Rhythm guitar Eq

Does anyone have any tips on CLEAN tone ryhthm guitar eq settings? Im getting drowned out by my basssist and drummer.They see to fill up the whole of the sonic spectrum we play in,leaving my guitar sounding weak. Any advice?

Well, for one, make both the bass player and the drummer turn their volumes down - neither should overpower anything else. That's crazy. A drummer shouldn't slam a drums, control of velocity makes a genius drummer. If they can't understand that then you're hanging around with the wrong group, 'cause I thought that type of thing was the absolute basics!

As for your clean tone, the best thing I can say is mess with a few ranges and decide which one you like. Every musician has a different preference, so try a bunch of things out. Line 6 and Peavy actually have great settings for clean guitars. (I loves them) :D

Also, when anyone is soloing every other band member should turn their volumes down, the soloist stays at the normal level and doesn't turn their volume up - this is the art of a great performance!

Are you still playing that Ibanez?

That would explain the weak clean tone! Only kidding.

Heavier guitar offer better clean tones because the natural reverb spectrum is much greater. But like Jazz said, try a variety of things.

When I try a new clean tone, I always start with my EQ flat and I adjust from there.

I usually end up something like this: +8 Bass, +6Mid and +5-7 Treble (which doesn't just mean set your bass to 8, mids to 6 and trebles to 5 - "+" means from 0. Some amps go negative and positive, while others just go positive).

Of course if you have a 12 band EQ or something other than the basic EQ's on your amp, you'll have to experiment a lot more. But I usually like my cleans to be more bassy for metal. Jazz stuff will tend to be more flat across the board, while funk and pop will have more highs than lows.

Also, when you're playing live, sometimes it is hard to hear yourself anyway without an outside audio source - so make sure you are judging from a recording or using a sound man in the "audience" to help determine proper leveling.

A lot of live performance depends on the setup of your amps and speaker cabs too. Try utilizing left and right cabs on each side of the "stage" or venue. Your amp shouldn't be doing a lot of work, leave the loud volumes to your cabs. As I'm sure you know, volume has a huge effect on your tone as well, so experiment with that as well.

Rock on!

@jazzmaverick Thats tottally true. Everyone one should be mixed in equally. My drummer has the tendency to ruin a perfectly good grove with random double bass kicks. And my bassist is just into his own thing. Maybe I could consider finding a new group.

@gs124 Your right, its matter of trial and error. Just got to roll with it.

Drums are usually hard to volume down thing, especially if they are not micced... but... in my gigs and training only possibility is "soundcheck" and keep it there. No shortcut.

If bassist is on his own thing, let the space there and make it shine a moment... good guitarist is not in sound all the time as you know.

also turn your eq more on the middle and treble to make the space from the bass...

good luck there m8.
Emp

Don't dump the people you jam with unless you have another group lined up. Then you will have no one to play with, and even playing with people you don't immediately click with will teach you something.

@tsb I have played solo For a long time. And i played with bands before too. Its not like these guys are disposable,but theres a point where I have to say we have to work together,or find a group that suits our indivdual needs. This group isnt my only option,Im not afraid to speak my mind for fear of lonliness,thats assinine.But you are right on one account,they are teaching me something.

@emp wise advice as always,thanks man.

Oh, I didn't realize that. Then tell them to be quieter. I thought you were trying to figure out things for you to do on your own to fit into the mix.

An EQ pedal would be really helpful for carving out some of the frequencies the bass isn't using.

Try a compressor. It won't make your guitar louder but crispier. It will cut through heavy bass tones. You'll have to try different settings for soloing and rhythm.

I have a compressor and a 4band eq. Those will help to my advantage. Though they are preset levels of comp and eq,I might be able to find something suitable. Thanks again guys.
\m/{._+}gs2112

If you have a tube amp the clean channel is wayy better and loud. If you have a digital that could explain it. Ibanez guitars are usually best with heavy tones. You should try your strat.

An old tip you might allready know but anyway. Here it is ;
Learn to play the chords on the first four strings leaving the root unplayed. The bassplayer will work whit the roots/basstones and you dont need to play em. This will give the guitar a higher, louder sound and the basslines from the bassplayer will come out cleaner in the picture of sound.

pxm