P5 Guitar Tracks

Some tips for using P5 to make guitar-based tracks.

By Andy C  Forum Source

I'm sure I'm not the only one who uses P5 with guitars so how about a few clues to the guys and gals who'd like to make P5 guitar songs:

1. Program the record button using MIDI Learn so that it can be triggered from a midi device. I use the sustain pedal on my keyboard.
2. Get a riff you like, us the tap button to get P5 to about the right tempo.
3. Set up a simple drum track, I usually just drag a drum loop from the explore view into the groove matrix.
4. Setup an audio track, monitor the input your guitar is on and add a amp sim or what ever effects you want. Set the audio track to record mode (hit the little red button on the track, but don't record yet).
5. Two methods:
   • Set the drum loop going and play your riff in time, over and over again. Once you've got it going and are happy hit the record swicth (my sustain pedal) and record the riff a number of times. Once your hapy hit stop. Now go to the audio and slip edit it until you find the take you like start to finish. Hit CTRL-L to groove loop it and drag it into the groove matrix.
   • Set the loop points to the length of the riff you are going to play. so if you have a two loop riff set the loop points to that length. hit play and get the drum loop going. As with method 1 hit the record switch when ready. Hit stop after a number of loops.

P5 will have created a number of track layers for each recording of the loop, find the one you like, (use the mute) and groove loop it and drag into the groove matrix.

That is the basic setup. Next thing to do is to either record other instruments, or record guitar parts for the chorus, middle 8, opening, and closing using the above method. Once you've got them, do the same for bass and vocals.

With everything in the groove matrix, you can either dracg and drop them on to the arange view and streach them out to create a song structure, or use the record groove matrix function and do it that way.

There you go, basic song.