Just getting my act together for the start of gigging with the new covers band and I've been working out ways to use my new JamMan Stereo sampler / looper. I originally got it so it could play the (prerecorded) rhythm part in one of the songs whilst I did the solo live. I'm the only guitarist and there would have been a big sonic hole when I switched to the solo otherwise.
Since then, I've been having all manner of ideas of how to use it to enhance our sound.
The most extreme of these being to prerecord an entire guitar track, therefore providing the missing guitarist for numbers that clearly have two guitars in them.
On a scale of 1(Sam Smith ranting about mimers) to 10(A Milli Vanilli Karaoke Tribute act), how 'cheating' would this be?
It would be me playing on the recording, just not live because I already had my hands full.
Does it even matter, and if so, where's the line between acceptable use of pre-rec and taking the piss ?
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Offset "(Emp) - a little heavy on the hyperbole."
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Using it to play pads or guitar chords to fill an 8-bar solo is ok, though I'd personally prefer not to
Using it to play synth/sequencer lines that are literally impossible without hiring an extra player, absolutely fine.
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Agree with @Cirrus points also, but it does depend on what kind of act you want to portray yourself as
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That's the bit that's always worried me about using a looper or samples, especially if you're pre-recorded a section of the song.
I've used samples a couple of times before, in a previous covers band, and in my current band I use a looper in a couple of places.
It's totally fine. Your primary aim in a covers band is to entertain the audience.
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I don't attempt this live, the parts I hit are a lot simpler but this gives you the idea .... and how easy it is to feck up when your brains trying to do 2 things at once
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Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
BUT to get it to work properly you’ll probably need the drummer playing to a click track to get the timing spot on - it can be surprisingly hard for a band to play along with a guitar backing track, especially if there’s a bit of gig-induced adrenaline running round.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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Purple Rain is another one, when it gets to the solo have a Bb in one pad, Gm in another etc and just hit these chords with your foot. Likewise Long Train Running, Where the Streets have no name and loads of other songs
Likewise if I went down the 'whole track, second guitar part' sample route. In theory, I should be able to tap in the current tempo if the drummer speeds up and it should match. That said, as I'm typing this, I've just realised that in this scenario, all that means is that the sample and the drummer will be playing at the same tempo - but not necessarily in sync. So - full length tracks might be an unsurmountable hurdle. However - as the unit has monstrous capacity and 198 memory locations, I can easily afford to break up a whole song into shorter sections where the opportunity for drift and loss of sync is minimised.
As for the morals of using samples, I think the replies here have assuaged my concerns. It's not like we'd be playing every song with a backing track underneath us. Plenty of big bands have 'hidden' keyboard players for example.
It's just a shame I have to manually trigger them.... though the unit does have MIDI, I haven't worked out a way to get that to make things any easier !
Offset "(Emp) - a little heavy on the hyperbole."