Services
Top event planning specialists know from experience that excellent live music is a key factor in creating truly successful wedding and event celebrations!
Regardless of your venue’s location, theme, scale, itinerary, set-up logistics and break down requirements, indoors or outdoors performances or both, available electricity; from large weddings, corporate events and public performances, to small business occasions and intimate backyard gatherings, John Chapman and his top-notch musician colleagues are seasoned music industry veterans that love to perform, and who arrive on time with self contained high quality music gear, fully equipped to handle any music occasion with experience, talent, responsiveness and grace.
Music Services Details
- Multi-Style Solo Classical Guitar or Band Music with duos, trios, quartets and larger ensembles: guitar, male and female vocals, guitar doubles with male vocals, keyboards, piano, bass, percussion, drums, sax—soprano, alto, tenor, trumpet, trombone, violin, cello, flute, and harp
- Custom song-lists, accommodating special song requests for your wedding ceremony or to meet your corporate or social events clientele and theme
- High fidelity amplification systems and top quality music gear that always produce excellent concert-quality sound coverage and leave a small safe footprint, with portable battery-powered amplification provided for locations without electricity
- Microphone, clip, cable, and stand with small portable battery powered amplifier for your ceremony vows and officiate
- 20-minute music consultations by phone for social or small corporate events, or 45 to 60-minutes of phone conversations or in person meeting at John’s San Rafael music studio for weddings and large corporate events
Whether your wedding event requires Pop, Jazz, Nuevo-Flamenco, Brazilian and Classical solo classical guitar music for your pre-ceremony, or a duo with two guitars, one guitarist doubling with male vocals for your ceremony, followed by a Jazz, Latin, Pop or Blues trio for your cocktail and dinner hours, then a 10-piece Dance Band with a horn section performing your favorite Funk, Jazz, Latin, Rock, Rhythm and Blues and Motown styles for your reception, or 4-hours of John’s multi-style solo classical guitar music, John Chapman’s superb live music, with expert hands-on services will create the perfect back-round or concert style music ambiance for your next wedding, corporate or social event.
Please inquire about music services and pricing.
Rates
All rates include: travel expenses, tax, minimally one-hour prior set-up, prompt breakdown, high fidelity sound amplification system, detailed music consultation, and performance materials including; guitar, back-up amplifiers, instruments, 50 feet of extension chords, instrument cables, music stands and sheet music and may include; portable battery powered amplification, PA sound systems, live engineer and stage for band performances.
Bookings
Bookings are secured through custom music performance contract and half-deposit. Bookings are payable by cash, check or Pay Pal. Pay Pal payments will add an additional transaction fee of $8 per $100. PayPal payments to: john@johnchapmanguitarist.com.
Weddings
Excellent live music performed with passion and artistry will elevate, support and frame your weddings’ special moments like nothing else can, and provide you with beautiful memories to cherish for years to come.
Ceremony Song Requests
Choose the ceremony songs you really love and John will help you craft a beautiful ceremony song processionals set list, helping you determine if they flow well transitioning from song to song and possibly in relation to your entire days music itinerary. Often ceremony songs performed on solo guitar are often shortened in to accommodate short processionals walkway lengths, on average of 60 to 90 seconds per processional, while full song performances, looped song sections and improvisations can always accommodate longer processionals and walkways or middle of the ceremony interludes or post-ceremony songs you really want to enjoy your attention allowing.
To make your wedding that much more intimate John extends himself to learn special ceremony song requests outside his solo classical guitar repertoire within 6-hours of practice and contact time, usually one song, and sometimes two depending on how well the song can become a solo guitar piece. Be aware that creating great solo guitar arrangements from scratch, by condensing multi-instrumental and/or band studio recordings with vocals, with and without sheet music, often takes adequate practice time. You may choose all songs from John’s repertoire or in combination with your special song requests. Most song requests fall within 6-hours of practice time, but adding extra fees can accommodate when necessary practice time preparations are needed for more challenging song requests or for two or more song requests.
Ceremony Song Discussion, Feedback
Before you make decisions and get too attached to a particular song, although most work well, some don’t lend themselves well to the solo guitar idiom, it’s best to call or email John directly to discuss it and to receive his 100-song solo classical guitar repertoire list to help you choose your ceremony and reception songs from and/or send him your special ceremony song requests MP3 files or YouTube links via email.
Upon receiving your song requests files or links, John will listen to and play your songs to determine their viability in the chord-melody solo guitar idiom. To iron out your ceremony music details and help you create a beautiful ceremony song list, John provides feedback about each songs length, tempo, rhythm, and melody and key to discuss how the songs gel from song to song and direct relation to the number of processionals you have, how many people are walking in them and how long your processional walkway is.
Chord Melody and Solo Guitar Idiom
Any songs, instrumental or vocal, traditional or contemporary, that can be crafted into great sounding solo guitar arrangements, and work well in the solo guitar idiom, often called chord melody require strong memorable melodies, or signature melody hook licks or riffs, and/or equally memorable chord progressions. Most songs that posses these musical qualities will retain and deliver their intended musical message, identity and emotional impact, that makes them enjoyable to perform and most recognizable to a listening audience.
Ballads and medium tempo songs where melodies and chords share similar rhythms that can be played together at the same time usually make the most listener and performer friendly ceremony song choices.
