I am currently working up material for a future C&W trio (guitar/bass/drums), for which I will be lead vocalist (a first for me).

I decided to try out some material at an open mic night, but any song with a solo gives me problem as without the bass and drums (and harmony vocals) a solo often won't work!

For my 10 minute of fame, I played the following (on a Taylor 310 with a Fishman Rare Earth pickup):


Folsom Prison Blues (incorporated Luther Perkins' solo into the chords);
Once In A very Blue Moon (no solo);
Dead Flowers (flat-picked a solo alternated with chord strums).


How have other solo performers coped with the 'lead break' scenario?

Your Cheat'in Heart? Tennessee Border? or The Lord Knows I'm Drinkin? nPeople know all of these...outside of Folson Prison Blues.

Cross pick the melody in the chords.

Cross pick the melody in the chords.

Excellent advice that really changes the tune up and creates a nice dynamic.

You could add "Peggy Sue". The solo IS chords.

With the benefit of having heard your ten minutes of fame, I don't really think you need to worry about the solos any more than you have already.

The whole notion of performing solo with a guitar is supposed to be a very different beast to those same songs with a trio. Cross picking in the melody is a nice way to go for a bit of colour. Some form of country style scat could be really interesting. Or completely awful, but certainly a bit different.

I can see why you'd want to be as complete with your songs as possible but I also think that the best way to test the strength of these tunes and your performance of them is to distill them back to the bare essence as far as possible.

A lot of Buddy Holly songs have rich solos.
'that'll be the Day', 'Heartbeat', 'Words of Love', 'It's So Easy'; and the Linda Ronstadt version of 'I Guess it Doesn't Matter Anymore' - they can all be played solo without that dreadful fall off from rich rhythm to the comparative emptiness of a single not solo.
Cross picking is the way to go as Pilgrim says, but it's time consuming to learn full set of material that way.
Material that does guitar trade-offs, like 'Little Sister' and 'Honky Tonk Man' are good, too. And Hank Williams stuff is generally easy to cross pick without too much trouble.

Hope this helps.

I think in an open mic scenario it's fine to insert your lead as you normally would, especially if it's not one that is too long. In Country music that isn't likely anyway. I think it would be familiar and people would like that.

Get yourself a harmonica and around the neck holder. In short order you will pick it up and add a little more interest to your sollo stuff. Won't hurt for your 3 piece either.

Cross pick the melody in the chords.

Good idea - would work for a lot of songs. :cool:

Some form of country style scat could be really interesting. Or completely awful, but certainly a bit different.

Bad idea! :eek: But thanks for your other kind words! :)

Get yourself a harmonica and around the neck holder. In short order you will pick it up and add a little more interest to your solo stuff. Won't hurt for your 3 piece either.

I do have a full set of harps and a holder, so this is definitely something I could consider (tho' I am a bit rusty :o) - and yes, this would add another tonal colour to the trio.

Thanks all!

Bad idea!

Coward. :p ;)

Try some CCR classics, such as Bad Moon Rising or Looking out my back door

I'm no guitar teacher but I hope this makes sense.

When I played in a cover trio I liked keys where I could use a lot of open strings in the solos.

In the key of E I'd pick out a melody/solo line on the G string while hitting the open B and E strings below. That would fill a lot of sonic space and make the guitar sound a little like a 12-string, so it was good for Byrds/Petty style pop.

When playing a basic three chord rock solo in the key of D (say Peggy Sue or I Fought The Law), I let the open D, G and A strings ring out a lot when I moved through the chords, while picking solo lines on the higher strings.

I like all those chilton. Watching Neil Young on the "Prairie Moon" DVD he seems to play songs in D with the low E tuned to a D. Kind of a drone, similar to what you describe, but it filled a lot of space. I'm not the biggest fan of his but have to admit he is effective as a solo player.

I solo with an old Boss RC-20 loop machine with nothing pre-recorded. It works extremely well because it is so simple. I record the rhythm while I am singing, then play it back and play lead over it. It really helps when performing solo, adding variety to your sound, extending the length of your songs, and saving your voice. All important when doing 4 hours all by yourself.

I'm no guitar teacher but I hope this makes sense.

When I played in a cover trio I liked keys where I could use a lot of open strings in the solos.

In the key of E I'd pick out a melody/solo line on the G string while hitting the open B and E strings below. That would fill a lot of sonic space and make the guitar sound a little like a 12-string, so it was good for Byrds/Petty style pop.

When playing a basic three chord rock solo in the key of D (say Peggy Sue or I Fought The Law), I let the open D, G and A strings ring out a lot when I moved through the chords, while picking solo lines on the higher strings.

Good call, tho' some songs lend themselves to this more than others. I have been sticking to guitar-friendly keys and using a capo to suit the key to my vocal range.

I solo with an old Boss RC-20 loop machine with nothing pre-recorded. It works extremely well because it is so simple. I record the rhythm while I am singing, then play it back and play lead over it. It really helps when performing solo, adding variety to your sound, extending the length of your songs, and saving your voice. All important when doing 4 hours all by yourself.

Hmm... I'm trying to avoid the technology. At first I intended to use an echo pedal with my acoustic, but then I decided this was a bit of a crutch so I just plugged in and played. My theory is that if I can make the song work with just voice and guitar, then (a) it's a good song, (b) with a band it'll be a relative breeze.

Hmm... I'm trying to avoid the technology. At first I intended to use an echo pedal with my acoustic, but then I decided this was a bit of a crutch so I just plugged in and played. My theory is that if I can make the song work with just voice and guitar, then (a) it's a good song, (b) with a band it'll be a relative breeze.

I agree with you on avoiding technology. No one is detests backing tracks more than I do. However, some of the solo gigs I do are 4 or 5 hours long and a fella needs a little help! Besides, I like to show the people that I can do a smokin' lead from time to time. I don't use it on every song but on some songs I will layer as many as 3 parts and then play a lead over it. I try to make it as obvious as possible so the crowd knows I am playing all the parts live.