#16
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The Allman Brothers wanted to play "Jessica" as an ensemble so brought in Les Dudek to play acoustic guitar. The Doobie Brothers wanted a steel guitar player to record a song ("South City Midnight Lady") and ended up adopting Skunk Baxter full time as a utility infielder. Sometime bands want to perform as an ensemble and don't have the hands to do so.
Bob
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"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website) |
#17
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Could not find Side Men on netflix
but did find "Hired Guns". Same topic. Very interesting. |
#18
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Wouldn't that be nail set?
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(insert famous quote here) |
#19
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And sometimes you have a producer, say a Todd Rundgren, who wants something particular and just does it himself.
The guest may range from a studio ace who can play anything to a guitarist with a very particular sound that you want (say, you brought Lowell George in to play slide). Maybe you are looking to echo something done in the past, like that Travis Tritt version of "Move it on Over" with George Thorogood on guitar. |
#20
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Yep. Just recommended it in the other thread, as well as "Muscle Shoals."
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"It's only castles burning." - Neil Young |
#21
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If you can find old Guitar Player magazines with Tommy Tedesco’s ‘Studio Log’ column, they are well worth a read. Always funny and interesting.
Tommy was well known as the best reader in the game. He was given a piece on a date which was just impossible to play, which must have been something. He quickly practiced the first and last measures, played those loudly, and pretended on the rest. The producer thanked him afterwards for doing a great job. Steven |
#22
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Just because the sessionist is better, much better or tremendously better musician and in the studio you need precision and skills not trendy clothes and glamorous guitars. And talking about Clapton he is an exceptional songwriter but just a mediocre guitarist, nothing more nothing less.
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#23
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And then there's people looking for something unexpected, like David Bowie asking Stevie Ray Vaughan to play on his album.
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Breedlove, Landola, a couple of electrics, and a guitar-shaped-object |
#24
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Eric should listen to his solo then ;-)
While my guitar gently weeps has a wonderful guitar solo and a sound and feel I think George would have struggled to emulate. Both great players but very different styles.
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#25
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Quote:
Whether or not he could have played a good solo - I don’t know, but a year later he was playing splendidly on Abbey Road - the solo on ‘Something’ is magnificent, and on the three-way with John and Paul he was clearly light years ahead of the others. Steven |
#26
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There is some confusion between a "Guest Performer" and "session artist". The guest is well-known to the public and his name as well as his abilities is supposed to add to the recording.
And "session artists" have to have only one attribute of what is needed, the ability to play flawlessly. But there are several attributes that must be considered: 1) Ability to do an outstanding job of playing 2) Singing well (lead and backup - backup singers, chorus, etc. are also session artists) 3) Be entertaining (session artists have no need to do this, a guest performer would) 4) (sometimes) Be a good songwriter
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#27
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The other thing not mentioned yet in "why a studio player": session musicians are very good to playing with a click track, which is a predominant part of session work. Having a track perfectly in time gives the producer the ability to go back and do over-dubs or punch-ins on the track as needed. There are a lot of players who don't get along with a click in their ear while playing. In the studio, time is money, not the place to teach an unfamiliar w/click player how to do it. There is a big difference between a "Touring Band" and a "Studio Band" they each have their strong points but they don't necessarily cross over - if they do, great if not, the studio session goes way long and cost more cause the player just can't get it, or the live show is flat because the studio player sits there like a statue and plays flawlessly - those are extremes but somewhere between those outside examples are some additional reasons to hire a session player, even if your band or you are good but don't have a lot of studio time under the belt.
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#28
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#29
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Wow! What great responses from all who contributed!
I guess it shows how little I understand the business side of music. I mean I totally get having “guests” on a song. Especially for non-bands like Bowie, Michael Jackson or whoever. I just always figured straight up old fashioned blues rock bands for instance, went into a studio and just did there thing. Finding out even Aerosmith, (one of my favorites growing up), used someone over Joe Perry.... well takes a bit of the shine off for me. I mean if I’m being honest I can’t imagine there’s ever a score written for a rock band that would need to be read.... but maybe that’s being naive as well? I always imagined these guys played in their own jam space, and/or played it out at gigs, until they had the song down and then headed into the studio. I’m not even going to ask about any other bands.... I think if I found out someone else did the guitar instead of Gilmour on “The Wall”, id just be bummed out🙁 Anyway I appreciate the education, and I’m going to see if I can track down those recommendations on Netflix. Will see how lucky I am as Netflix content comes and goes pretty regularly. JeffD |
#30
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The session guitarists are often far more meticulous, so a recording can be more or less perfect.
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