Gear you use on a duo gig accompanying a singer?

[sgcim]

I just got a call from a vocalist who wants to do a guitar/ vocal duo with me.
I already have the recent Boss Super Octave OC-3 to simulate a bass. Is anyone using that on those types of gigs?
Do you use mainly voicings on the top three strings, or do you set it so you can use the fourth string also for chords?
I've never used a loop before, but is that effective in this situation?
I don't have a rhythm box, but I do have a Boss DB-90 Metronome- has anyone used that for rhythm accompaniment?
TIA

[Alter]

Depends on the gig, but i often use a little boss rc3 looper on duo gigs. Not on every tune, but for a couple per set, i might record say one cycle while backing, and then play a solo on top of it. It takes some practice, and you gotta to be able to keep a steady tempo, but it can really spice up the gig. And i 've found that, as long as you play some tunes without it too, it sits ok with listeners, even on a jazz gig. It just allows different playing to happen.
I never use anything prerecorded or drum patterns etc, cause i wouldn't enjoy it as a listener personally.

Apart from that, a couple of pedals can really go a long way. Say a volume pedal, some tremolo or reverb if it fits the style you play

Here's a couple of videos i recorded at home, to give you an idea of how i 'd use it live. (The second one though is with a bigger looper that affords you loops of different length, so you can easily layer percussion parts)

[LtKojak]

Depending on the gig, I'd go as far as use backing tracks.

However, most gigs I got was just to play chords and like keep the rhythm part hitting the strings while muting'em.

Once in a while a song calls for a little walking bass... but 95% of the time's been just chords supporting the melody, sang by the interpreter.

It's a lot easier if you're a piano player, though...

[neatomic]

definitely a looper!! listen to recent frisell...looper is key

your octave pedal is always going to track best on single notes...not chords!

so you can lay down an octave "bass" line...on the looper..turn the octaver off and build on that

only thing about loopers, is it takes some time to develop how you use it..not a pedal to just show up at a gig with and wing it..tho i'm sure there are those who have!! haha

here's frisell at it...hes using eh freeze for short loops and line 6 for longer (& backwards) loops

cheers

[destinytot]

Looper - great tool, but never again in public.

Reverb and echo, on the other hand - absolutely!

[destinytot]

Depends on the gig, but i often use a little boss rc3 looper on duo gigs. Not on every tune, but for a couple per set, i might record say one cycle while backing, and then play a solo on top of it. It takes some practice, and you gotta to be able to keep a steady tempo, but it can really spice up the gig. And i 've found that, as long as you play some tunes without it too, it sits ok with listeners, even on a jazz gig. It just allows different playing to happen.
I never use anything prerecorded or drum patterns etc, cause i wouldn't enjoy it as a listener personally.

Apart from that, a couple of pedals can really go a long way. Say a volume pedal, some tremolo or reverb if it fits the style you play

Here's a couple of videos i recorded at home, to give you an idea of how i 'd use it live. (The second one though is with a bigger looper that affords you loops of different length, so you can easily layer percussion parts)

In the right hands (or feet, whether left or right).

[Stringswinger]

I just bring an archtop guitar (sometimes my 7 string, but mostly just a 6 string) a cable, a strap and an amp. I do the Joe Pass/Ella thing and everyone seems to be happy.

I also bring spare strings, a tuner an extension cord, a music stand for the vocalist's book and business cards. My amp has reverb. I tried the looper thing. Too much to think about. I would rather just play the tune.

[Alter]

In the right hands (or feet, whether left or right).

What saved me with loopers was that i 've had my share of gear fails on gigs, or "don't really know how that gear works yet", BEFORE i got a looper pedal. So i made sure i was comfortable with it before taking it to a gig.

My simplest way of using it for jazz is: As i 'm playing say a 12 bar blues, on the start of the cycle i press once, it starts recording. End of cycle press again, done, and it starts playing back! Nothing complicated really. I solo over it, and when i end, i start to play the chords together with it while keeping the pedal pressed for a couple of seconds. It erases the loop (as long as it was a single loop without extra overdubs) so i 'm left alone comping again, and its ready for the next song without me doing anything else. It's dead easy, no double tapping or counting or anything, but the trick is, only the Boss loopers can do that, and the new Mooer small looper. All the others, (Ditto, Digitech) require a double tap to stop or erase loops, and make you count or mess up (unless you carry a second switch). They were useless for me at a simple live setting for that reason.

Really the only requirement is to have a steady tempo. You don't want to speed up by the time your recorded chorus is over. Loopers are a great tool, if there is a weakness in your playing, they are a superb way to point it out and help you fix it!

