Rickett Customs
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Knowing the structure of each song good and if you know enough about theory, you'll know how the progressions connect, otherwise you memorize the root notes first.
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Learning a large setlist FAST - Tips?
- Thread starter m0ranwad
- Start date
Unless you simply don't have the time then it's no cop out it's just how it is. We're talking about ways of coming in and cutting a new gig when you aren't given a month of rehearsal to completely memorize 50 songs.
I have come in a few bands with little time like this one 3 or so weeks for the first gig 50+ songs. Trust me, nobody in this band will allow me to fake a song or did anyone in the others I faced this with.
You make it sound like "faking" is gonna sound like ass when that's not necessarily the case depending on your ears and knowledge of the genre. I'm not saying it's ideal and it's certainly not gonna work with complex music like say Zappa but calling it a "cop out" across the board is denying yourself a legitimate method for doing set list triage to get through the night. I have thousands of songs in my head and can pretty much play any song I've heard whether or not I've ever played it before. Given that maybe my perspective isn't useful to someone who always has to sit down with a recording and bass in hand to learn a cover tune.
The kind of cover-band setlist the OP is talking about, there aren't many really distinctive bass lines on the list. This is Summer of 69, What I Like About You kinds of songs. IMO, there are some songs where the bass line is distinctive and recognizable and you HAVE to nail it or the song won't work. There are others where it's pretty simple and mostly just roots anyway and nobody in the crowd will notice or care if you put the exact fills in it exactly the way they are in the recording, or not. To my mind it's kind of futile and obsessive-compulsive to insist on getting those kinds of parts "note for note." The key thing is to know which songs are which.
I understand wht you are saying and for a called song have faked a few but it is not what a working band wants or as I said any I'm in.
If you are expected to know the songs by chords, breaks, solo's etc faking is not going to work well for a 50+ song setlist...a song or two yes.
I advise anyone who is needs to learn songs quick to pay their dues sit up late and get ready to put in the homework and time needed to get ready for a ful gig of covers...correctly.
I'm not talking about what the crowd hears that is another thing. I'm talking about the BL wanting me to know the songs and walk the proper chords to the song not fishin and making up my own basslines. I can add fills but the basslines need to be solid and I overfill I hear about it.
Listening the songs a lot of times repeatedly gets you (literaly) half way there. Put them on your mobile music player, and listen everywhere you go. Once you know all the arrangements by heart, play along with music and youll see - you will have no trouble remembering your part.
In my experience, what working band wants is a solid bass player that can hit the note when needed and is flexible, nobody likes a perfectionist...have you seen Pino playing with The Who lately?
Nobody is telling him to fake all the song for all his life and never learn a song, we are just saying that - in the meantime - while he learn the original baseline he can play something similar as long as he does the right changes and gets along with the drummer, things should be just fine, and more over at least 95% of the cover bands out there play the songs "similarly" to the original, they all "fake" something, somehow.
Also, he is not talking about faking Rush, these are very simple song where he would have to play the roots most of the time anyway.... I mean of course is cool to learn the song, but if you do not have the time ithere is nothing wrong with fake it and hit one note at the right time than trying to play the real thing and play 3 notes at the wrong time...JMO
Some of you just don't see the forest for the trees, and that is fine, its your choice.
Some basslines "as recorded" are an important part of the song or "the hook", some are NOT. Some are merely low root notes.
Would I fake, "Give it Away" "Talking in your sleep", "Are you gonna be my girl" or London calling? or Rush, No, but I won't give a second thought to laying down the changes for and "faking" my way through some of this newer rock without memorable basslines. Especially if it is not in my bands permanent setlist.
Usually the song structure and the chord progression is the most memorable thing that you need to get right in 90% of songs. Some little bass fill is usually not, unless it is one where the rest of the BAND cuts out, and it is just your bass. This you should learn as close as you can to the original.
YOu need to use your ears and judgement, not listen to anyone on here who claims to play every song note for note. (Hey you missed that sixteenth note pickup Geddy plays for the third chorus thru the trees and also you forgot to hammer on for that third lick from the end, you slid it and CHEATED it!" Yeah right.
Some basslines "as recorded" are an important part of the song or "the hook", some are NOT. Some are merely low root notes.
