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Im considering putting together a set of tunes and seeing if I can get a a small solo cafe type gig. My playing is getting to the point where I can play decent rendition of the melody and then reasonable level of soloing. I know there is some contention surrounding the use of backing tracks but I think that this is the only way I would be able to play live at the moment. The opportunity to play with others in my area is limited, I do play weekly with a few guys but it’s some distance away and they are busy on other projects.
Is playing the head then soloing, repeat the head form of playing a tune likely to cut it? Chord melody is some way off yet…
Any thoughts…
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11-25-2025 06:50 AM
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Hello! Sounds like a fun project!
I imagine it’ll take some luck and legwork to find gigs, depending on your locale, but I say go for it and let your audiences decide.
I’ve done some of that, and used backing tracks, iReal Pro, Drum Genius, and a looper depending up on the songs and the venue.
Here’s wishing you all the best!
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First off, you can do this!
Backing tracks are fine, don't listen to guys who haven't played a gig since 1990 tell you otherwise.
But if you want to go another direction... chord and single note mix is great. Think Kenny Burrell Chitlins Con Carne. You can do that melody, hit the C7 in the melody rest, melody F7, melody ect.... A LOT of songs can be played like this. Killer Joe is another, Autumn Leaves, All of Me, Moonglow. If you find enough of them you can do a solo guitar set without even coming close to chord melody. Freddy Freeloader and Mercy Mercy Mercy, the melody can easily be harmonized by 6ths and it'll be strong enough to play without chords.
If you play the melody, with precision and intention, then hit chords as you can it's a perfectly fine level of solo guitar.
Listen to Kenny Burrell do All Blues, this is another one you can do as solo guitar.
Another good one is Well You Needn't.
Also, record yourself and see what works and what doesn't. I try to lean into what works and cut what doesn't. Sometimes I'll also lean into what doesn't work to amuse myself. Maybe don't do that.
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Any open mics around?
Looking back in hindsight the biggest factor keeping me from playing gigs in the past (when I would have actually wanted to), was trying to make each tune into a complete finished arrangement. If I taught my old self now I would say to learn a bunch of material in much simpler ways. My arrangements were so complex I could barely play them. I also couldn't have been able to retain them in my memory enough to make a full set list. Anyway, my advice learned by error would be keep it simple even if you are capable of doing hipper stuff.
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It'll depend on the audience. People who really listen to and appreciate jazz will probably not like it, unless you're really doing something interesting and unexpected. But others who are less [pick your adjective] will range from not minding to enjoying it, especially if the music is more or less incidental/background.
Originally Posted by Geospectrum
Personally, I'd rather listen to someone playing purely solo (even with minimal chord-melody/self comping) and taking that risk, or even using a looper (especially if they do something layered/cool with that) than someone using backing tracks (especially iReal). In a café, that might get me to stay, listen, and tip. But if it's some guy jamming along with iReal, I'd probably take my coffee to go.
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No way that could possibly work! Originally Posted by Geospectrum
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I think this is a great idea. Using a looper to set up some comping, as others have suggested, sounds good if you want to make it more “live”, but go with whatever works for you. Either way, as the actors say, “break a leg”!
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Do it! I mostly play with a duo or band but the venue I play a lot is open to me doing exactly this. For me this will not be a "jazz" gig - my setlist includes songs from the likes of Joni Mitchell, Beatles, Sting and even Hank Williams in addition to Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour etc. The venue is not a jazz club so I try to cover as many bases as possible. I personally do not use backing tracks or looper - which means my solos will tend to be shorter and stay close to the melody. So I'll take something like Strawberry Fields Forever - play it through to the exact melody once, a second time with more arps and single notes, then when the guitar solo part of the song comes up I'll try to reharmonize a bit using different chords but still close to the melody. That approach means I need to have more songs with shorter durations than I might with backing but it's where I want to go. One thing I am finding as a 70 year old is that I have some physical limits - 3 sets done this way is a lot of playing for me. I'm just now recovering from neck surgery which I hope will address some of my issues but it's still a lot of playing. In a duo if one of us cramps the other covers as we know each other's playing well enough to hear it coming. Solo it's all you! Definitely a great way to get experience!
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Ahhh .."those days are gone forever.." said Steely Dan..
So I would take a friend to a Piano Bar/Steak house in Santa Monica CA..it was the classic-dark candle lit-red leather ambiance theme.
