As a part of a large school in the middle of the ocean, a small fish has many concerns. It must avoid large predators, fight for food, and is susceptible to the whims of the group with which it swims – if the school swims one way, that little fish had best swim with it.
As a musician living in Bristol, I can empathise with that small fish. I am one of many singer-songwriter guitarists in the swirling pool that is the Bristol music scene. Avoiding large predators which are members of the real world making us pay taxes we can’t afford. Fighting for food – the more we stand out the better chance we have of creating a following and making a living out of this malarkey. Having said that, we are susceptible to the passing fashions, the conventions of modern music. It is easier to play a popular song than chance an unknown title of your own creation. We populate the scene in vast numbers, most of us absorbed in our own world of song writing, melodies, lyric-play and who we believe are the truly important artists to listen to. We are now a boring cliché, given a raised eyebrow and a deaf ear from the majority of crowds.
There are several reasons why we are so numerous. Firstly, the guitar is an instrument that every audience knows well and no-one will fear. When an audience sees a musician clambering to a stage (as is often the case) and sees a guitar in their hand, they have a good idea of the type of music that will be played, and they relax.*If the performer is dragging an unusual instrument with them, it can be worrying (I once saw a very serious looking man walk onto a very large stage and play his shoe with a stick for the bewildered audience. It was quite painful). Secondly, the guitar is one of the easiest to transport, cheapest instruments that can accompany the voice by itself. Piano accompaniment is wonderful and rightly popular but is far too cumbersome to be carried around with ease. Anything small enough to fit in one’s pocket is usually a wind-instrument and difficult to use whilst singing. The final and possibly most important reason for our numerous population is it is easier to depend on no-one and perform alone than it is to perform as part of a group. Finding other musicians with whom you enjoy playing, who you can depend upon to be as dedicated as you, who are interested in making the same type of music as you, is so much harder than performing alone that the knowledge that the music will be more interesting to hear and more enjoyable to perform is consistently ignored. Huge phone bills organising practise sessions, finding suitable places to practise, transport issues, equipment issues, not to mention the tedious inter-band politics are just a handful of the hassles involved with playing in a group. Next to these headaches, the simple quandary of making interesting pieces of music by such limited means is openly welcomed after dealing with the can of worms that is being in a band.
This generation of solo guitarists has given birth to new styles of playing as well as a re-birth of the old playing styles of blues guitarists such as Skip James, Jesse Fuller, Dr Isaiah Ross and John-Lee Hooker, not to mention the host of early Bob Dylan impersonators (an accusation which, justifiably, could be levelled at me). Rhythm is kept usually using a favoured foot, either unamplified or using a ‘stomp box’ of some kind. Some players bring a whole kick drum and high hat with them (like Dr Ross and Jesse Fuller), others make use of loop machines as a more modern approach, creating layers of sound over which they can sing and play lead guitar. In desperate bids to stand out, acoustic musicians often use loop machines to attempt styles which are unsuitable for their instrument; such as techno, dance, and funk (I have seen Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ performed as such, many more times than I care to think).
The most inventive and hard working of performers will build rhythms through the loop machine using the body of the acoustic guitar as a drum. The result is a Latino feel rhythm over which only the funkiest of licks will do. Many guitar buffs see this style as a vibrant and interesting idea, but others see it as a boring, self indulgent exercise which is almost impossible for many audiences to relate to.
Here is a point that I have given much contemplation recently. In Elijah Wald’s book ‘Escaping the Delta - Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues’, the author discusses the audience’s participation in the quality of the performance.
As a musician living in Bristol, I can empathise with that small fish. I am one of many singer-songwriter guitarists in the swirling pool that is the Bristol music scene. Avoiding large predators which are members of the real world making us pay taxes we can’t afford. Fighting for food – the more we stand out the better chance we have of creating a following and making a living out of this malarkey. Having said that, we are susceptible to the passing fashions, the conventions of modern music. It is easier to play a popular song than chance an unknown title of your own creation. We populate the scene in vast numbers, most of us absorbed in our own world of song writing, melodies, lyric-play and who we believe are the truly important artists to listen to. We are now a boring cliché, given a raised eyebrow and a deaf ear from the majority of crowds.
There are several reasons why we are so numerous. Firstly, the guitar is an instrument that every audience knows well and no-one will fear. When an audience sees a musician clambering to a stage (as is often the case) and sees a guitar in their hand, they have a good idea of the type of music that will be played, and they relax.*If the performer is dragging an unusual instrument with them, it can be worrying (I once saw a very serious looking man walk onto a very large stage and play his shoe with a stick for the bewildered audience. It was quite painful). Secondly, the guitar is one of the easiest to transport, cheapest instruments that can accompany the voice by itself. Piano accompaniment is wonderful and rightly popular but is far too cumbersome to be carried around with ease. Anything small enough to fit in one’s pocket is usually a wind-instrument and difficult to use whilst singing. The final and possibly most important reason for our numerous population is it is easier to depend on no-one and perform alone than it is to perform as part of a group. Finding other musicians with whom you enjoy playing, who you can depend upon to be as dedicated as you, who are interested in making the same type of music as you, is so much harder than performing alone that the knowledge that the music will be more interesting to hear and more enjoyable to perform is consistently ignored. Huge phone bills organising practise sessions, finding suitable places to practise, transport issues, equipment issues, not to mention the tedious inter-band politics are just a handful of the hassles involved with playing in a group. Next to these headaches, the simple quandary of making interesting pieces of music by such limited means is openly welcomed after dealing with the can of worms that is being in a band.
