Open mic help

[Hippos Melas]

Brief background:

Where I live, every month there is an open mic night where people (and by people I mean dedicated college students with an acoustic guitar and an off-pitch singing voice) are invited to come down and play their instruments for people for show. Nothing competitive, just friendly hey look what we do with our spare time sort of deal.

The guy who oversees my floor has been nagging me for about 2 months (probably more than that) to bring my bass downstairs to play for this open mic night. I would do it, but...I have absolutely NO idea what to play. He's offered to do a duet with me as well but I don't know any good bass/guitar duets either.

Any suggestions on a solo piece or duet I can comfortably learn in about a month? I've got 5 years of experience so far so I'm not awful and can learn quickly but I'd rather not pull out my Sterling and hack through some Wooten groove that no one cares about.

[stflbn]

As opposed to some original acoustic song with off-key vocals that no one cares about?

[spitfire70]

Linus and Lucy, I have seen and played some mario bros theme songs as well.

[Thor]

Ask him whe he wants to play and learn that.

You may find that other people may want your support as
well after they see you. Be ready to step in for that.

One of the things that open mikes are good at is making you
work and listen on the fly. Also, backing guys who call A and
play in E. Or call G but capo up 2 steps. Or face away from
you, don't call changes but expect your telepathy skills to
suffice. I have one guy where I just read his hand shapes
from behind. 'I don't 'know what chord that is, I just play it.'

Some OM experience will make you a better supporting player though, so go for it.

[sobie18]

I love going to jams and playing with whoever...originals, covers, etc. Ear training.

As long as the other folks aren't totally lame (and you'll see them folks), it's usually a fun time.

[Fun Size Nick]

As these guys have said, many open mics are quite cool with you just getting up and backing someone (assuming that you have some idea of what you're playing!), and once you've been there a little while, people might be asking you to play with them! I play at a weekly open mic in our university district, and it's been great for my ear to regularly have songs that I've never heard before thrown at me with no charts (ok, it helps that it's usually not terribly difficult music).

[MEKer]

Be creative and write a bass song for yourself. then pound it at'em! Just you soloing it.

[Hippos Melas]

See, that's part of the problem...I can't write music to save my life. I can't even hardly play slap. I've got almost nothing flashy to show.

Most people at the open mic are just performing some random acoustic duet song that they learned. I guess I'll just play with them a couple times before it and make a bass line up for the song if it doesn't have one. I think that's my best shot.

[HogieWan]

search youtube for "bass solo" - some guys even have transcriptions