In my pop / rock cover band, Im the only one that doesnt have some sort of support method.... I dont like it, but its not worth tossing in a good thing. At least the singer has an unobtrusive Ipad.....
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Memorizing songs?
- Thread starter Flatwound
- Start date
One of the things that I learned about myself playing in a cover band in my fifties was that I can only retain 3 hours worth of material if I play it regularly enough. As the band only had rehearsal time to work on new material and maybe run through one of the sets each week, I’d have to spend regular time at home running the other sets under headphones. Otherwise I’d have had to use charts on stage. Which I guess tells you how I feel about using them in public.
I've been stood at the bar with the other two folk in the band when somebody asks, "What sort of songs do you play?" and we've all gone completely blank. Could name a couple at best. It's a weird thing, the mind!
Hi Flatwound 
Not everybody is a bass player! Or a drummer.
Imagine for a second a drummer who forgets a bridge and just keeps on going with a big smile.
Or counting in too fast for the guitarplayer's intro (at every rehearsal)
I guess the singer, the keyboarder and the guitarist would tell you...
Well you know what!
It wouldn't be tolerated!
I played over 25 years in a rock show (hard & heavy). No chance to use a music stand with all the running, jumping and headbanging.
It can be different if you just perform music (orchestra, big band...)
Some folks can walk and chew gum, others can't find their own shoe laces without using GPS.
...they should not play?
You can go ampless! And have a very silent stage!
Wise(b)ass
Not everybody is a bass player! Or a drummer.
Imagine for a second a drummer who forgets a bridge and just keeps on going with a big smile.
Or counting in too fast for the guitarplayer's intro (at every rehearsal)
I guess the singer, the keyboarder and the guitarist would tell you...
Well you know what!
It wouldn't be tolerated!I played over 25 years in a rock show (hard & heavy). No chance to use a music stand with all the running, jumping and headbanging.
It can be different if you just perform music (orchestra, big band...)
Some folks can walk and chew gum, others can't find their own shoe laces without using GPS.
.
...they should not play?
You can go ampless!
And have a very silent stage! Wise(b)ass
I have no problem using an iPad and still do. I joined my current band in September having to know about 200 songs within a month, there are no set lists at gigs, and I’ve probably done 40 well paid gigs since I joined.
I’ll agree that it’s hard to get off the page once I’ve gotten used to it, but there is no other way to make a walk-in situation like that work without it. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to memorize that many songs. Add to that the band tunes down a half step, and sometimes don’t play in the original key - a Nashville number chord chart is sometimes the only way to adapt the first time the song is called out.
Having said that, I’ve been working on memorizing what I can - earlier in the month I got through the entire first set without looking at all. Now that I have a better idea of what’s “typical” for a gig, I know what I need to memorize. But there are still songs pulled out three months in that I’ve never played with the band before, and I’m preoccupied enough with the “regular” tunes that a chart is the only way to refresh my memory. Chances are I won’t be playing those again for 3-4 months.
More importantly, I told the band I would be using charts to get situated with the band. They had no problem with that. They had 50+ gigs left for the year and needed someone asap. Using a chart was not their biggest priority. It was more important someone shows up on time and gets through the show with few mistakes. Isn’t that what’s important?
I say what works best for a musician and a band is fine. Why does it have to be so black and white? What works for you might not work for someone else. I never had a problem with stands on stage as long as the band plays well. I also studied jazz and classical in college, so I think the comparison is fair - I’m not playing original music - I’m covering a lot of ground from the 50’s to today - let’s see Keith Richards do that without a stand!
I’ll agree that it’s hard to get off the page once I’ve gotten used to it, but there is no other way to make a walk-in situation like that work without it. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to memorize that many songs. Add to that the band tunes down a half step, and sometimes don’t play in the original key - a Nashville number chord chart is sometimes the only way to adapt the first time the song is called out.
Having said that, I’ve been working on memorizing what I can - earlier in the month I got through the entire first set without looking at all. Now that I have a better idea of what’s “typical” for a gig, I know what I need to memorize. But there are still songs pulled out three months in that I’ve never played with the band before, and I’m preoccupied enough with the “regular” tunes that a chart is the only way to refresh my memory. Chances are I won’t be playing those again for 3-4 months.
More importantly, I told the band I would be using charts to get situated with the band. They had no problem with that. They had 50+ gigs left for the year and needed someone asap. Using a chart was not their biggest priority. It was more important someone shows up on time and gets through the show with few mistakes. Isn’t that what’s important?
I say what works best for a musician and a band is fine. Why does it have to be so black and white? What works for you might not work for someone else. I never had a problem with stands on stage as long as the band plays well. I also studied jazz and classical in college, so I think the comparison is fair - I’m not playing original music - I’m covering a lot of ground from the 50’s to today - let’s see Keith Richards do that without a stand!
Malarkey. I play with multiple acts. If one isn't booking more than a gig a month it isn't worth my time memorizing their set. I'll use charts.
Yup… when I played in several bands I had charts for each band. “Getting paid” shouldn’t equate with memorizing tunes.
