Keyboard sound for accompanying guitar solos

[alcu]

What keyboard sound you guys use to accompany a guitar player during their solo. I play in a progressive classic rock band, so we do tunes like Boston, Yes, Rush, Deep Purple and so on. I know it really depends on the song, but generally, on the studio recordings, the guitars are usually double-tracked for solos for fill, but live, and one guitar player....

Thanks,
Alex.

[HammondToby]

Well, it really depends on the song, but most of the time, I works as following:

Two sounds: most of the time, my left hand is playing Rhodes- or Wurlysounds; my right hand is playing a synth or a Hammondsound. Rhythmparts might change after four or eight bars: at first the pianos play the rhythm and the organ makes a pad and after that, i change the hands concerning rhythm and pad.

Rhodes or Wurly with a monotremolo, the Hammond with a comping registration like 80-8000-046, Chorus 3 and slow Leslie, accellerating to the end of the solo.

In some songs, it's necessary to play two different synths. The pad is then on the left and the moving one on the right hand.

Best regards
HammondToby

[PaddyShadow]

Just do it like in normal non-progressive bands... the rhythm guitars during the solos are being ignored and the keyboardist does his usual string or pad chords.
The less number of notes you have the clearer the sound gets, so it's sometimes a good idea to reduce the "thickness" in a live situation.

[Athox]

most important thing is to have a guitar sound that is clear and separate from the rest of the band. i recently did a recording with a guitarist who insisted on using a "solo"-patch from his tonelab, and this of course had a lot of reverb and was smooth, like a satriani type lead. Excellent sound on its own, but in the mix it totally disappeared. It sounded like a background melody. And turning the volume up is generally a bad idea, so just focus more on the interconnection between sounds.

[Grey Loki]

I think that when JR comps JP's solos live, he plays a saw-wave-ish patch - you can hear it now and then on Budokan.

[Omega Monkey]

What a weird ass question. That's like asking, what song should I write? It's a fundamental creative decision that should be made by those making the music, on a case by case basis. There is no one "magic sound" to use. Just use whatever sounds good at the time.

If you are looking for ideas/examples, just listen to what the great keyboardists through history used in similar situations.

Anyway, for the type of stuff you are probably doing, you are going to want stuff like organ, piano, "mellotron" (strings, choirs, flutes, etc...), synth pads, etc... If you're doing covers, all you have to do is listen to the original and see what that guy used.

[AbuSimbel]

You're right, Omega, but I guess he's is thinking of how to sound like the original rhythm guitar on the studio track, e.g. when there's no keyboard and he has to cover the rhythm guitar part while the guitar player is noodling his solo...

But, listen to Jordan Rudess, what sounds he is using. I'm especially interest in this heavy synth sound he uses on Train of Thought and Live at Budokan...
Anyone knows how to achieve such a sound?

[alcu]

Monkey....read my posting again, and then read the others. Your point was was already stated. Tell me something I don't know.

To spell it out for you.... what keyboard sound patch would you use to mimic a rhythm electric guitar with distortion, to accompany a guitar player, during his solo.

Take it easy next time.

[Omega Monkey]

I guess he's is thinking of how to sound like the original rhythm guitar on the studio track

That's easy, don't. Keys trying to sound like guitars usually sounds horrible. Like I said, just get a nice organ patch or something.

And ACLU, dont get mad at me for YOU asking a dumb question.

[alcu]

'The only dumb question is a question you don't ask'
- Paul MacCready, Inventor

[Gustavo]

Yea OM try to relax, try to be more elegant. TEll the same message with kinder words...
And bout the topic, I think a distorted organ should be fine...

G