A question for those in coverbands...

[hdracer]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

I guess thats really where I am right now. I dont mind playing classic rock, or prog, but Id prefer not to play Hair Metal or contemporary pop. However, I might go down that route if the money is good. What kind of music are you playing in your band?

R&B, Soul
I love it and think I can play it for a long time.

I also do a old school real blues thing.


But do what YOU like

[jonas_24112]

If you want to gig regularly to a middle aged audience and make maybe $50-100 bucks a gig per person, go with classic/southern rock and country.

If you want to make more than $100 bucks a man per gig and play to young energetic crowds, then go see the top cover bands in your area and find out what is working for them. Then copy that.

And yes, it's much easier to join an established band rather than a start up.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by tZer

"Corporate" cover band here. Weddings, Events = primary focus, Bars = next tier focus.

Band Makeup: male and female lead vocals, keys/synth player, lead guitar player (male vocalist also plays guitar when needed), drummer and bass. We all do backups.

Our target audience is the events/weddings crowds first then bar crowds.

Our list consists of:
Current and Retro Pop (Gaga, Madonna, Cee Lo, GroupLove, Neon Trees)
Current and Retro Rock (The Killers, Pat Benatar, ZZ Top, Weezer, Awolnation etc.)
Current and Retro Soul/RnB (Mariah Carey, Rihana, Marvin Gaye, John Legend)
Current and Retro Funk (Commodores, EW&F, Maroon 5, RHCP, etc)

Our focus is to get people up and dancing and try to keep them there all night with the occasional 'sit-down rocker'.

My approach to melding with this band was to get their entire list, create a Spotify playlist with every song and to hound the BL for a weekly 'punch list' to have ready for rehearsal. Since joining in Oct, I've crammed over 50 songs into my head - some of which make me want to take an ice pick to my frontal lobe - but all in all an OK experience.

My personal attitude about this project is to detach from the content and focus on delivering the goods regardless of the song. That means nailing my parts (as simplistic and mind-numbingly repetitive as they may be) filling out backups where needed and always being fully prepared for every rehearsal.

This has paid off big time in helping me create a solid, at-home practice routine. It's increased my book of transcriptions/notes significantly and sharpened all of my chops.

I highly recommend keeping an organized binder of song notes/transcriptions. You may not "need" notes to meet short term goals - but when a song drops from rotation for a few months then suddenly reappears, you'll be happy you have a reference.

Also - the more complete your binder is, the easier it is for you to sub-in for other bands. Our singer/guitar player (and lifelong friend of mine) has a binder that has over 300 songs of all styles - lyrics, changes - He can take a gig with anyone and be reasonably sure he has most of their set covered using his 'great big book of everything'.

You sound very organized! Actually, Ive thought a lot about doing exactly this... keeping a binder of songs/charts, etc in a binder and doing future sub work as well.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

This is what Im getting at here... how did your band come to the decision to play blues/rock?

I'm not sure, the band had been together for 5 years before I joined.

Our female front is also our lead guitarist and liked blues/ rock and found a nice niche market on the biker bar circuit.That might be where that decision came from.

Blue

[Big Brother]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Im definitely avoiding start ups, as I want to get some footing and experience. After playing in a coverband for a while its likely that I'll start up my own, me being a natural leader and all.



Does 90s really bore people? It certainly doesnt bore me (its my favorite genre) and I know lots of others who enjoy it as well. Im thinking a lot of people who grew up during that time now frequent bars and wouldnt mind hearing some of that stufff, either. In fact, when my originals band does a 90s tune it usually goes over really well (also, when we play Pink Floyd). Im kind of keen on the idea of keeping some variety and covering lots of eras of music, the whole 50s/60s to Now kind of stuff. Any one in a coverband like that, here?

I love listening to it in my car, but in the clubs it just doesn't have that rhythm to get people up out of their chairs. There are songs of course but your options are limited and unless you have a great vocalist, many of those are going to be out of your reach.

Your vocalist will limit a lot of what you can play and when there isn't much 'lively' music to pick from, you are kind of stuck with nowhere to go in that genre.

We had 4-5 hours of 90's music down and about an hour of it was something I would want to listen to if I were out somewhere.

[Vintage Guy]

We play anything vintage,or current that will get people up and dancing! Thats what keeps a band in our part of the world working!

[the yeti]

80s music is still pretty big but declining, 90s on the rise, current stuff like gaga, ke$ha, adele, bruno mars, etc is also very popular.

mainly if you have a good ear i'd say learn what you need when you need to.

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by Big Brother

The other thing I recommend is only play a type of music you enjoy, you will hate going to work after awhile if it isn't 'you.'

I'm celebrating 1 year this Saturday night with my band.

They delivered everything I was looking for in a cover band. Consistent bookings, $100.00 per man minimum and they are organized good people.

Blues/ Rock is not all that enjoyable to me. If I sat around waiting for a cover band that played music I enjoyed, I would be waiting forever.

Blue

[BobaFret]

classic funk band - (4 horns - B3 - Bass - Guitar - Drummer)

I'm now playing the stuff that I like and am hopeful others will enjoy it. This is the music I love to play and I won't do music I'm not emotionally attached to.

We're are going way back into the archives and searching for hidden gems. I'm not catering to what people "think" they want, I'm giving them what they "need".

[tZer]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

You sound very organized! Actually, Ive thought a lot about doing exactly this... keeping a binder of songs/charts, etc in a binder and doing future sub work as well.

If I could recommend one thing to anyone wanting to be an in-demand cover band player - keep a binder! Transcribe EVERY song and add it to your note book - even if you don't really "need it".

Those notes/charts really help me see the structure of the song which helps significantly in retention.

