Don't Use Charts on The Gig

[FretNoMore]

An additional point; I like to place the stand with charts to the side, I think it's not that nice to have a big music stand between you and the audience. I just need to glance at the chart, usually before we start the song, so it doesn't need to be in front of me. The iPad is smaller and can sit on the mic stand without looking too obvious and in the way.

 

[joebar]

I think that the larger the ensemble, the less chance you have of everyone hitting their cues all the time.
I saw a steely dan tribute once and there were ten people on the stage. many were charting.

 

[Ric5]

A discussion in another forum got interesting when I mentioned that I don't use charts on the gig. I don't even use them at rehearsals or auditions either. A set list? Yeah.

We're talking about POP: Rock, Country, mainstream radio play covers.

My thought is, you either know the material or you don't and a chart, unless you're old school big band isn't going to help.

I study the tune(s) when I practice. If a song or passage gives me trouble, I'll listen to more of the artists/players tunes to get a sense of their playing style. I usually end up learning 3-4 tunes of an artist to just to learn the one tune for the set. I'll write changes on a set list as I'm learning it but I use it only to practice.

Every musician I've ever worked with who stuck strictly to charts never seemed to really play the song(s) in a manner that sounded anything but restricted, not free or with the feel of the band.

Anyone else?

+1 I never use charts or tabs or sheet music at a gig ... playing from a chart makes my playing worse ... unless it is the first time through the song ever.

a song list is the only piece of paper that I use.

Also nobody wants to see a band where the whole band is hiding behind music stands.

 

[QweziRider]

A lot of the work I get to do is one-off shows. Things I'll get a call to do once and walk away from. In those cases, I'm not going to spend an inordinate amount of time memorizing the show. Make the chart from audio files available to me, work out details a few times, do the show, done. There are too many other things going on in life to spend time memorizing all of a show I'll never do again (which is not to say I don't get a good chunk of it memorized in my process or may already know, I'm just not going to obsess over it).

On the other side of the coin, with my regular band, of course doing that show 100 times per year or so kind of negates a need for charts.

 

[Febs]

Every musician I've ever worked with who stuck strictly to charts never seemed to really play the song(s) in a manner that sounded anything but restricted, not free or with the feel of the band.

Anyone else?

This is not my experience. There are people who can read well, and people who can't. The people who can read well have no trouble at all playing the songs "with the feel of the band" while reading.

 

[Bullitt5135]

I'm only speaking about classic rock covers, since that's what I play. To me, obvious music stands on stage are tacky as hell. I'm OK with scribbling a few notes on the setlist if that helps you recall a song or two that are new to the list. I agree with other posters who say it can become a crutch. In my case, nothing we play is so complicated that I feel the need to have a cheat sheet.

On one of the first gigs I played a few years back, the two guys splitting lead duties had binders full of notes & lyrics. Between every song, they were flipping around trying to find the right page. Then it got dark out (gig was outdoors) and they couldn't see to read anything. I felt like crawling under a rock. All because they couldn't remember Margaritaville or Mary Jane's Last Dance without their notes. Ugh.

Another friend's cover band plays a handful of charity gigs every year, and they've played the same songs a million times. There's like 9 people on-stage, all with music stands. Between songs people are shuffling paper, dropping stuff on the floor, etc. Tacky and amateurish.

 

[Brother Goose]

I use whatever I need to make the music happen- and find a degree of comfort in having a set list printed up with any notation that will help prevent "brain farts".

Whether I know a song or not- I have a tendency to have excitement/stress induced lapses of memory. My 69 year old Papa has trouble remembering songs HE WROTE.

(keep in mind I survived meningitis and have a neurological reason for this happening)

So despite being 35 years old and sound of mind/body I still NEED documentation for time to time.

It broke my heart to cover a wedding gig in dim lighting and have my face in the poorly printed notes while everyone was cutting "Footloose"- I'm a naturally ultra emotive and expressive stage presence.

In a perfect world- everyone would have all of the changes locked down and never need a piece of paper and spend all extra energy making eyes with the dancers.

To all who rush to judge our brethren on a myriad of subjects:

You don't know what someone is dealing with that is internal or unrelated and may affect their habits.

 

[neal davis]

I think it all depends on how many bands you play in and what the rep is for all the bands. It is common for me to work with 10-12 bands in a month all with varying degrees of music.

On Jazz gigs I rarely use a chart for standards because I know a bunch, for originals or arrangements of tunes I'll use a chart.

For wedding band gigs with specific parts and unison lines I'll use a chart as a road map.

In a country band that I work with sometimes that has 3-400 songs they choose from I'll keep some number charts handy incase I forget the bridge of a song I haven't played in 2 years

 

[TomJ4Eden]

I used to play everything by ear but then my ear started hurting too much. . . Charts feel so much better.

seriously, when I was gigging, none of used charts, and I think it does take away from the show aspects if you are tied to it. I do agree though, that when I am playing in church with little practice and a ton of songs to pick from, a chart is a necessity for me. It does make it easy that most praise music is like pop (1, 4, 5 and the occasional 6m) so I can interact with the band and God instead of it just being a technical exercise. YMMV

 

[buldog5151bass]

I have them - try not to use them. But especially when learning a bunch of tunes quickly, it helps. For instance - I had to learn The Ocean in a couple of days - had the sheet music for the end part.

