Here’s What Every Solo Guitarist NEEDS to Perform INSANE Guitar Layers

If you're a lonely guitarist, one man band, or someone who needs multiple guitars but only has one, then this post is for you. Today, we are going to take a look at some critical pieces of gear that will allow you to layer multiple guitar parts over each other. The comprehensive bundle of tools I'm going to show you can help a lot with solo performance situations, exploring creative possibilities, and figuring out guitar harmonies. If you’re also in a situation where it’s just you and one other musician, like a drummer, this can help a lot if you need another guitarist but don’t have access to one (or 3).

Materials

First, you’ll need a looper of some kind. I’m using the DigiTech JML2 JamMan Stereo Looper and Phrase Sampler Guitar Effects Pedal.

A stellar addition that can enhance our process and final product would be a distortion pedal. This piece of gear will make your layers stick out from each other. For example, you can have a distorted lead tone over a nice clean rhythm tone. In this case, I’m using the Electro-Harmonix Metal Muff with Top Boost Distortion Pedal.

If you decide to use a distortion pedal in addition to the looper, you will need to have at least 3 guitar cables.

1. One cable from your guitar to the distortion pedal
2. One cable from the distortion pedal to the looper
3. And one cable from the looper to your amp

First, Lay Down Your Rhythm Tone

Like I alluded to before, you can lay down your foundation with a clean rhythm tone. If you’ve got an acoustic-electric guitar, this would be a good time to put it to use. In the video, I just going to use my electric guitar and play it through a clean setting. The first layer doesn’t have to be clean, especially if you’re looking for some heavy guitar-driven sounds, but this demonstration will help illustrate a greater list of possibilities.

Get a feel for the rhythm of your idea. Once your idea is well-practiced, press the foot switch on your looper at the same time as you begin playing. Let the looper continue to record for as long as your idea lasts. Once your idea is complete, press the foot switch again as soon as the riff ends. You should hear a seamless repetition of your riff play continuously.

Record Your Second Layer

At this point, I am going to introduce my distortion pedal. You can either introduce a face-melting lead part, or a heavy rhythm. Having the timing and number of bars established at the start can help sharpen the process. What you do with the second layer, as in every layer, is entirely up to you and what your vision is. In some cases, like a unique live performance, the 2nd layer may run parallel to the first through the entire duration of the loop. You don’t need to worry about building up tension because you would be recording the loops as you’re performing them. The audience will be experiencing the rising tension as you are creating it in front of them. In other cases, like with generating song ideas, the 2nd layer may not even come in and fill every bar that the first layer occupied. It just depends on what you’re going for.

Top It Off with Some Leads

Now it’s time to throw the toppings on this rockin’ pizza and lay down some tasty leads. You can play a soaring guitar solo or even a pattern that flows with your chord progression. In this case, I play a staccato rhythm that moves with the chords. For bonus points (and this is where it gets really fun) you can add another lead layer to create a dual lead guitar harmony. If you pull this off, you’ll actually have 4 guitar parts playing at once!

The possibilities are endless.

Conclusion

Thanks to the magic of a looper pedal and a distortion pedal, we figured out how to have 2, 4, or infinite guitar parts playing simultaneously. We managed to achieve this without having to recruit any other musicians. Use this small bundle of gear to put on a unique solo live performance, figure out the perfect harmonies, or to get those creative juices flowing with your songwriting and arrangement decisions.

How would you use this setup?

Relevant Links

DigiTech JML2 JamMan Stereo Looper and Phrase Sampler Guitar Effects Pedal


Electro-Harmonix Metal Muff with Top Boost Distortion Pedal