Would I fake, "Give it Away" "Talking in your sleep", "Are you gonna be my girl" or London calling? or Rush, No, but I won't give a second thought to laying down the changes for and "faking" my way through some of this newer rock without memorable basslines. Especially if it is not in my bands permanent setlist.
Usually the song structure and the chord progression is the most memorable thing that you need to get right in 90% of songs. Some little bass fill is usually not, unless it is one where the rest of the BAND cuts out, and it is just your bass. This you should learn as close as you can to the original.
YOu need to use your ears and judgement, not listen to anyone on here who claims to play every song note for note. (Hey you missed that sixteenth note pickup Geddy plays for the third chorus thru the trees and also you forgot to hammer on for that third lick from the end, you slid it and CHEATED it!" Yeah right.
YOu need to use your ears and judgement, not listen to anyone on here who claims to play every song note for note. (Hey you missed that sixteenth note pickup Geddy plays for the third chorus thru the trees and also you forgot to hammer on for that third lick from the end, you slid it and CHEATED it!" Yeah right.
In defense of bassbully I don't think he's talking about playing everything note for note.
Bassbully, you're assuming that I or anyone attempting this has a tremendous amount of free time. I'm a full time, married, college student who also works full time. I spend every spare minute I have with bass in hand.
Call it cheating if you must, I'm simply trying to be an efficient musician.
Call it cheating if you must, I'm simply trying to be an efficient musician.
Right, I'm talking about knowing the songs played right the way the band wants them played. Do we play note for note not always but if the song is walking on 4-5 chords with a breakdown and added solo's I can't fake that I need to follow the band and know my role... just saying.
Join the club. I am 51 with a wife and 8 year old Daughter. Both wife and I work full time and I am in two bands (again) I'm not saying you have to play note for note but like I said above I have to nail the changes and breakdowns. If I show up to a gig trying to fake thru the bands covers they will call me out. They do play allot of songs to the note but we can do other things around the core parts of the song.
What I was trying to say is if you take the role of a bass player in a covers band with a good size setlist and not much time to do it in do the homework and grind out the songs. When you hit that first gig there is no faking, you know the songs cold. Will it take time a sacrifice of free time to get there? Of course.
I don't get the "make up your bass line" thing, or "just play root notes". Usually it's easier for me to play what I hear than play root notes or chart things out and makes up something easier. I guess we're different but just offering my way.
No one is talking note for note exactly. But the songs usually have a basic kind of bassline and its easier to just play it than come up with something different. Plus it fits the song. Why learn it twice?
Lot's of songs you can do once through. If you're having to stop and figure out the chords on "Sharp dressed man" you're probably not ready to gig yet.
No one is talking note for note exactly. But the songs usually have a basic kind of bassline and its easier to just play it than come up with something different. Plus it fits the song. Why learn it twice?
Lot's of songs you can do once through. If you're having to stop and figure out the chords on "Sharp dressed man" you're probably not ready to gig yet.
I think we are all saying the same thing exactly, learn the chords and the structure of the song aka changes, and then play what ever is similar to what you hear or the base notes aka " roots", nobody is saying not playing parts of the song or not doing some changes, I'm saying that if I have to learn "crossroads" for a gig tomorrow I'm just going to learn, besides the chords and the structure, the basic bassline, the one everybody but Jack Bruce plays, and I'm going to repeat it all the time - or do a variation of my own from time to time.
Good point. What I learn from the original artist's recordings many times my BL band adds solos' and maybe a diffrent breakdown or ending to the songs. This is why I said I can't walk onstage and fake thru them you have to know them changes.
+1 to all of this.
The only things I'll add are:
1. Before you learn more than a handful of tunes, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE GIG! Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more frustrating than having to buckle down and learn a lot of material just to find out the gig wasn't 100% yours in the first place, and now you have learned a lot of material for nothing. Always make sure you know the deal first.
2. Ask the band if they do any of the songs differently from the recordings. Do they do a song in a different key, is there an added chorus, is the whole song played with a different feel, etc... I recently had to learn a CCR song. Nothing hard, but I took a good 20 minutes to get it down. I showed up to rehearsal only to find out the band plays it nothing like the original, so I had wasted my time even bothering with the song.
