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Bob Dey

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Everything posted by Bob Dey

  1. I buy most of my gear from Sweetwater. They're only about 120 miles from my town - although I've only been there once.
  2. Back when I did an acoustic gig I just plugged in the the PA mixer. The combination of woofer and horn/tweeter in PA speakers works great with acoustic guitar frequencies, and PA amps are pure, clean power. Add some quality reverb for a nice sound IMO. I never cared for amps made for acoustic guitar.
  3. Boss Katana has acoustic as one of their amp types. I bought the 100 watt model this year and it's really great for a solid state amp. Built in efx, any overdrive level you want from clean to full distortion. And the acoustic setting is for acoustic guitars in particular.
  4. yeah Glen, I've been using background tracks for nearly 30 years now. It seemed back then that using a drum machine and bass pedals was common. I recorded tracks to a 4 track cassette that included a drum machine, bass guitar and a patch on my synth and there were some duos doing the same thing. Some people frowned on the use of BT (and some still do) because it seems like cheating! When I went out to do my first few gigs I found that there were a lot of acoustic guitarist/singers around that were getting work. They had smaller speakers and less equipment to carry around but they were primarily really good singers. So throughout the years I've done both kinds of gigs; those with background tracks and those without. Some clients preferred acoustic while others wanted full backing tracks. And I've had some BT with lots of instrumentation or vocal harmony added (no machine, just me singing several tracks). At a certain point I wanted to make my guitar playing the main attraction so I made my BT with just bass, drums and maybe one keyboard part (mostly organ, piano, or strings). I also do a few songs with just guitar and vocal just to let the audience know that it isn't all memorex they're hearing. I keep away from saxophone sounds because it's not possible to get a realistic sax sound from a synth. I like patches that emulate analog synthesizers too. Sample playback synths are pretty good at that. From what I heard on your videos were some nice patches. So I commend you for keeping away from those that don't sound as good. Good luck and consider doing a few songs without tracks too.
  5. I was considering getting an arranger keyboard long ago. There was a solo guy on the boards about 20 years ago that used a Yamaha Tyros and he was working regularly in nice restaurants. Anyway, I ended up getting a Kurzweil K2VX and doing the work of recording or editing midi files to my liking. No matter how good arranger keyboards sound, they still sound too automated to me. I would hope that an audience wants to see me really playing my instrument rather than controlling a machine that plays itself. Some of the sounds are cheesy IMO but that's common with many synths.
  6. I do Surfin' USA and California Girls. Both work without harmony, but Cal Girls has a high vocal part (which I sing an octave lower).
  7. Originally Posted by Howie22 I've messed around with Drops of Jupiter before. I've never been able to do it in a key that I was happy with the vocals. Pat Monahan's voice is so freaking high. Same here. I started working on the sequence from scratch and eventually decided it won't sound right with the key lowered to Johnny Cash's range. Mel & Julio would be a great upbeat number to do. I always like slip slidin' away too, but it's very laid back.
  8. Man, I wish I could sing in that range. Nice vocal
  9. Originally Posted by JimboKeys Trying not to be too intimidated by some of your monster lists, here's mine. Being a non-guitar player (at least in my current incarnation) it's interesting to see what songs we still have in common. Beatles - All My Loving, Can't Buy Me Love, Tell Me Why Billy Joel - Honesty, Just the Way You Are, My Life, Only the Good Die Young Classics IV - Spooky, Stormy Coldplay - Clocks Dire Straits - Walk of Life Eagles - Tequila Sunrise Elton John - Daniel Eric Clapton - Nobody Knows You When Everly Brothers - Bye Bye Love Gary Numan - Cars Gerry and the Pacemakers - Ferry Cross the Mersey Grateful Dead - Touch of Grey Hall & Oates - Maneater Jason Mraz - I'm Yours Jay & the Americans - This Magic Moment Jimmy Buffet - Changes in Latitudes, Margaritaville Moody Blues - Story in your eyes Mountain - Theme for an Imaginary Western Peter Frampton - Baby I Love Your Way Procul Harum - A Salty Dog Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love Sammy Kershaw - She Don't Know She's Beautiful Simple Minds - Don't You Forget About Me Soft Cell - Tainted Love Sting - Fields Of Gold Troggs - Love is All Around Van Morrison - Brown-Eyed Girl Wallflowers - One Headlight Instrumentals (Piano/Organ) - Time is Tight Instrumentals (Sax) - Crazy (Patsy Cline), Girl from Ipanema, It Had to be You, Sleep Walk, Tequila, The Way You Look Tonight Instrumentals (Flute) - Black Orpheus, Bouree (Jethro Tull), Flute Thing, Meditation, Swingin' Shepherd Blues I love seeing a list that is much different than most solo acts. Salty Dog, Theme from an Imaginary Western, Black Orpheus, love those choices!
  10. Haven't updated the list, but hope the attachment works.
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