Can a guitar fill in for other instruments?

[SketchMan3]

My first thread 

First I'd like to say "Greetings!". I'd call myself a beginning gospel guitarist (until now I've just been playing songs by artists like Relient K and Lincoln Brewster), and I've been learning to accompany my church's praise team (keys, bass, drums). So far I've just been playing power-chords, E-and-A shape barre chords, and other simple things like that. But now we're learning a new song. I believe the song is titled "Let's Just Praise The Lord" by T.D. Jakes. It's one of those songs in which the guitar basically improvises licks and does some chords here and there when licks aren't appropriate.

Now, here's the thing: The horns' part is SWEET! and the song really could do without the guitar part (our keyboard player is awesome, and she does all the riffs and things, since the keys part is simply chord "stabs" or whatever you call it) so I've been learning the horns part on my guitar. Does this seem like a good idea? Does anyone here ever do things like this? Is it a feasible idea to fill in the part of another instrument like this? Or does it just seem weird and amateurish?

Gospel horns are so sweet, and I've planned on playing my guitar in a horn-style, but after browsing the site and forum, I feel like I'd be a traitor or something  .

So... that was a long-winded way of saying "Do you think it's a good idea to fill in for missing instruments e.g. horns, strings, harp, etc. on the guitar; or should I just learn how to play REAL gospel guitar?"

[betnich]

Play what you want to play, as long as it doesn't conflict with keys, vocals, etc. I applaud you for thinking out of the box.

I'm not a guitar player but I think there's some kind of stomp box pedal that can give a 'sustain' effect, like those long notes BB King is famous for. And some guitarists work a MIDI controller, which can drive any synth, software instrument or rack module. Could be useful...

[Fenix]

Well the only problem i can see with you learning the horns part is the relative emptiness of your sound compared to a full horn ensemble. I have seen guitar MIDI controllers that allow you to plug in your guitar and you can simulate any sound. I think you will need a special pickup for that though.

The main problem i see with trying to fill in other instrument parts is understanding what to do with the sound and understanding the role of the instrument you are trying to emulate. For instance when i play keys, i find i can't play organ. I can play he organ voice on teh keyboard, but it won't be the same cuz i don't fully understand the technique behind playing organ.

Study the part you want to play and figure out its role in the music. You know horns usually do fills and stuff and those fills are much different from what you would od on guitar.

[organman88]

My first thread 

First I'd like to say "Greetings!". I'd call myself a beginning gospel guitarist (until now I've just been playing songs by artists like Relient K and Lincoln Brewster), and I've been learning to accompany my church's praise team (keys, bass, drums). So far I've just been playing power-chords, E-and-A shape barre chords, and other simple things like that. But now we're learning a new song. I believe the song is titled "Let's Just Praise The Lord" by T.D. Jakes. It's one of those songs in which the guitar basically improvises licks and does some chords here and there when licks aren't appropriate.

Now, here's the thing: The horns' part is SWEET! and the song really could do without the guitar part (our keyboard player is awesome, and she does all the riffs and things, since the keys part is simply chord "stabs" or whatever you call it) so I've been learning the horns part on my guitar. Does this seem like a good idea? Does anyone here ever do things like this? Is it a feasible idea to fill in the part of another instrument like this? Or does it just seem weird and amateurish?

Gospel horns are so sweet, and I've planned on playing my guitar in a horn-style, but after browsing the site and forum, I feel like I'd be a traitor or something  .

So... that was a long-winded way of saying "Do you think it's a good idea to fill in for missing instruments e.g. horns, strings, harp, etc. on the guitar; or should I just learn how to play REAL gospel guitar?"

my adive to you is learn as much as you can from a song as possible i say this because most guitarist i know think they can just flow all the time and it doesnt work like that and if you have a full band you wouldn't play a song the same as if you were alone or if you were the only one chording, as a guitarist should know a song as well as an organist does because the organist might not show up and you might not find a replacement all the time. people sleep on guitarist big time

[funkStrat_97]

Wrong question.  What needs to be asked is this: "can other instruments fill in for a guitar?" .  All good points have been made, but I really want to reinterate Organman's point about learning as much of the song as possible.  In gospel, it is very likely that you will have several keyboard instruments in play (organ, piano, and/or keys) and this arrangements tends to make us lazay.  In fact, I now attend a church that plays lots of guitar driven P&W and I have had to step up to the plate a bit.  In churhces that I played at before, I could hide under the layers of keyboards and just come up with riffs and play chrodal fragments.  While there is still a place for these techniqes in my current setting (we have a couple of excellent guitarists and keyboardists), there are times when playing full chords just sound better and when you know the actual song, you can definatley fill in for a missing, keyboard player...and even the bass player to a point.  Case in point; once we were playing "Presence of the Lord" and our organist got lost at a certain point in the song.  Our other guitar player was out of town that weekend, but because I knew the song I was able to fill the gap until the organist could find his place again.   

[kodacolor]

My first thread 

First I'd like to say "Greetings!". I'd call myself a beginning gospel guitarist (until now I've just been playing songs by artists like Relient K and Lincoln Brewster), and I've been learning to accompany my church's praise team (keys, bass, drums). So far I've just been playing power-chords, E-and-A shape barre chords, and other simple things like that. But now we're learning a new song. I believe the song is titled "Let's Just Praise The Lord" by T.D. Jakes. It's one of those songs in which the guitar basically improvises licks and does some chords here and there when licks aren't appropriate.

Now, here's the thing: The horns' part is SWEET! and the song really could do without the guitar part (our keyboard player is awesome, and she does all the riffs and things, since the keys part is simply chord "stabs" or whatever you call it) so I've been learning the horns part on my guitar. Does this seem like a good idea? Does anyone here ever do things like this? Is it a feasible idea to fill in the part of another instrument like this? Or does it just seem weird and amateurish?

Gospel horns are so sweet, and I've planned on playing my guitar in a horn-style, but after browsing the site and forum, I feel like I'd be a traitor or something  .

So... that was a long-winded way of saying "Do you think it's a good idea to fill in for missing instruments e.g. horns, strings, harp, etc. on the guitar; or should I just learn how to play REAL gospel guitar?"

I started learning chords on guitar before I started doing solos and licks.  I've been playing for about 6-7 years and I just started studying licks, solos, and scales a few months ago and it's been very difficult.  Still, there are very few opportunities to use chords in the gospel guitar style.

I don't think there's a problem with you learning the horns part on "Lets Just Praise the Lord". I'm learning the horn parts on the guitar for "Everybody Clap Your Hands" by Joshua's Troop.    From the little be we've practiced so far it seems like it's going to work.  (I know there's a guitar in that song but I can't hear it well enough to copy it) I heard of guitarist using pedals that make their guitar sound like other instruments.  That may be cool, but idk if I'd want to do that.