Composing Guitar Parts for a Friend's Project

A friend from a trimester above is currently working on a Soul EP for his graduate project and he asked me if I could compose some guitar tracks for two of his tracks, which were really fun to work on. In my compositions, I use a lot of psychedelic/jangle pop guitar effects and he wanted to have my guitar style in his tracks so I made sure those effects were prominent. The first track I worked on (Genesis Zenith Soul) had a duration of 40 seconds which was more of a funk/soul track, and the second track (Neo 11) was 25 seconds long and was more of a chill beat, which I looped so then I had more time to compose with that track. Click on the link below to hear the original tracks:

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Track 1: Genesis Zenith Soul

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For this track, I was getting a funk vibe from it so for the main strumming rhythms (both high and low octave) I used the "Hot Clean" preset from Guitar Rig 5 (had a nice clean guitar tone), then added a chorus plugin to make the tone more fuller and more "wacky", then finally added a phaser plugin which made the effect pop out more and made it more funkier, especially when I strummed the rhythm.

With the solo and the solo harmony, I wanted to have a smoother, less-effected effect so that it didn't interfere with the rhythm's phase-y effects so I went for the "Sultans of Pop" preset on Guitar Rig 5, which had a nice twang and also had a nice short reverb to it, then I added the same chorus plugin as the rhythm guitars to add more harmonics to the sound and to make it sound fuller.

I also had some short guitar plucking to help the rhythm guitars with timing, and for those I used the "Clean Citrus" preset on Guitar Rig 5 (a nice clean tone), and then added the same chorus plugin, again, to make it sound fuller and to change the tone of the clean guitar.

Arrangement

The beginning of the track sounded really full and sounded like most hyped section of the entire track so I wanted to make sure I started strong, which is why I started strumming with those really phase-effect rhythm guitars, which seemed to work. Then the track transitioned to a thinner texture which I then figured would be a great place to add the solo. This thin texture lasted until the track finished and I didn't want to have the solo by itself for the rest of the track. So after 8 bars, I brought the rhythm guitars back and brought in the plucking guitars, then after another 8 bars, I brought in the solo harmony to add something else different and to end the track on a thick texture again like in the beginning.

Track 2: Neo 11

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I felt this chill track needed more spacey effects compared to the other funk track. I only had time to produce a rhythm part, a solo part, and a smaller solo that played with the solo further into the track. After hearing back from it and getting feedback from my friend, those 3 tracks suited the simplicity of the track and I didn't really need to add anymore.

For the rhythm section, I felt that it needed a delay effect rather than strumming chords as the strumming was too laid-back for strumming and a delay effect is an effect I'd use for rhythm/chord sections to create a spacey feeling without interrupting other instruments in the mix. For the delay rhythm guitar effects, I used the "Clean Citrus" preset from Guitar Rig 5 (nice clean guitar tone), then added a different chorus plugin which had a stronger tone compared to the previous chorus plugin, which I needed for this guitar to make it sound spacey/psychy, then I used a Flanger to change the tone to sound more psychy. For the delay effect, I used Spaceship Delay, which is probably the best delay plugin I've used so far as you're able to change the filter of the delay, add different delay modes like ping pong, and do other experimental stuff with it. After that, I used D-Verb with a small hall preset to gel the delay together and to make it sound bigger as well.

For the solo, I wanted a simple tone but sort of lo-fi in quality as I thought it would suit the chill vibe. The effects I used were the "Sultans of Pop" preset from Guitar Rig 5 (had a nice mellow tone, not too clean), then used the AIR "Fuzz-Wah" plugin (using the Wah effect of the plugin only) to cut off any of the high and airy frequencies, and to also add the "wah" characteristics to the guitar tone. I then added a bit of reverb from D-Verb to gel the solo together so that the transitions to different frets sound smooth and not "sticatto" like, and to also make the solo sound more dreamy.

Arrangement

I didn't really need to plan out a proper arrangement as I wanted to just have all instruments playing at the same time throughout the track,. Because I used spacey effects, I thought my decision would suit the track and that it would've disrupt the original instruments already there, as all my instruments were really mellow sounding with now sharp high frequencies or bass frequencies . I just had the delayed guitar track looped which played throughout the track while the solo played notes, along with the harmony in a short section of the track.

I was glad to help my friend out and it was cool to work on some genres that I never really work on. Also I've been noticing that because I'm making a lot of tracks for different projects at the same time, I'm finding that my creative flow has just really kicked in this trimester and I haven't reached artist's block YET which I am so surprised about. Also I never really do solos and I've had to compose a lot of them this trimester, including with this project, but it has helped me experiment with new notes and unique chords.