#1941565 - 05/13/08 09:03 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Ross Brown]
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DavidMPires
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You can use a line our singer uses often...."we are room 3 ....try the fish!"
I wouldn't want to play thoughout dinner even more if you are not that kind of band, cd would do wonders, or like we are doing for our big gig, and ipod pilled up with tracks.
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#1941568 - 05/13/08 09:05 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Ross Brown]
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yourlord
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It sounds like they picked a rock band to play an easy listening engagement..
square peg, round hole..
unless you want to learn a whole set just for this gig, i'd turn it down..
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#1941574 - 05/13/08 09:12 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: yourlord]
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DavidMPires
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As the drummer in my band would say, i'm not a performing monkey...if I were i'd charge much more.
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#1941585 - 05/13/08 09:33 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: DavidMPires]
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jlrush
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Keep the gig, turn it down, and walk out with the money.
A job's a job, and alot of weddings are always like that. I've had to do this for several weddings and we were'nt exactly playing polkas.
In the end it'll be a good experience and you'll still get to make that good wedding money. The only reason I would turn this gig down is if you don't play any dance music, but I'd bet you do.
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#1941586 - 05/13/08 09:36 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: DavidMPires]
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Paul K
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To quote from Muddy Mudskipper, "If you want to make it in this world, kid, ya' gotta adapt! Ever breathe oxygen, son? Me? I'm hooked! Get it?"
Dinner hour music is easy. Pull out a Real Book and just play Satin Doll over and over. Or have the guitar player grab an accoustic and play Beatles covers. Pretend you're on MTV Unplugged, but treat it like in the early days when they really did unplug on MTV Unplugged. Nobody is listening anyway. They actually don't want to hear you...not just yet, anyway.... They're eating dinner, chatting, etc. You could almost do a lip-synch thing and get away with it. Endless guitar and bass blues tunes, or jam out on a IIm/V7 thing. Drummer might even want to skip this part unless he knows how to really use brushes. If you play guitar also, then a pair of guitars might be fun also. Fall back on bass lines here and there to mix it up a bit. Sit down for this part of the night. Use a music stand. Nobody will care one wit. Just no foul language, minimal dB, and you're golden.
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#1941589 - 05/13/08 09:41 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: DavidMPires]
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Nicklab
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I used to do wedding videos and I saw and heard it all. And believe you me, I have heard WAY TOO MANY wedding bands. But I've heard some laid back, instrumental renditions of pop/rock songs that went over really well as dinner music. Some things that might work?
"Ain't no sunshine"
"I can't make you love me"
"Little wing"
"Stormy weather"
"Riviera paradise"
"Yesterday"
They come across like standards, but they're basically pop songs.
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#1941590 - 05/13/08 09:41 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: jlrush]
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Rocky MacDougall
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I think it is very difficult for a full band (drums,bass, lead guitar) to play quietly for a nice sitdown dinner where everyone would like to carry on a conversation without screaming. I would either play CDs or have a smooth jazz guitar and/or keyboards only.
Can your band learn 10-20 songs in time that fit that requirement?
I would go with appropriate CDs.
Rocky
Edited by Rocky MacDougall (05/13/08 09:43 AM)
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#1941616 - 05/13/08 10:30 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Rocky MacDougall]
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groover
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I had a gig like this several years ago. We had a sax player so all we did was bring some chord charts and improvised with the sax player doing the melody. We didn't rehearse this set but they were all easy chord charts and familiar melodies. Drummer used brushes and rods. It was loads of fun making it up on the fly and everyone was too busy with the food and conversation to notice any flubbers.
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#1941625 - 05/13/08 10:57 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: groover]
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BenLoy
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Bring the Real Books and break out some quiet standards. Think early 60's Miles, MJQ, etc.
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#1941724 - 05/13/08 04:26 PM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: BenLoy]
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jeremy c
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Tell the drummer and singer to take a break and play instrumentals: guitar, bass, and keyboards.
I have heard of bands that refused to play dinner sets, "We are an eight piece soul band with horns. You heard us play at a club. We don't do background music."