Slow sip a single malt..
But Lonnie was the show..he knew most standards and so did most of the regulars who would request and fill the oversized tip glass.
Request a medley of Cole Porter..you bet!
While a piano can fill the task of a one man band with ease..doing so with a guitar takes some work.
At several dinner parties of friends I would take my Les Paul and small practice amp and do a
small set of low.. slow Hendrix motifs--Foxy Lady/wind cries mary/hey joe/all along the watchtower
a couple of Steely Dan faves..Dirty Work on do on.
Not full tunes but melodic and chord fragments..just enough to be recognized as such
and some of my own stuff..It was fun and no performance pressure.
If your just doing background soundscape stuff and not the Main entertainment
you might try a low key approach as such.
Hope it all works.
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Imo it isn't that high of a standard to be able to respectably present tunes by yourself. Backing tracks are kind of tacky and undercut the ideal of a musician performic in public. If you want to do a few gigs with backing tracks to get a feel for it, it's probably better to get the experience, but I'd shoot for being able to play the tune yourself as this isn't an unreasonable standard. It's more the musician is just competent and not living room warrior taking it to public. Like the others said, you don't need to be dominating chord melody for it to work. The performance can just be filled out with chords, with some choral sections and some single note playing punctuated with chords.
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Here are my thoughts.
1. Great idea.
2. To get a gig, outside of some kind of "in", consider creating a website and putting some representative recordings on it. Not juiced in any way, just the way you're actually going to sound on the gig. And, the usual pictures and fluff. If they hire you, you can figure that they'll like what you can do.
3. Go to places that have music and hand them a flyer which contains the url of your website, a picture or two and a brief description of the music.
4. If they don't contact you, call them back.
5. Consider starting with a tips and dinner kind of gig. Easier to get and you'll be in a steep part of the learning curve.
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A lot of good ideas so far. You might try creating your own gig: go to some places that DON'T have music and pitch yourself as a solo act. The win for the venue is that you'll attract more business. The win for you is that you get a gig.
Don't play for free, but don't worry so much about compensation that you talk the owner out of hiring you - as an unknown, you are more liability than asset. Just get your foot in the door. If the venue is a restaurant, tips and dinner might be a good starting point. If the venue is a bar, a percentage of the tab (10-15% if you play a standard four-hour gig) would be reasonable. When it's clear that you have improved business for the venue, then you can talk with them about higher pay.
Most important of all, make sure you and the venue are a good match. Nobody wants to hear your classic rock set in the tony restaurant, and happy hour at the biker bar is probably not where you want to trot out low-key jazz standards. I get the impression that you probably don't have a huge back-catalog of gig-ready material, so advising you to tailor your set list to the venue is a nonstarter. You want to approach venues that are a good match for your existing set list. If that's jazz standards as a solo guitarist, then find yourself a fern bar happy hour that doesn't have music, maybe on a Weds or Thurs, where your audience is people who just want to have a drink or two after work.
Dress appropriately for the gig. "Business casual" for that fern bar gig, something a bit hipper for the biker bar happy hour. There's a lot of advice on this forum about how to dress, etc so I won't recap that but suggest you look for those threads.
Above all: play at an appropriate volume. If the folks in the fern bar are there to converse, keep it waaaay down. If you are playing a raucous happy hour gig, turn it up. Not sure? Ask the owner or the bartender BEFORE they tell you to turn it down or up.
Good luck!
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So you'll appreciate this I think. A couple weeks ago I was lying in pre-op waiting for neck surgery. I am hoping that I will be able to resume playing, but there is no guarantee, nevertheless I distracted myself by planning songs I would like to do in a solo gig. I definitely wanted a Steely Dan tune, but which one? As I'm lying there in my buttless nightee a woman walks into the room, looks at me and says "Hi John - I'm Dr. Wu"! She was my anesthesiologist and if at the end of this road I'm playing again I'll dedicate that song to her every night! Then she knocked my ass out lol. BTW I'm hugely grateful to this group for keeping my head in the music. I'm not going to be able to play for a while so I'm "playing" vicariously though y'all - thanks! Originally Posted by wolflen
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Godspeed with your recovery, hope it works out for the best.... Originally Posted by StormyMonday
"Are you with me, Doctor Wu?"
"Yes, but only until you regain consciousness"
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I had hernia surgery a couple of years ago. The anaesthesiologist said "OK, now I'm gonna hit you with the good stuff. Start counting backwards from 10."
