seeing how crazy they could write parts even if the solo required them to record a few notes at a time. They didn’t realize how bad it would be until it was as “epic” as they wanted then suddenly it was “shit I actually have to learn that”. Lol.

It came out amazing and frankly I wasn’t too bothered that it was hard for them to play live. The solos on the album were fucking nuts and made me want to practice all day, lol.

In other words no one is going to care how you play your music, it’s your brainchild.

 

[MetalHex]

I'm of two minds:

On one hand, I kinda sorta half expect a life performance to be a scaled down version of a recorded piece. I assume more tracks are used in the studio, doubled-up guitars, perhaps some little sound effects or background vocals, etc.

On the other hand, I do get that disappointment. I saw Page & Plant on the Walking into Clarksdale tour, and it was effectively a "live led zeppelin" show. However, Robert Plant just...skipped over all of the higher notes, or sang them an octave lower. Still one of my favorite shows, but that was a bummer. Immigrant song, for example, and none of those "Ahhahhaaaaaaa Ahhh!" yells. It just went from instrumental intro, to the verse.

But vocals are a little different story, no? When was that show? Maybe he couldnt hit those notes it at least on that night? Idk

 

[diagrammatiks]

No one cares what you do live except other guitar players.

 

[MetalHex]

No one cares what you do live except other guitar players.

Right. Plus theres a very slim chance that people would listen to the song enough times to even notice that part waa different

 

[777timesgod]

It is only a bad idea, if you rely on the bar a lot and it is a part of your musical signature. If you only want it to spice up the end or for an overlapping fill during a song then stick with the fixed bridge and be happy.

However, if you go full tremolo crazy (which you do not like as you said) then people will wonder why the song on the record and the live version sound so different. Can you imagine Slayer without the Kahlers?
The same applies for an effect that was just thrown during a few seconds of a song, even the nit-pickers will understand why you did not add it to your effect chain.