[jazzbow]

Check out the EHX pitchfork. It does that pog bass thing, adds 3rd, 4th or 5th on top. It has a detune that sounds chorus like and with the octave up blended in can sort of sound like a 12 string. In conjunction with a behringer rotary pedal I can get a Hammond jazz organ style sound for rootless voicings.

But nail that looper and its a God send.

Cobra.be video: Philip Catherine solosessie
Philip Catherine and a looper. I think its the big one with step up and step down loops.

[Veritas]

Not to sidetrack off loopers (I've never used one), but has anyone ever used some type of percussion technology? I realize those beat boxes can sound cheesy, but sometimes a nice bossa beat or beguine can add something to the mix. Certainly doesn't replace a live drummer, but once in a while I would like some good percussion backing. I'm of mixed mind on this issue.

[rio]

I usually just use the guitar alone honestly because it sounds better that way. Occasionally though I have used the OC-3 and it does well for chords if you make sure to not play notes on both the low e and a strings at the same time. I keep the octave off of the fourth string though for the most part - I will usually try to make it split around the open D or the Eb above it. I also like to use the EH Freeze pedal.


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[Skip Ellis]

We play music for dancers and use backing tracks - some midi - some commercial - and I make some with BIAB. We don't do any improv and the people want to hear the tunes the way they remember them. If there's a lead guitar on the track, I either play rhythm or maybe a little complimentary part. If I order a commercial track, I make sure the lead part is left out of the mix and in my BIAB tracks, I can put in whatever I want. It works for us, YMMV. I have an EH 360 looper but haven't had time to play with it that much. My Katana 50 has all the effects I need - just reverb and a little delay plus I switch to the crunch setting for a southern rock tune.

[cosmic gumbo]

Does the singer want guitar accompaniment, or a dj? This kind of gig I just show up with a guitar, and hopefully just plug it into the PA. If the singer wants more, he/she should hire two musicians.

[rio]

That is my feeling. Recently I was told that, playing a trio of guitar, piano and vocals that "the keyboard has a mode that plays bass and drums when you press down a note" and I was just like no. Very politely of course. Backing tracks? No. Extra fake instrument sounds? No. Even the looper is a very very thin line...it can be used creatively and I do like them in some contexts but I feel like as soon as it is used as a backing track that I start to lose interest. All of this, of course, is if I have my say. If it is a gig I am hired for where someone is telling me what to do then yes, I will do it and not complain but if they want any input then I usually just want to say that it sounds better the more pure you can keep it, and more original too which brings a lot of merit to the situation. Duos and unconventional trios are fun and I think that people like that kind of stuff too if the playing is good.

[sgcim]

Does the singer want guitar accompaniment, or a dj? This kind of gig I just show up with a guitar, and hopefully just plug it into the PA. If the singer wants more, he/she should hire two musicians.

I haven't gotten together with her yet, so as far as I know, she just wants a jazz guitar player doing standards.
I've done jobs like that before, but I just wanted to see what some people are doing with things like loopers, which I've never used. Thanks for the demonstration, Alter!

I was surprised to see the West Coast guitarist, Peter Sprague, going nuts with a looper on some videos.

[destinytot]

What saved me with loopers was that i 've had my share of gear fails on gigs, or "don't really know how that gear works yet", BEFORE i got a looper pedal. So i made sure i was comfortable with it before taking it to a gig.

My simplest way of using it for jazz is: As i 'm playing say a 12 bar blues, on the start of the cycle i press once, it starts recording. End of cycle press again, done, and it starts playing back! Nothing complicated really. I solo over it, and when i end, i start to play the chords together with it while keeping the pedal pressed for a couple of seconds. It erases the loop (as long as it was a single loop without extra overdubs) so i 'm left alone comping again, and its ready for the next song without me doing anything else. It's dead easy, no double tapping or counting or anything, but the trick is, only the Boss loopers can do that, and the new Mooer small looper. All the others, (Ditto, Digitech) require a double tap to stop or erase loops, and make you count or mess up (unless you carry a second switch). They were useless for me at a simple live setting for that reason.

Really the only requirement is to have a steady tempo. You don't want to speed up by the time your recorded chorus is over. Loopers are a great tool, if there is a weakness in your playing, they are a superb way to point it out and help you fix it!

The Ditto X2 looper is the only model I've used. I don't think it requires any double-tapping, but it does have the second switch you mention. I think it does its job superbly and, with the little practice I eventually gave it, I found it easy to operate.

