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Band's first gig this weekend. We're not ready.

Talk to everyone and insist that even if there is a train wreck, you never comment on it. It's vital, because many people will not realise. Two hours and so few songs means you will be short, seriously short, so this means you have few options. Old songs are often shorter, too for the old radio play rules, so consider repeating the odd verse and chorus, BUT if you have anyone green to this kind of thing, they will mess up. Make a list of suitable songs you have not rehearsed that you all know well enough to include as padding. If somebody knows the words, busk them. Planning is key. Set list prep vital, and even with talking, two hours might eat up thirty to thirty five songs. Ours are often shorter songs and two hours can for us mean forty songs, almost our entire repertoire
 
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I love these situations. Been there myself. I filled in for a country band that was playing for their management on a huge stage. I had 2 practices and I had to learn 18 songs. Came off without a hitch. Joined another country band learned 45 songs in 3 weeks and did a 4 hour show. Go with the flow. Hang on the bass drum for fills and such and watch the singers for ques
 
Liquor has a way of making everything sound better

That's liquor for the AUDIENCE - not so much for you - lol - Nothing worse than a drunk bass player.... well, maybe a drunk drummer and/or a drunk lead guitarist... and a drunk lead vocalist.... drunk tuba.... drunk bari sax.... hmmmm.... I guess there are worse things than a drunk bass player :laugh:
 
I've been here many times...

1) Don't drink alcohol, but... do keep yourself hydrated (water, Gatorade, whatever). You need to keep your brain sharp.
2) Get a good night sleep.
3) Eat something halfway healthy about an hour or so before you play.
4) Keep an ear out for your guitarist & singer.... but, keep good eye contact and communication with your drummer.
5) Think about one song at a time. If you know the song, have fun and let it flow.
6) Errors will happen! Don't show it, or recognize it... it will stick out like a sore thumb to your audience.

Whenever I have filled in for blues and cover bands... that's what I do. Works everytime. Move your body a bit with the music... this helps keep yourself in check with the tempo...
 
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So i quasi-auditioned for a top 40 country cover band a little over a month ago and got the gig. This band was fairly established in their area and had been together 5 or so years. Three days after I got the part, the band leader says we're booked for the headlining spot of a Fourth of July festival with a two hour slot in front of approximately 3000 people. He also booked us a 15 minute slot at a battle of the bands on July 10th. I think it was kind of hurried but he said they weren't wanting to start gigging again so I went with it. We've been practicing 3-5 hours once a week. We've got about 20-25 songs lined up. We made some major progress the first 3 practices but for various reasons we seemed to have regressed this past weekend. We've got some songs down really tight but there are a few others that are kinda rough. We know our parts but it's mostly the beginnings and ends that are the problem. We're all off work friday so we've got one last practice. I think we're only about 80% to the point I'd hoped we would be at before the gig but at this point it is what it is. I don't expect to be perfect but I'm a little worried. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Mistakes are going to happen, but they do not exist if you do not acknowledge them! Listen carefully and entertain - the crowd is there to have fun.

Break a leg!

Some of the best advice you'll ever hear...anything short of completely trainwrecking a tune will go unnoticed by the majority of any live audience unless you visually acknowledge it, so as long as you guys are listening to each other and having fun it'll all be fine.

Enjoy!
 
I've been in this situation quite a lot! Eye contact and movements are cues that definitely help out in situations like these. Also I like to count everything in even numbers. Like if I can't remember if a verse or chorus goes 4 bars or if it goes longer, I anticipate it to go to the next part after 4 bars but if it doesn't I anticipate it to happen in after two more bars, and if not then I anticipate it again after 2 more if that makes any sense. That trick works really well for solos too, if you're ever in a situation where your song's solos tend to be entirely improvised and there is no set amount of time that the solo goes on for. Obviously this doesn't work if a section goes for 5 times or another odd number, but for top 40 country I couldn't imagine that happening too often.
I hope this makes some sort of sense! I'd be willing to clarify if it doesn't :)

You should really be listening to the vocals instead of counting bars and learn how to feel the music so you don't have to count all the time, counting is too distracting from just playing.

