Covid has brought many changes, not least the departure of our keyboard player (he left, not died!) and the original singer. That leaves just guitar, bass and drums. What songs work well for a simple three-piece ? I do have a sample player too so any performance could easily be augmented with non-tempo-based synth pads etc.
Nothing too structurally complex either as I'll be doing rhythm, lead, vocals, samples and FOH mixing! It takes concentration for me to any one of those!
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I’d keep it simple and uptempo.. and add the synths and triggers later. We used a kazoo for silly sax solos and stuff.
Yes, the kind of blues rock/ RnB/ power pop stuff - Dr Feelgood, ZZ Top. Things with a strong bass line/ punky riffs so Guns of Brixton or Should I Stay by The Clash. Several things by The Jam like Start. The simpler end of The Police like Roxanne. Shed loads of analogue delay really helps ( possibly).
And Timebomb by Rancid. Done here by a three piece ( sound quality not brill)...
There are two guitars on this but it's essentially a three piece instrumental
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Some 3-pieces, the bass player is essentially doing a lot of the rhythm work as well as the basslines, but you'd need a pretty good bassist for that.
A simple looper pedal can help fill out the guitar sound - ie have the main rhythm part playing on that whilst you're doing lead stuff.
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You could do some of the early Motown stuff as well with that setup but some of those do require a certain level of vocals as well
Most songs work great. Occasionally we'll drop a song or two because they don't work and need something else in their. The drummer does have a roland drum pad which he can also trigger samples or loops from but we don't tend to use it for loops very often as they can go wrong or he'll trigger it slightly early/late and everyone has to adapt to it quickly.
What works for me is to not just play 1 guitar part but play what is important to the song. So if there are 2 or 3 different voicings in a song, choose which one is important for each section the verse, chorus, bridge, etc and adapt it accordingly to how your band plays. It may not be exactly 'right' but it usually works and is quite interesting to do.
The drums and bass are really key and I just float around on top of them.
I'd avoid looper pedals as they can really go wrong and make you sound shit.
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https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/285/one-chord-progression-songs-suitable-for-jams-or-encores/p1
…for things that aren’t too onerous to play - not doubting your abilities but it does look like you’ll be pretty busy with singing, rhythm, lead, FOH, etc.
The main element of a good 3 piece is whether your bassist is Adam Clayton or Jack Bruce.
Theres dozens of good power trios. Listen to more of them and pick some tunes.
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