Solo Acoustic Act Survey

[guitaniac]

For better or worse, musicianship (beyond a minimum level of competence) is only a secondary factor in getting local coffeehouse and bar gigs. I'm not only observing this as a working solo act, but also as someone who's booked music at five venues.

It is indeed possible to book gigs as a pure strummer, but you'll be well-advised to learn songs with a variety of tempos and rythmic grooves.

Gary

[ferg]

I'm largely a strummer, and I do gig, though I do mix in some picking (with the pick) and fingerstyle here and there. I'm capable of doing more fingerstyle when I'm just playing, but I find that I'm limited by what I can do while I'm singing. I also can't pat my head and rub my belly at the same time.

However, I do try to make things interesting, as Gary said, by mixing up the rhythm, and I've kind of worked a lot of muted palm techniques that add a bit of a beat to what I'm doing. I also employ a number of hammer-on/offs here and there to make the music a little more interesting.

I definitely agree that you can get by with primarily strumming (I'm proof of that), but if stick with very straight / vanilla strum patterns, it can get a little monotonous.

[71jasper]

Fingerstyle only. I want my playing to sound pianistic, for lack of a better term. Strangely enough, I think it was my time playing electric guitar in bands that helped me develop the dynamics I need to make this work.

[pieterh]

These days I do mainly fingerstyle or a hybrid (pick and fingers) style though there are tunes I do where I strum. Like many others here I use what suits the song as opposed to the other way around. My own tunes tend to be fingerstyle as I enjoy playing that way most!

[rockabilly69]

I strum, fingerpick, and play bottleneck slide. The variation of tones helps for a wider dynamic range.

[Jasonbee6868]

As a bit of back ground - I used to play strictly guitar in a hard rock to metal style. Then as I had my fill of egocentric singers - I began to sing too.

In my home town (when i started out) - bars were open to full bands, but preferred DJs. Bit hard to get gigs, but still doable.

Then one year everything changed. 2 guys started gigging with just acoustics & vocals as "Rick n Norm the Jammers". Then it bacame VERY hard to get gigs with a drummer. Most all bars did DJ for the partiers on Thurs, Fri & Sat - then they wanted cheap & quiet (relatively) for the other nights. Most all musician hated this change of things. (friends that stayed in that town say its changed back to band style now - right on). It took me a bit, but I decided to jump in & start doing solo ac/g & voice. But then i thought - How?

Then i did what I suggest to anyone - do your homework. (And this is the kicker-its fun as hell). Get off the couch & support your local musicians by paying the cover charge & watching. Also watch the audience too. See what goes over good in your area. I've lived in a few different places in the country & learned that what goes over good in one area - doesn't always transfer to other areas.

One big factor in your question is time. How long of sets will you be doing? The longer the set - the bigger chance of the dreaded MONOTONY setting in. If just a 5-10 song set in an open mic night - don't even worry. Do ANYTHING you want. The changing of people will keep everyone interested.
But if your the only entertainment for hours & hours...well....

Why I say go out & see what your area is like - is to see what they will put up with. I've found that the demographics that show up will determine your attack plan. For example - I've played this bar/cafe where a lot of college profs & wanna be musicologists hung out(40-60). I was as strummy & monotonous as possible & they ate it up. I could've read self indulgent poetry & they would've loved it. AND I've had it go the exact opposite. A bar/club that was a regular of the Rave-crowd (you know-the types that think music started & ended with Lady Gaga). I tried everything i could - no go. So I went on a different night to watch someone else. He had almost complete kareoke tracks & play acoustic/sang. Chessy you might think - but they loved it.

So....in my opinion it varies. The only constant variable I found is - - if you can convince the audience to 'feel' it, it will work.

Hope my 2 cents helps.

[jacm81]

Originally Posted by ohiopicker

For those of you doing solo acoustic act, are any of you primarily "strummers", doing relatively stripped down versions of acoustic songs with vocals? This is as opposed to more complex fingerpicked/flat picked arrangements with leads? If so, is this satisfying enough for a general audience?

Thanks in advance for the input.

I'd suggest worrying less about what satisfies the audience. If your satisfied with strumming, then that's good enough. What's the point of learning how to shred like madman and having the audience go wild for it, if it doesn't make you happy? Unless what makes you happy is just getting attention. It sounds like you'd like to learn how to play the guitar better, for yourself. Good for you, I say go for it. But don't do it just to please someone else.

[steamfurnace]

For my solo gigs, I do primarily strum, but most of my songs are accompanied by backing tracks I have put on CD. I have played lead on some of the backing tracks, and have pulled others from midi files. I do play a few lead licks live, but I agree that most of the bar patrons don't notice that as much as they do the singing of the song, as most of what I do are covers.

