Is this a good idea for a gig?

HoosierBassist · #1 12-09-2011, 03:29 PM

I am in a blues-rock duo. As of right now it's myself on bass/vocals and my guitarist also does vocals. No drummer. We're in high school, and we've asked all close friends, known drummers, nobody wanted to be in our band. We were going to be covering a few songs, improv, and original stuff. However, my guitarist, she says she wants to make this as easy as possible for us and so we should just do improvisation for the whole gig. It's gonna be at a local mall, near a Chick-Fil-A. I guess in a food court. So, its basically entertainment for the people eating. A few of my friends are coming to support us but it's an unpaid gig. At first I was like "well, we should have something to play, just in case". but, I see her point, Improv is spontaneous. This also takes pressure off of myself and her, not having to worry about trying to sing and play our respective instruments at the same time.

She's a very, very good improv guitarist. I'm not too bad myself on bass improv. The good thing is that bass is the backbone of the whole, so if she messes up, I keep going and save the day. problem solved. We will have a second guitarist playing with us, who is also very experienced. it's a close relative of my guitarist.

I'm also okay with doing improv since we have original songs but they have no lyrics, and they don't sound quite right without lyrics. too bad I suck at writing lyrics. Is it a good idea to have an entire gig worth of improv? I wanna learn some actual songs, so we can have something else to play.

Feedback please.

MatticusMania · #2 12-09-2011, 03:37 PM

Sure, you can do it!

I used to play in a rock band where al of our music was improvised. We made some great improv rock, and we sounded at our worst when we tried recreating some of our previous awesome jams. It doesnt hurt learning some songs, though.

kraigo · #3 12-09-2011, 03:59 PM

I'd recommend having set lists. You can always choose to ignore them, but it's a good idea to have a fall back position. Performing can often make the brain turn off. Since it sounds like you're new to performing you ought to be a little cautious.

Improvs can get repetitious. Jam bands and the like generally have "songs", where the scaffolding is there to play off, depart from and return to. Among all ranges of performing musicians, I know exactly none that go in there without some sort of a game plan.

The best of luck.

KO

jive1 · #4 12-09-2011, 04:08 PM

The folks in the food court will probably turnover quickly, so if you have to repeat a song or jam, you can get away with it and not have anyone notice.

Have fun.

MatticusMania · #5 12-09-2011, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kraigo

Among all ranges of performing musicians, I know exactly none that go in there without some sort of a game plan.

I used to do this weekly. Completely improvised jams from beginning to end. It was a pretty epic band.

bkbirge · #6 12-09-2011, 04:13 PM

Do I-IV-V in all keys and all tempos. Say random crap you see on the walls or on people's shirts as they walk by. And record it.

RFord04 · #7 12-09-2011, 04:56 PM

At least go in with some sort of game plan. Assuming you're doing traditional style blues, it shouldn't be too hard to plan what kind of progressions or styles of blues you'll play and make a rough set list to follow. Going in blind, especially when you're still inexperienced, could potentially be disastrous and make a bad impression, and you must also realize that the general public, which is who you'll be playing for, doesn't respond well to unfamiliar material and generally they like to hear something familiar. That's not to say you have to play covers, but it's important for the music to have a solid structure and a melody that they can recognize. Best of luck to you! Let us know what you decide to do and how the gig goes.

RFord04 · #8 12-09-2011, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HoosierBassist

my guitarist, she says she wants to make this as easy as possible for us and so we should just do improvisation for the whole gig.

Also, I could be wrong, but this kind of just sounds like she's being lazy about the gig. You should strive to put on a good show, and that won't necessarily be easy. If I were you, I'd suggest at least sitting down and writing some jams based on some loose structures and improv off of those.

kraigo · #9 12-09-2011, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

I used to do this weekly. Completely improvised jams from beginning to end. It was a pretty epic band.

And you did this on your and all your bandmates' first gig? I'll concede that yours is the exception to the rule, but I maintain that having a bit of material to fall back on would be a good idea.

KO

robbotbass · #10 12-09-2011, 05:30 PM

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BassNeo · #11 12-09-2011, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkbirge

Do I-IV-V in all keys and all tempos. Say random crap you see on the walls or on people's shirts as they walk by. And record it.

Definitely record what you do. You'd be amazed what comes out of something like this.

Spend a little time before hand getting a groove or sound you want to have when you play, but not necessarily a particular song. If you feel confident with improv then by all means throw caution to the wind and go. Worst that will happen is you don't get asked back to work the lunch crowd at the mall. There are much worse things..

skychief · #12 12-09-2011, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HoosierBassist

Is it a good idea to have an entire gig worth of improv?

Feedback please.

As its not a paying gig, i would say y'all can do whatever the hell you want to. Improv, no vocals, no prob!

My only input would be, as the "audience" will be eating, try to keep the volume under control. You will be perceived as being professional.

And have fun!