Boy, I sure do sympathize with what everyone is saying here. One thing that many people who insist on playing along on the guitar don't realize is that one of the joys of singing acapella is that you are free to play with rythym and tempo.

There is no easy way out of this predicament. I like the idea of announcing that a song will be acapella. For those situations where someone insists on playing along I have occasionally resorted to switching to a different key at the end of a verse. Of course, this is not always easy and sometimes is disastrous to me.

One time I solved the problem quite easily but that was because the guitarist was sitting right next to me. I gently reached over and put my hand over his fretboard. He got the message right away. But, I must add, I knew the person well - I don't recommend that tactic with someone you don't know.

Losing your temper does no good. A friend of mine started up a singer's circle specifically for the purposes of having a group of people who understood the "rules" and to provide a platform to sing songs that you don't get to sing in other situations, like those long ballads.

Like many situations in life, there is no easy solution to this problem. Sometimes people don't realize that they are intrusive, sometimes they just don't care. What usually works for me is to announce that I would prefer no accompanyment to the song about to be sung.

radriano