Mandolin solo gigs with backing tracks?

[musicofanatic]

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By the way, on Leland Sklar’s youtube channel he told a few years ago about a big name act he toured with who used a recorded segment during one of his songs. I opine that it’s fine as long as it’s a support, an enhancement to the music and not the bulk of the performance.

That was James Taylor with the song "Cover The People"...backing singers prerecorded and played back on synchronized reel-to-reel decks on stage. Most famously and widely viewed when he did this as a musical guest on SNL...I recall the stink it caused, even prior to the innernet. It's likely on youtube

[Drew Egerton]

That was James Taylor with the song "Cover The People"...backing singers prerecorded and played back on synchronized reel-to-reel decks on stage. Most famously and widely viewed when he did this as a musical guest on SNL...I recall the stink it caused, even prior to the innernet. It's likely on youtube

Here is the clip. Interesting. I argue that it would have been a more impactful performance if he just sang it solo, but that's my taste.

[mbruno]

There's nothing wrong with performing how you want to perform. If you want to use a backing track, do it. I've used a loop station to create live backing tracks at solo gigs before and never had anyone complain about that (maybe about the playing, but not the loop haha).

I've seen a few folks use Ableton Live or similar along with a foot switch to control parts. Effectively they pre-record the different parts (verse, chorus etc), then cycle through. If I was going to do solo stuff more frequently, I'd definitely look into this type of setup. That gives you a lot more freedom that a pre-recorded static track to end parts and the song when you want and you don't have to perfectly time the loop - but means you have to pay more attention too I guess