I have been introduced to a young guy that wants to put an acoustic thing together. This is all good but, he is not a finger pickin' style player. I think this is going to limit what we could do as an acoustic duo. What do you think? What songs come to mind that might work. Keep in mind this is a younger guy that doesn't know much of the good old stuff.
If he can play a shuffle, a slow blues, a Bo Diddley rhythm and a rhumba. Then you have thousands of songs to choose from. It also helps a lot if he can play swing as well.
If you want to play non blues stuff then the world's your oyster.
You can check Johnny Cash's American Recordings (vol.1 to 4), the stuffs he recorded with Rick Rubin ; there's a lot of good covers on them, easily playable on acoustic guitar, and from stuff a youngster will surely know (U2, Soundgarden, NIN, Depeche Mode and so an so...).
Going out as a duo is a heck of a lot easier than a band. You only have to organise the two of you, less equipment,more flexible, less band politics (phew),and gigs are easier to get.
If the young guitarist can learn some of your stuff and you are compatible musically and in mind set then go for it.
Finger-style skills are nice, but not necessary. If the guitar player can do rhythm well, is creative, has a good ear, and plays musically, then you should have no problems. If he's relatively new to the genre, pick a bunch of songs you like and have him listen to the recordings.
My acoustic duo is the reason I picked up harp in the first place. My guitar buddy is just learning finger-style, but mostly plays rhythm and does solos on probably 50%-75% of our tunes. We also do more than just blues. We include some jazz and contemporary tunes, with a handful of originals. Pretty much anything that "fits" the sound, we'll do it.
At my prodding, I got my buddy to get an axe to play slide on. It wasn't tough, he likes mixing up his collection. Now he has both a really beautiful dobro for acoustic, and a very nice electric lap steel (yes, we are semi-amplified). The addition of the "slide option" gives us even more of a range of tunes to work with.
I totally agree with harmonicanick on the benefits of playing with just one other person. My other blues band is a big electric group (9 people altogether). When I play with my duo, we get to actually play quietly and with dynamics.
Plus you can get a variety of tones with a vocal mic and no extra gear..even a small pedal is hardly any gear.
For my five piece blues band I carry,
three congas and stands bongos and stand music stand to hold my harps mic stand for vocal and harp mics percussion mics cables (including spares for everybody who doesn't have a pa at home.) trumpet valve junior head 12 inch speaker, or two..depending occasional PA equipment.
If I were in an acoustic duet I would carry...maximum,
Keyboard amp and mic stand Shure beta 57a cable Harp briefcase (containing the mic and cable) one small hand drum...probably a bongo or darbuka.
wife and i have a duo going. she began learning blues about 3 years ago, and steadily learned a song a week for some time. she mostly does shuffles and slows but is slipping into a boogie beat and a bit of swing. things are working very well for us musically.
a short list of some songs we do:
shake rattle and roll boom boom (out go the lights) my babe 23 hours too long several jimmy reed songs midnight special folsom prison blues tangled up in blues heaven's door not fade away summertime st. james infirmary love in vain sittin on top of the world san francisco bay blues nobody knows you (when you're down and out)
we do a lot more and we also have written and worked up several originals. wife does some fingerpicking and some slide too. but a straight shuffle and a 12 bar plus a little swing can take you pretty far. remember to vary keys a lot and work to define a unique sound on different songs!
our gear we carry for acoustic busking is
guitar harp case music stand songbook 2 folding chairs i have a folding dolly and some bungees if we need to take everything at once and go a ways, but lately i drop her off at the farmers market with the guitar and harps, she finds us a spot while i park, and i bring the chairs and book and stand when i get parked.
she can't play a guitar strapped on so we both sit. i can play either way so it's no problem.
we have twin silvertone 1482 amps and a small p.a. for small and medium rooms. it all fits in a honda accord or other small sedan.
i don't know what i can add, so i say go for it and good luck!
Your not limited to anything, but you have to do just about everything. You will serve as a snare drum at times, a rhythm guitar at times, lead instrument at times, fill at times... many times all in the same song.
The acoustic duo thing is a lot of work for a harp player. You are 1/2 of a band now, so you do the work of 1/2 a band. You have to play most of the leads. If the guitar player takes a break, you have to play a rhythm that's strong enough to hold the whole thing together.
How you play is determined by the song. You can adjust for anything. You can play anything. It's even better if you can pull out different horns, like a chromatic or something to mix it up.
You can do a melodic kind of rhythm....
You can do a chord chop rhythm with fills... This is what I do most times, I know there's a mandolin in there, but I'd play it the same way if there were only two of us:
You can function as a rhythm guitar in a piece if you have some versatility of instruments. This was one of the first things I did on a chord harmonica, back in the day, it's hard for me to listen to it now, cause I ought to be playing 7th chords on the IV and V, but this is what I'm talking about. You can do the same thing on this piece with a couple of diatonics... a G and a C...
Last Edited by on Aug 27, 2009 12:45 PM
