playing gigs single handed.

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capnkid

capnkid

Optimus Prime
*I didn't know where to put this* So, What type of equipment would I need to play small bars by myself?

I would like to play guitar acoustic and electric, and sing to backing tracks.

1. What type of P.A. would be needed?

2. What would be the best c.d. player for this? Would I buy the backing tracks and have some sort of remote control to activate them at the right time?

I'm sure I'll have other questions too.

I have an electric guitar, and an amp.
 
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hmm..

any PA will work. if it works for the room then you are set.

most places have a PA and a soundman that are setup to deal with the room.

you could use a laptop or even an ipod/mini disc player into the PA to play your backing tracks..
i know a few people who use like ADATs or even reel to reels to do it.
you could even just burn a cd and use ANY cd player, you could easily get one with a remote or just space the tracks out decently and you might not have to mess with it much unless you wanted to pause and say something or tune or whatever.

folks have been doing what you are describing for decades, a few styles of reggae are based on singing over records, as well as the majority of hip hop.

imcurious to see which way you end up going and how it works for you.
 
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If you're certain that you'll be doing solo work and that you'll be in small venues, then consider the largest of the Fender Passport line. It's 500 watts and one person can carry it. For a solo act, convenience is more than a word - you just can't be lugging 50 lb speakers to the upstairs bar every time you turn around without it getting really old.
 
Capn, any Pa will do.

I gotta ask you to please video yourself doing this "guitaroke" as it's called, and watch it by yourself. You may just re-think the whole idea. No matter how talented the artist, how professional the show, or how moving the music might be, guitaroke can be just as hokey as it's namesake.

In all fairness though, piano bars are as popular as ever. If you are very versatile and have a large catalog of songs, it might be the best gig you ever do. I like the laptop idea personally, and you can keep lyrics on it.
 
basically man what im trying to say is that the last thing you should spend money on is sound reinforcement for a project like the one you mention.

i dont know what the small venues are like in your area, but any venue that wants to have live entertainment should be willing to fork over the cash for their own PA.

man, playin one instrument in a band is enough of a pain in the ass. Sometimes i play more than one instrument in the same night and have to haul way more stuff.

you will really be doing this every time you play. granted, you will keep all the money etc, but even that is actually a bonus for the bar. at the least they save quite a bit of money by having only one person to deal with for drinks etc.

if you supply the PA as well then all they have to do is open the doors just like business as usual and then make money off of the sales to people you attracted by playing live music.

i say you should focus on making your act sound the best it can, invest in gear for your benefit and let the bars worry about the sound system. its a small investment for them and it is a selling point for them to attract more local musicians if they are so inclined. it takes money for them to make money just like the rest of us.

the average bar makes enough in booze sales from the proceeds of one show to buy a modest PA . they can always add more mics, speakers, amps.. whatever.. piece by piece.

the less stuff you have to worry about the better.

we used to bring our own PA out for certain shows, or we just brought subs or whatever to augment the house sound when needed.

it sucks to put wear and tear on your own PA and risk exposing it to drunk jackasses in a bar type setting.

bah.. when did i get this old and lazy and jaded.

:)
 
...

as for the idea of guitroke.. meh.. if it sounds good, it is good.

dont get me wrong.. im not saying i would prefer it that way for myself.. but i think you could have fun and make it sound really cool if you care enough.

if you dont mind me asking, why not just get a bass player and drummer to learn the material for live gigs and then sequence the rest of it? you could trigger stuff via midi, pedals, software, etc. that will allow you to still have more melody and harmony parts but the rhythms will have live FEEL that can change dynamically even against the pre-recorded tracks. a drummer and bass will give you the push and pull while the recorded tracks will always be the same.

it would be like woodshedding to old records which can be fun but i wouldnt want to have to do it always as my act.

honestly, i dont even like multi-tracking recorded rhythms really. i would much prefer at least bass, drums and rhythm guits/piano to play simultaneously while recording.

where will your backing tracks come from if you do it solo anyway?