Or you could figure out a way to do this and it could be a good career move. I typically make three or four times as much playing a wedding as I would get playing a club and I get fed dinner on top of that. Two wedding gigs a week pays better than six nights a week in clubs.
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#1941747 - 05/13/08 05:02 PM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Paul K]
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Bumpcity
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Bring the Real Books and break out some quiet standards. Think early 60's Miles, MJQ, etc.
My thoughts exactly.
To quote from Muddy Mudskipper, "If you want to make it in this world, kid, ya' gotta adapt! Ever breathe oxygen, son? Me? I'm hooked! Get it?"
Quote of the year.
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#1941788 - 05/13/08 06:06 PM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Bumpcity]
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Tom Capasso
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We were invited to do a PTA dinner a few years back. It was a Friday night, and half the committee were fans. We were told we could rock the last hour. They also asked us for an hour of lighter music.
We worked up classic rock songs that fit, and the guitarists switched to acoustics (with pickups). We turned down low and did our thing - most of the songs wouldn't have worked as well in the "full noise" setting - Wish You Were Here, I've Just Seen Her Face, Hide Your Love Away. The oddest thing was playing Wonderful Tonight (which we weren't all happy about doing) and seeing couples dance slow. It felt so ... so ... warm.
That said, I'd be fine if you wanted to play recorded music. They could pay you less since you aren't playing, but my guess is that you'd be OK with that.
Tom
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#1941798 - 05/13/08 06:24 PM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Tom Capasso]
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Luke73
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I play in a rock/blues band which is mostly electric and fairly loud.
We did a corporate dinner gig a while ago (that paid very nicely). We sat in the corner of a nice restaurant that our client had booked out.
We left our drummer at home - took two acoustic guitars, me on bass, and one singer.
Kept the volume low and provided a few hours of wallpaper music.
Mostly we did "acoustic" versions of many of the songs we already knew - a mix of covers and originals.
It went down a treat!
Go for it.
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#1941835 - 05/13/08 08:07 PM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Luke73]
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Chewbubba
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As a bass playin' friend of mine once said, "I'm a musical wh*re; I'll play anything for money". I'd play the dinner music.
That said, I'm playing a wedding next week.  Thankfully, we are only playing 30 minutes prior to the ceremony and then a couple of songs during the ceremony.
Odd selection of songs, too.
I'm doing a fretless solo on top of a vocal-less "Blackbird" (bride is entering to this??!!), throw in some "You Really Got Me" by Van Halen, and "I'm Gonna Be (500 miles)" by The Proclaimers, Bon Jovi, Queen, Journey, and Stevie Wonder.
Odd set list.
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#1941842 - 05/13/08 08:25 PM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Chewbubba]
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Frank M
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We lucked out. The wedding we got potentially booked for wanted a nice, quiet, jazz band to play background music during the reception. There is an area up front that people can dance on. The groom stated in no uncertain terms that he wanted to get married, have the reception, eat dinner and get everyone the hell out. I'm thinking the in-laws (who are signing my check) may have different ideas.
Also, we got booked because we don't do the Chicken Dance, the Electric Slide, the Hustle, the Maccarena or most other ralibad, drunken reception fare. The last reception I was at (about six years ago) the DJ played "Nookie" like five times.
This would be our bands first "scale" gig.
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#1941852 - 05/13/08 08:47 PM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Chewbubba]
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Paul K
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As a bass playin' friend of mine once said, "I'm a musical wh*re; I'll play anything for money".
On the other hand, Our Fearless Leader is a Gig Skank; he'll play any gig for free.
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#1941864 - 05/13/08 09:12 PM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Paul K]
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Griffinator
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Man, y'all have no imagination.
Immediately, I'm thinking the quiet part of "Break On Through", any Dire Straits (sans vocals), any Steely Dan (sans vocals) would make very nice dinner music. The important thing to remember here is to shut your mouth and play chill.
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#1941913 - 05/14/08 12:52 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Griffinator]
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Davo-London
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Unplugged with acoustic guitars sounds like a great plan and a good chance to practice in front of a live audience, who as you say, won't be listening.
