Ok, it looks like i'll be playin at a large party in 14 days here, so me and my (un)trusty Squire P-bass shall hopefully rock the crowd with...System of a Down covers! Thing is, we would probably be playing Metallica, but the other band that is playing there, whom we are friends with, are metallica experts. Heck, they're experts regardless, that is for their ages (we're all 16).

Now to the questions.

Do you believe SOAD would be a good cover for my crowd (rock lovin' high school juniors)? Would SOAD even be suitable for a new band like us? I mean, we've played them before, we do know the stuff, but still. Our equipment aint the best, but im sure it can get us through this w/o being laughed off the stage...right?

Yeah, as long as you are tuned to CGCF (low to high). Sounds like a good gig for high schoolers, I guess. I'd be jammin' to some Phish and String Cheese, myself, but hey, whatever you like. Mix in some Metallica covers if you like, maybe some they didn't cover already, and then retune to standard and play Stairway to Heaven as an encore. Sure winner. Overall, sounds like a fun party to be at, sure it will be jumpin'. The parties I go to everyone gets dr*nk and st*ned, so we end up making complete asses of ourselves because we don't know what we're doing. Anywho, I'm getting off subject. Play what you like, and like what you play, that's the easiest way to put it. Have fun.

well if I were you guys I would play what you want to play for two reasons:

1. If I am not mistaken it is not a paying gig

2. No matter what you play there will always be some one who doesn't like it as well as some one who does.

It's a party....a place to have a good time..so have a good time as a musician and play what makes you guys happy.

Peace

Will is on target in a major way. No matter where you go or what you do, there will always be somebodies out there who think you, the band, your equipment, etc., SUCKS!!

Ignore them and enjoy yourself. You cannot make 100% of the people happy, and the sooner you can accept that and ignore the xxxxxxx (insert your own artful phrase here) and just do your thing, the close to sanity you can remain. To me, it is the secret of performance, whether gigging, public speaking, or whatever. Somebody out there will think you're an xxxxxxx. Some people thrive on putting down others; it makes them feel good about themselves. Screw 'em.

You will also be unable to get through the gig without making a mistake, so relax. It happens. Keep smiling and don't look at the bandmate who clammed, and hope they won't look at you. Fortunately, most people won't notice.

Soad yip good Idea its well know and popular and very energetic. Agreed with bassphun02 use a lower tuning also tell the guit****t to drop their tuning and study the stuff. Nothing is worst than a cover band that can't play it right.

Good Luck.

I see the point of avoiding what another band is doing. Not that you have to fear that they will be so much better, but just out of respect so they aren't doing yours stuff and you aren't doing theirs. I'd expect them to avoid your SOAD songs.

There are probably other bands that would fit - throw in something else in the same vein if you want to. Do you/the crowd like anything on the radio now? Some of the songs are not terribly difficult, but might be fun to play and fun for the crowd.

I wish I could get my band to do that Jimmy Eat World hit - sounds like fun...

Good luck, and have fun !! It is the best way to play well !!

Tom

I remember one of my first gigs at age 16. (1964)
It was at a place called "The North Hop". (In North Attleboro, Massachusetts)

We four guys drive up with me driving my dad's station wagon (I grew up in the suburbs). The front of the club was lined with motorcycles.

Lining the walls were guys with pencil thin mustaches, jeans, t-shirts with the sleeves rolled up and a pack of cigarettes tucked into the rolled up sleeve.

One of them said to us, "youse guys suck, I got a cousin who's in a band, they could blow you away".

As we played a greaser chick with a big bouffant hairdo, white lipstick, black eyeshadow, skin tight skirt and sweater, decided she liked our 14 year old lead guitarist. She showed her appreciation by standing by the stage and blowing smoke in his face the whole time we played.

We played our usual stuff, The Ventures, Hang On Sloopy. We were given polite applause and then we got the hell out of there.

Have fun on the gig. Gigs last one night. Memories last forever.

Hah! JeremyC, that story ruled.

My first "gig" was our High School's annual music theory concert. All the kids in our music theory class (which I didn't take, I had just begun to play my senior year) had to compose something and get musicians to play it.

I played on a friend's piece...the other accompanists he got were two of the best musicians in our school (the guitarist had already written two musicals, and the pianist regularly did jazz gigs...a big deal to a bunch of 17 year olds). The audience started coming in during our soundcheck, so the other guys started playing "Breathe" by Pink Floyd as background music...a nice choice for high schoolers.

Unfortunately, the simple I-IV progression was too much for my inexperienced mind to wrap around. I heard what notes I needed to play in my head, but I couldn't find them with my hands. It was pretty embarassing. Afterwards, I played the written piece better, but I had rehearsed that...so I already knew where the notes were.

I resolved afterwards to learn this dang fingerboard well enough to be able to play anything that I heard in my head. I'm still working on that.

If you've got the time to learn some music by bands in a similar vein or that you think your audience might like to hear, I think that's a good idea.

I remember at my first gig as a high schooler in the 1980s playing for other students. Our band played a crazy mix of covers -- surprisingly many of which I haven't forgotten. The bands/artists we covered that night included -- Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley, REM, The Smithereens, The Violent Femmes (playing that bass solo from "Please Do Not Go" was a real wake-up call for me as a 16-yr old rookie bassist!), Steve Miller, Grateful Dead, David Bowie and Cream. Although it may have been a little bit strange for our audience, they had a good time. In retrospect, it was good for our band to experiment with a variety of styles.

Enjoy your gig!