Cover Bands: How Big Is Your Song List?

[nonsqtr]

Ours has 273 entries. It's probably "about average size" from what I've heard. How many songs are in your list? Do you stick to the list, or do you occasionally try to pull a song out of your ear?

[Joe Nerve]

we pride ourselves on doing our own music, but took to doing cover gigs also, for the money about a year ago. i'd say we have around 50 songs that we do well, another 20 or so on standby that we could use if desperate, and we sometimes pull songs out of thin air and give it our best go - like war pigs, sweet home alabama, etc.

[brianrost]

Last cover band I was in had a list of at least 250 songs, probably more. The band lasted 7 years but broke up around 1994. We still get together maybe once or twice a year to play a wedding or private party and it amazes me how easily I can recall most of that material.

It only seems daunting until you've learned the tunes. I had to learn 37 new songs this past weekend for a pick up gig, I listened to the CDs every day for a week and then sat down and worked them all out in about 4 hours. There are so many stylistic cliches in pop music that the more songs you learn the easier it gets to learn the next one(s).

[Sundogue]

We only have about 100 cover tunes (which is always subject to change)...but we play some pretty obscure covers, so we're not a typical "Top 40" cover band.

We do mostly Brian Setzer Orchestra, Danny Gatton, and a bunch of other obscure bands that the general public probably has never heard of.

We also do quite a bit of SRV, and while most people know the radio airplay ones, we do some other ones that only SRV fans would know of.

Fun thing about being in a cover band is that there are millions of choices out there, and a band need not stick to the traditional "popular" covers to get gigs and keep the public happy. It also keeps our band happier by not running through a cheesy well worn set list.

[Matt Till]

The cover band I'm in does roughly 200. It always freaks me out that I know so many songs. There is always that 5 seconds before the song that I freak out and I'm like... I don't know this song! Then it all falls into place... weird.

[Mud Flaps]

Roughly 140. This is my high school jazz ensemble. We seperate these songs into 5 different catagories:

1. Pep Band Songs - (About 40) Most of these are rock or funk based songs. Generally speaking, they are a lot of fun.

2. Jazz Concert Songs - (About 5) These are songs that we perform once for the semister concert. These songs are either really cool, or really mediocre. They range from very traditional big band swing, to funk-based jazz and jazz fusion.

3. Standards - (About 25) These are the jazz standards. These are done between the 2nd semister concert and the end of school.

4. Textbook Songs - (About 50) These are songs in our two textbooks that we learn on our own time. These are either easy standards or sections of a jam or 12 or 16 bar blues.

5. Additional Combo Repetoir - (About 20) These are songs that were former Jazz Concert songs that the combo remembers and jams to during performence. The combo is the group of seniors and juniors who perform at all school events (pep band performs at some). They are the core of the jazz ensemble. Their complete repetoir is made up of songs from all of the catagories above.

In case you are wondering, I am in Pre-Combo mode. I will be in combo next year, so I have now joined the combo as a sort of apprentice, seeing what they do, learning what they know, and observing.

[Mike N]

150.

[Schwinn]

30...but we are still working at it.