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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
1 Man Band Percussion
1 Man Band Percussion
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2chops
3 posts
Jun 20, 2011
5:55 PM
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I've recently gotten up the nerve to play publicly. I do a solo gig mostly and I have a question. Those of you who do the solo thing, what are you using for your backup percussion? A foot drum, ankle tambourines,...? I'm looking for ideas that would work unmiked on a street corner, coffee shop, etc. But I don't want to sound cheesey. I know there are a lot of you out there/here, and I value your input. Thanks yall.
Ron
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waltertore
1423 posts
Jun 20, 2011
6:42 PM
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Hi Ron: I use a real drum kit- bass, snare, ride cymbal, harp on rack, guitar, and keys. I find the stomp boards, and such to lack depth. the real drum kit can't be beat for depth. I play the local farmers market on saturdays with everything but the keys. You can hear it in action on the links below. Good luck! Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
2,800+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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2chops
5 posts
Jun 21, 2011
5:31 AM
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Hi Walter, I used to play drums 30 years ago. I had thought about just such a set up. But I'm thinking more along the lines of simple, portability. I drive a Jeep Wrangler, so whatever I decide upon has to fit in the small cargo space in the back. I'm going to get a small amp and mic soon also. So there goes more space. About 1/2 of what's available.
Interresting thing that you do by the way. I've heard some 1 man bands that were horrible. You actually sound pretty good. Keep it up.
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waltertore
1424 posts
Jun 21, 2011
6:17 AM
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2chops: Thanks! Most 1 man bands try to overcompensate with walls of sound/busy/frantic playing. The key is to make a simple groove and bend it this and that ways to come up with your own sound. Jimmy Reed, Lightning hopkins, are great examples of guys that based legendary careers on playing basically 1 beat all their life. I find the little things to be discovered within that to be endless. When I first learned about the 1 man band concept it was from playing as a harp player with wilbert harrison(he was a 1 man band at that time). I emulated his set up immediately by buying a cheap bass drum, high hat, hooked a tamborine on it, got a milkcrate to sit on, and set up on street corners when not gigging in clubs with wilbert or my band(real drummer, bass, guitarist). Over the years I have found the addition of a snare and replacing the high hat with a ride cymbal makes it sound more like a real drummer. IMO(36 years on and off as a 1 man band) doing anything less than a real kit gets old. It would be like playing guitar with only 2 strings or a harp with 1/2 the holes not working. If I was going to have to walk with my kit I would use one of those folding/rolling carts with a snare, cymbal, and leave the bass drum at home. I often have used a floor tom for a bass drum to save space. I could easily fit all my gear for a street gig in jeep wrangler(including the bass drum). I go for the sound I want. The downside is I have been lugging lots of crap around...... but I prefer to do that over scaling back. Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
2,800+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Jun 21, 2011 6:27 AM
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