What makes a great band guitarist - How a guitarist contributes to a band
► Watch the full lesson on YouTube
What makes a guitarist valuable in a band isn't flash — it's how well you fit. Adam, who also works as a record producer and arranger, breaks down how to be the player every group wants in the room.
What you'll learn
- Get out of your isolation bubble — put your ears on the bass and drums
- Play the spaces ("the hole"), especially when the singer rests
- Mind your volume — think like a producer about where your guitar sits in the mix
- Lock to the drummer's hi-hat and bass drum; bass + drums are the foundation
Fit into the whole picture
A lot of guitar players put an isolation cone around themselves — listening only to what they're doing, staring at their fingers, with little regard for what's happening around them. The first thing to train is the opposite: imagine antennas coming out of your head. Keep an ear on the bass player, know what the drummer is doing, and think about how you fit into the total picture.
And let the other musicians know you appreciate them. You hear what they're doing — shoot them a smile. Don't overdo it, just make it clear you're all creating something larger than any one player.
Look for the space
Unless the song calls for a steady strum the whole way through, you're looking for the space — what players call "the hole." The singer sings a line, then there's a gap with no vocal. That's where you can add something that enhances or plays off what the singer just did, then get back out of the way.
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Volume and feel
Guitarists are notorious for being the loudest thing on stage. Because Adam produces and arranges, he plays with his producer's hat on — asking what the guitar sounds like coming across the board, and whether it's sitting where it should in the mix. Sometimes the part needs to stick out; sometimes you pull back and lay the groove in so it's felt more than heard.
Know the feel of the song, too. Is it a shuffle, a 16th-note funk, an eighth-note driving thing? Then choose the sound that serves it — something pumping and driving, or something more ethereal.
Lock to the rhythm section
Everyone in a rhythm section is playing some kind of rhythm, so without good players listening to each other it can turn muddy. Adam zeroes in on the drummer — the hi-hat, which implies the feel and how the beat is divided, and the bass drum, which tells you where the hole is and what to lock into.
The foundation of a rhythm section is the bass player and the drummer. In the old-school studio approach, engineers got a sound on the drums, then the bass, then blended the two — just like building a house from the foundation up. So when Adam builds a rhythm guitar part, he's thinking about how it fits with the bass and drums, aiming for the pocket where everything locks together and grooves.
