Song too long possibly???

[Psycho]

Not sure if it's the right place, but:


Around February i'll be doing a solo bass piece for my school's talent show, to end my high school career with a bang.

Now, rests included and measures repeated, the song runs nearly 10 minutes...

Is this too long, do you think? It seems so natural and fluid to me now, since i've been working on it so long I can't tell if i'm taking forever and being a total bore. :S

What do you all think?

[MRDOOM]

Probably, most people arent going to appreciate a bass solo piece that long, unless of course you go to a school with nothing but other bassists.

[Step]

way too long, keep it around 3-5 minutes

sorry

[fractiouslowend]

Originally Posted by MRDOOM

Probably, most people arent going to appreciate a bass solo piece that long, unless of course you go to a school with nothing but other bassists.

exactly.

the sad truth is a vast majority of the population will judge a song on the first 10 seconds. the vast majority of people remaining will not bother with any song that is 'pop' or 'radio friendly' or whatever you want to call it.

any song that is 10 minutes long, will probably not fit into the first category and definitely won't fit into the second.
however, i bet most people on this forum (being the open minded ones we are:P) would be keen for a listen

[Step]

Originally Posted by fractiouslowend

exactly.

the sad truth is a vast majority of the population will judge a song on the first 10 seconds. the vast majority of people remaining will not bother with any song that is 'pop' or 'radio friendly' or whatever you want to call it.

any song that is 10 minutes long, will probably not fit into the first category and definitely won't fit into the second.
however, i bet most people on this forum (being the open minded ones we are:P) would be keen for a listen

actually I have to respectfully disagree, I think 10 minutes of bass solo would bore even bassists or other musicians, 3-5 minutes is ok IMO because of the performance aspect of it, but after that it might get tedious.

[jordie65]

give it the chop!

[Sketchy]

I listen to some songs which reach to 75 odd minutes, although admittedly they're not solo instrumentals...

You may do well in cutting it down a little, but hey it'd still be awesome to hear.

[Nic.]

Depends. If it's all about the same thing it's gonna be boring as hell. But if it's broken into several sections that contrast it might be pretty interesting. If it grooves well and has a good hook that would help to keep the audience interested too, although 10 mins is pushing it quite a bit.

[Plays_For_Dog]

How about recording it and posting a link here? In order to get propper constructive suggestion, we must first hear it.

[OOZMAN]

Yeah, I can't stand long songs. I can't listen to Opeth and Dream Theater because of this, even though everyone says they're really good. Haha....

[Atticus]

Unless your school has an extremely abnormal (in a good way!) taste in music, you're going to be struggling to entertain them after about 30 seconds without singing. I'd chop it down to about 4 minutes, give or take.

[mulchor]

10 minutes doesn't fit the format.

Could be good music or bad, just not a fit for a variety/talent show

[Stingray5]

For a talent show less is more - 2 1/2 to 3 minutes max is appropriate. Anything longer and the audience will get restless.

[Big B.]

Look at it this way. 90% of people won't give damn about your bass solo anyway, so play for the other 10%. I did a couple of bass solos in the talent show in high scale (about 14 years ago) and people still remember it today. And if the rest of the crowd doesn't get it,that is an even better reason to play a ten minute bass solo. There aren't many times in life you get to play a ten minute bass solo that every one is forced to listen so go and rock in the name of bass players everywhere.

[Mo'Phat]

Bust out the solo to Stone Cold Bush off the Chili Pepper's Mother's Milk album...it's about 25 seconds long...and you will win that talent show.

10 minute Look-At-Me wank fest? Uh, no. Just no.

[Raymeous]

I agree with what the others have said.

Even though I listen to bands like Dream Theater and Opeth that have longer songs than what you'll find on the radio, you also may have noticed that they are not "mainstream" bands. There's a reason for that. Most people don't have the attention span of a gnat so even if the song did have different "movements" like a classical piece you will still lose a good portion of your audience.

I would trim it down. If the piece has very dynamic shifts between its sections than 5 minutes would be ok, however if it has a droning or similar feel throughout than no more than 3 minutes. Any more than that and I would get fidgety sitting there, and I am a musician that loves watching other musicians play.

Best of luck and just remember, you can always put the 10 minute version as the secret bonus track on your first CD.

[pbass2]

If you have a way to record it, record the whole thing, then do a few different edits of it down to 2-3 minutes, until you get a version that makes sense at that length. Doesn't have to be good sound quality, it's only for you to slice and dice. Can be easier to "see" what's working that way then trying to edit yourself while playing it.

[Raymeous]

^Good point^

Record it and listen to it without your bass in hand. Just listen. Do you start getting bored part way into it?

[RustyAxe]

Originally Posted by Psycho

Now, rests included and measures repeated, the song runs nearly 10 minutes... Is this too long, do you think?

Absolutely. Any audience you had in the third minute will be hoping you end soon by the sixth minute. Songs that run longer than four or five minutes impress me as musical masturbation. The performer is gettin' off on it, but he's all alone. A wise songwriter friend of mine tells me that the hardest thing about writing a good song is knowing what to keep ... and what to throw away. Commercialism aside, there are other reasons why most songs are 3-4 minutes ... it's about as long as you can hold your audience. Even great classical pieces, which are long in the whole, comprise several distinct and shorter movements (almost like songs within a song).

[williamk]

I'm a bassist and would still find it way too long. Is it very varied atleast?