Guitar Parts
On Friday, July 20, my guitarist friend Brian W. and I hauled ourselves down to Lexington to lay down some guitar tracks on a couple of tunes. We had been up late the night before, shooting “The Player’s Spot,” so we were just a tad bit draggy on the way down. However, once we arrived and toted in the four guitars Brian brought, we perked up.
First out of the box was the Taylor acoustic for “Slave’s Day Off,” for which Brian first retracked the rhythm, then added a Baroque-ish lick that he’s been working on for a while for this tune. It only take a couple of passes to get it right but as the day went on, producer Michael T. coaxed more and more out of Brian. He got some electric licks out of the Gibson hollow-body that had made the trip, then we went on to “Doubts,” which is a fairly straightforward blues/jazz tune. That’s when everything came out of the case, including the 1958 Gretsch Country Gentleman that I had lent Brian, as well as a Stratocaster for some serious rock licks. The Gretsch went first, with which Brian put down some “lazy, stoned” (my terms) licks, suitable for the tone of the lyrics. Then the Gibson for a bit of a clean jazz sound, followed by the Strat for a rocked-out feel. The Pro-Tools Michael T. was using also including an application that made it possible to have the guitar sound like any cabinet ever used. (I don’t recall the app name.) It was pretty impressive - no need to haul your favorite Marshall cabinet - it’s available right on the board.
Altogether, we spend three-and-half hours and got guitar parts on two songs. Slowly, I turned, step by step, inch by inch….