Music Stands on Stage

[glocke1]

I personally don't see an issue with it...Since I sit in with different bands at times I usually have one on me to put cheat-cheats on in case someone calls out a tune I havent played before.

 

[EastCoastThump]

Oh, I've never seen Led Zeppelin take request, but I have never seen an orchestra do it either.

But you have seen GB bands do it all the time, haven't you? ("Father of the Bride wants to throw us $200 to play 'Harlem Nocturne.' In E minor. Here we go...")

I totally get that some TBers who play only in situations with a fairly finite (say, 40-200 tune) songbook and unchanging arrangements and keys might be passionately against music stands on stage--or even in rehearsals. What makes no sense is those guys copping attitude with players in different situations.

Of course, it probably also doesn't make sense trying to convince people who have such absolute rules that there is bigger world out there. So judge away, y'all!

 

[Floyd Eye]

It's amazing how people on this thread are still confusing rock/bar bands with other types of bands. You can justify it if you want to I guess, but when you are in a bar watching a local band, covers or originals, and there is a guy with a music stand in front of him, the vast majority of people in the audience are at a minimum thinking the guy is unprepared and more often than not they are thinking the guy is a douche. Fight it all you want here on TB, but that's the cold hard reality of it. Most cover bands know anywhere from 70-300 songs. I am no rocket scientist but I don't need any crib notes for the 70 or so currently in our rotation. If you do then maybe you either need a lot more practice or maybe you should just stay in your bedroom.

 

[bluewine]

Uh correct me if I'm wrong Father Time.But hasn't the whole point about Rock and Roll always been that there are no rules?

Maybe I missed the memo.

You see any music stands on this stage?

I'm talking about rock bands playing small bars and clubs. For me, music stands would change the look and vibe of any good, cool rock bar band.

Thing is, I think the day's of cool rock bands (like the one in the clip I attached) ended the day guys like Eddie Vetter and Dave Mathews walked on stage.

Of course this merely my take on the issue.

Blue

 

[bluewine]

It's amazing how people on this thread are still confusing rock/bar bands with other types of bands. You can justify it if you want to I guess, but when you are in a bar watching a local band, covers or originals, and there is a guy with a music stand in front of him, the vast majority of people in the audience are at a minimum thinking the guy is unprepared and more often than not they are thinking the guy is a douche. Fight it all you want here on TB, but that's the cold hard reality of it. Most cover bands know anywhere from 70-300 songs. I am no rocket scientist but I don't need any crib notes for the 70 or so currently in our rotation. If you do then maybe you either need a lot more practice or maybe you should just stay in your bedroom.

+1 you nailed it.

Blue

 

[Phil Smith]

I think rock bands in bars that are spoken of here don't have much if a vibe if a music stand is going to negate it.

 

[bluewine]

I'm genuinely shocked and surprised by how many people have issues with music stands on stage... Are you kidding me?
Is everyone just jealous that they can't read music? Who the heck cares if they have music stands? If the music is good because of it, isn't that paramount?

I rarely ever use one myself... But literally could care less about whether others do or not. If a band leader ever told me not to use a stand because it didn't look cool, I'd probably snap.

Things have changed I guess, maybe looking the part or looking cool is no longer important when your playing in a straight up rock band anymore.

I guess I'm not a part of the music stand, plaid flannel cargo shorts generation.

Blue

 

[Floyd Eye]

Nothing wrong with flannel and cargo shorts. Music stands on the other hand just scream "Amateur".

 

[bluewine]

I think rock bands in bars that are spoken of here don't have much if a vibe if a music stand is going to negate it.

I think if I saw a rock band in a bar that was really tearing the roof off the place, I think I would say:

" awesome band, but someone should tell the bass player to lose the music stand."

Blue

 

[Floyd Eye]

In a bar band situation.

 

[PastorofMuppets]

It's amazing how people on this thread are still confusing rock/bar bands with other types of bands. You can justify it if you want to I guess, but when you are in a bar watching a local band, covers or originals, and there is a guy with a music stand in front of him, the vast majority of people in the audience are at a minimum thinking the guy is unprepared and more often than not they are thinking the guy is a douche. Fight it all you want here on TB, but that's the cold hard reality of it. Most cover bands know anywhere from 70-300 songs. I am no rocket scientist but I don't need any crib notes for the 70 or so currently in our rotation. If you do then maybe you either need a lot more practice or maybe you should just stay in your bedroom.

Perfectly stated dude.

 

[EastCoastThump]

It's amazing how people on this thread are still confusing rock/bar bands with other types of bands. You can justify it if you want to... the vast majority of people in the audience are at a minimum thinking the guy is unprepared and more often than not they are thinking the guy is a douche. Fight it all you want here on TB, but that's the cold hard reality of it. Most cover bands know anywhere from 70-300 songs. I am no rocket scientist but I don't need any crib notes for the 70 or so currently in our rotation. If you do then maybe you either need a lot more practice or maybe you should just stay in your bedroom.

