How Long

[DaDrew2112]

So I've started a band doing originals and some covers and I'm wondering how long and what kind of level does the band need to be to play out? How many originals do we have to have to gig? How good should the originals be? It's an alternative/garage band in case you needed to know We're looking to be good enough to develop a fan base and have some fun. It would be nice to "make it" but I'm not sure that's realistic seeing as how we're all in high school minus one member

 

[StuartV]

My opinion (obviously): An originals band? You need to have roughly an hour's worth of music together (12'ish songs, if they're mainstream contemporary length). They need to be at a level that you can record them and have the recording sound decent. Then, record them (doesn't have to be studio quality or anything), edit together a mash-up of clips from them to make one demo track, then put that and your 2 or 3 best full-length song recordings on a demo CD and go start talking to local venues that have shows with local originals bands. The kinds of places that have shows where 2 or 3 bands each play 1 set.

Also, start a Facebook band page and post the same recordings. Then, get all your friends to Like your page. Then start Like-ing the pages of all your local venues and other bands that you might be friends with. This part is called "networking".

 

[Buddah999]

From my experience in an original band you dont need an hour of original music. An LP is 45 minutes or more of program material, and for most headliners, thier timeslot is 45 minutes to an hour. Anyone opening has 30 minutes... Even the pros.

My suggestion is to work on your product. Whatever that may be. If your a metal, you need to be technically superior. Punk/hardcore, you need to be entertaining, and have an amazing stage show. For the indie/alternative stuff, you should have a strong connection with your audience. that kinda crowd feels like the bands are thier thier best friends, and would have a sleepover at thier house.

Now thats not to say that you shouldnt try to incorporate all those things... but all the top bands in thier respective genere have those qualities... IMO

As far as time... well that has no simple answer. Some bands sound pro after a year. Some bands sound pro in a few weeks. It all depends on who you put in the room, style of music etc.

 

[TRichardsbass]

I'll second those emotions.

Typically original bands will be lumped with at least two or three other acts on a typical night. Your actual set time will be between 30 minutes to an hour. If you are just starting out you will be most likely openers, and recently around here the opener is getting about 40 minutes of play time. So, a minimum of an hours worth of material is necessary.

When you play live, EVERYONE winds up playing the songs faster then in practice. So if you time yourselves and get one hour in practice, assume on stage that will turn out to be about 50 minutes, including witty banter. So, the best to do is to have about an hour and fifteen minutes of songs to choose from.

Then, rehearse them in the order you wil play them live. Focus on the first through about the 4th song being very strong, have some other stuff in the middle, and finish strong. That way, if you are given 30 minutes, you can play the first part of your set and your finish and have a great set. Longer, you can add the middle ones.

What I do is always place the entire probable set list on stage with everyone. We rehearse all of the songs until we can do the order in our heads. Then, based on the crowd and the time allotted I subtract out songs. I do that cleverly by always stopping before a song, doing some quick banter, then announcing the next song. That way the band knows we've moved to a different song and it appears natural. I never bounce back and forth, just plow thru with the order, skipping songs as necessary.

Hope that helps.

 

[DaDrew2112]

Cool stuff guys, its definitely helpful. I guess I wasn't as clear as I should have been haha but what I'm also trying to do is determine the quality of the songs we're producing. Sometimes I think they're great and other times....not so much. I'm sort of a newbie songwriter and am starting to hone my craft. I'm aware its probably terrible but I feel like I cannot properly examine it with a clear perspective. I have no idea how good my songs are. Don't worry, there's no slap bass I really want to know how you determine if a song is trash or not. lol

 

[HeadyVan Halen]

9.3 inches...don't know how that computes to cm though.

 

[cchorney]

I'll second those emotions.

Typically original bands will be lumped with at least two or three other acts on a typical night. Your actual set time will be between 30 minutes to an hour. If you are just starting out you will be most likely openers, and recently around here the opener is getting about 40 minutes of play time. So, a minimum of an hours worth of material is necessary.