if you want to record all the tracks yourself why not just make finished songs and spin your own records at a club as a DJ?

you would literally have to add only ONE more track.. just the last guitar track.

that is a hell of a lot easier than the one man band type deal every weekend.

it seems that the only real socially accepted one man band type of stuff that involves guitar is acoustic and vocal, or acoustic and whatever else, but even that stuff still has to be good like anything else.

if you wanna just play lead guitar over some stuff you recorded and charge people money to see it, just be realistic in your expectations.

anyway, i do think its a cool idea to try something new for a change, i just wouldnt sink a ton of money into it unless you are sure its worth it. or at least yourself some cool toys to make it fun to do.

the old tried and true method of getting some guys together and playin some shows hasnt changed much in a really long time.. for many good reasons.

and again, best of luck with your project.

*OH YEAH..*

what about a BOSS/Roland digital recording device?

i have had a br1180 w cd burner for years.. they are simple to use, i would feel safe carrying that thing to a bar if i had an ok case. and you can get them cheap or really spendy. any price pretty much.

mebbe take a peek at those for real, especially the bottom ones are decent for the price.

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productlist.aspx?ParentId=110
 
Yea, Ive seen the live one-man-playing-to-a-backing-track type thing, and even when it sounds good, it looks amateur. If at all possible, I'd suggest what the last poster suggested - nab a bass player and drummer, and sequence the rest for triggering. It will look and sound more professional in the sense that people going out to see a live act aren't going to see a multitracked CD playing through a PA with a sole performer playing over pre-cooked material.

Not to say it can't be done, but again, even excellent players I've seen who've tried to pull it off couldn't. But, since you'd be using the PA and whatever other equipment you'd need for the sequencing, etc anyway, I suppose you might as well try before trying to get other musicians involved - believe me, I know - finding other musicians to play with that share your particular interests and play the material you want to is not exqactly the easiest thing in a lot of areas.
 
...

im in a similar boat at the moment. i just moved from california to hawaii. talk about culture shock.

i plan to find some musicians soon, and i know there are plenty in the area. in the meantime i am just going to record and if i get the itch to play live im just gonna dj the finished records at bars.

its not the same thing i know, but like i was saying before, it just feels more socially accepted.

let us know when you plan your next move?

im curious how it all pans out man.

aloha!

:)
 
Guitar is difficult to play with one hand.

I say you need to re-evaluate your strategy.








:)
 
not to start a controversy here but I do single acts all the time and it definitely doesn't look amateur if it's done right.
To a large degree it depends on your skill level.
When I play singles ... it's always to tracks I've sequenced in a keyboard. To me, a laptop or CD player looks like karaoke and tends to get that sort of reaction.
But using a keyboard, no one ever sees me touch anything besides a musical instrument ..... plus, since I do all the tracks myself, I can tweak them for what I want them to accomplish and can truthfully say that I'm playing everything ..... just on another night.
Also, with a keyboard, I have loops, so songs are not always the same depending on how I feel like playing it that night plus I can remove parts if I have people sit in, change keys for them .... whatever.
Lastly, I do the vast majority of my sequences with bass and drums only ..... I don't use cheesy sounding horn sections and stuff, instead I cover the parts same way as I would in a 3 piece band which wouldn't have those horns in there .... the guitarist would cover them as best he could. Keyboards do bass and drums very well and I've had quite a few first rate players mention they thought it was a band until they walked up and saw me. In club settings I play at the same volume as I would in a band.

If you want to work, (I have no other income) .... then lots of places'll pay you $150 to do a single but won't pay more for a band and plenty of places that would book a single don't even have room for a band. I generally play 4-7 gigs a week and 2-4 of those are usually singles.

