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My best friend and I are going to start renting out a practice space soon -- he's really getting into drumming and a kit is in the near future for him, but his main thing is guitar. I play bass. Does anyone have some tips or ideas regarding filling out the sound when it's just two people (I'm assuming that he's going to be focusing on drumming)? It isn't restricted to just geetar, drum and bass though, I mean, we don't have any synths or anything right now but that kind of stuff is always a possibility...it's open to anything.

Any two man bands that you guys feel like sharing to get some ideas movin' in my head? I know of Om, Ghostland Observatory, White Stripes, DFA1979...a few more that I can't think of right now...

Play really fucking loud.

Split your signal to two different amps so it sounds like more than just two people. i.e. one clean amp one dirty amp. Or you could get a looper and do live dubbing and stuff, and whatnot.

Your current gear plus a cheap synth, delay/reverb, fuzz.
Though I don't think you need to fill out anything if you like it what you play without anything extra.

What I do: Guitar with a sexy rhythm/middle position. Huge Fuzz->Preamp to tune the lows. -> Big Fucking Amp. I use a Peavey Classic 50 4x10. Gets the job done with the volume at 3.

If you're playing guitar, the idea is to tune your lows while still keeping the highs you want. It's a tricky balancing act, but a good preamp/EQ can do the job. Also, My clean tone is never clean, it's a lighter Overdrive. But compared to all the fuzz it's clean. Also, echoes/reverbs can be wonderful friends if it fits your playing style.

I might post later if I remember some more stuff, being in a two piece is fun. Last gig I had there were at least four instances where people misunderstood the fact we were a two pieces. Another time the sound guy who was an old friend told me "you guys need a bassist." I smiled and turned on my custom Fuzz and let a huge E chord ring out. You took his statement back.

If you are going to play bass.. DRONES and chords! and lots of dirt.. ands as said a really big amp! I can never stress the really big amp thing enough, for anything and everything, even acoustic gigs it is a good idea to have a really big amp

PLAY A LOT OF DFA.
But in all seriousness, my sister is starting to drum a bit more and her and I might start a fuzzy bass + drums band.
A very good combination.

Good two piece bands; Jucifer, Lullabye Arkestra, Magik Markers and Mares of Thrace. Those have convinced me that a two piece can work beautifully which is great because you only need to find that one band member.

Right now I'm in a two person band (drums, guitar) and looping, atleast for me, is incredibly helpful as far as filling up any possible empty space. Even if it isn't a specific rhythm part, harmonized riff, etc. that's being looped, having ambience looping behind the main guitar part can do a lot to beef up the sound and fill things up a bit. Playing loud as fuck doesn't hurt either .

The Black Keys! Their newer stuff is more layered, but early on it was pretty much drums, guitar and vox.
And Lightning Bolt!!!! Do what they do and only play in really small rooms.

Do you plan on doing vocals? I feel like having drums, "rhythm" and melody would be easier to fill that just drums and some kind of madness. Although the latter would probably be 10x more interesting.

I play in a two-piece - me on bass, my bandmate on vox & synths (& drum pads for accents & kaoss pads). We have our backing tracks on an iPod, which he controls (along with his various other stuffs) on a mini-mixer.

I am all for the advice that whatever you do, do it loud.

only two-piece i'd want to participate in is an electronica/ambient/alternative stuff with me on guitar and someone on programming/synths

i don't reall like two-person bands

Duos I know of:
Time Columns, Pivixki, Old One

If I think of any others I'll add to this post.

Mr. gnome and pattern is movement both sound much more full and lush than I would expect if a two piece.

El Ten Eleven is awesome. One way to get around the two-person thing is to get good on a looping pedal (or ten).