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Advice on Song Transitions?


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This forum is so full of knowledge & experience, I"m hoping you might share some of your insight about song transitions.

 

Our dance/cover band moves from song to song very quickly. We"re blessed to have a drummer who drives us forward with virtually no space between songs, and it keeps people on the dance floor with no dead air.

 

However, there are times when something comes up: bass player"s switching to 5-string, or our guitarist has to tune, or I switch from keyboards to guitar. Maybe the singer"s trying to audible a setlist change & not everyone gets the message⦠We try really hard to do this stuff quickly & be ready for the downbeat, but occasionally we"re not all there. (something dumb like a guitar strap getting caught on the stand can cost a precious second or two)

 

In those cases, our drummer plunges ahead with the intro to the next song- ready or not- and we end up with a messy start as everyone scrambles to jump in. His reasoning is we SHOULD be ready (and we all agree). But these messy starts sound awful- just as bad as dead air, I think. It"s like we put the puck in our own net.

 

I already build the setlist to minimize changes- putting a song with keyboard intro in a spot where the guitarist needs to retune, for example.

 

We"re hoping to find a happy medium between starting poorly and dead air. How do you all handle those situations?

 

And this is probably a stupid question, but what method do you use to call out songs on the fly?

 

Thanks so much for reading & I look forward to your replies!

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Sounds to me like you guys have most of it very well in hand already. Some additional thoughts from my party band that might help:

 

- Set list changes are made during set breaks so we"re not mucking around on stage.

- Whoever starts the song does a quick eye check of their band mates. Often this is the drummer but not always. If no-one is looking back in a panic, they"ve got licence to forge ahead.

- If something weird happens and a bit of extra time is needed, lead singer swings into action with a bit of friendly banter with the audience.

 

Good luck!

 

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Sounds to me like you guys have most of it very well in hand already. Some additional thoughts from my party band that might help:

 

- Set list changes are made during set breaks so we"re not mucking around on stage.

- Whoever starts the song does a quick eye check of their band mates. Often this is the drummer but not always. If no-one is looking back in a panic, they"ve got licence to forge ahead.

- If something weird happens and a bit of extra time is needed, lead singer swings into action with a bit of friendly banter with the audience.

 

Good luck!

 

Thanks, CowboyNQ! Good thoughts- a little banter would be better than a stumbling intro.

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When I was doing the top 40 thing, we would always have the drummer keep a beat going with the kick drum between songs.

 

..And this might not work, but at church we use two different methods between songs. One is playing around in the circle of fifths until you get to the right key and everyone's ready, and two: pick a common note from the previous song and the next song, and noodle around with it (maybe come up with something original), until everyone's ready... Just a thought..

 

And ya, a little banter, announcing drink specials, shout out to the ladies at the first table, etc...always worked for us!

 

 

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You can't transition instantly between *every* song, you don't even want to, generally you plan ahead a few spots in the set where the front person will talk a bit (hopefully with some planned banter that works and makes sense, unless they're a natural at being engaging off the cuff), probably before whichever songs one of the members say they need an extra few seconds for, for whatever reason.

 

I always program a Set List on my Kronos with my song set-ups in the order written on the actual set list, but for bands that like to change things up and call audibles, I sometimes have an additional Set List programmed with the setups for all that band's songs, programmed in alphabetical order so I can easily find and bring up an unexpected tune if need be. I suspect we keyboardists have the most to think about on these issues compared to any other instrument - nobody else really needs to use completely different combinations of sounds for almost every song.

 

 

Rich Forman

Yamaha MOXF8, Korg Kronos 2-61, Roland Fantom X7, Ferrofish B4000+ organ module, Roland VR-09, EV ZLX12P, K&M Spider Pro stand,

Yamaha S80, Korg Trinity Plus

 

 

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Plan a couple brief breaks during the set to do things like thank everybody for coming out, introduce the band, etc, and plan the set list so that those breaks allow for things like instrument changes and any needed tuning.

