Can you play rock with only a guitar and an amp?

Hello there,
I was wondering if you could make a career as a rock/blues musician with just a guitar, an amp, and your own singing skills. No bass, no drums, just one musician. Sort of like The White Stripes, without Meg White (in other words, Jack White on his own). There have been many such musician in the past (Son House, Blind Willie McTell, etc…), but what I was wondering was if such a musician could “make it big” in today’s modern music industry
So, what would be the chances for a “band-less” guitarist who plays rock and blues?

The other answerers are talking about a single artist recording multiple instruments, but I don’t think that’s what you mean – you mean it’s just you and the guitar, right?

Hrrmmm…. I don’t think it’s gonna happen, honestly, at least not getting into mainstream. Even someone with great presence (not great talent, but a great *performer*) would have a hard time pulling it off. Blues is characterized these days by the presence of a soloing electric guitar, ie anything from Clapton to SRV to Derek Trucks (sp?) to Johnny Winters (Sp?), but always in the presence of a backing band to give the solo a melodic context.

Even one of my personal “guitar heros”, Joe Satriani, played with a backing band, and he’s really, really good. Admittedly, he plays instrumental only…

I vaguely remember one incredible musician that a friend of mine showed me some videos of… he was playing a semi-hollowbody electric guitar, and I think he was playing solo bluesy stuff. He was absolutely incredible…. but it still couldn’t cut it as mainstream.

It’s hard to amplify a guitar well enough in a club to get a solid low-end rhythm sound… this is partly because the low end of a guitar is pretty muddy… and this means its hard to get a strong danceable bass guitar-ish pulse/beat… and that means it’s going to be harder to dance to, especially if the club has a poor sound system.

Just saying, y’know? If you listen to Jack White’s tone, he doesn’t have a lot of low end (except in Seven Nation Army, I suppose), and that’s how it’s done when you’re being recorded. Again, the guitar’s low end is generally muddy, so the lowest part of it is filtered out…. for you guitar-heads, it is rare that a guitar will not be high-passed lower than 150-ish hz or so, even though the lowest note in standard tuning is 80-ish hz (low E), and it’s very common for electric guitars (especially when distorted) to be high-passed much higher – 300-500 hz, for instance. This removes a lot of the low end, and when the guitar is played solo it sounds rather weak and anemic, but by removing that low end, it lets the other instruments have more clarity and power (especially the drums).

That, by the way, is the biggest reason why guitarists who turn up too loud make the band sound like crap. Stage volume should always be as low as reasonably possible, and high volume does mean mic bleed, but the low end of the guitar is what really effs up the power and clarity of the drums and bass guitar.

Dunno how much sense that made, but yeah. Not saying you shouldn’t hone your skills as a player, musician, lyricist, and performer, but I wouldn’t expect it to happen. As with any other band/musician attempting to make it big, I would caution you to be prepared for a long road of thankless and fruitless efforts, and that if you don’t honestly love your music, don’t do it.

Saul

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