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A question about subbing. . .

SethD

SethD

Jul 8, 2003
1,500
527
South Deerfield, Massachusetts
#1
This summer I'm going to sub in a Beatles tribute band. I know the Beatles' music well and can wing most tunes no problem, but I want to have the parts cold at my first rehearsal. The keyboardist emailed me a spreadsheet of the band's repetoire, which is over one hundred songs. They have a gig next weekend, and it sounds like they're focusing on that at the moment. Would it be inapproriate to ask the keyboardist what songs to expect when I play with them? Should I wait until after their gig next weekend?

Thanks,
Seth
 
#2
Yes.

And if he's like the leader on a gig I did a couple months back he'll tell you to learn all of them. As if there was a chance in ____ you'd actually play all of them;)

I had a leader send me a list (song titles, no audio or sheet music of any kind) of about 30 songs a couple of days before a last minute gig, wanting to know which of them I knew. I knew all but five and I let him know that. He told me he wanted to do all of them.

:hmm:

We ended up doing about ten songs for the two set show... and it went very well.

Ah, show business.
 
#3
We talking one or two gigs here or are you subbing for two months at a house gig?

Money shouldn't effect how hard you work at something....but it does.

Given that it's a sub gig, I don't think anyone would fault you for asking that the list be pared down a little.

Even if you sight read, getting accurate bass charts together for 100 tunes is a lot of dang work. You really can't cheat your way throught the beatles. Them are some pretty distinctive and well know bass lines there.
 
#4
Thanks for the advice guys. I want to handle this as professionally as possible. For now it's one gig, but they've called me in the past (when I was living in Maine unfortunately). Last year the keyboardist told me he'd like to put together a pool of musicians who know the Beatles' catalog and can play functions. So I definitely want to to prove myself.
 

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