What would you do???

rwhxk3

Junior Member
So in a couple of months my guitar player is going to play a gig at one of the local wineries here in Missouri. It's a small, nice place, so obviously an entire band isn't needed. I don't mind one bit that he's taking the gig and going acoustic with it. He mentioned that if we wanted to come sit in, we could do that as well and he would give us some of the cut. The real question is, what should I bring? I was thinking just simply hi hats and snare drum with a pair of lightning rods. I've never played acoustic gigs, so I'm not sure what is enough, but I know what is too much to bring. I was considering a bass drum, but I don't know. Maybe a tom and a single crash cymbal? Please, give me your input on what would be sufficient enough to bring and keep in mind that the pay will be veeeeeery minimal, so the less I have to break down and set up, the happier I am. Thanks!
 
No bass drum, bring a crash that works softly. Or a ride that crashes.

This partially depends on what time during the day the performance is. Lovely, classy evening show? crash/ride, no bass. Afternoon thing? go ahead and take the bass, but no other cymbal.
 
I've done this a few times, although it's been a a long while.

I took a 12" tom, mounted it to a stand at a 90" angle, took the bottom head off and put some foam in there. This gave me a "bass drum" without being over powering. I made some hi-hats out of two splash cymbals, and mounted off the same stand using a closed-hat boom arm (aka x-hat). On top of the stand was a 16" crash, used as a ride. Plus my snare and a mounted tambourine. I only used hot-rods, playing very softly.

A bad picture of this set up from 1996 or so.
nde17A.jpg


But actually played 1/2 the songs on a small conga I had borrowed from a friend.

A djembe is an awesome answer to such gigs, but I've never actually owned one.
 
Grab a guitar and start practicing. Apparently we are from the same area, and these winery gigs are really taking off. Alot (one word) of the St. Louis bars are going with the small acoustic gigs also. I've seen a lot of guys go with various hand percussion djembes, congas and shakers. Do you sing? If you don't, your usefullness is limited on these gigs, so you have to do something that makes you an asset rather than another cut in pay. Good Luck.
 
Not that you should run out and purchase one, but a cajon is great for that sort of set.
 
I think you should really verify if it's cool that you're allowed to be there. Afterall, he got the gig as an acoustic act. Who's to say the employer even wants extra people?

If everything is A-OK with your guitarist bringing extra people, then cool. But here at the Disneyland Resort, even our un-paid "street" artists have to clear bringing in extra players with management. It's only professional - you could show up and your guitarist could lose the gig if it's suppose to be a regular thing. Give the guy with the checkbook the final say.

Otherwise, I'd take the night off, sometimes it's good to do that!
 
Understand that I am aware of this already. I have been playing in a working band around this area for almost 4 years.
 
For acoustic gigs, just a bass drum, snare drum, ride and clear HH will be a good set up.
I usually take my Jembe and a Cajon instead of the regular sit.
 
A lot of the live scene here in Melbourne went from bands to small acoustic sets ups years ago. Sadly the live rooms slowly died and the dreaded poker machines were implemented in their place....so bands went from full PA on a stage to acoustic settings in the front bar.

I've used a few approaches for these types of gigs. One was to just bring a snare and mount a splash cymbal and tambourine to it and play with brushes, the other was to use congas, the third was combining both. All very effective and blend well with one or two acoustic guitars. Shakers are another easy option for added diversity. Worth consideration.

Drum, I love that little mini-kit set up you were using back in the day!!
 
This may be sacrilege, but I used to play the Zendrum alot triggering a Roland R8 MkII rhythm composer. Very Star-Trekky, and got really good at it. But like all electronics, it went the way of the dodo for me. It's still a hip instrument, I just didn't want people to forget (or at least, myself) that I was actually a drummer.
 
I've used this setup in a restaurant. The stomp box was DI'd into the PA. It's a nice, compact solution when you want a kick drum sound without the space or volume, although it takes a little getting used to.
 

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You can pretty much take whatever will fit in the given area for you to set-up. I agree that a hand drum would be ideal for this gig, but you can do just as well with a small kit set-up if there's space. In these situations I usually break down my 10 piece to just a 4 piece with a hi-hat and either large crash or small ride. I do have a djembe, but our music, even acousticly, really doesn't sound well with it.

One thing to ask, though, is if this gig is really a drummers gig. If it's really that small and it's moreless for atmosphere music, perhaps you should just attend and not play. I dunno, just a thought.
 
This may be sacrilege, but I used to play the Zendrum alot triggering a Roland R8 MkII rhythm composer. Very Star-Trekky, and got really good at it. But like all electronics, it went the way of the dodo for me. It's still a hip instrument, I just didn't want people to forget (or at least, myself) that I was actually a drummer.

Wow, I had to look that up. I haven't seen that before. Did you play it standing up like a keytar?
 
Hey Jon E,

Yeah, I played it standing up like a guitarist. My finger technique got really good, and I had several different pad configurations depending on what I needed. I had a standard acoustic kit with a high pitched snare, and one with an Eagle's fat snare, then an electronic kit, and latin percussion. I even had a jazz kit with brush sounds - those R8's had everything I needed and it fooled alot of people. It even got to the point where I was singing a majority of the time too.

But, the dynamic levels offered (even by the new state of the art Roland V-Drums) were never like a real kit, yet I found myself playing the Zendrum more and more, working within its limitations. Then at one point I had to get out of it altogether because I realized, I like playing real drums. The odd thing was - I didn't work for about a year as people who called me for zendrum work, did not want to hire me as an acoustic drummer. I had to build that reputation back up, so the best way to do that was to jettison the zen! It was a good decision. You have no idea how nice it is to not have to worry about having electrical power - it's like being in a sacred place!
 
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