Playing nothing

[erictheweary]

Bit of a rambling muse but why is it sometimes difficult to play nothing, especially live?

Y'know, play a bit of a song, drop out, come back in, play fills with spaces or just go ' this song sounds better without me at all.' The ability to do this, IMHO, can really help with the dynamics of a performance but the typical pub band performance so often seems to revolve around somebody doing an intro then everyone piles in , playing along until it ends.

We are doing a couple of songs now where my contribution is pretty minimal ( some might argue it is on everything) with pretty much just fills at parts of the song. I either need to just do that or invent a part to play and I am quite torn as to which.Standing there gradually building up the nerves until I have to come in and not cock it up.

I'm using the 'typical pub band' comment because I really don't think this is just me?

Of course this may not be a question for Techniques maybe one for Therapy Corner...

[frankus]

I had this in a Judas Priest tribute band for a very short while - the other guitarist had been in the band for two years and cherry picked the bigger guitar parts avoided the tricky parts of solos...

as a result there was f*** all to do for 36 bars then a flurry, then some rhythm playing for 8 bars then nothing..

coming in at the right time is an art - it's like the old gag about the triangle player - he reads all the music when he's not playing.

[erictheweary]

I had this in a Judas Priest tribute band for a very short while - the other guitarist had been in the band for two years and cherry picked the bigger guitar parts avoided the tricky parts of solos...

as a result there was f*** all to do for 36 bars then a flurry, then some rhythm playing for 8 bars then nothing..

coming in at the right time is an art - it's like the old gag about the triangle player - he reads all the music when he's not playing.

yeh, that kind of thing! Oddly hard to do.

[thereformant]

Yeah its an ego thing for sure, I always try to step back, or suggest to others they might not want to trample over someones part but it's really hard to resist the urge to add a little bit here, then another little bit there and all of a sudden you're playing the entire song again.

[BlindLemonAde]

I watched Gary Moore with his trio a few years back - sometimes he'd just let the drums & bass carry the song for ages, while he sang... wish I could restrain meself like that! (Of course, he then let the side down, by playing every note on the neck, twice, in every solo.)

[zenzeypher]

I never get the chance, our stuff is full on assault course of barre chords and some rare licks...id love a break - id welcome a break!

when writing songs for my other band I sometimes would like to put in pauses for the guitar etc, but just forget ha.

[barney.]

i remember years ago i was playing in a blues /rock type of band...it was only a 3 piece so thought it was my job to fill yje gaps ....and i did for a while till i realised they didnt really need that from me and one night i just stopped and listened and started thinking a bit more...and instead of trying to fill gaps... i started playing....one of the best lessons iv learned and never looked back..

[findo]

i drop out loads with my originals band because i'm always banging on to the others about dynamics and you gotta walk the walk...

Interesting though, a very good mate of mine, who plays guitar, came down to a gig once and he loved it but also commented - "you should play more"!
I don't think he really got that its all about the song.

[stickyfiddle]

My current lot are all about dynamics, and it's really worth it. I tend not to have many gaps in my parts but our other guitarist often drops out for half a song- particularly if he's singing lead.

[musophilr]

In our band we do a pink cover and the other guitarist chunks out clean quavers for the verse while I do nothing. Then I pile in with power chords for the chorus. There's a Bryan Adams song where I do nothing for vv 1,2 and when the chorus happens I'm playing the Hammond-ish sound on the keys. In an Adele song, the other guitarist does nothing while I play triads in the verses, then in the chorus he piles in with power chords while I go apeshit behind the vocals making the guitar wail.

Not all our set has these dynamics but when we can do them, I like it.