Page Title

Recording Lead Guitars

The lead guitar in a song is pretty much like another lead vocal. Very often, it will be the one thing that people remember about a song. The recording technique is going to be virtually the same as the rhythm guitar but it will be approached from the same direction as a lead vocal (i.e.– IT HAS TO BE RIGHT). In some cases, you’ll have two lead guitarists to record. This complicates things by more than a factor of two because you have isolation issues, personal issues, monitoring issues, etc. The lead guitarist will make a couple of passes through the whole song and then it will come down to individual phrases. The dynamics that make recording lead vocal challenging also apply here. The guitarist is baring his soul for everyone to see and he wants to feel comfortable with what they are seeing. Being patient and understanding are important here but don’t let an overindulgent guitarist waste your time. If you see it heading in this direction, take control of the situation and suggest taking a break. Lead guitarists can be perfectionists or they can be so confident of their ability that they’ll convince themselves they’ve gotten it in one take, so try to keep on top of the situation while letting the creativity flow. It’s your job to bring both of these extremes somewhere towards the middle so you can get the best performances from them while allowing them to retain their dignity.

Return to Recording Basics