 

[lfmn16]

For me it depends on what you are calling a chart. I do all of the tunes in my current band from memory, but I have used cheat sheets in the past for songs like Black Sabbath's War Pigs. I don't think I've ever had to write out a complete chart for a rock tune, but I would if I needed to.

All this talk of cheating - it's not the SATs. There are times when people with full time jobs and families don't have time to memorize every note of every tune they are playing. I'd rather see someone referring to a chart and playing the right notes than relying on memory and making mistakes. Obviously the goal is to memorize all of your parts, but most of us aren't full time musicians and it's not always possible. No need to be judgmental.

 

[MegaSwing]

I can read notation and charts just fine, but I try to avoid all that for Pop gigs. All you're talking about is a few chords, a few hits and a line or two. If you've been doing this long enough, you've internalized enough song forms and know enough tunes anyway. Of course, there's always exceptions, as I've seen top tier guys like Tony Levin and Anthony Jackson use cheat sheets or read on the gig, respectively. They don't sound like they don't know the tune though.

Obviously if there's a stage full of musicians using sheet music as seen with Broadway shows or big Church orchestral stuff, than you do as the Romans do.

This. It depends on what the other guys are doing.

Overall, though, unless the songs in question are 100% unfamiliar (as in unrehearsed too, which has happened), I don't rely on charts, and then only until I assimilate the music. There is a freedom to it.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I use charts all the time. If I were gigging full time or touring, I'd memorize everything. Love my iPad.

 

[Robroy]

A discussion in another forum got interesting when I mentioned that I don't use charts on the gig. I don't even use them at rehearsals or auditions either. A set list? Yeah.

We're talking about POP: Rock, Country, mainstream radio play covers.

My thought is, you either know the material or you don't and a chart, unless you're old school big band isn't going to help.

I study the tune(s) when I practice. If a song or passage gives me trouble, I'll listen to more of the artists/players tunes to get a sense of their playing style. I usually end up learning 3-4 tunes of an artist to just to learn the one tune for the set. I'll write changes on a set list as I'm learning it but I use it only to practice.

Every musician I've ever worked with who stuck strictly to charts never seemed to really play the song(s) in a manner that sounded anything but restricted, not free or with the feel of the band.

Anyone else?

Crap, I could have posted that, right down to the caveats.

I left a band because there were music stands on stage and one always had a goose neck light with a 60 watt bulb. I thought it was only a temporary thing. I dropped hints, but it was clear those stands would be there forever. And one user was a singer ONLY. She needed it for words.

Stands on stage for the types of bands you mentioned reek of amateur.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

I have it pretty easy these days--I work in two five-piece bands (easy communication on stage), each with a 50-60 page current book. I'll use charts in rehearsal, but I can still (Thank God) keep 120 memorized tunes in my head. Two years ago this time was a different story--lots of work backing singer/songwriters, lots of different tunes, quirky arrangements. I didn't use charts, but I did have chord/lyric sheets I needed to consult.

 

[Joe Nerve]

I'm with the op on this one. Charts reak of "I don't care" to me. That it's nothing more than a job that you're doing, and that the notes are more important to you than the music or performance. Says too that it's not important enough for the player to put their time into. It's also a lot less fun for me. I like to feel the music when I'm playing, not think it. I could go on but I won't . Ok. Just one more thing... It sometimes also strikes me at times as being a bit pretentious.

 

[GKon]

A discussion in another forum got interesting when I mentioned that I don't use charts on the gig. I don't even use them at rehearsals or auditions either. A set list? Yeah.

We're talking about POP: Rock, Country, mainstream radio play covers.

My thought is, you either know the material or you don't and a chart, unless you're old school big band isn't going to help.

I study the tune(s) when I practice. If a song or passage gives me trouble, I'll listen to more of the artists/players tunes to get a sense of their playing style. I usually end up learning 3-4 tunes of an artist to just to learn the one tune for the set. I'll write changes on a set list as I'm learning it but I use it only to practice.

Every musician I've ever worked with who stuck strictly to charts never seemed to really play the song(s) in a manner that sounded anything but restricted, not free or with the feel of the band.

Anyone else?

I'm with you on this, for sure.

When I print out our setlist for the gig, I notate the first note that the song starts on, just so we all begin in the same place
I find it a bit of a joke to see a Pop/Rock/Top 40 band play and use charts. It always makes me feel as if they didn't do their homework,
or just didn't care to learn the songs, using the charts as a crutch.

There have been times when I've made some notations on the setlist to remind me of a change, or how many times to play the verse etc,
but these have been instances when I had a week and a half to learn 28 songs, and I needed some help to keep me on track.
Otherwise, I learn the songs we are going to play, play them and put on a show.

 

[tkonbass]

I use charts all the time. If I were gigging full time or touring, I'd memorize everything. Love my iPad.

Curious as to how you utilize your iPad. Do you use a particular app or is it more of a document thing?

 

[Robroy]

I think that the larger the ensemble, the less chance you have of everyone hitting their cues all the time.
I saw a steely dan tribute once and there were ten people on the stage. many were charting.

Ever see Brit Floyd? No visible charts.

 

[johnpbass]

I think that the larger the ensemble, the less chance you have of everyone hitting their cues all the time.
I saw a steely dan tribute once and there were ten people on the stage. many were charting.

I would think that if you're a tribute band, you would know the material cold.