LHR wrote:

I play in a quartet and we had a weird gig where one of us could not make it. It was odd. Literally. Did not enjoy.

There is a well-worn trope about the standard rock "power trio" and how it is so difficult to pull off. Well, hell, at least then there are two melodic voices: the singing and the guitar. With instro, you would be faced with but one melody line in a trio context. Not awesome, TBQFH. You would have to be a damned good player, play fairly stripped-down arrangements, or just say f***-all and use a lot of chord melody to keep it insteresting. Or all of the above.

Or, you know, get a proper rhythm section. Not wishing to sound flippant, but that is my advice: don't. Playing without a vocalist already puts your band at an immediate disadvantage in the real world of the gig. Why make your life harder than it needs to be? Heck, I wish we had an additional rhythm guitarist or keyboardist. It would be great.

Hats off to you surf guys playing in a trio. I don't get it.

I’ve got pretty opposite experience, that is good I guess, we are all different)
I’ve tried to add second guitar player 4 or 5 times during 12 years of my band existence and only once it led us to some interesting stuff and directions. We then broke up duo to some personal things but it mostly just made stronger my decision to develop pure trio format and work harder upon myself as a universal guitar player.
But! If we somehow will come across a nice guitar player that will suit us stylistically and personally - I will sure give it a try! But surf here is not so popular and mostly all the guitar player that want to play surf in Kiev(some 5 or 6 of them I guess totally, or may be even 10 of them!))) already play it in some bands)

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin

I’ve always loved the trio format. I think space is crucial in music. Of course having players like Mike on bass & Gary on drums makes my life a lot easier.

www.instagram.com/_the.outer.limits_
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX7iIpcAvL8In2HY9I7QoPw
www.theouterlimits.bandcamp.com
www.facebook.com/vertigogo.surf

Late to this thread, but had to say how great your band sounded, Bill. Also appreciate the "trio" insight in your post. Not to throw shade on the two guitarists, but damn that drummer is just ripping! Do you guys still play together?

-murph

BillAqua wrote:

My most successful surf band was a three piece. I think all the others failed because of a second guitar. We even tried 2nd guitarists in the Aquanauts and that failed.

In the Reluctant Aquanauts I probably had the greatest surf drummer and bassist. Neither over played but filled in all the spaces.

Also a big part of a trio working out is writing music that fits your band
We tried Ventures/Los Straitjackets type instros at first and that failed, then I got into Eddie Bertrand and Randy Holden. Somehow that stuff worked with the trio best. What made that work best with the trio? I think the Fender Bandmaster with a outboard reverb unit. That set up became the 4th member.

We then tried to write songs with that similar aggressive approach and we made them work for the trio.

That all said I overdubbed second guitar parts on all our recordings. But I think we sounded better live.

http://www.reverbnation.com/elmiragesurf
http://www.reverbnation.com/aminorconspiracy

"I knew I was in trouble when the Coco-Loco tasted like water!" -- morphball

I'm not in a successful surf trio (any surf band around here would be great!), but my experience in the past has been what many alluded to and Bill really stated: it's up to everyone.

The stage is only so big. The more people you add, the more each one has to take a step back to avoid stepping on toes. It also goes the other way. Below four voices (think vocals, guitar, bass, drums), extra effort is going to have to go into creating interest and variety. No slouching off, ever.

I think a great trio will need people who are really good at what they're doing on each instrument, and all the switches have to be in the "on" position.

Neptune Trojans

martinblasick wrote:

I keep trying to record trio arrangements. But dang if I don't get the urge to add in other instruments. I'm fighting that urge at this very moment. Here's a work in progress with only a single guitar. I'll probably end up adding some additional rhythm on acoustic and electric guitars.
Moons Of Uranus - early mix

Add nothing to this track. I dig it.

One thing I have used - and it might be sacrilege - is to hide some harmony with effects and synthesizers. Recently I was working on a song that's really sparse. I found a mellow synth pad and I buried it in reverb. It blends in with the guitars and is indistinguishable from the reverb on them, but since it's an instrument I can have it play chords. They can be fuller or thinner than what's coming from the lead guitar, and they don't stick out as anything unusual.

Neptune Trojans

DUDE! You're in Akron? The beyonderers are also in Akron and they're a super rad surf trio!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIbKUp3KZEY

https://thebeyonderers.bandcamp.com

JonnyAngle.Bandcamp.com
DroppingAcidPedalEtching.com