[denbrinson]

I think a combination works the best....I have a few friends who play out a lot and strum, really drive, their songs...and the vocals are not great, but they get gigs because of the bar scene. Personality on the mic is highly important...being likeable. I prefer to not play with a pick, but strum, pluck around, and fingerpick my songs depending on how I'm feeling and how the song is played. Being true to the song is important to us, but not everybody. When I play Hysteria (Def Leppard), I play it rhythmically with some fingering in there and it's my own style, but I get good feedback from it so I've kept it on my setlist. With that, song choice is huge...I used to think good music would win people over, whether they've heard the song or not...but it depends on the venue and audience EACH TIME. You have to be adaptive...the only way to really know is to get out there and play, find your sweet spot, and work the mic/crowd. And vocals to me are more important than guitar playing, but that's just my opinion....and I've had this debate a million times. Sorry for rambling, final answer....it depends on the venue and audience each time!

[jacm81]

I thought I'd post again since I didn't say much about myself the first time. I've been making a living as a solo performer for nearly five years now. My guitar technique is basically a mix of John Hurt's style and the Carter Scratch. But, as I was trying to express before, my guitar playing has nothing to do with why I'm able to get plenty of work. Nor does the fact that I'm a decent singer. It also has nothing to do with my repertoire, which consists almost entirely of originals or covers that almost no one I perform in front of recognizes. And it certainly has nothing to do with my stage presence or my level of audience interaction. Often I'll play three hours straight for an audience that's there specifically to hear me and never say anything more than, "Thank you." So what is it that makes people like what I do? What makes me people want to hire me? It's the fact that they can tell that I mean it. They can tell I'm playing exactly what I want to play, exactly the way I want to play it and in now way am I pandering to anyone's desires but my own. Musicians come in all forms, in all styles. The one's we respect, the one's we want to hear, are the one's that are unapologetically themselves. Figure out what you want to sound like and then practice sounding like that. There's nothing else you can do. Or at least there's nothing else worth doing.

[tfs4473]

I've just started playing live (open mics) recently, and I mulled these questions for a while before I started. I'm not a particularly good singer (trying to improve, though), so I actually lean on the guitar third of the performance pretty hard (for me the other two parts are singing and audience engagement).

Since it's just me, I will strum mostly, but I'll add licks and riffs between or inside chords to mix up things a little. Maybe I'll change the strumming pattern some to add variety. I make sure that out of a 4-5 song mini-set that I will have two fast, hard-strummers, a fingerpicking slower song or two, and then something in the middle to help bridge them.

Another technique I'm trying (we'll see how it works) is to use the opportunity of not being a good singer and having just the single guitar is to look for interesting takes on songs, either making something very simple a little more compicated, or just the opposite. For one of my instrumentals I play Red Barchetta, but with a more jazzy feel (NO vocals). I keep the solo in, but I don't have nearly as many string bends in it as Lifeson's original.

Playing tonight and then again on Saturday, so we'll see how things go. Whatever feedback I get is an opportunity to reconsider for the next time and try again.

Thom

[gigsandbusking]

I think if you have a great voice strumming is fine, if you struggle and generally have to re-key songs then more interesting guitar is best, it is easy to stick the odd fiddly bit of guitar in and strum when your singing.
I have gigged solo for years and love it, no worries about band members not turning up or making lots of mistakes.
My Youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBI...oJpzqZj-T7KD1A

[jseth]

Well, I think that everyone who does some sort of "solo" act starts out strumming; as one's abilities, knowledge and technique advances, you begin to put those to use when performing.

I am quite capable of playing single-note or "lead" lines to the songs I play and sing; however, to my mind the continuity and groove of the tune is the most important thing, so I will NEVER sacrifice that aspect of a song "just to show" that I can play single note stuff. I only do it if it fits within the context of the song I'm playing.

I will say that it is very rare that I will "only" strum a song... there are so many little things that can be done to embellish a tune without losing the groove, and many of those things add a bit of spice to what might be a fairly boring endeavor (only strumming).

So, it depends on the song; for many songs I might establish a bass line and keep doing that throughout the tune, or at least refer back to it, again only if that "fits" the song. I will employ the paired courses of a 12 string to heighten or emphasize some aspect of the song, since the 12 string guitar gives each note "two" notes, an octave apart on the lower strings.

I mix it up when I perform; flatpicking, strumming, fingerpicking, whatever suits the tune and the venue...

[Woodstock School Of Music]

Originally Posted by ohiopicker

For those of you doing solo acoustic act, are any of you primarily "strummers", doing relatively stripped down versions of acoustic songs with vocals? This is as opposed to more complex fingerpicked/flat picked arrangements with leads? If so, is this satisfying enough for a general audience?

Thanks in advance for the input.

Either way will win over and audience if it's delivered with passion and conviction and it's good

[John Bartus]

I've made a living as a pro musician for nearly 35 years, in bands, acoustic duos, and (mostly) acoustic solo. When I was first learning to play back in the mid-1970s, I worked on both the strumming and the fingerpicking at the same time, teaching myself how to play James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, and Dan Fogelberg songs. These days, my solo acoustic show features 6- and 12-string acoustics as well as a looper pedal for laying down live passages and rhythms that enable me to play lead lines. Keeps things interesting for both the audience and myself!

The guitar techniques, as someone already put it, are secondary to the vocal and the song. It is good to have the ability to both strum and fingerpick (and bottleneck/slide -- well, I could never quite get the hang of that). It's better to be able to deliver a song with the emotion, meaning, and impact necessary to connect with the listeners -- especially in a noisy bar or restaurant.