Mrs Rocker and myself are just back from a holiday in Dingle, Co. Kerry. A truly lovely and interesting place, were were there many times before now. It has many attractions for visitors and the food and drink is good there.
Almost all the pubs have music every night. The adverts show musicians, fiddles, accordions, pipes, and guitars, in full swing. The reality is more often a couple of guys playing and singing nondescript folk or singalong songs. Everything is amplified, guitar plugged in, most use those floor blocks with built in microphone to amplify the tapping of the foot etc. I know that some of the pubs are large, and amplification is needed for the songs to be heard, but there is a sameness to the sound that ultimately fails to connect with the audience. It looks like acoustic guitar playing but it does not sound exactly right.
And as for repertoire, there have to be better and more interesting songs than 'Molly Malone'. In a Gaeltach area, as Dingle is, I expected a few songs as Gaeilge. But none were sung.
But to get back to my first point, it seems that all instruments including acoustic ones, need to be amplified. Which is a pity as an acoustic guitar sounds great as it is.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. [Albert Einstein]
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"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
A couple of mics and a small amp should be enough though. It's the "unplugged" meaning *plugged in* thing that grates with me.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I’ve been to one local open mic that was ‘plugged’ and it was mainly lads drunkenly thrashing out Oasis tunes on tortured acoustics. Probably fun if you were pissed.
If I’ve ever done a solo acoustic gig I’ve almost always used amplification. In a pub type environment a PA might be the only thing that indicates a ‘stage’ and it saves you from ending up as the strange bloke inaudibly mumbling in the corner!
In those sessions, the guitars are usually all about driving the rhythm and accompanying the occasional song. Most of the tunes are carried by fiddles, whistles, tenor banjo and the like.
I've played at many of these, and in terms of guitar, your main aim is to get as much sound out of the bottom few frets as humanly possible, with lots of alternating bass parts and choppy chords to cut through. Attempting a tasty lead break will just make you look daft. It's all about the way it blends with the other instruments, but with good players it can totally be loud enough as an ensemble, even in a rowdy pub.
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I went to see Jeff Tweedy a while back, and he played an acoustic with a mic in front of it, so stood near/further from the mic when he wanted to get more volume on the guitar.
In somewhere like Dingle where it's mainly tourists with a few pints on board, I'd imagine it's next to impossible to play an unplugged sessions and expect people to listen.... ?
Another disappointing discovery in the pubs of Dingle is the emphasis on sleaze. If it is possible to have a 'dirty' version of a song, that is what is sung. This might be fine if you are pissed but is distasteful if you are not. Unsurprisingly in Dingle, the audiences were mostly tourists from USA, GB, the Orient and EU with a number of Irish thrown in. I left Dingle disappointed at not hearing any real traditional music or singing and no song in Irish even though Dingle is in the Gaeltach where Irish is one of the spoken languages. The fact that few of the audience would know the song can be got around by explaining what the song is about before it is sung. Tourists go home thinking that the typical Irish ballad sessions includes 'dirty' versions of songs like Seven Drunken Nights.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Even if casual attendees have instruments with built-in transducer systems, there may not be enough input sockets for all willing participants to plug into simultaneously.
Some of the original spirit of community music making has been lost along the way.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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