By Robert Lee Johnson
The Guitar Man
www.mp3.com/theguitarman

Finding work playing music is not always easy. Unfortunately many Clubs, even Prosperous Gambling Casinos, in the Rocky Mountain Region, will not hire full bands, quartets, or even trios. Most often they want a duo with so much high tech equipment that it doesn’t sound like live music.

One Casino in Blackhawk Colorado has had a solo, singer/guitar player, with much high tech equipment appearing at their establishment for a very long time. Two Casinos in Blackhawk Colorado have Duos.

For certain I’m not against high tech. I use some high tech myself, a Line 6 Delay Modeler which essentially makes me sound like I’m playing two Guitars at the same time. But High Tech can get out of hand to the point of actually detracting from the live performance. It’s sad that this happens, but it most assuredly does happen. I witnessed this myself when I went to Blackhawk this last Sunday.

I went into one very popular Casino in Blackhawk, and I walked past a Live Guitar Player and Keyboard Player. With my back to the music, I thought I was listening to recorded music. It really did not sound like live music. In my opinion when people listen to live music they want live music, not 90 percent recorded music, or programmed music, and 10 percent live music. If they wanted to listen to recorded music, they could put on a CD and be done with it.

I’m sure the Duo was using heavy duty midi programmed music. There was a robotic sound to the act, and even the live players sounded like robots instead of live musicians. Or maybe I was wrong, maybe there was a robot playing Guitar and another Robot Playing keyboards. In any event their sound was so robotic that one would not know that live musicians were performing. To me this defeats the purpose of live music.

I took in another Casino in Blackhawk that had a Duo. One of the musicians in this Duo was absolutely excellent, to a very high artistic level. The other player was all right. The two musicians worked well together.

This Duo performed a down home Blues Song that was excellent. It sounded like they had programmed a drum machine to play just the right music for their Blues. There was good applause after the song. The Duo performed another song that was very good, more applause. They did a great job. Then the Duo went into many songs where one member of the Duo was constantly making changes to the PA, and the high tech equipment, it was very distracting and these songs did not go over well, no applause. The Duo had essentially lost their audience.

High Tech is suppose to make the live artists sound better, not detract from the performance of the music when one member of the group becomes a sound man there on stage. The audience did not come to see a sound man do his thing. They came to be entertained by real live musicians, communicating their music and entertainment to the audience. The performance of this very capable Duo was spoiled by the fiddling around with the high tech equipment, instead of playing music. What a shame for the whole mood, and mode, of live music, was near completely eliminated.

Now high tech equipment can make two people sound like they are a full band. But if one or more of the musicians on stage is pre occupied with making adjustments to the high tech instruments in the band, the music is most often spoiled. There really is no show as far as music goes. The high tech equipment often takes away from the music rather than adding to the artistry of the real musicians.

Any musician should remember that the music performed by the musicians is what the people come to hear. The music performed by the real musicians is what counts, and is what makes the music good, or bad, or somewhere in between.

Musicians performing Live must communicate with their audience. They must literally feel the audience. The audience must literally feel the music that emanates from the Live Musicians. When a live performance is at its’ best, there is a two way communication between the audience and the musicians and this communication actually brings the musicians and the audience together and makes the music beautiful for both the Audience and the Performer. This is what live performance is all about. Live performance is not about diddling around with high tech equipment to try to enhance the music.

One good solo Guitarist can sound better than a Guitar Player with a million high tech gadgets that he is pre occupied with on stage. In today’s music world there are too many Solo and Duo Artists who think that high tech gadgets are going to make them sound like a million selling band. That will not happen. Only the artistry of the musician is going to entertain. If a Solo or Duo uses high tech equipment in an artful manner, the high tech equipment can contribute to the music the Artists plays. But the high tech equipment has to be used as artistically as the music is played if it is to be effective in Live Performance.

If one lets the high tech equipment dominate the sound, it will sound like machines are playing music. There will be little art that is heard, and this type of performance is most often not worth listening to.

Always remember one thing, the music comes from musicians. The entertainment, the show, comes from the musicians on stage. It does not come from the high tech gadgets that one can purchase and use on stage.

And you might remember one more thing, a million dollar Sound System only produces sound. The Musicians produce the music. Purchasing an expensive sound system only helps the musicians sound good, but it does not produce the music. A good singer can use a cheap sound system and sound a thousand times better than a singer that is not musically artistic.

A musician who has developed a good solo act, can sound better with just a Guitar and a Decent Sound System than many Solo and Duo Acts that have a million dollars worth of high tech gadgets. And in fact, I’d much prefer to hear a good Blues Player who can do a Solo Act, with just his Guitar, than the Robotic Sound of Music Machines dominating a live music act for there is seldom enough artistry in this type of act to make it worth listening to.

The Old Country Blues Artists played on the street, with just an Acoustic Guitar, and themselves singing, with no sound system. Many of the Country Blues Artists gained a great reputation as music artists on the street. Blind Lemon Jefferson, Finger Style Country Blues Guitarist was very famous in many states before he was ever recorded. The Recording of Blind Lemon Jefferson as a Solo Artists, just him and his Guitar, sold very big nation wide in the 20s. This happened because of the great artistry of the Country Blues Player. And this proves what can be done by a real solo artist.

Booking agents add to the myth that it takes many high tech gadgets, programmed music, to have a good solo or duo act, for they tell club owners that this is the kind of Solo and Duo Artists they should book. So the club owners and the Gambling Casinos hire two musicians and 50 high tech machines to entertain their customers. Do the customers really get entertained by the high tech machines, and the two people who have become little more than machines themselves? I think not. I don’t think most people would walk across the street to hear this kind of music act.

Some artists record twenty tracks of music, leaving out the main lead part, then play the lead part with a CD as a live musician. Is this live music? Does this thrill the audience in the same way that a good live band would thrill people, musically speaking? I think not. It’s an oddity. It is not live music that is worth hearing for real live music has magic in it. There is no magic to twenty recorded parts and one live part.

There is no greater thrill for a musician than to appear before a live audience that loves their music. This is what music performance is all about. The greatest musical enjoyment that people have is attending a live performance of good musicians. The Musicians that I witnessed who were depending on high tech to make them sound great in person, did not have people in their audience who were thrilled to hear a good musician performing live. For the most part, the audience was pretty indifferent to the music from the machines and one or two performers. Though the audience may not have consciously analyzed why they were not enjoying the live music, they for certain knew that this was not the kind of live music performance they love to see and hear.

Musicians need to keep Live Music, Live, and leave the high tech gadgets at home where they can use them as practice buddies. No high tech gadget can compete with a for real Live Musician.

By Robert Lee Johnson
The Guitar Man
www.mp3.com/theguitarman