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acoustic gig with a bass, or not?

T

The Risky

Guest
Jul 9, 2013
7
0
#1
Hi! New user here and here's my question
Witch would you prefer to hear in an acoustic gig, a band with two acoustic guitars and vocals or a band with one acoustic guitar and a bass and vocals.
Right now were having a discussion with our band.id rather play with a bass but the singer would rather have Two guitarists in an acoustic gig.
I really dont want to pick up a normal guitar, id rather stay with one instrument and thats it.But witch one would you choose?What are the pros and cons with both sides?should i try with an acoustic guitar or not?btw. We've tried one gig with a bass and guitar and it came out pretty well.
 
#2
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.
 
#4
The Risky said:
Hi! New user here and here's my question
Witch would you prefer to hear in an acoustic gig, a band with two acoustic guitars and vocals or a band with one acoustic guitar and a bass and vocals.
Click to expand...

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.
 
#7
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.
 
#8
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.
 

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