Creating a Dual Coast Duet

Learn how guitarists Erick Hailstone in Portland and Ray Legnini in Philadelphia created a virtual long-distance duet.

Each guitarist played a few sections and then sent that audio to the other to react to. Then, after a few passes, we had a complete performance. (Song written by Duke Ellington)

Ray Legnini: Creating the track was a fun experience, and pretty quick too. I thought the technique used might be of interest to the JGT readers. First, I set out to do a duet with a friend across the country. To make it as ‘live’ as possible, I decided to do the song in segments. The steps:

• We picked a song that neither of us had played before. 
• I created the intro and played verse 1 background chords
• Skipped verse 2
• Played chorus background chords
• I sent the file to Erick.
• He played the intro and verse’s melodic stuff, reacting to my chords, substitutions, etc.
• He added more sections of chords.
• He added a bass part for continuity
• Passed back to me.
• I played my melody sections, solo sections, etc. reacting to his parts
• Mix

Check out the video – and let us know if you would like to learn more about the process.

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