It's just personal dedication. If there's no push to memorize why would some people do it? I do it. The only time I have had sheet music is in this latin group that has 25-30 songs and I have never heard 90% of the tunes. And we don't practice so it's a show up and play gig. About 4 gigs in I barely look at a chart...because it's lame on stage. I have used notes many times for new bands but that behind my amp/out of sight and I would glance at it before the song to remind myself what the song is before playing. Music stands stink. Might as well wear shorts on stage, too.
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I think it's all contextual. If you're a hired gun in the NYC scene playing multiple genre's where you're not hitting the same "standards" then it makes sense (E.G. Adam Neely sitting in for these pop songs rehashed in other genre's). If you're a backing band doing a live musical accompaniment to a piece of media like a short film (uncommon but I've seen it), then I think it can make sense.
However, if you're a cover band with your "set" playing in bars, or worse an originals band playing your set in bars, and can't memorize the songs then I think that's a bit lame. Struggling a little with that right now. I created my own charts for this group I'm jamming with (all originals). Learned (well enough to fake it) 12 originals in 3 weeks with recordings that weren't compositionally correct and were also cell phone recordings. I had tiny little sheets folded up on my amp head to peek at just to see which starting riff the called out song was and away we went. I'm about at a point of overt memorization. The both singers use an iPad on stage.
However, if you're a cover band with your "set" playing in bars, or worse an originals band playing your set in bars, and can't memorize the songs then I think that's a bit lame. Struggling a little with that right now. I created my own charts for this group I'm jamming with (all originals). Learned (well enough to fake it) 12 originals in 3 weeks with recordings that weren't compositionally correct and were also cell phone recordings. I had tiny little sheets folded up on my amp head to peek at just to see which starting riff the called out song was and away we went. I'm about at a point of overt memorization. The both singers use an iPad on stage.
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Drives me nuts. But I have a related problem, the singer in my band refuses to use lyric sheets or notes, says he knows the words, then screws them up anyway. I am cursed with a great memory for lyrics but a complete inability to sing, so I know when he messes up but I can’t help with the vocals. It is extremely aggravating.
As I sit here at my computer scanning responses to the OP, I see several set lists to my left from 3 different bands and 2 lists to my right. Those 2 lists I need to to brush up on for this weekend, comprising about 80 songs or so. That's one band. The working song list is 250 tunes. Also before Xmas I'll have a gig with another band that works from a 150 song set list, including about 20 originals, another band that I just sub for whose BL can literally do a 4 hour gig of specialty songs for any major holiday as well as his usual N'awlins-style repertoire (he uses notebooks! How quaint. 
). No set lists for us. We go in cold. Then co-hosting an open mic, where anything goes! So when I need to pull out a cheat sheet to play the guitar solo changes on "Kid Charlemagne", which I play only occasionally with another band that only plays once or twice a month to begin with, well, so be it. Practice and rehearsal can help with chronic errors but we each have our own tolerance levels for what's acceptable.
The Bar Band Bassman
). No set lists for us. We go in cold. Then co-hosting an open mic, where anything goes! So when I need to pull out a cheat sheet to play the guitar solo changes on "Kid Charlemagne", which I play only occasionally with another band that only plays once or twice a month to begin with, well, so be it. Practice and rehearsal can help with chronic errors but we each have our own tolerance levels for what's acceptable.The Bar Band Bassman
Welcome to my world. Up to 2010 bands I played in had no music stands etc. Since then I had to give up the fight. At present I'm in a band where the ages range from 65 to 77 (I'm in the middle of that) and I'm the only one who knows the music from memory. I hate to give in but I have to pick my battles as the saying goes.
I got the very same. I think I know the words (in my head) better than the ones following a lyric chart.
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
- 12,122
- 16,794
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Certain (professional) gigs will absolutely require you to be able to read music, thus necessitating the use of a music stand. However, a player in a classic rock cover band should absolutely be able to learn songs (correctly) by ear, and memorize them. Unless there’s some sort of learning disability or dementia/Alzheimer’s issue.
IMO, using a music stand and charts, if needed, is much preferable to flubbing your way through a song.
Smooth_bass88
vaxx!
- Oct 31, 2006
- 12,122
- 16,794
- Disclosures
- have been on nationally released albums, charting on the Billboard 200
The irony of your statement is that the musicians who play in the orchestra pit in plays are given the score and read the sheet music off of a… MUSIC STAND
That and the local amateur theater group where I live (and my girlfriend and her youngest daughter just got into participating with) do seem to use them. Or at least did have the script for the particular rendition I saw that particular night. That was at a brewery but they otherwise they were doing these performances at nursing homes. Her acapella group though doesn't use sheet music, but the mens acapella choir sometimes does. Like Timothy Leary said about a completely different subject, it's all about set and setting.
Audiences are looking at their phones during live performances and bands are all looking at tablets on their mike stands, and we wonder why DJ's are so popular. People aren't paying attention and bands have stopped trying to put on a show
That's because the teleprompters are on the floor and look like wedges ;-)
