how many songs in your band's repertoire? thoughts?

Bayou_Brawler · #1 11-01-2006, 08:36 AM

How many songs are in your band's repertoire??

I'm asking becasue I recently heard Mick Jagger has played "Satisfaction" 457,000 times SINCE he was 40.....or something like that.

I think that may drive me insane. of course when you have thousands of people getting into it and hot babes and drugs waiting back stage it makes it more tollerable i assume.

My band gigs twice a week (for the last few years) and we do maybe 40 originals and 20 covers. not to mention we improv A LOT. Now even this situation gets a little boring for me sometimes.

How many tunes are in your band's repertoire? Does it get old for you? when does it get old? how do you keep it fresh?

i should also note crowd response is a big part for me...if you have a big crowd REALLY into it it doesn't matter what i'm playing i'm just feeling the energy...but 40% of our gigs are not barn burners...

**baba** · #2 11-01-2006, 08:42 AM

Around 60 or 70 I'd say. It doesn't get old as we mix it up a lot.

Passinwind · #3 11-01-2006, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bayou_Brawler

How many tunes are in your band's repertoire? Does it get old for you? when does it get old? how do you keep it fresh?

My primary band's book is ~260 songs at the moment. Probably half of those are ready to go at any given time. When they get old, we work on the other ones. When it all gets old, I play gigs with some other bands. The nice thing about mostly playing jazz is that everyone brings a different take to the same tunes.

My bandmates have a little habit of putting new ones in without telling me until we're on the gig. That keeps it fresh all right. Nothing like hearing three choruses and then: "Charlie, bass solo!"

bigfatbass · #4 11-01-2006, 10:32 AM

Somewhere around 150 last time we counted. A typical show is about 2/3 our own tunes and the rest selections from the depths of the guitard's brain.

Foamy · #5 11-01-2006, 10:38 AM

We had just about 200, and I think that was way too many.

Bottom Feeder · #6 11-01-2006, 10:50 AM

Well, I'm in the process of getting a somewhat new lineup up to speed in my band.

As a cover band, I think it would be ideal to have 120 or more tunes minimum so you can mix it up and cater to the crowd. (ie:dance, classic rock, top 40).
80 tunes would suffice but be less than ideal.
45 tunes would be the bare minimum as thats about the minimum you can stretch out an evening's bar/pub gig.

Figure 10-12 tunes per 45 minute set per 4 sets per evening.

3 hours playing (180 mins) averaging 4 mins per song = 45 songs.

Of course, it all depends on the amount of time you are expected to play and the length of the tunes and the amount of BS and noodling you do between songs.

Matt Till · #7 11-01-2006, 10:57 AM

Heh... we've got about 8 songs we can play live

15ish total.

My cover band I was in, probably 100 or more.

Oops forgot to say, the shortest song we have is about 4 minutes long, the longest is about 10, the rest are about 7-8. So we've got a decent amount of music... we just can't play all of it live yet. (long story)

Matthew Bryson · #8 11-01-2006, 11:07 AM

We have 15 songs ready and 5 more in the works. I think we'll be adding one of the new songs tonight, so hopefully by tomorrow we'll be at 16 with 4 in the works. Right now we have about 75 minutes of music. IMO - Not too bad for a band that's only been together for 2 months.

DirtDog · #9 11-01-2006, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bayou_Brawler

I'm asking becasue I recently heard Mick Jagger has played "Satisfaction" 457,000 times SINCE he was 40.....or something like that.

Well that's a fine bit of hyperbole - he'd have had to perform that tune 50 times a day each day over the last 25 years to have done that.

Now, if my music had been played (not performed) that often and I was on the receiving end of those royalties, I'd never get bored of that!

But to answer your question - we have about 75-80 tunes in our repertoire and yes it gets boring playing some of those tunes, esp. if it's a shuffle in A.

DD

Bayou_Brawler · #10 11-01-2006, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Passinwind

My primary band's book is ~260 songs at the moment. Probably half of those are ready to go at any given time. When they get old, we work on the other ones. When it all gets old, I play gigs with some other bands. The nice thing about mostly playing jazz is that everyone brings a different take to the same tunes.

My bandmates have a little habit of putting new ones in without telling me until we're on the gig. That keeps it fresh all right. Nothing like hearing three choruses and then: "Charlie, bass solo!"

jazz guys don't count you guys can just play anything....

Passinwind · #11 11-01-2006, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bayou_Brawler

jazz guys don't count you guys can just play anything....

Heh...I wish! But I do get the 'luxury' of being able to lean on the charts on my gigs.

I used to play in some Dead-ish jam bands, and a roots/blues kind of band as well. The rule of thumb was always 40 songs before the first gig, maybe triple that within a few months. Gets easier and easier to achieve the more times you go through it, of course.

QORC · #12 11-01-2006, 12:17 PM

around 75 at the moment

VanillaO · #13 11-01-2006, 12:32 PM

My band has like 15 songs or so (only been together 5 months and we like quality stuff), but while some of them are like 3 minutes long, the majority run over 5 minutes, and up to the 8-9 minute mark... plus we jam out on a few songs for like 15-minutes sometimes... You don't really need 200 songs imo