I've used it on my weekly solo restaurant gig; the simplest use has been looping rhythm guitar, whereas the most effective use (I think) has been building a whole looped chorus - starting with a bass line (Mooer Tender Octave pedal), then adding guitar comping - over which to sing and solo. Admittedly, it was fun for me.

But despite the fun, and entertaining as the spectacle may be, my feeling is that the music was at best insipid. I'm all for cabaret, but I'd rather it be live than looped.

Going 'naked' before an indifferent or unsympathetic (and possibly noisy) audience is obviously a big challenge - but I'm saying that, for me, it's worth it because it's fulfilling. I'm concerned with making the (amplified) sound and the listening audience's experience be as pleasantly engaging as possible - but the looper stays at home (as a tool for practice and study).

[Doublea A]

I do a lot of these types of gigs and I use the Digitech Jamman looper. It is great. Highly recommend it.


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[Skip Ellis]

I didn't mean to start another war about backing tracks but, in my case, I either do this or sit at home and watch Law and Order reruns. The gig is a once-a-month charity deal and we donate our time and try to give people some dance-able music that they remember from their younger days. There is no money to hire other musicians and, further, there are no players around the area who are capable of playing the wide range of tunes that we play - we're both in our 70's and have been doing this since we were teens. Most of the players around here are much younger and not capable of (or interested in) playing anything but blues, tiki bar, and 3 chord R&R. Some folks are lucky to live in areas with a lot of live music and a large pool of high level players with plenty of gigs to go around but we don't live in such a place. You do what you gotta do to keep playing.

[JazzNote]

I regularly perform duo gigs with singers, mostly playing one of my LeGrands or my Japanese DA. I play chords, walking basslines & chords as well as single note pedal points or riffs behind them. My gadgets are limited to a Carl Martin Parametric Preamp, a TC ditto stereo looper and a Ernie Ball Volume pedal. I mainly do standards, use the looper to record choruses while i'm accompanying the singer or for vamps to begin/end the tunes which i solo over at some point. Sometimes we also do simultaneous soloing. For ballads i often don't use the looper, but for everything else i find it very helpful, especially in soundwise challenging environments. I never prerecord anything, so as to always be able to keep mood and tempos spontaneous, i want them to match the "feel of the moment".

[mr. beaumont]

No gizmos, just hands.

Keep voicing small, then the bottom doesn't fall out if you want to play a single note line.

[destinytot]

Loopers are great for listening back and doing your own sound checks.

[ingeneri]

I just bring an archtop guitar (sometimes my 7 string, but mostly just a 6 string) a cable, a strap and an amp. I do the Joe Pass/Ella thing and everyone seems to be happy.

I also bring spare strings, a tuner an extension cord, a music stand for the vocalist's book and business cards. My amp has reverb. I tried the looper thing. Too much to think about. I would rather just play the tune.

Yep, the audience wants to hear her sing with good accompaniment, nobody cares about whether the guitarist solos. Instead of trying every trick in the book to make it a fake trio or quartet gig, embrace the possibilities of duo format for which you were hired.

[Skip Ellis]

Yep, the audience wants to hear her sing with good accompaniment, nobody cares about whether the guitarist solos. Instead of trying every trick in the book to make it a fake trio or quartet gig, embrace the possibilities of duo format for which you were hired.

I

I agree but when you're playing for dancers it's a different ballgame - they need drums and bass. I love the Fitzgerald/Pass stuff and I have all the CDs and would love to do a duo like that but it's not danceable. We tried to work some of that stuff in at one point - we did a nice duo arrangement of 'Georgia' and the audience just looked at us like they were waiting for it to be over. Now, if it had been in a coffeehouse type setting, we could have pulled it off but not where we play. Bottom line, we have to deliver what the audience expects.

[JazzNote]

Yep, the audience wants to hear her sing with good accompaniment, nobody cares about whether the guitarist solos. Instead of trying every trick in the book to make it a fake trio or quartet gig, embrace the possibilities of duo format for which you were hired.

Often the duo format is hired because the budget doesn't allow a third person to be paid decently. Adding "tricks" does provide more excitement and adds to the diversity of the sound. My experience shows also that listeners who can value a guitar solo in the midst of vocal entertainment really do exist. I don't think there is right or wrong, also not better or worse it's just a matter of the individual musician's approach.

[jads57]

Unless you and the singer have specific requirements for backing tracks, I say keep it a duo. If you both enjoy working together musically, work on arrangements and ways of sharing functions. Such as her singing lines to accompany your solos.