rumpelstiltskin. Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 i enjoy playing songs that get a response. the only songs i really can't stand are ones that i don't like and the audience doesn't like. overall, though, i'm glad i'm not in a cover band. because i like people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 See, I pointed out SHA for one simple reason: It fits all of Picker's criteria - overplayed, hackneyed (as in, virtually everyone butchers it in some fashion or another), worn out, cliched (99.99% of "bar band" bands play it at least once per night here), and generally just used up. Hell, most "bar band" bands around here don't even HAVE a keyboardist, yet they INSIST on playing SHA... A bunch of loud, obnoxious music I USED to make with friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wally Malone Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Having to play I'm A Believer drove me crazy when I was in a band that had it in their regular rotation. Wally I have basses to play, places to be and good music to make! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danzilla Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 See, I pointed out SHA for one simple reason: It fits all of Picker's criteria - overplayed, hackneyed (as in, virtually everyone butchers it in some fashion or another), worn out, cliched (99.99% of "bar band" bands play it at least once per night here), and generally just used up. Hell, most "bar band" bands around here don't even HAVE a keyboardist, yet they INSIST on playing SHA... +1 In one of my first bands, we didn't have a piano player but still did SWH. And after the first few bars, when the singer says "Turn it up", the other guitar player stopped, went over to his amp, and adjusted his volume nob. "Am I enough of a freak to be worth paying to see?"- Separated Out (Marillion) NEW band Old band Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basshappi Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 I was watching my DVD of the Clapton Guitar Festival the other day. Joe Walsh came out and said "If I'd known that I would spend the next 30 years playing this song, I would have written something else." and then launched into "Rocky Mountain Way" Rock is old enough now that there has been a "Golden Era" so to speak and some of the songs of that era have become'standards'just like with Jazz. There have been many very good and very interesting jazz tunes written in the last several decades, but if you can't play the standards your peers will not consider you a serious jazz musician. I feel that the real problem is that where the jazz audience expect the musicians to take a standard and do something new with it (within reason of course), Classic rock audiences are not quite as forgiving. You have to do a very good interpetaion or else you better just hit it note for note. Now, is that an audience problem or a musician problem? Nothing is as it seems but everything is exactly what it is - B. Banzai Life is what happens while you are busy playing in bands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddiePlaysBass Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Having to play I'm A Believer drove me crazy when I was in a band that had it in their regular rotation. I have that very same feeling with "Walking On Sunshine". And yes, all the ladies sing/shout along to it and people dance. Still drives me crazy. And we only played it three times live so far :grin: "I'm a work in progress." Micky Barnes The Ross Brown Shirt World Tour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rumpelstiltskin. Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 I have that very same feeling with "Walking On Sunshine". And yes, all the ladies sing/shout along to it and people dance. Still drives me crazy. And we only played it three times live so far :grin: there's a great scene in high fidelity that involves this song. because i like people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5 string Mike Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 I like the way Buddy Guy changed the lyrics to: "I bought you a vintage Mustang", but I can't get our singers to sing that. Most of our audience was born after 1965, so the original lyric makes no sense. One time messing around I threw in my own lyric "Bought you a Fox-body Mustang/ It was a 1989" For those of us in our 30's, that's what we grew up with. For those who are wondering, the "Fox body" Mustangs were the third gen Mustangs from '79-94. "Fox" was Ford's mid-size Rear Wheel Drive platform. "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind"- George Orwell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurricane hugo Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 I was watching my DVD of the Clapton Guitar Festival the other day. Joe Walsh came out and said "If I'd known that I would spend the next 30 years playing this song, I would have written something else." and then launched into "Rocky Mountain Way" Rock is old enough now that there has been a "Golden Era" so to speak and some of the songs of that era have become'standards'just like with Jazz. There have been many very good and very interesting jazz tunes written in the last several decades, but if you can't play the standards your peers will not consider you a serious jazz musician. I feel that the real problem is that where the jazz audience expect the musicians to take a standard and do something new with it (within reason of course), Classic rock audiences are not quite as forgiving. You have to do a very good interpetaion or else you better just hit it note for note. Now, is that an audience problem or a musician problem? even if it is an audience problem, that still makes it a musician problem. http://blip.fm/invite/WorkRelease Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Brown Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 This is how it is done.... If you have 6 minutes to spare watch this... then get your band to play it this way.... you might have something.... "When I take a stroll down Jackass Lane it is usually to see someone that is already there" Mrs. Brown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottom End Posted February 1, 2014 Share Posted February 1, 2014 I never had a problem with Mustang Sally, it's a blues song, which allows you to play it fast, slow, take solos, vamp on it, whatever. As long as the words and the groove are in there, people will like it. "brown Eyed Girl" on the other hand, can only be played one way, and sort of has to be, that'll get old quickly "Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul K Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Takin' Care Of Business We're An American Band Things are just the way they are, and they're only going to get worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danzilla Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I had an audition with a band last night, and two of covers I was given to learn for next week are anything but overplayed: "Over My Head" by King's X "Love Rears Its Ugly Head" by Living Color The third is "The Wind Cries Mary" by Hendrix, which we pretty much had down at the first jam. Does anyone think this is overplayed? This could have potential. "Am I enough of a freak to be worth paying to see?"- Separated Out (Marillion) NEW band Old band Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottom End Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 King's X and Living Color covers? you are a lucky man. "Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I've never played We're an American Band, but I'd like to. I think it's a great song. