Anyone with a solo acoustic act use a drum machine or pedal?

[Bob Womack]

I remember in 1979 being sent by the college paper to interview and cover the Georgia trio, The Pat Terry Group (Pat Terry - lead vocals, rhythm guitar; Sonny Lallerstadt - BG vocals, lead guitar; Randy Bugg - BG vocals, bass). These three put on a great show for a crowd of about six hundred. It was Christian pop, and there was/is no money in that. As a result, the band traveled in a small RV as a threesome with a sound man. In fact, they had overheated the brakes on the RV going down a mountain that afternoon and ate up the entire proceeds of the concert.

These guys were GOOD and professional and filled the hall as a trio. However, they missed their drummer. On one song, Pat winked and apologized for what was to come, then leaned over and triggered a drum box for, I think, this song:



It worked great! Pat joked that this drummer didn't eat much or take the best seats in the RV. It was my first initiation to drum machine use in live work. Perhaps that is why I am not allergic to occasional BG instrumenr box use.

Bob

[Allan_Beatle]

Originally Posted by Cuki79

Do you guys use beatbuddy as initially intended and stomp on the pedal each time you change parts or use it to play one complete song as one would use a backing track?

I use totally freely! Don’t like backing track, cause U can’t change stuff…The secret is to do a lot of “Pout Pouree”. Don’t stop the beat and do 3, 5, sometimes over 10 Cathy songs non stop! If u wanna a backing track, u don’t need a beat buddy, just use your cell fone!

[rmp]

Drum machines and what ever's are a hard no for me.

[JackB1]

Funny thing is I used to use a Beat Buddy all the time and recently been using tracks w/ bass and drums.
Now, if I just use the drum pedal, it sounds empty

[AcouStickistNS]

I have a Beat Buddy and have performed with it several times. I don't like using it for more than one song. I do not use it that much anymore, I prefer creating backup rhythms by hitting the palm of my hand on the guitar body or tapping my fingers on the strings near the bridge and muting with the other hand, and using a looper to play it back and end it. I find this to work better as it's sometimes difficult to judge the volume of the Beat Buddy, or it just does not sound real in certain rooms. If I find I need more driving low end, I can overdub the same "bass drum" over the loop multiple times until I get it to sound full enough for the room I'm in, or be able to be heard over a noisy crowd. I do not like the sound of the Beat Buddy through certain acoustic amps, so if I'm playing through someone else's rig, which is 80% of the time, I've learned to leave it home. I find them best to use through a good PA.