Things I learned From Playing Guitar Live in Los Angeles

 

So what is it like, playing shows live onstage at small bars and clubs in Los Angeles, from the guitarists' perspective? 

First, you have to realize, that playing guitar live onstage in Los Angeles is very common. There are a million guitar players in Los Angeles. Why? Because its a warm climate and guitars do much better in warm climates than in cold climates. Therefore, there are a million guitar players in Los Angeles. So, you must realize that if you want to play guitar in Los Angeles, you are competing with a million other players, many of which, may be good, very good, so-so, and/or amazing. 

So you've decided to play a guitarist in Los Angeles? Okay, so here are the next steps in your sound once you get on stage in whatever capacity: in a band, in a cover band, or in an original band, or just playing a jam session. 

Second, the type of guitar you use is important. So when you get onstage, the type of guitar you bring to the performance matters most more than anything. You need a cheap but comfortable guitar that you can play at any moment's notice. Cheap, because most bars aren't the most safest for your good gear. And comfortable because you need to be able to play very well in any moment's notice. 

Third, the type of amp matters a lot too. Let's say you're playing in a metal band. I would recommend some cheap solid state amp [digital] that you could haul easily. If you're playing country and western then you want something older like an old small tiny Fender tube amp that you can really crank up. Classic rock? Well, you could do a solid state amp [digital], or a tube amp. 

Or, there's another option. You could run the guitar through the PA, and have the sound technician turn up the guitar loudly. But this is a last resort option, only if somehow you have no amp and you must perform. 

Fourth, you as the player matter. What kind of styles of music are you more inclined to? If you're a metal player, you might play fast three-notes-per-string scales like Malmsteen or Steve Vai. If you're more blues, you might be sounding like Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page. If you're more country you're going to sound more like Joni Mitchell backing up Emoulou Harris. So, you, as a player matter a lot. 

Moving forward, you must ask yourself, why am I playing guitar in bars in Los Angeles? Do you need money, do you play for fun, are you trying to be famous, or are you just trying to chill and have a good time? You must have a purpose to what you're trying to do. 

However, because there are a million other guys playing guitar in bars in Los Angeles, you'll find that its difficult to make it in the business. Especially because the music industry and music business has changed so much from when I was a kid [2011] to now [2025], so you'll find its tough no matter how good at guitar you are. 

So, you'll learn that guitar in Los Angeles isn't the most necessary or important, or required instrument in bars. Because the music scene here is so oversaturated with guitar players, you'll find out that its better to be a multi-instrumentalist instead. 

Next, you'll find that you'll have to wear many hats and know how to play musical chairs. 

In conclusion, what do you have to do in order to be a musician [guitar player] in Los Angeles? This will take all of your musical abilities start from whatever age you first became attracted to music. Most musicians get interested in music around the age of 9 or 10 years old. 

So you'll find that you'll have to be a multi-instrumentalist. Most bands won't need a guitarist, so you'll have to be able to be a singer [while also strumming piano or guitar or bass or drums at the same times], or a bass player [non-singing], or a drummer [non-singing], or piano [non-singing] and you must also have the ability to be able lift heavy sound equipment for your band. 

Lastly, you'll also want good old fashioned sound engineer ability as well. For, as you see, its very complicated playing guitar at bars in Los Angeles. 

Rent-Due, Still Playing Clubs

More Soundcloud tracks

Even more good news everyone! I just got the tracks from the last jam I did at the local open jam. I've already posted them and you can listen to them https://soundcloud.com/user-294063763. I'm listening to it all right now and I gotta say that this jam was particularly impressive with three guitarists (one being myself), drums, bass,  keyboards, and vocals. I held everything down together by mostly playing the rhythm guitar. The other two guys were good players but they were mostly only playing lead. On one of the jams we had a trumpet player. It sounds way 1960s rock and roll man! Mighty good jam. The new tracks I posted are Vocal Jam 1, Vocal Jam 2, and Rock and Roll by Led Zep. On Vocal Jam 1 I stomped on dominant 9th chords over a jazz blues progression. Check out the tracks and let me know what you think!

Jam Night

On Wednesday night I went to the open jam and met up with a musician that a friend of mine referred me to. We ended up playing together onstage for three songs of a pretty long length. It ended up being a great set, probably the most exciting set of that entire night. We did two tunes with my new friend on guitar and vocals based on blues changes and then we did a sort of sloppy rendition of Stratus by Billy Cobham (also done by Jeff Beck).

