Guitarology #4

Flying Solo

Chet Atkins to Les Paul- "You know Chester, you should get a thumb pick.. Then you could play with yourself." Les Paul- "Now you tell me."

Most of us probably started out with a light bulb going on and the blinding thought immortalized by Jake Blues, "The band!" Ah yes, shared effort, teamwork, camaraderie. We will go into the world united as a band of brothers to smite the foe of the complacent and unenlightened music industry. Yeah right. Power's Cosmic Law #24,"Stress increases logarithmically proportional to the number of muso's involved in any given project." This is especially true if one is trying to actually earn a living, wherein Power's Cosmic Law # 25 comes into play, i.e. "The more fingers in the pie the smaller the pieces." Did I mention my specialized subject is the flipping obvious?

Now to be clear, I love playing with a band. Artistically, I prefer playing with a band. In fact, if I win the lottery I will probably put together an orchestra and mixed voice choir. I will also hire a musical director to handle all the nonsense. Pay way above union scale so no one would ever want to lose their job. And I'll be broke in a month. However for the moment, as diversity is mandatory to survival as a journeyman musician, I have had to learn to down size, first from five, then to four, then two and ultimately one.

You see, playing solo opens up a whole range of new venues as the limitations of space and budget are greatly reduced. Artistic differences are completely eradicated, unless you're really into arguing with yourself, and the logistics are so simple. A guitar or two, perhaps a small vocal PA, bang it into the car and your away. There is even a professional street performer’s amp about the size of a shoe box called the Maxi Mouse which can handle either a guitar and a microphone or two instruments. They' were discontinued years ago and are as hard to find as dentists for poultry, but if you can get your mitts on one they sound great. Put a pickup on a travel guitar and you can go to the gig on a bicycle.

Now to go solo it certainly helps if you can sing, but this is not mandatory. There is good paying work available playing instrumentally. Jazz and classical are the obvious genre but there are many pop standards as well. Think laterally.

A final point, while hotel lounges and restaurants are the traditional venues for solo performance, I would strongly suggest contacting event organizers and the agencies they deal with. Corporate events and weddings pay great and one is usually treated with considerably more respect. Just remember, this type of work can be somewhat of a compromise to artistic integrity, often you're no more than musical wallpaper, but it's still playing for money and a hell of a lot better than digging ditches.

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Courage, Steve Power ©2005

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