There's no way on earth I could play a real piano to that level of perfection. But recording it this way on guitar highlights all sorts of compositional possibilities. And check out the strings: Jimmy Page may play his guitar with a violin bow, but I can play real (sampled) violins with mine!
Here's another audio clip. This one highlights how Roland gear sounds with more traditional synth sounds, as opposed to sampled recreations of acoustic instruments. Most of the instruments came from Cakewalk's Project5 software synthesizer program, again, with the exception of the Acid drum loops. The "pad" of chords, the sampled Steinberger bass under them, and the lead synth on top of them were all played individually on my synth-equipped Tele, and then cleaned and tightened up afterwards, and then reverb, digital delay, and other effects built into Project5 were added later to further color the sounds.
I never thought a Fender Telecaster could sound like a tough-sounding Steinberger bass guitar, or like a lead synthesizer from Alpha Centuri. But these are the kinds of possibilities that the guitar synthesizer offers.
Opening Up New Vistas
Too many homemade demo tapes by guitarists are all guitar: power chords followed by lead guitar followed by acoustic guitar followed by chorused guitar followed by more power chords. The GI-20, coupled with software synth programs such as Project5 and Reason, open up incredible new vistas to guitar players.
But will they open up to the possibilities? Guitarists, for all their wildman strutting, are all too often technological Luddites, who prefer that their equipment remains stuck in the era when Eric Clapton first plugged a Les Paul into a Marshall Amp, or Jimi Hendrix first asked the world "Are You Experienced?". And it's understandable--some incredible music was recorded with the instruments that Leo and Les designed in the 1950s, especially once they began to be plugged into the amps that Jim Marshall designed in the early 1960s.
But there's incredible new music waiting to be made on guitar synths. I'm not sure if it's safe to call the technology fully perfected, but it's certainly well worth experimenting with.
Article comments
1 - Johno
Ed is correct: this device is the SHIT.
As soon as I get the cash (5-10 years down the road) I'm'n'a buy me one, disappear into the home studio, and NEVER come out.
2 - Eric Olsen
fascinating and practical information Ed, thanks!
3 - Mark Saleski
guitar synths are weird.
i've got a Roland GR-50...and used it for a while to play (using my Fender Strat) bass in a band.
weird and fun!
4 - Ed Driscoll
Johno,
Glad you like the article! And thanks for reminding me--I should have included the prices. The GI-20 retails for about $350, and I believe the pickup for about $150. A Fender Strat with a Roland synth pickup factory-installed retails for about $600.
Ed
5 - Sean Neves
I picked up a GI-20 packaged with a mexi Roland-ready Strat on ebay for $500 in February and it has simply changed the entire game for me. I use it to power hardware and software, and it is an incredible addition to my live and studio rig. Reason and Ableton Live v5 together make me pretty much useless in my normal life! I have completed many short film scores in the time it would mormally take me to finish one on a keyboard--Hey I'm a friggin' guitarist, not Jan Hammer!
6 - EVT
hello,
I'm looking for roland ready strat. the only thing out there is a fender standard [ mexican ] strat. Is there such a thing as an american roland ready strat. do I need to go thru the fender custon shop for such a guitar?
I'd appreciate any thoughts or ideas/suggestions regarding this matter & my search.
thanks
EVT
7 - Ed Driscoll
EVT,
I don't know--but I picked up an MIM Roland Ready Strat on eBay a few months after writing this article, and it's not a bad little guitar, even compared with my 1984 '57-reissue Strat. The build quality and fretwork are both pretty good--it's certainly a good enough axe to play a synth module or the GI-20.
8 - spokeshave mclachlan
a question. i thought i read somewhere (but may well be mistaken), that the tracking is better on the dedicated roland guitar synths (gr-20, gr-33 etc)where the sounds are internal compared to using external sound sources. is there any truth in this particularly where the GI-20 is concerned?
9 - Ed Driscoll
Spokeshave,
That wouldn't surprise me--but I find the tracking is, if anything, too accurate with the GI-20. A lot finger slides between notes that guitarists take for granted end up being interpreted by MIDI as distinct chromatic notes--which occasionally can sound sort of jazzy on the right instrument playing the right kinds of passages, but often don't. And depending upon the patch, it's also possible to occasionally trigger a bum note in the wrong octive.
As I said in the post above, most MIDI-oriented programs have a "deglitch" function, and it will become your new best friend when recording guitar synth stuff.
I doubt I'd want to use a GI-20 to play live, but for recording, I still think it's pretty darn cool, nearly two years after writing the above piece.
10 - Graham Pearse
Great Article . . . it is exactly what i was looking for as i am a keen home recorder and don'y play keys well.
I have an idea for a new all-on-board guitar for home recording purposes which would fix the problems you have encountered with the GI-20.
Who would I contact at Roland? Any ides?