I play the electric guitar and my buddy plays the piano and we wanna do some collab songs. But.. I'm not sure that will be the best of mix.

Your thoughts?

I'm not a big guitar person, more so with electric guitar. However, if the piano is used skilfully enough, it can be used with pretty much anything. Just don't make the electric guitar too overpowering. That would not work well with piano. Maybe try with a keyboard instead.
Have fun, though. It doesn't really matter. Playing with friends is always fun, and should always be treated as something enjoyable. :D

It's possible, but very tricky to pull out. The thing about playing only these two instruments together is that they don't really get along well. They would definitely sound good together in a rock band, but not so in a duet. There's also the danger of one instrument overpowering the other. You will need good harmonization to make them sound nice together, otherwise the song will just fall apart.

Not the best example, but here's a song that makes the concept work.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hsrkHPK_Ns)

@above
possibly too tricky, which is probably why most people frown upon it and don't attempt it lol. Every video with a piano and rock guitar has comments saying "bad mix".


What do you guys think of the piano taking the melody though? And the guitar as harmony (usually guitar takes melody)

I would say that if you were to do this a formal piece of music, both should have the melody at different points. It would be a shame not to have the piano doing harmony as well as melody, and would look and feel odd. The guitar, therefore would likely take the melody. Possibly a counter-melody. Of course, there's no reason why both can't do the harmony while the piano takes the melody. Possibly give the piano a few solos.

possibly too tricky, which is probably why most people frown upon it and don't attempt it lol. Every video with a piano and rock guitar has comments saying "bad mix".


What do you guys think of the piano taking the melody though? And the guitar as harmony (usually guitar takes melody)

no, no ,no, the piano and electric guitar can sound fantastic together the problem is 1 if the piano isn't in tune mostly that will sound bad. The piano and guitar have the capabilities to be very loud! Make sure your playing at the right volume. It seems like a great idea but I mean the only problem is if it's done wrong then it won't sound good. Hmm if I had a microphone I'd try it myself. :\

I play the electric guitar and my buddy plays the piano and we wanna do some collab songs. But.. I'm not sure that will be the best of mix.

Your thoughts?

I've heard lots of recent anime tunes using acoustic piano plus electric guitar (not just those two alone, mind you, but with other instruments too, like drums and bass and synths, etc). One recent example is the 30-sai OP (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKcWFbVp3pE). You can really hear the piano best after 0:16. And there are two electric guitar parts (one panned left and the other right), which is fairly common in anime OPs.

Anyway, I personally think that almost any instrument combination can sound good together, as long as it's arranged well and each instrument is given room to shine. That's my opinion at least.

In a mix, it would sound bad if the e. guitar were cranked to the max and overpowered the piano. So if you play with your friend, be mindful that your guitar amp doesn't drown out the piano. It's all about balance. =)



Edit: Here's a much better example (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=punRNNdhqOk) of an e. guitar + piano tune from a show I just finished watching. The guitars and the piano are both easier to hear in this one, because there aren't as many extra overpowering synth/bell/harpsi lines like in the 30-sai OP example.

If you try to make the piano and electric guitar connect to each other in sound and find some type of genre that they both can relate, then it'll be a great combination. (Example: Houki Boshi by Younha. She plays the piano while there's electric guitar, bass guitar, etc. and it sounds really good.) Unless you just smash around the piano and/or guitar or just simply have both parts have no connection to each other... Then you'll do fine. ^^

I hear this a lot about the piano and harp (my instrument). It's usually frowned upon, since if the pianist doesn't keep good control over their sound, they'll end up overpowering the harp. Fact 'o life.

But it's very possible, and one of my favorite combinations. (Case in point: one of my recent arrangements with a pianist. (http://musescore.com/score/21175))

If it's done well, piano (or keyboard) can sound stunning with an electric guitar. Go for it, and have fun. Just don't let yourself get tied into the
"one instrument plays melody, the other plays harmony" syndrome. You'll probably have to experiment until you figure out what works; it's also helpful to have another person who knows something about music stand some distance away and tell you when one instrument starts overpowering the other, since you can't really hear it up close.