Use it, but don't use it as a crutch. I see it all the time...people using tracks or backgrounds of some kind who couldn't work any other way.

My arrangers are paying for themselves big-time as tools to to film roughs.

This year, I've use an arranger on a "live" paying job twice, and I work 5 or more jobs a week.

Gary mentioned he would not like a jazz guitar guy 4 straight hours. What really pisses me off is an acoustic "three chorder" with a capo. Talk about boring!

The ideal place to be is to be capable for playing the right combination of material and using the right kind of instrumentation to do a professional job.

Lack of ability is certainly the thing that limits variety and competence.

Russ

I use arrangers, electric guitar, a laptop, and a tablet on various live gigs. The tablet is for backing tracks only. For the life of me, I don’t see how anyone can read lyrics and chords changes from a tablet on live gigs. I’m still into notebooks, with no apology, and with the largest font possible per page. Works for those tunes not memorized. Never had a complaint about old-fashioned notebooks. Maybe notebooks are retro these days.

I use an iPad or tablet with an adapter with a mic thread attached to my On Stage telescoping boom. You can get a close as you need.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/on-stage-stands-telescoping-boom-arm?cntry=us&source=3WWRWXGP&gclid=Cj0KEQjw5sHHBRDg5IK6k938j_IBEiQARZBJWoKO3q5V7fsEO0i5ibnSfNwSL2X1aFYjKWWGGYdCsskaAgp98P8HAQ&kwid=productads-adid^156403583515-device^c-plaid^143216426202-sku^712514000001000@ADL4MF-adType^PLA

Until laptops became available, I lugged around a half-dozen 3-inch, 3 ring, looseleaf binders that were filled to capacity with lyrics sheets and chords over the words. I typed up each and every one of those sheets (about 800 of them) on a desktop PC and printed them out using a daily-wheel printer. My first laptop, an IBM, tipped the scales at 17 pounds and cost me nearly $1,500, but I was a happy camper. Now, I use a 9-inch netbook PC for the lyrics and chords that weighs about 1.2 pounds. So, in that category I have progressed along with the technology.

When my eyes began failing, I again went with the new technology, had cataract surgery, had special lenses implanted that set me back $4,000 and the doctors said that I don't have to wear glasses, but still do. That technological advance was not 100 percent by a long shot. ;(

All the best,

Gary

The Fender Rhodes is still hot today.

Nice post, Gary, but DAMN, that fiddle/banjo music is AWFUL!

Russ

I agree, Russ, but we sure had a lot of fun back then and I will cherish those memories to the grave.

Gary

Gary, I think we've hit on something. Music, with all it's variables, is an integral part of most lifestyles.

Disco Duck is unquestionably the funniest/awfullest pop tune, EVER. LOVE IT! Rick Dees made a fortune in the media, and this was one of his silliest/best efforts. Still (Bill Anderson-dreadful tune) and my least favorite of all, Margueritaville (UGH!)have a rightful place as part of Americana.

In contrast, tunes like "What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life?", Song for My Father....Here's that Rainy Day and many more are either serious societal statements or constructed for sheer beauty, message and/or structure.

You won't believe it, but I believe BOTH kinds of compositions are essential to healthy lifestyles. Mark this down, Gary; on this, we agree!!

JD Crowe is a good friend of mine. I HATE 5 string banjo, and he is the best player alive today. For that, he earns my friendship and respect for his contributions to a particularly unique (and, for me, irritating) music form.

Expand our field to all sound. It's everywhere, and is an integral part of living.

Sampling now allows me to integrate the sound of a jet, for instance, into a background score for a truck manufacturer, or a frying sound for a Kentucky chicken producer.

We should ALL enjoy every note we play and hear.

That's in a large part, is what living is all about.


Russ

Can't argue with that, Russ!

Gary