Davo
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#1941919 - 05/14/08 01:21 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Griffinator]
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Bumpcity
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Man, y'all have no imagination.
I know what works. And BenLoy's suggestion is what works for these situations. People eating dinner at a wedding reception can listen to "Freddie Freeloader" for 20 minutes and not care. When you want to spark conversation amongst the people you play "So What" because the slightly hipper members of the crowd that own A Kind of Blue will tell everyone at the table what song is being played at that moment even though he couldn't name "Freedie Freeloader" which was played just moments prior.
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#1941974 - 05/14/08 05:41 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Bumpcity]
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Griffinator
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Bump - you're missing the point.
We are a classic rock (75%) and Blues (25%) band.
I'm making suggestions within the context of their band - stuff they might actually know...
Not many rock/blues bands I've ever heard can just break off some Coltrane at the drop of a hat....
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#1941995 - 05/14/08 06:15 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Griffinator]
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Ross Brown
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Bump - you're missing the point. We are a classic rock (75%) and Blues (25%) band. I'm making suggestions within the context of their band - stuff they might actually know... Not many rock/blues bands I've ever heard can just break off some Coltrane at the drop of a hat....
bingo
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#1942031 - 05/14/08 07:01 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Ross Brown]
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Flemtone
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We've done this a bunch of times and the best mix we've come up with has been programmed CDs during the 'dinner hour', with a mix of quieter rock, folk, instrumentals and standards (mostly Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Count Basie, Nat Cole, Ella, etc). Most weddings will have a variety of attendees and Auntie Grizelda will want to talk to the others at her table without having to raise her already-wheezy voice too loud. This is only a matter of courtesy. More than likely, she won't be staying too long after dinner anyway, so that would be a better time to bring the brewtalz. Ya gotta please everybody, so we always suggest this to The Happy Couple (since they're so busy with all other aspects of the reception, we take this off their hands - they are usually VERY happy for this advice!)
Besides, this is when the band gets fed! Can't give that up for anything.
"We'll do it...but we must be fed."
Good luck!
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#1942040 - 05/14/08 07:11 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Ross Brown]
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Phil W
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You might be a classic rock and blues band now but the gig is in September: plenty of time to put together some nice quiet instrumentals and to expand your repertoire and get more lucrative dinner gigs.
Play some simpler jazz tunes (or country or rock ballads or even folk), standards like Sonny or the ones mentioned or even noodle on a short chord sequence for a while. If the drummer can play quiet with brushes and the guitarist knows how to turn down it'd be fine otherwise adapt your line-up accordingly as has been mentioned.
Edited by Phil W (05/14/08 07:25 AM)
Edit Reason: reminded myself there is other music than jazz that peole like
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#1942047 - 05/14/08 07:19 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Phil W]
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DavidMPires
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Oh I miss that point the gig is in september...you have plenty of time.
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#1942080 - 05/14/08 08:10 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: DavidMPires]
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natobasso
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One word: Jazz.
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#1942116 - 05/14/08 09:24 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Ross Brown]
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natobasso
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I'm being serious! Just get a Real Book and read through some charts. If they don't want loud rock, give them jazz.
Or play your normal tunes and have the drummer use brushes.
Or just do a cd during dinner. No harm there since most people won't be paying attention to the music anyway.
Edited by natobasso (05/14/08 09:25 AM)
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Bass is key.
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Thx Joe Mergens at Mojotone.
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#1942131 - 05/14/08 09:56 AM
Re: Wedding gig - Dinner music
[Re: Chewbubba]
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mattulator
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Always play a CD during dinner. Always eat and drink for free. Always tell the bride how beautiful she is and the groom what a lucky stiff he is. Always flirt with the single gals. Always thank whoever hired you and ask if the music is okay.
When they're ready to dance - always rock.
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Moderator: Bob Gollihur (bob@gollihur.com), Tom Capasso, _Sweet Willie_
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We have “slower songs” but not sure they are quiet and good dinner music. Should I suggest we play a CD during dinner and let them pick the songs that play? 
