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First-timer in cover band, got a few questions...
- Thread starter Vinz Clortho
- Start date
Since it's a cover band, lots of songs that are nothing to add that are very dance able and basic I-IV-V-I songs:
Hound Dog
House is Rockin
Great Balls of Fire
All Shook Up
Rock Around the Clock
Sweet Home Chicago
Have the singer put the words in front of him on the floor
Hound Dog
House is Rockin
Great Balls of Fire
All Shook Up
Rock Around the Clock
Sweet Home Chicago
Have the singer put the words in front of him on the floor
Yes, you do need to learn more songs. A reasonable number would be 200+. Buy, when a new band is starting up, you may not be able to get that much together. So, there are some tricks that will get you by, but taking long breaks is not none of them.
First, stretch the songs. Do a second lead, do another verse.
You front person should do a little banter between songs. Don't make it too much, but remind everyone to tip the waitresses and hype whatever food/drink special the manager asked you to.
Replay what tunes you need to. Pick the ones you played earliest or the ones that the crowd seemed to like, but don't repeat a set in the same order. The crowd will turn over about every hour, so the people that are there for the last 2 sets will be mostly different people than were there for the first 2. There will be some that are still there, but they will be too drunk to notice the difference.
First, stretch the songs. Do a second lead, do another verse.
You front person should do a little banter between songs. Don't make it too much, but remind everyone to tip the waitresses and hype whatever food/drink special the manager asked you to.
Replay what tunes you need to. Pick the ones you played earliest or the ones that the crowd seemed to like, but don't repeat a set in the same order. The crowd will turn over about every hour, so the people that are there for the last 2 sets will be mostly different people than were there for the first 2. There will be some that are still there, but they will be too drunk to notice the difference.
Maybe do an unplugged set of popular acoustic songs? Takes the pressure off having to teach the whole band songs that you know how to play yourself. My band used to do this a lot when we had some extra time to fill. Between the 2 guitarists and the bassist, we all knew a lot of songs that we had never rehearsed as a band for one reason or another, and we could fill a good set acoustically. Maybe do the acoustic set at the beginning while people are still sober and milling about? If it's an outdoor gig, the acoustic set would be good for the beginning of the night while it's still daylight.
We have maybe 50.
200?
Not for awhile! I've spent the last two weeks learning Slow Ride.
Cover bands need to perform 4 sets of material in your average bar / lounge gig. Most of the material needs to be of a dancable genre. Luckily for you there is lots of dance songs that are basically one riff grooves like Brickhouse or Sly Stone's Thank You for Lettin me be Myself ( yes - not spelled right). Throw together a few of those and maybe some modern simple hits like Get Lucky or Maroon 5... Move like Jaggar and off you go. Should be able to learn 5 or 6 songs like these at every practice. Add in some 1 4 5 blues rockers which are all basically the same song. Stay away from any song with a lot of breaks, changes and complex arrangements for now.
