Last week we looked at making an exact double guitar track. This week we will look at making two similar guitar tracks. Two similar guitar tracks function very similar to the exact doubled guitar track. You will be using two guitar parts to make a wide stereo image of the guitar sound. The difference is the similar guitar track is not tracked as the exact same guitar part… meaning, you don’t have to play the guitar parts exactly the same. Infact, little variances is what this tracking trick is all about.

So what is the goal here? Remember, with the exact doubled guitar tracks we are using time aligning tools to make sure both guitar tracks are exactly the same. With the similar guitar tracking trick, we are actually looking for the two guitar parts to act as one guitar part, but play off each other. I often will track both guitar parts with the exact same main rhythm… then I will make sure that one of the two guitar parts has slightly more; motion, rhythm, feeling, whatever you want to call it. This will give you one rock solid guitar track that is a little stale and one guitar part that is interesting, while still having the overall feel of one guitar part.

I have found that it can be a little tricky to have two similar guitar parts that still make the overall impression of one guitar part. Because of this, I almost always use this trick on acoustic guitar parts that are full chord strum parts. This trick works well when there is a lot of harmonic information going on. Overdrive tracks, distortion tracks, or powerchord parts seem to be a little too transient to make this an effective trick. Trying this trick on the wrong kind of track can lead to the impression of two tracks that were poorly recorded together, be careful!

Just like with the previously discussed exact doubled guitar track, we are dealing with phase here. So be careful to avoid the previously discussed phasing issues. Phase build up or cancellations can still occur with this trick. Make sure to listen in mono, stereo, and/or use a spectrograph to determine if there are phasing issues that come up. Luckily since we are not using the exact same rhythmic material phasing issues seem to be a lot less present with this trick, but should still be a serious concern.

If I find that these tracks are going to be somewhat buried in the mix with a lot of other exact doubled guitar tracks I will often take this a step further. Too many exact guitar tracks can make the overall sound of a recording a little stale. This is because of all the exact same material that is being presented. I will sometimes take the two similar guitar parts and re-record each of them a second time. This time I will try to make both of the guitar parts full of; feeling, rhythm, motion, whatever you want to call it. I will often let these tracks stray away from the original main rhythm a little more, while still trying to maintain the sound of one guitar. When done right, this can really bring the overall feel of the entire song to life while making a very wide stereo image for the guitar parts. Be careful to maintain the sound of only one guitar, but don’t get stuck in the exact doubled guitar part mindset.  

Check back next week for how to make one delayed guitar track.