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Mm?
Do you have a chord-melody arrangement waiting in the wings?
Do you bust out a blues and see where it takes you?
Start Gambale-sweeping over Autumn Leaves?
Whack out some Freddy Green 3s n' 7s until they lose interest and wander off?
What say you?
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02-01-2015 11:24 PM
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Smoke on the water or some fast rock song played really slow with higher tension chords. They look at me funny because their brain half recognizes it, but the chords throw them off.
Most people I know wont recognize a jazz tune so me playing them doesnt give them what they wanted when they asked.
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"Nuages", from Django Reinhardt, chord-melody style.
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Just play altered scale fastly up and down. Then when everybody looks you with a wierd look on their face just say you played some jazz...
Then they think you are way over them as a talented person!
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I've been in a very embarrassing situation when I was asked the same and couldn't produce a note...which I still laugh at myself for, given that I could in fact play a few things back then. Unfortunately nothing for solo guitar.
Started working on chord melody to prevent a repeat of that! Recently pulled out Beautiful Love on one occasion.
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Most people want to hear the intro to AC/DC's Back In Black. Aside from that, a couple choruses of the Catfish Strut does the trick.
Last edited by cosmic gumbo; 02-02-2015 at 06:09 AM.
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People ask to hear you play?
People ask me to put it away.
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"I'd rather not."
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Hey, Good Lookin' by Hank Williams
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Let it Goooooooo
no seriously, Stella
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If I was serious I'd probably sing some old tune. I'm digging the Inkspots these days.
Originally Posted by Jehu
I think I'm going to alter the lyrics to 'I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire' a bit. I want to do my own rap in there in the spoken part and make the song crazier than it already is. Something like;
I don't want to set the world the world on fire,
honey
But if you ask me to play the guitar one more time,
I might
That kind of thing.
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Nobody has ever asked me to "play something on the guitar". I wish they would!
At our family Christmas gatherings I am allowed to strum simple chords to the holiday songs while people struggle to remember the words. I have worked out some nice chord-melody arrangements to some of the hipper Christmas tunes but after about 20 seconds everybody just kind of wanders away.....
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Play a tune. A tune you can play from end to end. Keep it simple. Good timing and a good feel, and a song they know (-or at least in a style familiar to them.) Some go-to tunes for me are "Mean To Me," "Mean Old World," and "I'm Just A Lucky So-And-So." (I use a blues solo from the Mickey Baker book as an intro to that and it works---simple but catchy.)
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I'd rather not. Honestly, interacting with family,friends, acquaintances etc. I would much prefer to not play - it always comes with a sense of performance that imho isn't conductive to socializing.
If I must, I either play something I know they like or some chord melody thing. Something that sounds like a song not just a riff or guitar part
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I play music that I like and believe in. The reason I am playing music is to play things I like not what people like. If they don't like it that is their problem. Of course, if they pay me then I will play what they like.
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I tend to sing a song. Usually something comedic. This gets enough attention and they say 'give us another'. When I have captured the audience then I will sneak in some solo finger style 'jazzy' arrangement of a tune that they might know. It's often the simplest music that is most appreciated.
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Yeah, that's pretty much where I'm at. It's fine if someone wants to play with me, but I find the whole performing in a living room thing quite awkward. Originally Posted by Average Joe
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Why weren't you already playing before they had to ask?
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Depends who is asking.... I'll usually play whatever I'm currently working on and hope that will suffice, it's when they request a specific song that things can get hairy, if I don't know it I'll say so, but try to play something similar.
If all else fails play the intro to 'Stairway to Heaven' or 'Classical Gas', it gets them everytime
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I often automatically play Stella By Starlight, Body and Soul or Pat Metheny's The Bat. But mostly I'll just start goofing around. Sometimes it's Green Dolphin Street, Autumn Leaves, or My Ship, if I can remember to play it.
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Because my regular practice time revolves around my personal library of standards as transcriptions and midi files I create in notation with Sibelius, I just close my eyes and visualize my varied 'set lists'. And because I have made recordings of many of the tunes, I am rarely at a total loss for what to play. Songs like Georgia On My Mind, Misty, My One and Only Love, My Foolish Heart, The Shadow of Your Smile, The Girl From Ipanema, Dindi.... pretty burnt into my neural circuits. Or one of the tunes I recently added like Since I Fell For You (George Benson version). Love that song. Playing impromptu I will generally sing the melody, so I support it on guitar with the bass and inner voices, which is remarkably easier when you are focused on singing the melody. I find that helps dissipate "performance anxiety".
What I do not do usually is noodle around aimlessly with a crowd that may not appreciate jazz. I save that for those that think they do.
JayLast edited by targuit; 02-05-2015 at 04:11 AM.
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I always play some free improvisation...
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Wow, you are brave. Originally Posted by nick1994
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That's why I'm rarely asked to play... Originally Posted by smokinguit
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A little "Autumn Leaves" CM with a vocal and something like ATTYA with a (very rough right now) walking baseline on the 7 string with a vocal. Generally, interest drops way off after that. Christmastime, holiday songs I sing with my daughter but that's getting a bit thin anymore. Friends with an interest in Hawaiian style, whatever slack key tune I'm working on, or some uke tunes (Brudda Iz' "Over the Rainbow/Wonderful Life" usually suffices, but will follow up with "White Sandy Beach" if they want a second tune).
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Melody between melody
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