Bassically, Michael
 
If you're not getting the start right, make the drummer count it in (1-2-3-4 with the sticks).
As for endings, the drummer should be able to accent the start of the end, otherwise, appoint a "conductor" in the band. We use our singer, who uses his hands to indicate that we're ending (unless the lead guitar has got a beer too much, plays solo and is "in the zone". In those cases, it turns into a jam, which is also often a crowd pleaser, and we do a generic ending of some sort. )
 
That's liquor for the AUDIENCE - not so much for you - lol - Nothing worse than a drunk bass player.... well, maybe a drunk drummer and/or a drunk lead guitarist... and a drunk lead vocalist.... drunk tuba.... drunk bari sax.... hmmmm.... I guess there are worse things than a drunk bass player :laugh:

My bad I meant the audience but I have witnessed events where everyone including the band was liquored up :)
 
By the way: Our last gig we did with a drummer who had already announced he was quitting because of health issues. He was doped up on painkillers, and chased them with beer. We had to take breaks and make on the fly changes in the set lists (what set list?) all the time. And we did all sorts of errors (the drummer wasn't the only one having beers in the too frequent breaks). BUT, we have a singer that communicates well with the audience, and half of them didn't notice the faults, and the other half noticed only half of it, but didn't care. We ended up feeling we had done a bad gig, but the audience had a good time, and we got re-hired for another gig.

So have fun! When mistakes are made, keep smiling and move on. If you look like you have a good time, chances are the audience will have a good time, too. :)

If you start well and end well, noone remembers what was in the middle. Put your tightest songs in the start and in the end of the gig set lists.
 
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So i quasi-auditioned for a top 40 country cover band a little over a month ago and got the gig. This band was fairly established in their area and had been together 5 or so years. Three days after I got the part, the band leader says we're booked for the headlining spot of a Fourth of July festival with a two hour slot in front of approximately 3000 people. He also booked us a 15 minute slot at a battle of the bands on July 10th. I think it was kind of hurried but he said they weren't wanting to start gigging again so I went with it. We've been practicing 3-5 hours once a week. We've got about 20-25 songs lined up. We made some major progress the first 3 practices but for various reasons we seemed to have regressed this past weekend. We've got some songs down really tight but there are a few others that are kinda rough. We know our parts but it's mostly the beginnings and ends that are the problem. We're all off work friday so we've got one last practice. I think we're only about 80% to the point I'd hoped we would be at before the gig but at this point it is what it is. I don't expect to be perfect but I'm a little worried. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Chart out the tunes that are the diciest.
IMO, it's better to have a couple of music stands on stage than to crash and burn.
 
Relax and don't worry. Unless you have a monumental train wreck, the audience won't know; including most of the musicians. I remember playing War Pigs and we really screwed up one part of it. There was another bass player in the audience and when we got off he told me how solid War Pigs was. When I said, yea except for the train wreck, he said what train wreck.

The one thing I would suggest is to decide ahead of time who to follow if you get off track. In my band, the guitar player is always right, by agreement. If things were to get off, he will keep playing and the drummer and I will follow him. It hasn't happened, but if it ever does, we won't be standing around looking at each other trying to figure out who is right.
 
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All great advice already given. My 2 cents....keep eye contact, lock in with the drummer, when/if mistakes happen....just move on and enjoy the gig. I've played for crowds of 30 to national gigs...and I've followed these suggestions with positive results, have a great gig!
 
No place like a live performance to tighten you up. Not being scarcastic, I mean it. You really don't know how the band is going to sound until you hit a stage. As long as I have been performing, the first gig with a new band is always tense.
As Bulldog said, work on the beginnings and endings and you'll be fine.
My Dad, a high school band director and performing musician always said you should start strong and end with a flourish. What happens in the middle is less important.
 
