Last Minute Solo Gig

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhiteShadow
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WhiteShadow

WhiteShadow

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Long story short, I've been asked to play a wedding for my friend. I don't have a band and I don't sing. I could just show up and play random shit, shred, and play random songs just with my guitar, but I think I have enough time to do backing tracks, and set up a halfway decent gig. I made a list of about 13 songs that I know all the way through, which is enough.

The only problem is that I don't know how to set it all up, which is why I'm asking you guys. I know some people use Ableton Live for live stuff, which is an option. There is a 90 day free trial. But I don't have a laptop, so I'd either have to buy or borrow one. Plus I've never used ableton, so I'd have to spend some time learning how to set things up in there. I would have to rent the equipment (PA, etc...). The guy said he'd pay me, so maybe I can just get him to fork over the funds to rent the gear. I could probably have this all rehearsed and set up in one day, and be able to play the gig on Saturday if I had all the needed gear.

Are there easier alternatives to what I'm trying to accomplish? How would you handle this? Thanks!
 
I would not rely on a computer / ableton if you're not already very familiar with it. Backing tracks on your phone played through the PA should be fine. If you have a decent amp you could play your through a cab and have the backing tracks through the PA (would need to adjust the amp volume to mix well with the backing track).
 
Ratou said:
I would not rely on a computer / ableton if you're not already very familiar with it. Backing tracks on your phone played through the PA should be fine. If you have a decent amp you could play your through a cab and have the backing tracks through the PA (would need to adjust the amp volume to mix well with the backing track).
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Thanks, I agree. I'm either going to borrow or rent a PA and download the karaoke versions without lead guitars or lead vocals, and just plug up my amp and play. Should be simple. Thanks! Sorry to waste a thread
 
I can help.. I just did this about a month ago. Someone asked me to perform some songs at a party. bunch of old school rockers... lucky for me right?

So what I ultimately ended up doing was going to this site... Karaoke-Version.com and download songs to play with..
with this site you can download the songs any way you want. want vocals? good.. dont want them good! when you click on a song, as you can see below, you can download it with or without any instrument or vocals that you desire.
I bounced most of these down with no guitar with a few exceptions..

took my guitar, amp, and a powered speaker and streamed the tunes from my phone. everyone loved it.. and it was a hell of a lot of fun

the versions on this site are actually recorded by musicians. vocals seem to be pretty damn good for everything I have tried.

Whiteshadow - I hope this helps and hopefully everyone is lit up by the time you start playing!!

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As a guy who has played a few wedding gigs, I can't imagine someone just saying "show up and do whatever". I mean, you are a killer player WhiteShadow, but don't go into something like that flying blind. Some gigs just aren't for everyone. With that said, I hope you show up and just shred balls.
 
guitarnate2000 said:
I can help.. I just did this about a month ago. Someone asked me to perform some songs at a party. bunch of old school rockers... lucky for me right?

So what I ultimately ended up doing was going to this site... Karaoke-Version.com and download songs to play with..
with this site you can download the songs any way you want. want vocals? good.. dont want them good! when you click on a song, as you can see below, you can download it with or without any instrument or vocals that you desire.
I bounced most of these down with no guitar with a few exceptions..

took my guitar, amp, and a powered speaker and streamed the tunes from my phone. everyone loved it.. and it was a hell of a lot of fun

the versions on this site are actually recorded by musicians. vocals seem to be pretty damn good for everything I have tried.

Whiteshadow - I hope this helps and hopefully everyone is lit up by the time you start playing!!

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This is exactly what I did, unfortunately there was a big emergency at the ceremony, and the bride's daughter got rushed to the hospital, so the reception was canceled. But they're going to reschedule the reception, so it'll give me more time to rehearse.

I'll tell you what the, just because someone is a good player don't mean they'll do good playing with backing tracks!!! I was struggling bad while practicing with these, I was like holy shit this is going to be a shit show. Lol... It's was just too short of notice. Good thing now I've got time, but I hate that the little girl is not doing well.

japetus said:
As a guy who has played a few wedding gigs, I can't imagine someone just saying "show up and do whatever". I mean, you are a killer player WhiteShadow, but don't go into something like that flying blind. Some gigs just aren't for everyone. With that said, I hope you show up and just shred balls.
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Thanks bud! These particular people are kind of country and laid back. They would've been fine with someone bringing a guitar and playing. But you're right, that wouldn't cut it for the majority of cases.
 
If you use an acoustic guitar for 2/3 of the set, that wouldn’t be too bad. There are songs by Neil Young that you can sing to without any problem. The main thing is to start the song and then end song right and don’t forget the lyrics, everybody else will forget everything else that you mess up. And if somebody says you forgot this or that say thank you for listening so intently. I appreciate that. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I play the song.

Also, you can find songs on YouTube without the guitar parts. I was just playing to cowboys from Hell without the guitar.
 
As much as most of us like and want to gig. I learned the hard way a few times over my career. It doesn’t hurt to over prepare, be sure you have the time and will do your necessary homework and take all gigs serious. Don’t just half ass it. With that said I am sure you will do just FINE! ?
 
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