Playing guitar by yourself.

The only people asking me for demos are the folks at Costco who want another tiny wiener in a blanket...

 

Since I'm in such poor health, and so don't get out much anymore, I've found that I get a lot more enjoyment playing at home alone since I got a looper to lay down rhythm parts to solo over. What I miss most is the interaction with other players, where we feed off of each other, and get new ideas from each other's varying styles.

 

How many relatively well-known unaccompanied electric guitarists are there really?

 

I cannot find a link to the back catalogue of Chess or Sun records but there have been loads - my favourite music

 

That's hilarious (now). I'm guessing most mimes are passive-aggressive, but one with anger issues... pretty funny.

 

Chet Atkins.

Bill Frisell. Of course.

 

2 young kids, rural living, my looper is very handy but I sorely miss the musical interactions of another.

 

On banjo?

 

At college in about 1979, Larry Coryell was booked for a solo performance. I don't know if it cost too much to bring (or find) another musician; but, if he could've carried it off solo, he didn't that night. He blamed "being tired".

 

Chet and Bill backed up angry mimes?

I've seen Bill a few times and never noticed the mimes, but I did observe some interesting audience behaviors.
At one show at the 1369 Jazz club circa 1985 I was eventually the only one left in the audience; maybe I was the mime?

Now that I think of it, when I've tried to talk to Bill after a show he mostly shrugged and made little sounds of agreement in response to compliments.
Maybe Frisell is a mime?

 

I fully sympathise with the op. When i was young trying out gerar would stress me. Nowadays tho I have developed the skill to play fragments in semi competent manner and pretend I am much better than what I really am... Of course a gig is always harder and the true measure of one's abilities

 

Frisell was the first one I thought of

 

I can play ok without any backing i have done it right from start i suppose just to get my playing clean and clear and in time, when i do improv to a backing track now and then my playing seems abit lost after practising so long the other way but i find after a while i can adapt now.

 

Stating the obvious - Playing in a group and playing solo are totally different skills.
I play solo acoustic and band electric using totally different repertoires. I like both ways because they are so different from each other.
I generally play finger style acoustic and its an opportunity to produce a lot of subtle chord inversions or different tunings and the like.
Playing in a band is more rock 'n roll.

 

I think with Bill, you'd have to come up to him and say "I'm not really sure you're that good..."

"I know, right? I .... feel so .... GUILTY..."

 

Then there's Julian and Ted...

 

I’ve got the same problem. I’ve done a couple of pickup demos that should have sounded better than they did. As soon as I hit record, I tense up and my timing is screwed. I think the answer is to do more recording to make it more of a normal thing.

 

I was reading the OP as being more about style, as in not being as much of a solo performer, and sounding better with the rest of the pieces.

But yeah I've always had a problem where operating recording equipment changes the way I operate a musical instrument, usually for the worse.
I get kind of rushed, thinking about how it's going to sound.

Playing music is a lot like being in an altered state, meditation or channeling spirits of the dead.

Heh.

 

Half of the iconic solos,songs and riffs sound very different--even bad--When played by themselves. The same goes for vocals or any other lead instrument.

Look up "Eric Clapton While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "David Lee Roth Running With The Devil" isolated tracks.