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I'll echo the others, get a decent amount of sleep, do your rehearsal, and then: just do it. At the show, stay hydrated but skip the beer. And also skip flirting with the lovelies or anything else that might distract you from taking care of business. Just do your best to stay focused until you're off the stage. And try not to obsess too much over it in the process.

Some observations:

1) They've been together 5 years so they all know each other's quirks - except maybe yours. So they're 80% there on syncing with each other.

2) It's Top 40 - so you all pretty much know how the songs go. And that would be true even if you never played them.

3) You nailed the audition - so you and they both know you can handle the gig.

4) The audiences don't care (and usually can't even hear) 90% of the mistakes that send good musicians into a tailspin. And a good number of the audience will also have a few drinks in them and notice even less than usual. So that's an even bigger safety factor.

5) Festival audiences aren't there to do a critical appraisal of the music they're hearing. They're there to have a good time, bop, and dance. So keep the groove sweet and steady - and give them "good boogie" as the old saying goes. They won't (or usually won't) mind a rough start or mistakes in the song itself. Pay close attention to your endings as best you can however. If you have to focus on anything at this point, focus on nailing the endings as best you can. Like horseback riding or a bike, the place you're most likely to get hurt is on the dismount. A rough start is ok because you soon get your balance and it's smooth sailing after that. Once you're rolling - you're rolling, so that takes care of itself. A good clean dismount, however, puts a professional finish on the piece - and can make your group sound tighter than it is sometimes. So try to nail the endings. Note: if you flub it big time - and have a good frontman - he/she can often turn it onto a joke. "Just part of the act folks! Just part of the act!" I saw Tab Benoit do that by acting like he maybe had half a drink too many during the break - and the audience (of which half were fairly smashed at that point) LOVED IT!

6) Position yourself where you can constantly see the high-hat. That's usually the backbeat. When in doubt, always feel and work off the backbeat. It makes life a lot easier when you're the bassist. And it sounds better too

7) Stop worrying. To your earlier point - it is what it is. You've all been playing for a number of years, know the songs, and want to do your best. I'm sure it will all turn out just fine.

If it's any comfort, the first really serious gig I played was with an all original group that had 28 songs of their own. It was two guitars, drums, bass, lead vocal, and the rest of the group doing backup vocals. This group had already been together for two years when I replaced their original bass player after a major squabble. These guys (all accomplished and experienced musicians) had been writing material as a group - and rehearsing pretty heavily from day one. They got together at least three times a week for 4 to 6 hours at a stretch. (I got familiar with driving myself home absolutely exhausted between 1:00 and 3:00AM when I was with those guys.) So needless to say the arrangements were very tight. And to make it more fun for me, they didn't sound like anybody else's music I knew.

I only got about 30 hours of rehearsal in with them before the first gig. I brought chord charts on index cards for ten of the songs I was still shaky with and taped them to the top of my amp that first gig. The only time in my life I ever needed to do that.

Short story? I though I sucked royally that night. The band thought I did great. And the audience had a really good time. Good enough that the band got booked back by the club at the end of our second set.

Moral? Do your best and it will work out fine.

And remember...energy, a solid beat, and the desire to show your audience a good time, will trump flawless technique every time.

Luck!
 
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Lots of good advice here. I'd agree with those who say, "simplify". If possible ... of course, being new to the band, you may not get much input, but if some beginnings or endings are particularly troublesome, they can be sh*tcanned. The body of the song itself is most important, very simple lead-ins or endings can be used if warranted. Then learn the more difficult intros and outros for the next gig (or the one after that). That might be my approach.
 
Record your next practice and take notes or make comments to yourself directly into the recorder at the end of the song. That will give you something to listen to and practice along with.

On gig day, if the girls are shaking their rears, you are doing it right!