chunky-ass guitar

[Lunkhead]

Another essential way to make your guitar sound really thick when you record is to at least double track it. People like Weezer layer on many many tracks of every guitar part in their songs. If you've got one chugging rhythm guitar part, the standard way to beef it up is to play it twice on different tracks, and pan them apart to taste.

And of course use "power chords" (where you play the root of the chord, the 5th, which would be on the next thinnest string and two frets towards the bridge of the guitar from the root of the chord, and the octave, which would be the second thinner string away and two frets towards the bridge of the guitar, assuming you're starting from the low E or the A string, of course).

Probably everybody knows that stuff, too, but I thought I'd put it out there just in case.

You might also want to grow a mullet and drink lots of Jagermeister. It worked for Metallica.

Oh yeah! Speaking of Metallica, if you want their classic metal distortion sound, you should crank your bass and treble EQs all the way up and your mid EQ all the way down.

[jute gyte]

As someone who has a cheapshit guitar, let me tell you, you can pull your hair out trying to make it sound like a nice chunky pro guitar sound. There is a little free plugin called JCM900 (comes with a bunch of other stuff, including a fender twin simul, and it's FREE!)that does a pretty good job emulating a 4x12 cab, and it's easy to use too. Guitar Rig is wicked, but it is really finiky and huge...I have also had good success at times with Amplitube.

For the JCM900 other free guitar VST's:
http://www.simulanalog.org/guitarsuite.htm

Hope that helps a bit...

the jcm plugin is totally sweet. it's what i'm using now that i'm away from my amps and effects pedals and shit.

EDIT: and it sounds really nice if you run your guitar through the tube screamer before the jcm900.

[jack]

everything sounds better run through a tube screamer.

all of these tips are pretty good, especially the palm mute/power chord/double track and pan combo.

curious, did you use this on your eggplant tune?

[starfinger]

curious, did you use this on your eggplant tune?

nope.. i didnt' get a chance to try this out yet.

-craig

[Dan-O from Five-O]

Gibson + Marshall = Great guitar tone. HOWEVER....don't go with any of that Solid State or ValveState crap. Real tubes = Real Tone, period. When you get that aforementioned Gibson / Marshall combo together, crank the overall volume as loud as your neighbors can tolerate and raise the gain on the channel to the desired effect. Mic the cabinet as follows: GOOD - 1" diameter condensor mic about 6 inches from the speaker. BETTER - Use the GOOD method + another mic about 6 feet from the cabinet facing the speaker(s). BEST - All of the above + another 1" diameter condensor mic about 12" away and facing the opposing wall that the cabinet faces. Watch your meters closely, don't let anything peak especially if you're using digital equipment. Record each one of those mic's on a seperate track and then blend to the desired effect on a single track (or leave seperate if you have the tracks to spare). Sit back, listen and go WOW.

Or you could just go with Hoblit's Line 6 POD suggestion, they actually sound pretty good and are much simpler to set up.

[blue]

To recap:

Palm muted downstrokes with root/5th/octave chords.
Record 2- 4 takes of every guitar part.
Copy a doubletracked track and turn your compressor all the way up on it.
Pan all crazy.
Put everything on a single bus and compress that a little.
Add a smidge of 85hz to the bus.
Enjoy.

[starfinger]

<a href="http://www.kongbalong.com/working/riff-dist.mp3">my first riff</a>

thanks for the tips!

now I need to learn how to play chords or something.

-craig