acoustic gig with a bass, or not?

It depends upon the arrangement. However there is more going on then just what I want to hear on any given song there is also the unplugged marketing effort that a solid bodied bass guitar might spike where a second steel or nylon stringed Acoustic Electric guitar plugged into an amp and singers using a PA will not.

 

BASS

 

Two acoustic guitars tend to get muddy. Three are muddy. So one vocalist doing the melody, one acoustic playing chord harmony and the bass keeping the beat with roots and chord tones would be a good mix.

I have played with a vocalist providing chord harmony accompaniment to his vocals and I provided chord tone rhythm on the bass. That worked for a nursing home gig we used to do. If it's a small room or relaxed gig, it works.

 

I think acoustic guitar and fretless bass make a great combination. Bass can keep time but also can relate to the melodies/vocals. I keep a fretless 55-02 around for acoustic gigs and jams.

 

I would vote fretless bass as well, unless you are two smart guitar players the two guitars are just going to be muddying each other up instead of singing in harmony.

 

I owned an ABG (Epiphone El Capitain), and it worked well for some material, mostly up-tempo stuff.

Still, I find that my solid body basses are more flexible. They're also easier to carry. The most important thing, is to adjust your rig for a more acoustic, full-range tone. Small powered PA speakers, Bose L1, Acoustic Image, etc, are perfect. TI Jazz flats help, too.

I've never been dissed for playing the slab on an "acoustic" gig- it's pretty obvious that we're all plugged in.

 

I've done both. If there are two guitar parts, then two guitars will work well. However, if they're both playing the same thing, it's just redundant. Otherwise, I prefer some bass to balance out the jangly acoustic guitar. That low rumble can really fill out the space that the guitar doesn't take up.

 

acoustic shows I play upright bass.
Yes it is a pain to haul around, but it sounds so sweet with a nice acoustic guitar.

 

bass

 

Yes!

 

Bass.

 

Tell me, all you bass players, is it better to have guitar or bass?

What answer did you expect?

+1 for bass.