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With the diversification of instruments and musical styles, it stands to reason that there are an equally diverse amount of possible gigs. What instrument you play may limit your success. Some of the more basic ones will be covered here but do not limit your horizons by not trying out other avenues that may present themselves. I will mention several types of instruments in the following article. If any are unfamiliar to you, may I suggest a trip to your local library where taped samples of the various styles and sounds may be observed.

The Guitar is now possibly one of the more requested and versatile instruments that can play so many types and styles of music. Most commonly used in restaurants, cocktail lounges, parties, one-man-shows, and any type of show where the guitarist also is required to sing, such as a coffee shop. Sometimes they may have an electronic drummer and possibly bass pedals for rhythm. Happy hour gigs will sometimes use a guitarist, but more commonly it is a keyboard artist.

Playing keyboard is probably one of the most versatile instruments around, since it will fit in to most musical styles and arrangements.

Finding solo gigs such as small parties, cocktail lounges, waiting areas, restaurants, receptions, churches, studio recording, classical, ragtime, jazz, airports, backup for singers is a good place to get started.

Joining or accompanying another musical act or being part of a trio for another group of singers in any style is a joy.

It is not uncommon to have two keyboard artists playing in the same group. While one plays piano, the other may simulate a variety of other woodwinds, brass, flute, stringed instruments or special sound effects. Most times the player will be coordinating the arrangements as the group is playing, all without the use of a musical chart. Keyboard players are the most versatile musicians in the industry, so they have a lot more opportunities to work and are a valuable source of referrals and recommendations for bookings.

Two guitarists accompanying each other on pop tunes, playing for vocalists and other types of instruments, in clubs, restaurants, and the occasional casual get together is great fun.

Being a bass player has several opportunities available for performing. The field of classical music, concerts, jazz, and in combos with piano and guitar or brass always seems a good fit.

Rhythm is the basis of all music, and a good drummer should be able to handle many styles and variations of them. Drummers work in small combos as well as the larger bands and symphony orchestras. The more successful players are also able to sing lead and the drummer who plays well and sings will more often than not get the gig before the non-singer will.

The stringed instruments have been primarily used in the classical format for hundreds of years, but the natural evolution of music has led to more diverse uses for violin, viola, and cello. Nowadays it is not uncommon to see one of these specialty acts perform at a wedding, in a shopping mall, or a private party The three types of stringed instruments have made great advances in the jazz, rock, and pop music categories. Most trio and larger groups are handled by a booking agency that specializes in this type of music.

The Woodwind category would include clarinet and sax, flute, piccolo, oboe, English horn, bassoon, and their like. Generally, the type of work involved can include symphony orchestras, studio work, jazz ensembles and large show acts. The musicians who can “double”, that is, play more than one instrument will naturally be in greater demand and usually work more than one who plays an instrument exclusively.

Brass Players in this category include ones well versed in trumpet, cornet, tuba, horn, trombone and the like. The normal types of work available may include Dixieland, jazz symphony, big band, theater acts and orchestra, and even the player that announces the parade of horses at the racetrack. Most of your gigs will come from referrals from bandleaders, agents, or contractor calls. Another way to break into the business is to get referrals from your instructor.

Being a singer In general, the vocalist should be able to perform many types of music variations just to be versatile enough to continue to work. When filling in at a gig, it may be beneficial to bring arrangements of songs that you perform well, and any styles that you are comfortable with. Vocalists do whatever work they are trained to do, and can do it a professional level.

In closing picking what instrument you have decided to learn and what type of music and the portability of the instrument you choose will make a big impact on your success at making it in music.

http://theGuitarWorkShop.com

 by Bruce Lamb

If you have read one of my earlier articles on how I got started playing guitar and in particular Hawaiian Ki ho ‘alu Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar I mentioned how us young teenagers livinge in Hawaii on the Island of Oahu would gather on the corner at night under a big mango tree and share our different music. I also mentioned we would play the popular music that was on the radio. Acoustic Blues was always my favorite style of music:

  I liked the deep pre-war acoustic stuff that was mainly played by some of the older black community. I think the only reason you could find this music in Hawaii at that time was that the late nite DJ was a black Guy.  And as it turned out most of the lyrics and progressions were remade by the hot new bands at theat time. Bands like the Rolling Stones were doing some of those old black songs like I can’t get now satisfactions, and I followard her to the station.  Also Eric Burden and the animals were also redoing old blues songs. Ok I know I’m showing my age now at 60 years old and it’s hard top believe that those songs by these new artist are over 45 years old now.

  Then i mentioned that the Hawaiian guys would always end the evening with a more traditional style of music by retuning their guitars. I could never get them to show us how or what they did but there was a siolent code between them.  While one guy was talking story or noodeling around with his guitar the other guy would be retuning. before long they were both in this new tuning. I think it gave them great satisfaction in keeping this secret from us.  As it turned out both guys would be in tune and would begin to play and sing Hawaiian songs. It was so enchanting and captivated me and I really wanted to try and play along but I could never figure out why my guitar was always so out of tune all of a sudden. It took me almost the entire summer to realize my old Stella guitar could be tuned in this magical type of tuning.

Finally the big secrete was revealed to me. I was working after school at the Marine Base in Aiea Hawaii as a janitor cleaning up the enlisted men’s club which is a bar for the young Marines. It was strange that at that time in Hawaii the drinking age was only 18 years old. Anyway I worked with an old hawaiian guy named Sammy. While we were on our lunch break I pulled my guitar out and Sammy said to me “hey bradda Bruce try pass me the guitar already” in his style of pig english. I handed him the guitar and he immediately began to retune the strings. Then the secret was revealed to me. Sammy began to tell me how many families in the Hawaiian communities actually had their own tunings that they played exclusively. The families would not share or teach anyone outside their immediate family this tuning because it was passed down from generations before. It was theirs for the keeping and is what made there families music different sounding from others. Its kind of like I guess how a magician won’t show how a magic trickh is preformed. The tuning that old Sammy showed me was the Taro Patch tuning.

The Taro Patch tuning is the most common tuning in most of the Hawaiian songs.  As it turned out I began to realize that this tuning was also used in many of  th old blues songs that I heard from the old records that I had. It was also known as open G tuning that many bottleneck blues players would use. This tuning is a major tuning. The guitar is tuned to a major G chord or has a major chord within the tuning. To achieve this tuning you have to lower the tension on the standard tuning o rknown as standard Spanish Tuning which is (E-A-D-G-B-E) on your guitar , from the lowest to the higest pitched string. To get the Taro Patch tuning you have to change the pitch of the guitar strings to (D-G-D-G-B-D) which when you strum across all the strings it is the sound of a G major chord. I srtongly suggest you use a electronic tuner to achieve this because you may break some strings untile you understand the tuning.

Well go ahead and give it a try, I’ll show you more of these tunings next time. Watch and learn these tunings at our website by our Grammy Award winning Slack Key Artists and instructors at http://www.TheGuitarWorkshop.com