As for PA, you'll have to have one and I wouldn't go for the passport ..... not big enough on those occassions where you're in a club that wants band type volume levels because the PA is your drums and bass and has to be able to pump them out at realistic levels for those gigs where it's appropriate. Also .... it's not true that anywhere you play'll have a system ..... some do and some don't and the kinds of places that use single acts often don't. I'd say about half the time there'll be a PA available and even then, sometimes it's so crappy I'll use my own anyway. For sequences, the balance of the instruments depends on the PA being tuned for that purpose and if you go thru a bad one it'll be like the bass is missing, or way too loud .... or the snare'll suck or whatever. I'd rather exert the extra effort and make sure I'll sound like I want to sound. I'm just not that lazy though I'll certainly save the work and use a house system when it's good enough.
I have a Mackie 808M ..... I'll use just one monitor speaker (15" and horn) for small gigs, two of them for slightly larger rooms and I'll even bring two 2-15" trapezoids for the fronts and use my monitors for me with a Crown pushing them on bigger or outside gigs. It's really important to have the bass kicking for a better shot at realism so last week when I did an outside single gig I was running about 1500 watts ...... not that that's typical of my singles, but it does happen and I have to be prepared for that.
And if the gig is large enough at all, I bring my Mesa for my guitar amp. I will just use my Rocktron Utopia direct in the PA for super small gigs but I much prefer an amp where possible.

Now, this all depends on your skills being at a high enough level to have people focus on that rather than the seq's, but when I play a single (I also do duos which I prefer a lot and plenty of 'hired gun' band gigs) I use the seq's simply as a way to enable me to play the stuff I play.
For example .... it would be hard to do a decent version of Kid Charlemagne without at least some drums and a bass part going on. That doesn't mean they have to be so loud that they take the audiences' attention ....... they should just be a facilitator.

Granted, I play sax/guitar/bass/vocals all at about the same level which makes me a little more flexible than most; and I have been doing this for about 14 years now in addition to 42 years of band gigs so I've really tweaked the process ..... but one of the keys is to have a large songlist .... my current songlist is hovering around 335 songs last time I counted ... that helps a lot. Being able to play something when someone asks is a sure way to make them happy.
I get $150 minimum for a single and get anywhere from $20 to $60 in tips. For weddings or special events or New Years or anything like that, I get $300 minimum. If you need money it's a good way to go 'cause lots of places that won't/can't have a band will do a single.
If you keep the right attitude .... even super quiet "sonic wallpaper" gigs can be a time to hone your chops. I always simply look at them as chances to seriously expand my skills .... no one's listening that closely so you're free to try and work on those ascending arppegios or whatever.
Doing a single gig will make you a much better player regardless of where your skill level is now and will make you very comfortable on stage for band type things you might do later.
Like anything else, it gets as good as you're willing to put time into it. I'd have no hesitation playing in front of any of these guys and there's no chance that any of them would think it was 'amatuerish'. Instead, they'd be asking how I got that particular sound or how in the world do I remember all those words or "what was that lick you did in......" ..... I've gotten those questions from every 'single act hater' I've ever played in front of and the most common comment I get is, "Man...... you actually groove ..... how the hell do you do that?"
The groove is the thing and that's another reason I do my own seq's ..... if they don't groove ..... then I don't use them 'till they do.
 
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Thankyou for all the replies.

Well I'm trying to put together a home studio to record the songs.

I have questions all over the place right now at this bbs. lol.

Maybe I can get some help here with some things for recording first.

My computer has a 3400 athion, 512 mb, 200 gb.

What would be a good interface that works with Adobe audition.

I would like to get adobe audition as it seems to be the easiest to use.

DRUMS: I hear great things about DFH and BFD software, but how do you use it, will a keyboard trigger them. Can I use the same keyboard to store song for live use as Lt.Bob does, What kind of keyboard?
or
should I go with a drum pad machine?

Bass: Line 6 bass and a pod would be the cheapest?

Guitar: covered
 
and those unfortunately, are things I can't help with ..... I do all my work on a Roland XP60 (I have several of them and extra drives and boxes and boxes of floppy discs so they'll last till I die which, at my age, won't be that long) so my sequencing process won't be useful to you but there's plaenty of guys that can help you with that.
Good luck and have fun.
 
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