The tunes with the vocals were overpowered by the loudness of our guitars. We turned down for Stratus and sounded much better with less distortion and gain. In fact, my friend's comping on Stratus was fantastic. It would've been a great rendition but the bass player didn't know the song or the changes so when it was suppose to go to different riffs he was still playing the same old one. I was a little disappointed that my set didn't sound the best because every other time I've been there I play a set where I'm the only guitarist and I always play really well. Its when other people get in there when I get a lot more critical about the sound onstage and off.

I also did a short set with another guitarist and I swear playing with this guy is like pulling teeth. His singing voice is terrible and his guitar always sounds super out of tone and has way too much gain (distortion). Because he's so loud I have to turn up just to hear myself. Then we start playing and he starts playing so fast (like its a punk song) even if the song is a more laid back classic rock or blues type of thing. It was terrible. I know now never to play with that guy. He's terrible. Haha.

Even though my set with my new guitarist friend was only okay in my mind I still think it was a success because we played together for the first time and it was fun. Even if I play with bad musicians or I'm not satisfied with the performance I always learn something at every open jam. Some things to consider is that you shouldn't expect much musicality out of a bunch of bar musicians and don't take it too seriously.

However, I'm definitely gonna jam with that new guitarist friend again. He is much more of an academic musically trained musician than I am but I think I have a lot on him in terms of improvising and phrasing.

It was a good jam night on 420!

Open Jam Nights

The last two nights I went out to open jam nights at these bars. Tuesday I went to this place called the Canby. Its a dive bar not too far from my house. The atmosphere there is a little more street than the other place I went to but the musicians let me jam with them a bit. They were mostly doing covers. I played my friend's acoustic dobro guitar and plugged it into the amp.

The tone I got was a pretty distorted rock and roll tone for an acoustic steel guitar. It was pretty awesome. I started improvising and we went off for a while. It was pretty good but they weren't really improvising type of musicians, they're better at playing songs by the book more so than originals or jamming. So I asked them if they knew Hey Joe and I showed them the riffs and changes in the song. Then we played a rocking version of it. It was pretty awesome.

We even had two singers and they did a good job. My guitar solos sounded pretty great even though I was playing on acoustic and my fingers bloody hurt like hell. Because I couldn't do the bends (too hard on acoustic) I resorted to doing a ton of double stop Hendrix/Chuck Berry style. It sounded pretty good. What sounded even better was my rhythm, the sound of the chords was sparkly clean yet slightly distorted. Heavenly guitar tone for a tone I just dialed in automatically without any setup.

The other bar was this place called Petie's Place and its even closer to my house. I would still classify this place as a dive bar but its a lot nicer than the Canby and it has a much cooler vibe. The people here were much nicer to me than at the Canby. It seemed like at the Canby I had to prove myself to the musicians playing there. They were a bit stand offish towards me at first before they saw me play. At Petie's it was the opposite, they were super nice right off the bat.

There was a house drummer and bass player and everybody else came through to either jam with them or with their own drummer/bass player. I signed up and got onstage and we did a fantastic Hendrix inspired version of Sunshine of Your Love. We did all the songs I played with them as instrumentals. After that I asked them if they could do Stratus and I even began teaching them the main riffs and whatnot but the bass player wasn't having it. So instead we did Hey Joe. It ended up working out great. I sounded great on my Hagstrom Les Paul and I was getting a really good distorted guitar tone. Great for Hendrix tunes. I got a sense that the drummer could play any type of rock and roll and jazz too even maybe if I could've gotten to play Stratus with him but the bass player was definitely a rock and roll only type of guy it seemed. 

Later that night I played again. I was originally planning on playing War Pigs and Black Sabbath but this old guy came up to me and asked me what I wanted to play. I told him those two Sabbath tunes and he was like oh well maybe I should get the other drummer for that stuff, he plays great on that stuff. But I noticed he had drum sticks in his hand and I didn't wanna leave him hanging so I asked him what songs he knew? He said a ton. I asked if he knew Foxy Lady and Spanish Castle Magic and he said he did. So I said lets do Foxy and from that break into Spanish Castle.

It ended up working out great. He played pretty well. We straight rocked that place hard. The bass player was a little off on Spanish Castle Magic but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he doesn't know too much Hendrix? So yeah it turned out to be a real Hendrix night of jamming for me.

I had so much fun at Petie's that I'm planning to go to their open jam next week as I'm off that day. I might even work on memorizing lyrics to songs I already know how to play so I can do the songs as its meant to be with a vocalist (not just as an instrumental). People there liked me so much. It was great getting respect from fellow musicians and love from the audience, even hot girls and women. If I keep doing this maybe I can find musicians to play in a band with. At the very least I'm keeping my chops up and playing real music in front of a live audience and enjoying it.

Open jams are awesome!