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I like the set list of solo guitar gigs and what players are playing for tunes. My question is one of do you play the tunes all from memory or do you have charts? In my case I am excellent sight reader so I can play basically any tune on the fly from a chart. I am not sure if most guitarist do this or can do? My guess is most decent players could easily read solo guitar and play on the fly.
My question really has to do with the gig and how long can you play? Given the parameters if I have the charts I could play easily a 3 hour gig. I certainly have many solo guitar tunes memorized but frankly if manage to forget parts of tune so with a chart it simply makes it easy. Sometimes even tunes I have played for many years I forget parts of them. Finally, I also have a number of tunes are pure arrangements from Johnny Smith and Wes.
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Hi, Mark. I've been playing 2 to 4 hour solo gigs for 60+ years. So I probably know over 1000 tunes well enough to play without a chart of any kind. As you observe, parts of tunes escape memory if I haven't played them for a long time. Similarly, many bridges etc that are similar to each other pop up in the wrong tune from time to time.
None of this is a problem. One of the most beautiful aspects of solo playing is the ability to improvise on the fly. Wrong bridge? No problem - it just became a medley. Wrong change? Make it work and you're reharmonizing. These are only "mistakes" if you let them upset the flow and continuity of the piece. If you don't get rattled by them and you adapt on the fly, you're playing a spontaneous arrangement of your own rather than an imperfect cover of Wes or an inaccurate version of someone else's chart.
I keep a tune list in my gig bag to inspire me and to avoid dead air when I can't immediately decide what to play next. But the tunes usually flow from my brain to my fingers almost without thinking about it. I'll modulate spontaneously, change styles from verse to verse, and throw change-ups with tempo. Dig your own groove and your audience will follow you into it. They can buy Wes or Johnny recordings if that's what they want to hear. But only you can give them you.
I love sitting down, pulling tunes from my head, and playing them the way the mood strikes me. I have a recurring 2 hour gig at a local French restaurant to which my wife and a few friends often come for dinner. I usually lose track of time as I get into a groove, and my wife or one of the staff often has to come over when I'm 15+ minutes past my end time to gently bring me back to earth 
As for max length, I can easily go 4 hours, but few solo gigs go that long except fashion shows. I've had casino and convention gigs that were all day affairs, and I've played for 8 hour private customer events at Newman Marcus (women's designer clothing & accessory trunk shows). The long ones are all 40 on / 20 off. I'll play a straight 80 minutes and bundle the 20s into lunch or dinner breaks. I also play recordings of me during breaks, so the music is continuous.
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I probably remember a couple of hundred tunes nowadays, but I like having setlists ready so I don't have to keep thinking of what tune to play next, or to just have a list to choose from. It's on my phone, so nothing extra to carry.
But if it helps, use a book or a tablet or whatever helps with the gig. I use a looper and an octave pedal, so for some tunes a solo gig sounds like a trio! 
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This is a great idea for a thread! I hope others contribute some of their own solo guitar performance experiences.
I'm not a full-time nor professional musician, far from it (more like an avid amateur), and I don't gig. My live musicking is mostly at weekly open jazz jam sessions at one of several local venues that host them, and an occasional acoustic open mic.
But two or three times a year, usually by invitation from one of the local venue owners, I do a one-off solo guitar set. This is on a much more modest scale than what many others are capable of doing, but it might be interesting or useful for other amateur or part-time players.
I'm currently working on a one-off set that's scheduled for the end of August. It'll be at a Mom and Pop run "music house" near where I live in Japan. I'm planning a 40 minute set, including two medleys (or what I prefer to call "suites") and one semi-stand-alone tune.
I've done several of these sets over the past few years, and they're all from memory, no music reading nor charts. However, I might have a large font set list on the floor (I sit while playing) with some pedal settings and notes for between song banter (I'm not fluent in Japanese, so I need some notes to welcome people, talk briefly about the tunes, thank everyone, etc). Sometimes I'm playing as part of an event that also includes other solo or duo performers. It's not really a bar setting, more like a community event, and patrons buy tickets for these shows. This "works," I think, because it's part of a vibrant, mutually supportive, local live music scene.
I normally work out a general song structure, noting "places" and "pathways" (as suggested by David Sudnow in "Ways of the Hand") to and from sections, and there's quite a bit of ad-lib and spontaneity involved. Though it can be precarious at times, I prefer this openness, rather than reading from a score or playing a completely memorized piece.
The content of a set varies, but usually includes a couple of jazz tunes done in something like a chord melody style, and a couple of old pop tunes (Beatles, etc.) using a Frisell-ish approach. Since these are one-off occasional sets, I rarely do the same songs from one set to the next, preferring to take the opportunity to try something new each time. This is possible, since I have some months between the sets to work up something new.
The set list for the upcoming performance is tentatively planned as follows:
-> Cold open, using Bill Frisell's thing of tuning with harmonics and gradually slipping into hinting at the first tune, perhaps by way of something ambient-like.
-> "Stella by Starlight" with "When You Wish Upon a Star" (a "Stars Suite," both tunes transposed to A for easier use of open strings).
-> Talk break (in Japanese and English), welcoming everyone, introducing myself, and noting the tunes done and the ones to come.
-> "Blackbird" with "Free as a Bird" (a "Birds Suite," possibly in reverse order).
-> "Tired of Waiting for You," in a direct segue from the "Birds Suite," i.e. "You were only waiting for this moment to arise."
-> Thanks and good night (in Japanese and English).
There's nothing on a music stand, though I sometimes put some thematically related small artworks on the stage facing toward the audience (usually done by a student or friend). However, it takes me a LONG time to get fluent enough to pull this off without charts and without the stress of having to perform something exactly from memory.
I started working on this set in June, running through some tunes I'd thought about doing, just basically ad-libbing to see where it takes me, exploring the possibilities and re-combinations. During July, after deciding on the above set list, I began exploring ways to use pedals and a looper for some sonic variety. And now in August, I'm running the set including the segues, transitions, pedal switching and the verbal parts.
To extend selections into more or less 10 minute sections, I do a short live loop on stage within a tune / suite / medley, often a vamp consisting of two measures each of two chords derived from common harmonic elements. I sometimes use the old fusion jam thing of picking two chords / clusters that have mostly common pitches, but with one or two a half step different.
Given the extended planning time for a very short set, I realize that this kind of performance might be impractical if I had to gig regularly, but it seems to work in my particular context and I do keep getting invited back.
Last January, I did a set entitled "Echoes of Jobim," featuring a half hour suite combining "Look to the Sky," "Girl From Ipanema," and "Dindi."
Another set a while back, about 40 minutes, began with "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" (inspired partly by the Johnny Smith version and Kenny Burrell's take), followed by a Bb blues medley based on "Freddie the Freeloader" and "Blue Monk," then "Watermelon Man," and ending with a medley of "In My Life" with "Lucy in the Sky." This set was difficult to hold together due to the variety, which was one factor that led me to recently try more thematically integrated selections, something like a suite. But, in the end, the whole thing is a learning process. And fun to boot!
Looking forward to reading more of your approaches and strategies. Thank you!
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