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddiePlaysBass Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 I've never played We're an American Band, but I'd like to. I think it's a great song. Here here, except it is one song that only works in America, I guess :grin: Or for expats? I'd feel silly singing those chorus lyrics. "I'm a work in progress." Micky Barnes The Ross Brown Shirt World Tour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Brown Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 I've never played We're an American Band, but I'd like to. I think it's a great song. Closed every show for five years with this song.... uhhhggg!!! It is fun to play and a good song but I grew tired of it.... "When I take a stroll down Jackass Lane it is usually to see someone that is already there" Mrs. Brown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul K Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I've never played We're an American Band, I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around that fact! I'm very jealous. Things are just the way they are, and they're only going to get worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I've played in cover bands for most of my life, but they are not rock cover bands, they are Motown, Soul, Disco, whatever you want to call it. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Summer of '69. I recently joined a band where I'd not heard of about 50% of the tunes but they are classics and have great hooks that draw you in from the start of the song even if you don't know them. They sound familiar. Most of the audience really like what we play and we're asked back to play again and again. Some of them even come up and say thanks for playing something different. However, our most popular request from people who've not been to see us before is to play "Something we know". How do we know what you know? Listen to this tune, then when you see us next time we play you'll know it. So, at the next practice we have that discussion, you know the one, everyone says we need to play more well known tunes, what shall we play? Someone suggests a tune and someone else says no because it's too overplayed. The most important thing is to play the songs tight and like you mean it. Feel the groove internally within your own creativity. - fingertalkin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric VB Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 How do we know what you know? For the "radio generations" -- those whose new-music-receptive years (15-25) coincided with the era when exposure to new music was via broadcast radio -- it's pretty easy to know what they know. They may know the entire catalog of a few of their favorite artists, because they bought all of their LPs, but after that they only know those songs that charted (or otherwise received heavy radio rotation) by other artists. If you want to play a song that everyone in the room has heard before, play a Top 40. If you want to cater to a different 5% of the audience at a time, play deeper cuts. In the Top 40 band I used to be in one of the compliments I received was "I know every song you played". Of course you do because we intentionally picked songs everyone would know. For example, the Rolling Stones released 107 singles, several of which went to #1. We played two of their #1 hits ("Paint It, Black" and "Miss You") without resorting to the usual suspects that are overplayed, such as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Brown Sugar". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I would say that Top 40 is different to Classic Rock. The average classic rock fan is going to have been exposed to different music to the average audience. Maybe look at album tracks from high charting classic rock albums. There's a lot of tunes that the classic rock audience will know that never charted or if they did, didn't make the top 20. Feel the groove internally within your own creativity. - fingertalkin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Wikipedia probably has a better explanation of why the tunes are 'overplayed' - It's quite a specific genre. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_rock Feel the groove internally within your own creativity. - fingertalkin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul K Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 For example, the Rolling Stones released 107 singles, several of which went to #1. We played two of their #1 hits ("Paint It, Black" and "Miss You") without resorting to the usual suspects that are overplayed, such as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Brown Sugar". Right on. Things are just the way they are, and they're only going to get worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottom End Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Good point. I was thinking of how many great Kinks and Who songs there are, I don't know if they went to #1, but I think they are very well known, not just "Lola" and "Baba O'Reilly" "Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 The Who are an interesting example. 58 singles. 23 of them top 40. Many of the songs we know well weren't singles. A few from Quadrophenia and Pinball Wizard for example. We play The Seeker. Feel the groove internally within your own creativity. - fingertalkin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard W Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 We play The Seeker. Probably my favorite Who song. "Everyone wants to change the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves." Leo Tolstoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric VB Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I would say that Top 40 is different to Classic Rock. Agreed. However, there is some crossover between the two. In the Wiki article linked above it is noted that one classic rock radio station excluded all Top 40. That seems to be an exception, not the norm. The article goes on to say, "Unlike AOR radio stations, which played all tracks from albums, classic rock plays a much more limited playlist of charting singles and popular album tracks from artists and bands." So, for a band like The Rolling Stones -- who had several Top 40 hits -- you can pretty much know that picking their big hits will have a wide appeal. However, for a band like Led Zeppelin -- which was pretty much the antithesis of Top 40 -- you won't have much luck pleasing anybody by sticking to their 16 singles (of which only one broke into the top 10 at #4). Zep's nine studio albums contain 81 songs. I know them all because I am a big fan. To someone who isn't a Zep fan, though, they will only know the "popular album tracks" that receive consistent airplay. For my Top 40 band we used to play "Rock and Roll", which I'd say falls into the overplayed category. In my classic/modern rock band we play "The Ocean" and "Dazed and Confused". Certainly less overplayed but not as obscure as something off of Led Zeppelin III or Coda, which only die hard Zep fans would recognize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric VB Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 We play The Seeker. Probably my favorite Who song. And, since I'm not a big Who fan, that name doesn't ring a bell with me. [My Top 40 band played "My Generation", chosen by a big Who fan.] [edit: Listened to it and I kind of remember hearing it before (it was #44 US) but there are easily a dozen other songs of theirs I personally would respond to better if I heard them at the bar. YMMV] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluMunk Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 My band recently added 'I Can See For Miles.' Such a fun, angry song, and so far crowds have been pretty receptive. I think mining off-radio hits (or at least 'deep track' radio cuts) from big names is a great way to add variety, interest, and uniqueness to a set without going ultra-obscure and alienating listeners. The most important thing is to play the songs tight and like you mean it. QFT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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