How Many Guitar Tracks Do You ACTUALLY Need?? Let’s Find Out

As a guitarist first getting into music production, I wanted to make sure that the guitar stood out in a full arrangement. While it was fun to hear song ideas all come together, I couldn’t help but notice that my guitar wasn’t sounding as big and powerful as I wanted it to. I would even go as far as to say it sounded WEAK. Fortunately, I discovered that the secret had to do with using the right number of guitar tracks in the right way. This is critical for you to figure out as a guitarist of any style, but especially one who plays rock or metal music. In this lesson, I get to show you how a rock song can go from sounding just okay, to sounding strong and fierce. When you put together all these nuances and considerations, your guitars are going to carry your song to a much higher level. 

A Guitar Track Of 1 Leads To No Fun

A single guitar track might sound decent by itself, but it's not gonna hold any weight in a full mix. At best, it might sound okay. We don't want to settle for just "okay." We want our song to ROCK!

In a full mix, your single guitar track is going to be overshadowed by other instruments and elements involved in the arrangement. What might sound thick and chunky by itself will quickly sound thin and wimpy. A single guitar track is diluted by other sonic forces fighting for the listener's attention. Chances are you're like me and you play guitar, so yourself and your song a favor and don't rely on a single guitar track to use in a full mix.

Things To Avoid When Recording 2 Guitar Tracks

As you’ll see, we’ll want to shoot for at least two guitar tracks. If you think about it, a lot of bands have two guitarists. Even if a band only has one guitarist, you'd be hard-pressed to find a modern band recording one guitar track and calling it a day.  

When trying to get a jam out into the world as quickly as possible, it’s natural for us to just copy and paste since our technology allows us to do that.  Copying and pasting takes away from the performance. We don’t want things to sound mechanical and robotic. We are humans playing music for humans.

Copying and pasting the same track may be an attempt to save time, but you’ll end up wasting that extra minute for nothing.  You may already know about panning, which is focusing the volume of a track to either the left or the right speaker. We’ll end up panning two separately recorded guitar tracks in opposite directions. 

If you decide to pan duplicate tracks in opposite directions, the song will just sound like it was just recorded on one guitar track.  You'll have to go back and start over the correct way.

Guitar Tracks Of At Least 2 Make The Crowd Go, "Woo!"

Once we’ve got tones we like with the first guitar track, we need to shake things up a bit with the second guitar recording. This means recording the same exact thing by trying to match your playing as close as you can to your first performance. We want to shoot for a second guitar track that sounds similar, but not identical to the first. Each track will act as a team to add some nice stereo width to your sound.

To make things slightly different for my second rhythm track, I used a different guitar. That may be all you need to do. My first guitar track harnessed its sound from an active bridge pickup. My second guitar track relied on a passive neck pickup.

I also used a different but similar amp simulator. You could also use a different speaker, cabinet simulator, or impulse responses to get the job done. I encourage you to experiment with changing different elements of the signal chain on each guitar track. Something as simple as a different amp or speaker can make just the right amount of difference needed to have both guitar tones sound harmonious.

Lastly, I pan each rhythm guitar in the opposite directions. For rhythm guitar 1, I pan the volume all the way to the left. For rhythm guitar 2, I do the opposite and pan the volume all the way to the right. It’s like watching a band live with two guitarists and each of them is on the opposite side of the stage.

Leads & Solos (BONUS)

If you're like me, you may be itching to lay down a guitar solo over your song. You can’t really do that with only two guitar tracks. Now, we need to make our lead track pop. I like to have my lead tones stand out with a delay effect. Unless you’re really into layering and want some harmonies in your leads, you don’t have to worry about any other lead tracks. When panning, we don’t want the solo to sound louder in one ear than the other. All we need to do now is make sure that the volume is centered and not panned to the left or the right.

Conclusion

As you can see, it takes at least two guitar tracks to give you a huge guitar sound. If you're throwing in any kind of face-melting guitar solo, you’re gonna need a third guitar track. When recorded and panned correctly as I’ve described in this lesson, your guitars are gonna sound so much more powerful and give your song the sound it deserves. Remember that recording a guitar track of one leads to no fun. Guitar tracks of at least two make the crowd go, “Woo!”

Watch the full lesson here: How Many Guitar Tracks Do You ACTUALLY Need?? Let’s Find Out