This generation of solo guitarists has given birth to new styles of playing as well as a re-birth of the old playing styles of blues guitarists such as Skip James, Jesse Fuller, Dr Isaiah Ross and John-Lee Hooker, not to mention the host of early Bob Dylan impersonators (an accusation which, justifiably, could be levelled at me). Rhythm is kept usually using a favoured foot, either unamplified or using a ‘stomp box’ of some kind. Some players bring a whole kick drum and high hat with them (like Dr Ross and Jesse Fuller), others make use of loop machines as a more modern approach, creating layers of sound over which they can sing and play lead guitar. In desperate bids to stand out, acoustic musicians often use loop machines to attempt styles which are unsuitable for their instrument; such as techno, dance, and funk (I have seen Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ performed as such, many more times than I care to think).
The most inventive and hard working of performers will build rhythms through the loop machine using the body of the acoustic guitar as a drum. The result is a Latino feel rhythm over which only the funkiest of licks will do. Many guitar buffs see this style as a vibrant and interesting idea, but others see it as a boring, self indulgent exercise which is almost impossible for many audiences to relate to.
Here is a point that I have given much contemplation recently. In Elijah Wald’s book ‘Escaping the Delta - Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues’, the author discusses the audience’s participation in the quality of the performance.
“The audience affects not only styles and approaches to music, but also quality. If an audience is large enough, it will support enough musicians that some of them will be wonderfully talented, and if it is demanding enough, it will push them to realise and even exceed those talents. If it is smaller, the talent pool will be less, and if it makes few demands, then mediocrity will be the norm, even when players are capable of doing better.” - Published 2004, by Amistad Books
I don’t think it was Elijah’s intention to imply that an audience is to blame for a bad gig. But it certainly could be part of it. Speaking for myself and several others I know, if I feel that ‘who cares, no-one is listening anyway’ vibe, I’ll feel resentful. I’ll try to get out of there as soon as I can and think twice about playing there again. Such repeated experiences will dishearten the most passionate muso. But there is another side to that coin. As a frequent open mic-goer in the past, I’ve seen many a similar act, and am used to feeling (in a very hypocritical way, I realise) the same boredom and flippancy that is thrown at me from time to time. Both perspectives are justified, I believe. No-one is going to give a top-notch performance if they know no-one cares, and a modern audience, especially if it is not a mainstream audience, has very high expectations, and quite rightly so. What could this guitarist possibly do that is new and different? Why should I give them my attention? Are we in for another Oasis cover? I ask that last one quite often.
Here is my view: I’m too old-fashioned to rely on loop-pedals to solve my performance issues. It feels like cheating. I know some people see it as a great solution, I can’t. I get too frustrated looking at my emails to even consider throwing my performance at the mercy of a machine. I hate being cluttered with stuff, so bringing extra bits of drum kit to lay at my feet at every gig sounds like a drag too. Besides, I’d forget they were there before the first song was over. As for the playing of unorthodox genres on acoustic instruments... I like the idea of pushing boundaries as much as the next guy, but MC Hammer didn’t use a mandolin for a reason.
So, the solution can only lie with material. I realise it is easier to say ‘just write better songs’ than to actually do so, but bear with me. Good music will always speak for itself and a brilliant song will always turn heads, after all some of the most popular, original and thought-provoking songs of all time were written and performed by a solo guitarist. The key, I believe, to writing original work that you are proud of is to listen to as varied and as large an amount of music as you can. I always think of Ray Charles as an example; combining gospel, jazz, country and blues and directly contributing to what became soul.
As a songwriter, music itself is the literal food of your imagination, so eat it up. In the meantime, keep looking for that perfect band; who have their own practise space and a dedicated manager to organise everything, with a team of sober roadies who will taxi you everywhere. Who listen to as much music as you, want to play as much as you and don’t drive you to the brink of insanity just being in the same room as you. As Bon Jovi said; keep the faith.
Here is my view: I’m too old-fashioned to rely on loop-pedals to solve my performance issues. It feels like cheating. I know some people see it as a great solution, I can’t. I get too frustrated looking at my emails to even consider throwing my performance at the mercy of a machine. I hate being cluttered with stuff, so bringing extra bits of drum kit to lay at my feet at every gig sounds like a drag too. Besides, I’d forget they were there before the first song was over. As for the playing of unorthodox genres on acoustic instruments... I like the idea of pushing boundaries as much as the next guy, but MC Hammer didn’t use a mandolin for a reason.
So, the solution can only lie with material. I realise it is easier to say ‘just write better songs’ than to actually do so, but bear with me. Good music will always speak for itself and a brilliant song will always turn heads, after all some of the most popular, original and thought-provoking songs of all time were written and performed by a solo guitarist. The key, I believe, to writing original work that you are proud of is to listen to as varied and as large an amount of music as you can. I always think of Ray Charles as an example; combining gospel, jazz, country and blues and directly contributing to what became soul.
As a songwriter, music itself is the literal food of your imagination, so eat it up. In the meantime, keep looking for that perfect band; who have their own practise space and a dedicated manager to organise everything, with a team of sober roadies who will taxi you everywhere. Who listen to as much music as you, want to play as much as you and don’t drive you to the brink of insanity just being in the same room as you. As Bon Jovi said; keep the faith.
*This point touches on an interesting catch 22: it is good to stand out from a crowd, to be remembered. You are something new, a breath of fresh air and you develop a following of your own, celebrated for your talent. But if you’re too different it is possible to scare off an audience. Most people like what they know. That’s why cover bands do so well....
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