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Old 06-14-2019, 07:21 AM
JonPR JonPR is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ctvolfan View Post
Question for you solo singer song writers out there. I have yet to play live anywhere yet and plan on doing some open mics first to get my feet wet. I have only in recent years started writing and singing my own songs.

I do have some songs were I was able to incorporate a guitar solo into my songs as I sing and play alone. Most of these solos are basically a form of strumming some chords with some individual string picking within the chords.
That should work fine live.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ctvolfan View Post
However there are some songs (mostly slow songs) where I have a guitar solo that I can't really play during my solo act because it is a pure string picking solo that is not combined with chords. I hope that makes sense but think of it as a solo you would play while somebody else is playing rhythm guitar at the same time. It would be an odd break to go from some strumming in some songs into a solo that would tend to make the song lose its energy since my rhythm part would just dead stop in the middle of the song for my solo.
Sure. So don't do that! Forget the solo altogether, just sing the whole thing with no breaks.

Even the first kind (strumming with embellishments) you could sing with no solo break. No one expects instrumental breaks in singer-songwriter songs - unless maybe you're known as a guitar wizard, and can play melody and accompaniment together.

The song is the thing, remember: the vocal melody and lyric. That's what most people listen to.
Unless the solo really contributes something equally interesting and original, skip it. Non-musicians aren't bothered by instrumental breaks, and musicians might just criticise your technique.
You may think that makes a song too short, but there's nothing wrong with short and sweet. Better that than extending a song unnecessarily by throwing a guitar break in the middle.
Only if you think your guitar playing is a lot better than your singing (and I mean a lot) should you think about inserting guitar solos as a matter of course.
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