A New Dimension to my Performance: Looping

I've just added a new dimension to my live music performance - something I figured I'd get around to someday, but my upcoming show Saturday gave me a really good reason to make it happen now. 

I've been rehearsing for a benefit concert for my daughter's school. My neighbor Leslie Masuzzo is a teacher in the district and will sing while I play guitar. During a practice, Leslie suggested we replace a sung part with a guitar solo. As the only guitarist in a duo, I'd normally have to drop the rhythm guitar to play lead guitar and try to imply the rhythm part, frequently punctuating the solo. Now I don't have to! 

Thanks to this new looper pedal I'm using, I can capture the rhythm guitar part live and immediately play it back on repeat, then play my guitar solo over it, as shown in this one-minute video! 

This will now become a moment in my live shows whether I play solo or in a duo, whether I'm playing in person or on live stream. 

The new pedal is a Boss Loop Station RC-1 - the simplest pedal they make. I'm counting on the simplicity of operation to make me less likely to misfire in my capture and playback of a rhythm part to solo over, and to make sure I end playback gracefully. I'm practicing this regularly and you'll likely see more videos like this one as I go. 

The guitar is also new - a Yamaha APX 600, a physically smaller acoustic guitar, more closely resembling an electric guitar in feel and playability. Since I'm now in a position to play guitar solos, I suddenly found myself in need of an acoustic guitar where I didn't have to press down to hard to clearly sound the notes. This instrument is nicely satisfying that need, as you'll see in this clip. 

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