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Upbeat songs for a setlist; too many crying songs


LiveMusic

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Hopefully, this is my last post today. Too many ideas popping out.

 

Building a set list. I have scads of songs that are "sad." Need some more upbeat ones. And some more fun ones. Even comical.

 

At this point, this is for a solo acoustic guitar set list but whatever... I'll take all comments.

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Pop, rock, country. Heck, folk, whatever. Emphasis is for ones that "work" for solo acoustic guitar, although I'll take any suggestion even if you play in a band and see if I can arrange it for me.

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Yeah, we had (have?) the same problem. We started out as an acoustic trio, focusing on harmony. Problem, there were too many "pretty ballads". So when we added a drummer, we lacked rock and roll. Some of the rock and roll lacked the ease to lend itself to more vocal harmony, which alienated the other two in the original trio a bit.

 

People now tell us they love our band, love listening to us, but a lot of 'em don't dance, even to the rockers. I'm trying to gently lead them in a more rocking direction...it's tough. People do want to party, not hear a bunch of sad tunes (unless you're playing country).

 

Yeah, what kind of audience are you trying to go after? College kids (18-25)? Young adults (25-35)? The recently re-singled group (35-up?)...Country? Rock? Tree hugging folkies like me http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif?

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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Uh... SteveRB... those are upbeat? I need upbeat, uptempo songs that lift the spirits. Not your average run-of-the-mill even-tempered songs. Really upbeat songs. Even comical songs.

 

Really upbeat, uptempo example:

 

LaBamba - Richie Havens

Brown-eyed Girl - Van Morrison

 

Comical example:

 

(I Love) Trashy Women - Confederate Railroad

 

Crowd faves/Singalong:

 

You Never Even Called Me By My Name - David Allan Coe

Friends In Low Places - Garth Brooks

Early Beatles songs

 

To play to cross-section of ages. 50s music to present. Anything to bring the mood of the crowd up after a few "sad" songs.

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Well, Pink Houses is upbeat. We do that one and "Small Town" as part of our acoustic set, and they go over great.

 

Suggestion...two words for an acoustic solo act:

 

Jimmy Buffett...

 

And not Margaritaville either...if you want to give the crowd a good icebreaker..."Why Don't We Get Drunk...etc." It's not really uptempo...but boy, it gets the crowd going. And always appeal to their "Get drunk and, uh, sing along" sensibilities.

 

Bring a collection of stupid percussion stuff for them to play on. A buddy of mine took an old toaster and a drumstick to his solo gigs...it was the lucky person who got to play the "party toaster".

 

Throw a coupla bluegrassy type things in "Put another log on the fire"...and "Hang around the shanty and get a good buzz on"..

 

If you get 'em partying, they will be having too much fun to worry about what you're doing.

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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I listen to the radio all day. I flipflop between Classic Rock, Pop, Country, Oldies. The whole spectrum. Tell you what... country has some dang good music on it. To make it clearer, I'm seeking really catchy, songs. Sassy songs. Songs that make the crowd smile and they have to tap their feet. Boogie-woogie beat. Honkey tonk. Just plain ol' catchy. Funny songs. Maybe you get the picture.

 

Here are some examples of the type of upbeat, catchy, songs I'm seeking:

 

Pour Me - Trick Pony

(If you haven't heard this song, you gotta. This sucker is kickin'.)

 

Be My Baby Tonight - John Michael Montgomery

 

I Like It, I Love It - Tim McGraw

 

Kiss This - Aaron Tippin

(The beat isn't so catchy, it's just cooly, catchy, sassy lyrics.)

 

Also, a song such as:

 

Authority Song - John Cougar Mellencamp

(You can really rock on this one.)

 

So, it's two types, really. Songs with a driving beat or guitar/piano licks that make you want to boogie, dance, clap your hands, tap your feet, etc. and also songs with lyrics that just make you smile.

 

On the musical side, I find that songs with a boogie-woogie beat or fast honky-tonk beat are really catchy.

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Sounds like to me you're solving your own dilemma, Live...

 

A good thing...learn a few of these tunes, and toss 'em out and see what sticks. You can file the ones that don't work on the back burner. One can never have too many songs in their repertoire, and the cool thing about a solo act is that you don't have to worry about whether or not anyone else in the band likes it, you don't have to wait while your drummer is trying to get that break right, y'know?

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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Upbeat acoustic stuff?

 

Funny? Try:

 

Blow Up Your TV - John Prine (a lot of John Prine stuff is funny, actually)

Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio - Randy Sparks

Motorpsycho Nightmare, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Positively 4th Street - Bob Dylan

 

Other just plain upbeat songs/singalongs:

 

Wake Up, Little Susie = Everly Brothers

Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran

Teacher Teacher - Rockpile

What I Like About You - Romantics

Loser - Beck

 

I'm sure I'll think of some more, just need more coffee (damn it's been a long time since I did any acoustic gigs)!

 

--Lee

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Here's some of the crowd favorites from our list:

 

Rock around the clock

Jailhouse rock

another saturday night

Proud Mary

Woolly Bully

Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da

Good Lovin'

Keep your hands to yourself

Rock this town

Hard to Handle

Mr. Jones

Sold (at the Grundy County Auction)

ROCK in the USA

Gimme three steps

 

These are a few that I think would work great acousticly.

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'634-5789' by Steve Cropper

'Crawling from the Wreckage' or 'Queen of Hearts' from dave Edmunds

'Lawyers, Guns and Money' from Warren Zevon

'Dixie Chicken' from Little Feat

'La Grange' from zz top

'Play the fast thing one more time' from Rockpile

'Annie get your gun' from Squeeze

 

Golly, I'm getting old. You probably don't know any of these folks.

Proven, ass-shaking bar numbers, though. From more than a couple of years in some tough places to play.

 

Go with something catchy that has a sexual innuendo attached. It can't miss.

 

good luck, dave p.

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This is turning into a really cool thread...for several reasons.

 

Let's expand that into "What are your favorite all-around crowd pleasers" both acoustic and electric. I like the idea of being able to do most electric songs acoustically as well.

 

We can all streamline our setlists and maybe come up with some really cool stuff. I mean, like we're on all corners of the globe, so it's not like we're gonna be playing the same bars in the same town.

 

Favorite solo/acoustic songs... Favorite electric songs...

 

And we can leave all the obvious shit off...the shit that none of us wanna play anyway. I like all the obscure funny acoustic stuff, like the John Prine tune Lee mentioned.

 

What gets 'em dancin' in the electric sets, besides the obvious shit none of us want to play???

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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