Performing electric instrumentals without a band?

geetarguy85

Hey all,

I would like to start gigging occasionally mainly to get experience of performing and to provide more motivation. Unfortunately, I don't really have time to get involved with a band and commit to regular practice sessions with them, and I most people I've spoken to would want to gig more regularly than I can commit to. I do have time to practice, but my experience in the past has been that it can be very difficult to get band members' schedules to match up.

This got me thinking - there are a lot of solo acoustic artists out there, plenty of whom only play instrumental sets, but I've rarely (if ever!) seen electric guitarists playing instrumental music without a band. Does anyone have any thoughts on why this may be? 

I ask because a) I can't sing, and b) acoustic isn't really my main interest. I was thinking that I could maybe play electric instrumentals and use backing tracks/drum machines/my looper to build out the background, but I'm not sure how well this would work purely because I've not seen anyone play a gig like this.

Hopefully this made sense! I'm really just brain dumping some thoughts I had last night.

viz

Mike_Strat, formerly of this parish, used to do an amazing set of instrumentals to backing tracks, including For the love of God, Satch Boogie, Parisienne Walkways (ok it has a verse), Santana's Europa, and many others. It was awesome.

RocknRollDave

Have to ask yourself what audience there will be for this kind of thing... The only people I have ever come into contact with who like instrumental electric guitar music are other guitarists (unless we are talking Shadows type stuff, but I think you have missed the main wave of Shadows fan mania...)...so I dont think it will be easy to find places that will book you. Sorry, I just think it is too niche to draw a crowd, and venues need people in to spend money over their bar.

EricTheWeary

Lots of guitar show demoes like this! Quite a few venues like a support act now that isn't a full band - quicker to get on and off - so you could specialise in support slots. I'd be tempted to find a singist to work with though, bloke I know does gigs as part of a duo like that plus backing tapes, not that great a guitarist TBH but they've sorted out their tapes and got the sound sorted and get paid gigs twice a week. Cheesey as hell but gets a lot of pub gigs.

lloyd

RocknRollDave said:

Have to ask yourself what audience there will be for this kind of thing... The only people I have ever come into contact with who like instrumental electric guitar music are other guitarists (unless we are talking Shadows type stuff, but I think you have missed the main wave of Shadows fan mania...)...so I dont think it will be easy to find places that will book you. Sorry, I just think it is too niche to draw a crowd, and venues need people in to spend money over their bar.

Yeah I'm with Dave on this one I'm afraid. It would depend on the venue and what kind of music you would do as well as the amount of backing you'd include but at some point you're just becoming one step away from being a CD....

Danny1969

There are loads of Shadows clubs which hold meets in pubs and clubs around the country every 2 or 3 weeks. There's normally a house band and spare amp and people can just turn up and play with the band or to backing tracks. Our local club is every 3 weeks in a pub. 

I know Shadows is prob not your thing but if it's experience you want then playing SLOW instrumental stuff note for note in a pub full of critics is very good experience. I'm a rock  \ indie guy myself but I love doing it

Other than that it's difficult to see a market for it, be hard enough to hold interest for a whole band let alone backing tracks 

ICBM

A friend of mine does this - although he does sing occasionally I think, most of his material is instrumental rock guitar from The Shadows to Satriani.

He uses backing tracks, a small portable PA setup and a Line 6 Spider amp - which is actually ideal, since it sounds more like a recording of a guitar than a 'real' amp does, and hence sits in the mix along with the recorded backing tracks much better than a more dynamic 'real' amp.

Nikko

I know a young lady called Laura Kidd who performs under the name 'She Makes War', who does this. Drum machine, looper and a few different guitars, from Teles to Les Pauls (and the occasional uke), and she seems to do pretty well from it. Not really my kind of music (I think its catagorised as 'Gloom Pop'), but shows it can be done.

Rocker

RocknRollDave said:

Have to ask yourself what audience there will be for this kind of thing... The only people I have ever come into contact with who like instrumental electric guitar music are other guitarists (unless we are talking Shadows type stuff, but I think you have missed the main wave of Shadows fan mania...)...so I dont think it will be easy to find places that will book you. Sorry, I just think it is too niche to draw a crowd, and venues need people in to spend money over their bar.

My thoughts exactly. I find it very 'difficult' to listen to guitar music so think about your market before committing too much time and/or money for gear.

Phil_aka_Pip

As a guitarist I'm naturally biased, but I think that if you could get a few sets of popular tunes (not necessarily guitar tunes) that Joe Public would recognise, you may find a niche. I'd select anything from folk tunes to well-recognised "classical" or film themes, together with a fair smattering of pop tunes that people can hum. More like "Easy Listening"/elevator muzak, which I know is un-cool for "serious widdly guitarists", but if you can record your own backing tracks all you need is a guitar, pedalboard, small-medium combo, CD player, and small (mono even) PA with one speaker, and you could sit in the corner of a pub getting paid and probably not having to buy a drink all night.

If I had the time to record my own backing tracks, I'd probably attempt it using my powered monitor wedge for the backing, from a CD player got from Ebay; The guitar combo would be an Epi valve Junior, and the guitar an SG2000 for its versatility.

EricTheWeary

Let's see if this works on my phone mebbe. YouTube thought I would like this, kind of thing like Pip's thoughts that might suit a broader audience rather than 'guitar instrumental music' with it's subsequent widdling ( the widdling on this one being kept until the end).