Accompaniment for vocalist

[JohnnySmash]

What is the best way to accompany a vocalist? Finger picking? Strumming? Playing finger pick patterns? Thanks, Johnny

[mr. beaumont]

What the song calls for. That simple.

[JohnnySmash]

Is one style of playing preferred over the other? Can one style, say finger picking, cover all vocalist? I am mostly concerned with pop, country, and folk music.

[Bob Womack]

In a typical accompaniment situation, unless there are strictures, ie. it is a classic gig and I must play with classical method, I usually find myself using mutiple methods, usually dependent upon the content and style of the song. I might start off fingerpicking something, switch to strumming at the height of the song to get more raw volume, and go back to fingers for the end of the song. The stylistic demands of the song also determine whether I switch to pick or strum with my fingers.

How do you choose? If left to myself to produce my accompaniment, that's one of those "feel" things I've developed by listening to and watching as many performances as I could.

Bob

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by JohnnySmash

What is the best way to accompany a vocalist? Finger picking? Strumming? Playing finger pick patterns? Thanks, Johnny

Hi Johnny S...

Several tips for accompanists I practice:

• Match the guitar style to the style of the song…
• If you are the accompanist sit - don't stand - and turn your chair to face the singer (if you stand next to them it's a duet, if you sit they are a soloist with an accompanist).
• If you stand behind the singer, there is no eye contact and cues are more limited.
• Build an introduction and closing if it's not specified in the arrangement, and practice them with the singer so they know where to come in
• Schedule a formal practice session of at least 1 hour to meet the singer, and explore the piece together. Have a chart, and note taking ability.
• You are there to serve them, not the other way around, so everything I do as accompanist should keep the attention on the singer.
• Bring a capo…(and perhaps a transpose chart) some singers have a limited range and some only sing in certain keys

These aren't hard and fast, but they have served me well for 47+ years of accompanying now.

There is no way to predict whether you should strum or fingerstyle (or both) till you see/hear the arrangement and hear the singer.

Hope this adds to the discussion...

[stanron]

Originally Posted by JohnnySmash

What is the best way to accompany a vocalist? Finger picking? Strumming? Playing finger pick patterns? Thanks, Johnny

Listen.

There are lots of threads here on developing ones ear. This is another.

[Hotspur]

Originally Posted by stanron

Listen.

There are lots of threads here on developing ones ear. This is another.

Glad someone said it.

Your job when accompanying a singer is to understand what they're doing and support it.

You use your imagination, knowledge, skills and creativity to come up with ways to support it, but it all has to start from understanding and intention.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by JohnnySmash

Is one style of playing preferred over the other? Can one style, say finger picking, cover all vocalist? I am mostly concerned with pop, country, and folk music.

Probably the style that would cover almost any situation would be simple strumming, with a flat pick. If you were accompanying a singer you hadn't met before, that's probably what they would expect an accompanying guitarist to do - unless asked otherwise, or unless it was a song with a very distinctive guitar part (that any guitarist ought to know).

Fingerpicking might be a preferred (or expected) style in folk music (or at least folk music of a certain kind). You'll certainly hear a lot more fingerpicking in folk clubs than in rock clubs...
It might cross over to country too, via bluegrass.
Pop, however, would be simple strumming the whole time, and in rock you'd play a lot more power chords (fewer full barres) - obviously a mixture.

As mr beaumont says, "what the song requires" is the best answer, but if you don't know what that is (if you haven't heard it and just have a chord chart), some kind of strumming would be the best option.
Even if you have heard it, and know it, you might not have to play exactly what was on the original. It depends - again - on the song, and how distinctive the guitar part was. You might be able to be inventive, as long as the singer is OK with that.

In fact, perhaps the most important issue when accompanying a vocalist (and this sounds "duh...") is back them up. Your job is to help them look good. Don't play in a way that draws attention away from them, or is likely to put them off or confuse them. You obviously have to be in a suitable key (hopefully they'll tell you that, and it may not be the key you know it in); you have to keep a clear rhythm; and you may have to give them cues now and then.
So generally KISS (keep it simple, stupid) is the best policy. Of course, if you get a solo break, go wild (if appropriate)! But give them a clear cue for the next verse.

[Wally]

Practice and listening - I think the key is listening to the vocalist's style, i.e. breathing patterns, and the ebb and flow. When it's just the two of you the vocalist is likely to feel more inclined to be more free and not follow a strict metronome tempo. It is therefore important to practice together as much as possible prior to the actual performance.