Amazing? Not if you honestly consider it. Since the OP's question was about a party band, since many respondents point out that your bar band experience doesn't represent the universe of even party-band gigs, and since so much reasonable has been said about situations in which a stand or ipad or teleprompter is a reasonable pro expectation, your name-calling and chest thumping ("my way or the highway, unprepared douches!") seems more self-congratulatory than helpful or correct. If your playing never calls for you to play songs well with little or no rehearsal, if you don't do much (any?) sub work and need to keep 500-600 songs handy, if you don't play multiple different arrangements in different keys in different bands, if you don't need to keep charts handy for subs in your regular bands in which you're MD or BL, if you don't work gigs in which the BL sometimes asks the players to download a pdf of a new chart right before downbeat, if you can get by playing the same couple hundred songs the same way in the same keys w/o the need to learn how to use charts w/o staring at them--well, seriously hats off to you. That's one less thing to deal with, and in cases i which nobody reasonably needs charts, I could see not wanting to deal with them. I could do without the smug name calling, though.

 

[bluewine]

Nothing wrong with flannel and cargo shorts. Music stands on the other hand just scream "Amateur".

I would say there's nothing wrong with cargo shorts and flannel for some.

If I played in cargos and flannel in a bar rock band I would feel like I was dismissing where I came from and my generation.

I'm sure you can find pics of Eric Clapton playing in flannel and cargoes, but those pics wouldn't be from 1968.

Blue

 

[Floyd Eye]

First of all I did no name calling. Second of all I understand perfectly what the OP was talking about and I made no statement regarding music stands and party bands, wedding bands, subs, big music productions, etc.. The comment that you are currently quoting and taking out of context, was specifically aimed at the many posts in this thread where guys are trying to justify music stands on stage, in bars. I have zero experience with those other types of bands and would never pretend to know what is acceptable in those situations. Maybe a little more carefully reading these posts would clear that up for you brother.

 

[fdeck]

There is an easy solution to the dead air and 12 pounds of books.

True, and I've got it on my Android tablet.

I had one bandleader e-mail me roughly 60 pages of charts, the night before a gig. I just threw the PDF's on my tablet, rather than printing all of them out.

But it was 15 years ago when I ditched my fake books. I was running late for a gig, and couldn't remember where I put them, so I decided at that moment to leave them at home.

The gig went just fine. It turns out that I knew more tunes than I gave myself credit for. And going bookless has greatly improved my ability to pick up unfamiliar tunes on the spot without a sheet. Also, even if the other players are still using books, having one guy in the band who knows all of the tunes helps reduce the problem of choosing the next tune. I just say: "Play anything."

Today, my pet peeve is that the fake books seem to be limiting what gets played, because no two players bring the same set of books, so the sets revert to whatever happens to be in Book One. I've thought of proposing a City Ordinance, banning the Real Book for one year, in order to expand the variety of tunes that get played.

Also, you're responsible for old guys with bad eyesight trying to read the changes from their cell phones.

Actually, I think your software is really cool.

 

[Floyd Eye]

I would say there's nothing wrong with cargo shorts and flannel for some.

If I played in cargos and flannel in a bar rock band I would feel like I was dismissing where I came from and my generation.

I'm sure you can find pics of Eric Clapton playing in flannel and cargoes, but those pics wouldn't be from 1968.

Blue

Understood. For me, I came out of the late 70s and grew up with those bands, but I was in my early 20s when AIC and Nirvana came out. I spent a lot of time in ripped jeans, hiking boots and army shirts. lol

 

[bluewine]

BTW, when someone pays me not to have a music stand onstage, I won't have a music stand onstage. But if I'm doing a show where I have to back up anywhere from 5 to 10 acts I rarely work with, no way in hell I can memorize their sets in between soundcheck and the show.
BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

This sounds far from an established bar rock band with full time members.

Blue

 

[bluewine]

Understood. For me, I came out of the late 70s and grew up with those bands, but I was in my early 20s when AIC and Nirvana came out. I spent a lot of time in ripped jeans, hiking boots and army shirts. lol

Cool, I might wear a cool vintage long sleeve army shirt, but not plaid flannel.

Blue

 

[fdeck]

No charts on this stage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ5k8V6CKzU

 

[bluewine]

Understood. For me, I came out of the late 70s and grew up with those bands, but I was in my early 20s when AIC and Nirvana came out. I spent a lot of time in ripped jeans, hiking boots and army shirts. lol

Good point, and like many other topics and issues some opinions are going to be generational.

I came out of the mid 60s to early 70s. I don't expect anyone under 40 to agree or understand many of my positions.

Blue