When you play live, EVERYONE winds up playing the songs faster then in practice. So if you time yourselves and get one hour in practice, assume on stage that will turn out to be about 50 minutes, including witty banter. So, the best to do is to have about an hour and fifteen minutes of songs to choose from.

Then, rehearse them in the order you wil play them live. Focus on the first through about the 4th song being very strong, have some other stuff in the middle, and finish strong. That way, if you are given 30 minutes, you can play the first part of your set and your finish and have a great set. Longer, you can add the middle ones.

What I do is always place the entire probable set list on stage with everyone. We rehearse all of the songs until we can do the order in our heads. Then, based on the crowd and the time allotted I subtract out songs. I do that cleverly by always stopping before a song, doing some quick banter, then announcing the next song. That way the band knows we've moved to a different song and it appears natural. I never bounce back and forth, just plow thru with the order, skipping songs as necessary.

Hope that helps.

I will second your seconding (can I do that?) especially on playing faster on stage and new original acts usually getting an hour.

I would add in that you should have a couple sound check songs, you should build up that repertoire asap so you have 3 full sets you you can be the night's entertainment instead of "1 act among many", and lastly and very importantly, set up your rehearsal space like a stage - everyone pointing in the same direction. If you don't practice like you play on stage, you will be surprised at how much stuff you thought you knew but were actually reading from the other band member's body language.

 

[Ubersheist]

Lots of good advice here. I forgot about cchorney's point about reading each other. It's a good one for the young padowans. Play a practice where you're set up like you were on stage, and try to interact with eachother like you would on stage. And think about getting a metronome and marking out times for each song, and then getting the drummer to recall the times on each song on the metronome so you don't play them too fast.

I'd say start playing out when you have a full set of material (45 min. for most clubs) and feel comfortable playing it. Just get out there. The more you play out, the better you'll sound ('cause you'll probably sound lousy the first few times you play out - it's the nature of the beast).

Also, those hand held recorders like the Zoom H2 are cheap and sound good, and a great tool that technology has offered. Get one, record your shows, and then critique your performances afterwards.

 

[mambo4]

I really want to know how you determine if a song is trash or not.

thats a toughie for sure.
One fact that slowly crept into my awareness is that , given a simple grasp of how chord progressions and melody works, It's not hard to write a song that's OK.
but It's really hard to deliberately write a great song: they come along almost accidentally and rarely.
In practice this means: be prolific and don't fear throwing ideas out.
If you want to write 1 good song, write 100 and discard the 99 worst ones. J

It's easy to mistake the simple joy of creation for the pleasure of producing quality.
When I write a part that works, I always get a little rush of joy from it.
I used to mistake it for "this is GOOD!!!" when really it was "OMG I made something!!!"

Developing honest ears takes time and experience: listen to a lot of music, especially by songwriters that other songwriters admire.
Learn their songs, steal their ideas, internalize them and rearrange them to your tastes. imitate, emulate, then innovate as they say...

And of course if strangers with no stake in you or your music say it's good, that's the real stamp of quality.
I think it was Rosanne Cash who said in an interview "Of course, a song isn't really finished until it's heard by an audience"

 

[Stick_Player]

So I've started a band doing originals and some covers and I'm wondering how long and what kind of level does the band need to be to play out? How many originals do we have to have to gig? How good should the originals be? It's an alternative/garage band in case you needed to know We're looking to be good enough to develop a fan base and have some fun. It would be nice to "make it" but I'm not sure that's realistic seeing as how we're all in high school minus one member

"... what kind of level does the band need to be to play out?

As high of a level as possible - better than what's out there now.

How many originals do we have to have to gig?

Just enough to leave the audience ALWAYS want more.

How good should the originals be?

The originals need to be better than what is commercially available.

If you do these three things, you will easily develop a fan base and "make it".