Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

I've been going to alot of these open mic things lately just to see if i could find people to make some music with. There isnt much luck so far since the other peoples genre of music isnt my thing. so i was thinking recently, why dont i just go up there? my problem is that i know how to play a number of songs, but i dont sing or have any accompaning instruments playing with me. i was wondering what are some good, intermediate instrumental guitar songs that i could play for electric guitar.
so far i have one idea for a song (Rat Salad by black sabbath), but i need about 3 more or so.

preferably songs that have a hard edge to it!

Thanks

Josh Theguy wrote:I've been going to alot of these open mic things lately just to see if i could find people to make some music with. There isnt much luck so far since the other peoples genre of music isnt my thing. so i was thinking recently, why dont i just go up there? my problem is that i know how to play a number of songs, but i dont sing or have any accompaning instruments playing with me. i was wondering what are some good, intermediate instrumental guitar songs that i could play for electric guitar.
so far i have one idea for a song (Rat Salad by black sabbath), but i need about 3 more or so.

preferably songs that have a hard edge to it!

Thanks

Sabbath is as old school as the other genres. If you want to blow the crap out of the room, do some research on the Post Punk Indie. I have seen guys show up with an amp , a few effect pedals and a guitar and just knock the snot out of the room with some very innovative playing and engineering. One man band dude..It can be done...

Go for it, dude!



.

Well, if you don't sing that is a serious deteriment to doing open mics - you are going to need to rip some songs out well on guitar. Playing a ripping lead with no backup sounds is going to bore people pretty quick unless you are another Stevie Ray Vaughn. If you've got a looper, you may want to work on techniques so that you can lay down some live backing tracks, then wail away.

In my experience most open mics at bars are blues-based, while most coffee house open mics are acoustic oriented. So it depends on the venue. If you want to sit in with the band you'll need to learn common songs that most bands can play, and "Rat Salad" probably won't be one of them. If you just want to play solo you can't go wrong with an acoustic guitar, but without vocals this will be tough as well.

I'm playing solo acoustic at a benefit for a guy who has cancer on Sunday, songs I'm doing:

"Free Fallin'" - Tom Petty
"Wish You Were Here" - Pink Floyd
"Norwegian Wood" - The Beatles
"Wild World" - Cat Stevens
"Down By The River" - Neil Young
"Disarm" - Smashing Pumpkins
"About A Girl" - Nirvana

Basically songs that I can sing and play solo, that people know and aren't too burned out on. Good luck.

Speech friendly db levels are generally not edgy song friendly.

Not sure exactly what your trying to accomplish here.
If the idea is to be "coffee house entertaining" then your going to have to choose "coffee house music".

We did the coffee house gig once . . .
most of the people in attendance were there to see us so they did not mind having to hold onto their cup to keep it from walking off the table with the bass line.

Coffee house entertainment is IMO intended to be background noise.
So you will need to catch attention subtly.

sorry,coffee house was a bad way to put it on my part haha. basically there is this coffee place and outside of the store they have an open mic night. from what ive heard alot of different styles of music get played there. the owner said she had a small marching band play there last week, and jazz band. last night however, it was mainly accoustic covers of justin beiber and other radio music (not my thing). the owner of the place said that she was looking for somebody that brought a little more energy to the event.(since it's good for business)

the other open mic is at a music store where musicians just go up there. alot of the acts arent much to brag about.. everybody who goes up there and performs gets a 10$ gift certicicate, and im pretty sure thats why the majority of the guys there did it haha

but yeah, thats the atmosphere of the place. its not like it's INSIDE a coffee shop where people are just drinking coffee and talking to their friends.

hope that helps a little more!

Well, for the music store thing, you can just wail away on your guitar, it won't really matter, the store is just doing that to get peopel into the store and spend money.

On the coffee shop thing, find a singer. If you could play a laid-back instrumental finger-picked guitar thing, it would work, but playing a ripping electric guitar lead solo at a place like that is just the wrong type of music.


On a different but related note, my friend is doing his solo show again this Saturday night and told me to bring my guitar (he usually asks meup to join him doing lead guitar stuff for his last set), but he oculd askme to do a solo set during one of his breaks again.
Last time I did that there were about 5 people in the whole place, this time there is likely to be lots of people, as football season is kicking up and there might even be a World Series game (I don't follow that sh*t, so have no idea) - wondering if I should be ready to kick up the volume/tempo a notch if its crowded, and if so what songs I should prepare. I've got a thousand on the backburner, but remembering the lyrics is always the key thing!

Josh Theguy wrote:the other open mic is at a music store where musicians just go up there.

glenny. paging glenny. glenny are you here? WHERE ARE YOU CHICKENSHOOT?

alot of the acts arent much to brag about..

ah...josh it sounds like you caught glen's GC show!

there are no singers on this, but who needs a singer anyhow when it's this good?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06oOLRQldeY

Dane Ellis Allen wrote:there are no singers on this, but who needs a singer anyhow when it's this good?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06oOLRQldeY

Yeah, but that's Pat M with a bass player, not doing a coffee house!

Practice your songs until you have a great beginning and a great end for every song.
Practice all the changes in each song until there is no hesitation between verses, bridges and the chorus.
Then see where you are; most coffee house audiences are very forgiving.

GuitarMikeB wrote:

Dane Ellis Allen wrote:there are no singers on this, but who needs a singer anyhow when it's this good?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06oOLRQldeY

Yeah, but that's Pat M with a bass player, not doing a coffee house!

not just "a bass player"...but jaco! and bob moses on drums. no worries dane...feel free to post that kinda stuff in ANY thread no matter it's relevancy!

Planetguy wrote:

GuitarMikeB wrote:

Dane Ellis Allen wrote:there are no singers on this, but who needs a singer anyhow when it's this good?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06oOLRQldeY

Yeah, but that's Pat M with a bass player, not doing a coffee house!

not just "a bass player"...but jaco! and bob moses on drums. no worries dane...feel free to post that kinda stuff in ANY thread no matter it's relevancy!

justa bass player..
www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3dKJATAJmA