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Virtuoso technique on bass or keyboard is not necessary to play simple parts that work in the context of a song. The
trick here is "part playing" – more about that in a moment.
If you want to submit your songs to publishers, you should realise that while it is true that a simple piano or guitar
accompaniment and a voice will carry a good song, executives in the music industry these days tend to want to hear
a fuller arrangement.
Instrumentation
The instruments you use on a home recording will be determined by what you have access to, what you feel
comfortable playing and what suits the song and/or genre in which you're working. For rock, you will need drums,
bass, rhythm and lead guitar, and vocals. If you record more than one guitar part, you will need to differentiate them;
this can be accomplished with one of the following combinations (see section 11):
- single coil/double coil
- front pickup/back pickup
- distorted/clean
- detuned/normal
- capoed/normal
- standard tuning/altered tuning
- strummed/fingerpicked
- 12-string/6-string
- acoustic/electric
Rock guitar is often played with distortion. Modern effects units have put amounts of distortion at the fingertips of
guitarists that, in the 1960s, would have required huge stacks and enough volume to drown out the sound of most
aircraft taking off. What's surprising, though, is that even on a hard rock recording a little distortion often goes
further than you thought, so be prepared to use less on a rhythm part. Distortion acts like a sponge, soaking up
frequencies and leaving less sonic space for everything else.
When you add other instruments, consider how they will sound when you come to mix the whole thing. Highly
unusual sounds may detract from the vocal/melody line, so use them sparingly. Instruments can be divided broadly
into those whose main function is to create the harmonic padding and those that have a supporting melodic interest.
Strummed guitars, piano chords and sustained string or organ chords all function to provide the harmonic backdrop
against which everything else happens. One such instrument on either side of the mix is a good approach – and it
doesn't need to play all the time. A harmonic background can also be established with pared-down parts whose
overall effect is to suggest a chord sequence.
When choosing instruments for an arrangement, consider:
Their natural sustain: Are they for stretching notes? Are they for short bursts?
Their pitch: Are they high, middle or low?
Their tone: Are they bright or muted, percussive or smooth?
In commercial music, certain instruments function as "emotional shorthand" – harmonica is for downhome sincerity;
Spanish guitar indicates organic feeling; Irish pipes and South American pan pipes say "World Music".