 

If the drummer starts and somebody isn't ready because of a malfunction, hand signals work and the rest of the band can extend an intro and just jam for a bit, maybe the singer can talk to the crowd with the jamming going on. When the offender is ready, give a nod, and the drummer can do a signature fill to kick everybody back in.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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In those cases, our drummer plunges ahead with the intro to the next song- ready or not- and we end up with a messy start as everyone scrambles to jump in. His reasoning is we SHOULD be ready (and we all agree). But these messy starts sound awful- just as bad as dead air, I think.

The drummer's head is in the right place, but if he's going to do that it's his responsibility to look the stage over and make sure everyone's ready first. If they're not, suggest he lay down a basic 4/4 at reduced volume so the band knows this ain't the real deal - one chord jam/ voiceover from the band optional. When everyone's set, have him kick in the song itself with a huge drum fill.

 

If everyone's on the same page, it works.

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Plan a couple brief breaks during the set to do things like thank everybody for coming out, introduce the band, etc, and plan the set list so that those breaks allow for things like instrument changes and any needed tuning.

 

If the drummer starts and somebody isn't ready because of a malfunction, hand signals work and the rest of the band can extend an intro and just jam for a bit, maybe the singer can talk to the crowd with the jamming going on. When the offender is ready, give a nod, and the drummer can do a signature fill to kick everybody back in.

 

Dan nailed it and speaks from experience. I also speak from experience with my own Top 40 band. Going tune to tune to tune to tune actually will cause the audience to tune out after awhile and take you for granted (like a DJ). Every few songs there NEEDS to be a break in music. It gives the audience a chance to take a mental breath, and it's the perfect opportunity for a front person to banter a little and for the instrument transitions to be made.

 

You need to make sure your drummer understands this.

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Agreed with pretty much everything... My own small contribution:

 

-Drummer needs to check before starting. That's obvious, and if he resists, I'd be packing up my gear and leaving.

-Front person needs to be ready to banter and interact with the crowd whenever necessary to buffer.

-Planned banter breaks are also essential. It's a necessary part of the live music experience. People want to yell and cheer and clap and express the joy you're hopefully bringing them.

-Audibles are rarely necessary if the set is well-planned and everyone is on the same page. You can also plan options so the audibles aren't totally coming from left-field. IE you always go to the same ballad if the first set crowd isn't dancing, you have a tune you know you'll cut if you're close to running overtime, etc.

-Three seconds of dead air feels much longer on stage than it does in the audience.

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This is great stuff, guys. Thanks for all the replies! Bobadohshe, I never really considered the audience taking us for granted- that's an interesting point. And Eric, you're totally right- three seconds of dead air on stage feels like an eternity but not so to the audience. I think a botched intro is much more noticeable. (that said, our drummer is fantastic & I'm not leaving the band unless I get kicked out (lol); we're just trying to clean up the details & keep improving...)

 

One reason we audible sometimes is we play stuff from all over the musical map, so if a particular genre happens to be working, we'll swap in some more of that. Our singer's good at reading the audience & picking the right spots, but sometimes communicating it to all the band members isn't so efficient.

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All good advice. I'll amplify one thing that has been mentioned.

 

I play a weekly dance gig for a boomer crowd, and we like to keep running tunes for a while so they don't leave the dance floor. It gets harder to get them back up once they've sat down! So we will often break it down to just a drum beat, or four on the floor so we can talk to the crowd, or call the next tune if unplanned. I prefer to keep something happening during these times as it keeps the excitement up, and persons on the dance floor can still feel a beat to keep moving to.

 

So the drummer is in charge here, and they can easily count-in the next tune, change the tempo, the feel, whatever needs to happen. Sometimes I, or the lead guitarist/vocalist can count-in the tune, but by keeping "something" going on it never feels like the set is losing energy, or focus, and it comes across as planned, even when we're treading water waiting on something/someone.

 

 

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+1 on the above, all sensible advice. In my band, there's a distinction drawn between:

1. Songs which one (or maybe two) people start - they can typically just go for it straightaway, and sit on the riff or go around again until everyone else is ready

2. Songs which need everyone ready at the start. In that case the drummer needs to check everyone's ready before counting off.

We try and schedule instrument changes etc. before type-1 songs - or if that not's possible, "lock down" some audience chat to cover those changes.

 

Cheers, Mike.

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