When songs lack strong melodies and melodic and chordal rhythmic consistency, when the melody rhythms are much faster than the chords (or visa versa,) or the songs tempo is too fast, guitar soloists are sometimes forced to play either mostly chords or melody alone. Usually playing chords alone will sound bland without a recognizable melody to hum along with and playing mostly melody will sound quite thin and empty without sufficient chordal harmony. To understand your songs general viability as a solo guitar arrangement, please see if you can find any solo guitar arrangements on YouTube and have a basic awareness of these basic song parts 1) melody, instrumental or vocal, 2) harmony, guitar or piano chords, 3) the bass line, in that order of importance.
Processional Timing and Cue Person
After normally 30 to 45 minutes of pre-ceremony solo classical guitar music to delight your guests and set the proper mood leading into your ceremony processional songs, it’s best factor in one to two minutes of musical silence before your processionals start. This properly frames your pre-ceremony music from your ceremony music, creating the proper emotional impact and lets everyone, your family and special guests; processional participants and you know that your ceremony processionals are about to begin. This pause also provides John with time to make necessary guitar playing preparations in tuning, capo, and page turns. Processional details in timing, amount and, length of walkway and of course songs are chosen in advance of your date but it’s important you choose an attentive professional cueing person to coordinate with John so this all goes smoothly. The cue person is usually the wedding planner, event specialist at the venue or a family member or close friend or officiates. Whom ever you choose should introduce him or herself to John upon his arrival or during his pre-ceremony performance set-up and also provide John with a 2 to 5 minute heads up when they think your ceremony processionals are ready to start. The biggest detail is how your processionals start! Simply put—the cueing person should always wait for the music, John’s guitar playing, to start your first processional and especially the bridal processional. After your cueing person gives John the thumbs up that you’re all ready to start, John can then begin when it feels best within the next 30 seconds to 120 seconds. It may feel like an hour but it’s not…
Also based on the walkway lengths in relation each songs length and your processionals itinerary of how many people are walking when you may decide it’s best to have your cueing person hold up your processional participants from walking for 10 to 30 seconds after the music begins so there isn’t 90 seconds of music that still needs to be played for extra short walkways or anxious officiates and for greater emotional impacts between processionals so it doesn’t all sound and feel like one big blur of music. Understand that although John or and his colleagues can improvise out of most situations, your songs length, and arrangement had been arranged and practiced prior for proper musical impact to meet your processionals runway length and ceremony processionals itinerary, so it’s always better to leave the musical baton in John’s court so as not to make him or any musician chase hastily started processionals. Attention to these details will make sure your processionals musical timing and itinerary flow smoothly so you’re carefully chosen ceremony songs will shine in the best light. This allows John’s classical guitar performance’s to bring out each songs beauty and create the most heartfelt and expansive musical ambiance performed and timed to perfection!
Wedding Ceremony Processional and Recessional Basics
- Groom and parents (entrance-beginning)
- Groomsman and bridesmaids processional
- Ring bearer and flower girls processional
- Bridal processional
- Married couple recessional (end-beginning)
* Your wedding ceremony music song-list, pre ceremony and reception music is always tailored to suit your specific wedding music needs.
Pre-Ceremony and Reception Music (lunch, cocktails, dinner, dancing)
After you’ve chosen your ceremony music, shared the musical styles you want performed and checked off your favorite songs from John’s 100 song solo guitar repertoire, you can count on John to create spontaneous sets that meld timeless classics, contemporary gems and improvisations to create a beautiful flowing musical ambiance during all phases of your wedding day celebration.
Music Equipment, Set-up, Electricity, and Itinerary Planning
Prior to and on the day off your wedding day, John will coordinate with you and or your wedding specialists (wedding planner, venue event manager or home owner) to identify the best music performance locations, based on venue layout, available electricity, and your wedding itinerary, to always provide you and your guests with timely and continuously excellent sound coverage that creates a small safe equipment footprint.
Duo, Trio, Quartet or Band
Enjoy duo’s or band performances with vocals, two guitars, two guitars with vocals, keyboards and piano, bass, percussion, drums, sax, trumpet, trombone, violin, cello, flute and harp to create a more expansive musical sound in alignment with your tastes and wedding style to best enhance and bring out the celebratory energy of your special wedding ceremony and reception (lunch, cocktail, dinner and dancing) celebration.
Please inquire about music services and pricing.
Corporate and Small Business
Let John Chapman’s superb solo guitar and band music, with 20 years of professional performance experience and prodigious repertoire authentically covering all music styles add the right musical touches to your next corporate celebration:
- Brunch, Lunch, and Dinner Events
- Food and Wine Tasting Events and Tours
- Business Launches and Anniversary Events
- Small Business Celebrations
- Destination Events (San Francisco and Los Angeles, Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino Wine Country, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Reno NV, Ashland OR, New York City NY, Costa Rica, Mexico, The Hawaiian Islands and worldwide)
John Chapman provides you with top-notch bands, both instrumental and vocal, in the styles and instrumentations of your choice to entertain your key clients, vendors or reward your employees with a team outing.
Please inquire about music services and pricing.
Social
John Chapman’s beautiful and festive guitar and duos, trios and band music and friendly professional demeanor always enhances intimate gatherings like your upcoming wine tasting events, birthday or anniversary parties, bar or bat mitzvah’s, community gatherings, neighborhood associations and country club celebrations, restaurant celebrations, art gallery openings, private parties, school master classes and assemblies, rehabilitation clinics and care centers lunches and dinners, and all other special events.
Please contact John for bookings, music services, pricing, and a full conversation about your special events music needs.
