Hi, I am 6 months into my guitar journey. I have sung at open mics without playing, and I once sang and played to a group of about 20 friendly folks. I’m keen to prepare to play at open mic events, both in person and on here.
I first bought an acoustic, which I love. Then I bought an electric. Now I wonder if I should buy an electro acoustic so I can play my own guitar at open mic events. I know often people can play one made available (in my limited experience), but I’d prefer to play my own because it’s a known quantity and it will feel less scary.
Then someone mentioned using an special pickup with my existing acoustic, and that sounded great till I looked them up and saw how complicated and expensive those are!
If you like, and are happy and comfortable playing your own acoustic, opt for the easy nkn-invasive option of a detachable soundhole pickup. The Sey.our Duncan Woody is one such, there are others.
Thank you! I will look for that one and similar. The ones I saw so far were more expensive than buying a whole new guitar at the pricepoint I am buying at at the mo. I’m looking on Gear4 Music cos I’ve used them several times but will search the specific one you suggested.
At our music club we hook up a condenser mic for any that bring a guitar without a pickup. Pub open mics don’t tend to have that kind of setup available. Perhaps where you want to perform does? Check with whoever does the sound.
The ones I’ve been to, the organizer brings their own gear and they try to accommodate folks who don’t have ideal equipment. The ones I’ve been to don’t have condenser mics available (prob not the right environment for that kind of microphone), but they do have extra mics in order to mic up an instrument without pickups.
clip-on pickups are a handy solution. sure, you can buy one of the fancy piezo+mic dual input types that needs to be installed (preferably by a luthier), but that’s unnecessary if you’re just starting.
I am no open mic expert having only done three, but the first one I did I played two of my guitars; my 12 string acoustic and my six string acoustic/electric. The guy running the open mic had a mic for singing and a second one that pointed to my 12 string.
I used only my acoustic/electric in the other two. For some reason the pickup wasn’t working at one of them. I even changed the battery and it still didn’t work. Like the first open mic, the guy running it had a mic pointed at the guitar and one for singing.
I was looking into getting electronics, new tuners and a professional setup for my twelve string but the more I looked into the more I realized that would cost a lot more than the guitar is worth so I hit the pause button for now.
