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How do you shoot down song requests?

#23
"We don't know it." But our BL pays attention: If we get repeated requests for a particular song or artist, we'll add it. If we can. None of us can hit the high notes on "Livin' On A Prayer," and it doesn't sound good if we change the key. (Actually Jon Bon himself can't hit them anymore, either. Live, he lets the crowd sing it.):D
 
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#27
A very popular local originals band was playing. The woman lead singer asked if there were any requests. There is no saying they don't know the tune. People called out titles. She was shaking her head. In a perfectly pleasant voice she said "I'm not hearing anything I want to do." Finally "OK, that's a good one." And off the went on the tune.

Not everyone could get away with that. But she had rapport with the audience, a good sense of humor and the band was well liked.
Try it some time. Let us know how it goes.
 
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#29
RhynoRock said:
Usually one of us says we don't know how to play the song, because that's more likely the truth anyway that one or more members doesn't. But what annoys me is when people harass us to play a song that's not even related to what we do. We're a POP band, as in current and recent top 40 stuff like Katy Perry, Lizzo, Maroon 5 etc. people will come up and harass us to play Slipknot or 5 Finger Death Punch (the latter NONE of us can stomach). Or when they want us to play classic rock. NO. And they're frequently not nice about the request.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to digest how you can stomach Katy Perry and Maroon Five. At least SK and FFDP are commited to playing music that pleases them as a band while the former are pretty cogs in a machine that over the last 15 years has sucked the humanity out of music making. While I'm not a big fan of "screamy" music, I do like "Before I Forget" by SK. Good rhythms and great for singing along with in the car.

Mugre
 
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#30
I saw Eric Jerardi, a popular regional blues rock guy, playing. He was talking between songs, and this rather drunk older woman started walking toward the stage, yelling, "Eric, Eric!!"

He looks at her and goes, "No, we are not gonna play Mustang Sally." I laughed, she got a little offended looking, and he apologized for being rude. She went on to tell him a long drawn out story about how he used to work on cars in her garage with her son 30-odd years earlier. Guess he should've let her walk away upset.
 
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#31
Jeez. All that effort to be nice to people you don't know and who don't really care that much about you. I skip all lengthy explanations of whether we know a song or not. Bottom line: bar owners don't want people leaving, so I just....lie. Sort of. I'll tell them "that may be in the next set". Or, if it's the last set, "That may be coming up in a little bit". I may also have absolutely no intention of playing that song. If they remember after the set or night ends I'll tell them we couldn't squeeze it in but to come back next time and we'll play it.
 
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#33
This from Bill Crow's "Jazz Anecdotes: Second Time Around"
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#36
I would not announce beforehand, or at any time, that you don't take song requests... why advertise something that may never come up to an entire audience? I've played several gigs where no one makes a request. If someone makes request, it's usually someone that approaches a band member. Just say something like, "sorry, we don't have that one down" or "we don't know that one, but do know another song they play (if this is so)".

The longer you gig, the more tunes you'll learn, and the better you'll get. In time, you'll be able to take on some requests.
 
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#38
RhynoRock said:
Usually one of us says we don't know how to play the song, because that's more likely the truth anyway that one or more members doesn't. But what annoys me is when people harass us to play a song that's not even related to what we do. We're a POP band, as in current and recent top 40 stuff like Katy Perry, Lizzo, Maroon 5 etc. people will come up and harass us to play Slipknot or 5 Finger Death Punch (the latter NONE of us can stomach). Or when they want us to play classic rock. NO. And they're frequently not nice about the request.
Click to expand...
Sounds like they're attending the wrong show. Politely tell them to go away, like,as far as possible away.
 

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