Members FitchFY Posted July 15, 2016 Members Share Posted July 15, 2016 A little free-wheel of a topic, but I'm starting to hire myself out as a percussionist. In the Massachusetts area, there are plenty of acoustic acts, and every once in awhile you see them trying to get some percussion in there to fill up the sound/ liven it up. I have a 16" kick drum and a 14" djembe, as well as a pair of shakers and tambourine; just enough to add a layer of rhythm onto those acoustic gigs. My question to you cats here is -- depending on the gig -- would you hire a competent percussionist for those shows where you want a bit more sound? And I'm working for... like... $50 and some beer. Just curious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted July 16, 2016 Members Share Posted July 16, 2016 Pick up a Cajon as well. For acoustic acts you can defintely be an asset!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted July 16, 2016 Members Share Posted July 16, 2016 I have lots of thoughts about this but not about its value. You can go by demand and raise accordingly I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members senorblues Posted July 16, 2016 Members Share Posted July 16, 2016 I've thought about transforming my solo into a duo adding percussion. I did keys/drums many years ago in a college town and it was very successful, but now I'm thinking that encouraging people to dance while still maintaining conversation volume levels would be an attractive commodity. I'd be looking to book slots normally filled by bands, I imagine that as a percussionist, you would be much more inclined to interpret a song as a rhythmic pattern rather than playing four-on-the-floor with fills - a pet peeve of mine. Singing would definitely be an asset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted July 16, 2016 Members Share Posted July 16, 2016 It's probably more important to have groovable content live than grammy material. Percussionists fall into two groups. Artists who want to bring the details to life and drummers. The latter seem to have a spread ranging from simulating a real drummer to those that can only manage wall to wall 16th note patterns. I find either of those extremes detract from a good solo guitarist. Most pop guitarists welcome the drummer variety regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FitchFY Posted July 21, 2016 Author Members Share Posted July 21, 2016 Thanks for the feedback, y'all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted July 25, 2016 Members Share Posted July 25, 2016 There are a couple of guys locally that play congas, kick, and a cymbals (using hands) that work a lot. I forget if they use high hats or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UlfHansson Posted August 3, 2016 Members Share Posted August 3, 2016 I play some semi-acoustic gigs where the percussionist add a small bass drum and a hihat stand with a tambourine or jingle on top, playing shakers, congas and some brushes -- in those cases completely replacing the (kit) drummer. Works great and keeps the volume at a nice level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted August 3, 2016 Members Share Posted August 3, 2016 Always glad to bother you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chip Stewart Posted August 25, 2016 Members Share Posted August 25, 2016 I'm in a guitar duo that just expanded to a trio by adding a percussionist. We found that some songs ("To Love Somebody" by the Bee Gees, "Can't You See" by the Marshall Tucker Band, as well as others) just sounded hollow without the percussion filling in the space. Hopefully the percussion will fill things in (we haven't got everything worked up yet). Our last gig paid $150 ($75 per person). Adding a percussionist will cut that down to $50 per person, but we're both o.k. with the decrease in pay. Hopefully a fuller sound will lead to more gigs, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members trevcda Posted August 26, 2016 Members Share Posted August 26, 2016 We've have a couple percussionist on call to occasionally to augment a drummer in a full band situation. A couple of the guys in the band are pretty tasteful on a cajon when needed. But finding a new percussionist is pretty much like wading through 99 of these guys to find one that has an ear and will learn the part and not just sit back there banging on stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.