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Originally Posted by pkirk
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03-14-2013 04:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
Solo playing is a hard work.
All The Best
kris
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Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
Please excuse me for asking a probably naive and ridiculous question (i heard your music several times, i do like it) but three hours seems like gigantic to me.
I am not really a jazz player, at least not as a job, so i have hard times imagining what you did:
Only your own comps, stretched and highly improvised ?
Added some standards and, i guess, mostly ballads ?
Freely did some modal impros ?
Freely noodled on some vaguely planned chord progression ?
All of this, i guess, but i'd be really interested to know ...
Thank you
Last edited by xuoham; 03-14-2013 at 10:35 AM. Reason: typos, typos, always typos !!! gggnnnnn !!!!
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Originally Posted by xuoham
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Thank you, i got it.
Well, then i guess it's a lot of tunes, around 45, 50 ?
If the audience is not closely paying attention and one can play relaxed, that is, if
memory black holes don't mean you're dead, i guess it must have some very pleasant moments.
Besides the strain of playing non stop.
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Yeah, the solo gig can be a lot of fun, even if you're just background music...gives some freedom, you can stretch out...I'll often play tunes a few times through when improvising--at slower to medium tempos that can be well over 5 minutes a song.
For a three hour gig, I'd bring probably 3 sets of 15 songs, knowing I might not get to everything, which is fine. Better to overplan...but the truth is, if it's a restaurant gig, your audience is ever-changing...playing a tune in the third set you played in the first is never a big deal, really...
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hi ya Jim, congrats on the gig ,
re the question.. dude carrying an 8" cab or a 10 " cab is not a great difference .... so yeah go with "best tone" if it was a 4x12 i would say forget it heheheheh
i also have various rigs for my different gigs... and i also work on a reasoning of "how much am i being paid" cos as much as the 'compact gear " can get the job done in most venues BUT a big rig even quietly will sound better especially for jazz.....where a fat tone is always better ... but if the gig is a 50 seater bistro paying minimum rates and you just background music ...for me i would bring a nice sounding "compact rig" and not go overboard with the gear ....
enjoy the gig and tell us how it goes ...
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
and yes you need lots of songs in the repetoire but most players doing the solo jazz guitar scene that i have bumped into world wide are also old dinasours like me ...and by the time you been a pro for 20yr or more you comfortable to be able to play 80 -100 jazz standards from memory .... so for me i have that amount memorised (till my memory fades even more than it has already ) and then i have all the real books and fake books as e books so i can look up anything i may have forgotten ..
so yes for me solo jazz guitar is by far my favourite avenue of performing , also forget using back tracks ...grrrrrrrr nothing freaks me out more than a solo jazz guitar player who uses backtrax..... i get why rock solo artists do it but for jazz there's so much that can be done with just the guitar ........and no need for tracks (end of rant)
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on Saturday I played a 4 hour solo gig at a large department store, out in the center of the sales floor. I decided to bring my "better" sounding rig for a fuller bottom. I always start out quiet and expect to gradually get louder as people get comfortable hearing the music...
Well, within 16 bars of the first tune, a few sales people ran over to ask me turn down. I was playing so softly, I could not believe they felt it was too loud. I complied and about 30 minutes into the gig, the same person came back and asked me to turn down more. I swear my volume knob was already in that mysterious area between no signal and the first blinking on of volume, i had nowhere to go. I was puzzled that they would even hire a musician when some of the sales people were determined to prevent the music from ever being heard! I literally could barely hear myself over the piped in store music above. Ultimately, I conceded that I was being paid anyway and proceeded to play 4 hours as a virtual pantomime.
I will make an appointment to have my hearing checked...i think?
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Originally Posted by Keira Witherkay
The guitar is one of a VERY small handful of instruments that can provide it's own accompanyment. Embrace the guitar!
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i am a guitarist that uses backing tracks regularly. I have 3 weekly residencies that want a whole band sound but either dont have the room or the budget to have one.
I will be honest and say that i prefer gigging with a band but the backing tracks provide a great platform for easy restaurant/resthome/wedding gigs.
The bonus i find is that guitarists never want to play using backing tracks so this free's up alot of the market down here for me.
At the end of the day i am the one with 3 residencies as week and alot of other solo players find it hard to get work round here.
WE may not like it as musicians but the people who pay my wages LOVE it and for that reason alone i wont stop using backing tracks in the near future.
As far as tone vs convenience, i always take my Eastmans to jazz gigs and generally find the tone i want out of a 40xl cube....soon to be replaced by a mambo head with a custom 2x10 cab.
cheers guys
Ben
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So far I have avoided backing tracks, thank god. But as things are never say never... I personally find backing tracks hideous I don't even use them to practice. Jazz must leave room for the unexpected. I never quite understood why venues would want that - at that point you might as well get a good DJ instead. Seems like the worst of both worlds to me, honestly.
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Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
I've worked hard to be able to play a 3 hour gig solo, and I'm proud of that, so yeah, it's a pride thing...I'm glad I have the luxury to feel that way.
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you see Jeff, that where i want to be. I am not there yet but being able to play a 3hr set is a fantastic achievement.
Kudos.
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jim won't be happy until he is playing air guitar going directly into people's heads. how are you travelling/loading in? i'd suck it up the first time and take the stealth 10 just to learn the venue and see what you can get away with. if its a huge issue, a cart or a dolly or whatever can't be that much. as for me, a 1x12 and a pedaltrain nano with a few relevant pedals is what i take. i prefer to take the tophat because its lighter, but the vox works better at the moment.
though this thread has gotten me thinking- maybe i should fix up my vox ac4 so i could get to gigs on my bike i may like to try a winfield typhoon ef84 head because those are teeny tiny, as well.
and yes, backing tracks live are kind of creepy to me. mainly because they sound super cheesy, and then they sound even worse run through an ipod into a guitar amplifier. and hearing the ipod clicks through the amp kills me, too. but if you have to, you have to. i suppose my issues are more with the tracks themselves, and not people using them. still, i don't think i could ever bring myself to using them. a looper is already pushing it for me.Last edited by feet; 03-15-2013 at 11:56 AM.
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Originally Posted by benjazzman82
I just takes time...I'm nobody special. Took me about 3 years of steady work to get the repertoire up big enough, and it keeps evolving...I don't play a lot of tunes any more I did at the beginning, tired of them, I guess...or my brain can only hold so much...and there's still HUNDREDS of common tunes I should know, as I'm really figuring out this year with my "Song of the Week" project...
Back to Jim's quest, I totally get it. Now my gig rig can be carried on my back and one hand, one trip from the car or I can even hack it on public tran (though that is NOT my favorite way to gig travel)...
Once you see how small you can go and still sound great, you keep thinking...
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Teaching is great...if you like teaching.
I'm a high school teacher and a private guitar teacher, so I get to see a little bit of all of it...but it's a fine way to make a living, for me.
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Interesting gig. I'd get tired of security really quickly!
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Originally Posted by Bryan T
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Oh cool an airport gig .... I love travelling to thailand and the surrounds and often pass thru singapore airport .... And that airport also has a few live music acts too , i forget his name but a few yrs back i met an american guitarist who was teaching jazz in singapore doing a solo guitar and female vocal duo gig at the airport ... Beautiful and a tastefull jazz player .... Always remember those flights fondly... Sadly someone else was there the next trip
So yeah jim nice gig , and i get it re security ... Can't be easy ... Do they allow a baggage trolley?
Anyway a cool , unusual gig ... Keep us posted , also who knows what celebs or industry people might hear you , so it may lead to greater things ...
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Jam Session Journal (April 2024)
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