I just ran the entire set for our NYE gig last night and of the 40+ songs on our list, I only needed to reference my notes on about 2 or 3 of the songs I'd learned most recently - and I really didn't even need them, but I pulled them up just to be safe. OF the 40 on the list, I only knew about 5 before I joined this band. All the rest were 'brand new' to me. Some I'd never even heard before. Today I know most of them as if I'd been playing them for years and with my notes, I am confident I can deliver the tune at any time today or in the future.

Playing in a cover band is rewarding in many ways and IMO prepares you to be a professional musician. Keeping good notes may feel like drudgery, but you get better at it as time goes by and those notes are like GOLD when you get a thick book of them!

[the yeti]

[quote=Big Brother;13604294]90's bores people, the music isn't very club friendly.
[quote]

breakfast at tiffanys, champagne supernova, she's so high get some of the best pops of the night for us.

[baba]

Originally Posted by BobaFret

classic funk band - (4 horns - B3 - Bass - Guitar - Drummer)

I'm now playing the stuff that I like and am hopeful others will enjoy it. This is the music I love to play and I won't do music I'm not emotionally attached to.

We're are going way back into the archives and searching for hidden gems. I'm not catering to what people "think" they want, I'm giving them what they "need".

Admirable. You make whores like me proud.

[Crazy_Jake]

I'm playing in a 3 piece that covers a little bit of everything. We want to have a songlist that will work in a bar as well as corporate gigs and weddings. All 3 people sing and the guitar player also plays keyboards so we are pretty flexible in regards to what we can cover.

Yeah seems I'm a whore - playing the stuff that gets us the gigs. Walking away with minimum $100 each a night helps me deal with my shame

[bluewine]

When you start screening bands to audition, verify and confirm their bookings and booking history.

Also make sure there hasn't been a lot of recent personel changes. Sometime that can mean the ship is sinking.

More than likely you will want the band to own their own full pa.

Blue

[Richland123]

When we put my band together almost 12 years ago, our approach was that we can't be everything to everybody but we can be a lot of things to a lot of people. With that thought in mind, we designed the band and selected our music as what would get us the most work, appeal to a wide audience with a little something for everybody, be fun to play, and we somewhat like the songs. We are a 3 piece party rock cover band that plays music that covers six decades and we can fit into most venues, situations, and play to a variety of listeners. That has proven to work very well in our regional market and we play about 80 gigs a year. As I tell people, we play music from Buddy Holly to The White Stripes and the compliment we hear most often is that people love the fact that we play a wide variety of songs and not stick to one style all night.

[BobaFret]

Originally Posted by baba

Admirable. You make whores like me proud.

I also have income from another area of expertise. That certainly helps.

[DWBass]

My only preference is a Variety Top40 Corporate/Private Party band! Pretty much learn all the top40 dance tunes from the 60's to today. It's a lot of songs but I've been doing this since the mid 70's. But simply a solid 3 sets of music to start will suffice and you can build on that. For variety bands, music should include Motown, Disco, Dance Pop, Dance rock, Funk and some Latin & Reggae music. Focus should be on dance. Lastly, Obscure songs should not be in the setlist. While they may be good songs, if the folks don't know it, they'll be sitting there staring at you. If you play a bar, you may get away with playing those but don't bet on it.

[funkingroovin]

My current band is the first cover band I've been part of. When we started it,we decided that if we were going to play covers they weren't going to be the same beat-to-death tunes that every other bar band butters their bread with. NO Brown Eyed Girl,Mustang Sally,or Sweet Home Werewolves of Northern Michigan..and definitely NO COUNTRY!..We play a variety of stuff from the Beatles and Zepplin to Tenacious D and Ween,and it's worked very well for us. We do tend to get a lot of 'advice' from other musicians concerning our outlook on what we will/won't play,and I'm always happy to point out that we've been booked 52 weekends/year for the last four years,so we must be doing something right..

And yes,cheesy 80's/90's Top 40 stuff will fill the dance floor faster than a busload of fat girls..

[Factor88]

Originally Posted by bluewine

I'm celebrating 1 year this Saturday night with my band.

They delivered everything I was looking for in a cover band. Consistent bookings, $100.00 per man minimum and they are organized good people.

Blues/ Rock is not all that enjoyable to me. If I sat around waiting for a cover band that played music I enjoyed, I would be waiting forever.

Blue

^this. Matticus, given your stated goals, I would think genre is not so important as finding a band that is playing out as consistently as you want for the $ you want.

In 25+ year of playing the ony bands where I had a substantial influence on the music being played were my very first band and my very last band...both in reality all glorified garage bands. Every pro band in between I joined becuase they were already established and playing the amount I wanted to play. That brought me from classic rock covers to show/jazz to country to GB/wedding bands. The "right" band was the one making the most money where I wanted to live at the time.............

[zfunkman]

I'm in a cover band. We play obscure old school funk. Prior to joining this band I too was interested in joining a cover band. Funk was my first choice, R&B second, Classic Rock third, Blues fourth. As I've been playing a while I knew a few songs in each catergory, however, I played original music most of my career. So . . . I started to learn my favorite songs in each of these catergories no matter how challenging. Youtube was a big help. It also helps if you can read music. Since I wasn't in a band I had all the time in the world to learn songs. I think I learned over 100 songs altogether. It was the most songs I ever learned how to play; I had about 8 set lists and practiced to all of them regularly. I put out adds and eventuall found my band of obsure funk tunes. I didn't know any of their songs I had to learn 40 songs in 3 weeks. Since I was no stranger to learning songs it was actually pretty easy. One more note on learning covers . . . I always considered myself a decent bass player but after I took the time to learn all these covers my playing got 100 times better. I am now playing the best bass of my life. It also helps to learn challenging songs. I learned Peaches En Regalia by Zappa; it took 2 months to get it down but after that most songs are freakin' really easy to learn.