It was fentanyl. I never even made it to 9. Next thing I knew, I was waking up. That sh-- is no joke.
Good luck with the recovery. If you are laying around in bed with nothing to do, the audiobook of Eminent Hipsters, narrated by Donald himself, is interesting. When I listened, they gave one or two books for free as part of the Audible free trial.
PS: My nomination for solo gig would be "Any Major Dude." Nice guitar intro, not-difficult vocal, straightforward arrangement without a ton of backing parts, and a great tune.
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That’s very encouraging and it sounds like it’s manageable. I’ll take a few of your suggestions and see what I can work up.
Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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You may want to recruit a bass player or percussionist to accompany you, it's usually more fun and less stressful than trying to be a one man band.
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OP, a few thoughts...
1. I'd decide up-front to what extent you're planning to play background/atmosphere vs. center of focus music.
2. Do you sing? If so, that second voice will help considerably, especially for especially for center of focus music.
3. Guitar/bass is a great combination. But since it seems you don't have a bass player conveniently available, work some guitar basslines at least into swing tunes you're planning to play.
4. I wouldn't personally use a backing track. But for most solo situations I probably wouldn't hesitate to use a looper (with all loops being created in real time).
5. I'd try to pack the place with friends the first night or two. That seems likely to relieve some pressure, and drawing a crowd is the best way to get asked back.
Have fun - hope this helps.
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An open mic would be a great way to break the ice and figure out what might work. A combination of solo guitar and tunes with a live looper would keep things varied. Also no rule against using a loop for part of a song. Loopers take practice though especially live practice. Please keep us posted how you make out on your journey. Good luck.
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This may be venue dependent but the place I usually play is a small local place and the crowd really seems to like having interaction with the performer. In my duo I'm lucky my partner sings and has great stage presence, whereas I stay as far as possible from the chrome plated megaphone of destiny. Moving from duo to solo at that spot will involve at least introducing some stuff and some crowd interaction and that scares me more than the actual playing! But watching my partner do it I realize that he lightens the mood that way and makes for a very stress free environment to play in.
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Check out Hirofumi Asaba on You Tube - he's got LOTS of videos with just himself and a great bass player. Would love to do something like that if I could find the bass player. I also use BIAB for backing tracks but turn off everything but the bass and drums and keep a tiny bit of piano sometimes. If nothing else, it's a good way to practice. I played with dance bands for 50+ years so it's real hard for me to play without some kind of rhythm section. Good luck!!! Originally Posted by Mick-7
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He’s the best! Originally Posted by Skip Ellis
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Hello OP.. been experiencing exactly the same situation you're in. First off, it's important to get out there and play. Not sure I can explain why, but it is. So.. for me, there are not other musicians locally to play jazz with. I do not play fingerstyle melodic and while I might enjoy putting together a few tunes in that direction, I'm not going to spend the next several years putting together a couple of hours worth. So that leaves the discussion of backing tracks and where to play.
Backing tracks: Those that object have made a big investment in their lives to circumvent backing tracks. I suggest you appreciate their experience and advice on other matters but ignore them on the topic of backing tracks. Next, making backing tracks sound good. That means using the Quartet app and running it through a high fidelity system. An acoustic amp may work but not a guitar amp. I use Schertler gear but that's expensive. A decent small PA speaker should work. As long as it supports a full frequency range. You can use iRealB for a few tunes but avoid the more cheesy instrument sounds.
Finding gigs: I played at coffee shops. Nobody cared. Not that I sounded bad or that I'm a poor player. Just wasn't their music. Then my mother in law moved into assisted living and I started playing at her facility. Audience is 20-40 seniors who really want to listen and enjoy the music. It's actually a pretty good gig.
Playing for free: Who cares? Do what you want. Getting out of your living room is what matters.
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+1 on the Kenny Burrell. I like to use Tin Tin Deo for this kind of gig and there are some older George Benson songs like Body Talk that you can take the same approach on. Another thing to check out is how Jose Feliciano does some Beatles tunes on his "Feliciano" album. It's not super complicated and sounds really nice and most crowds like a Beatles tune now and then too. That can be applied to any popular song, which helps you mix things up in your setlist. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
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What’s the consensus on using tracks if you record all the parts yourself?
My current fantasy to recreate my trio in the absence of interested parties in this small city on the northern Gulf of Mexico.
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