Playing Free Bird!

[NickInMesa]

It has, what, one of the original members?

To me that's just a group of guys co-opting some really great music by a really great band. It's lynyrd skynyrd in name only.

I was done with the last album when one of their songs was a rant about prayer at school.

Same with the Nuge. Love his old music, love to play it, but what the eff...?

 

[guitardefector]

If you think Freebird is dull, try Free As A Bird.

 

[Spin Doctor]

In my band, we play whatever the people want to hear, whatever makes them have a good time. Mustang Sally, Gimme 3 steps, all that. I love doing the bassline to Simple Man... People dig it, and it makes me feel great to see people have a good time.

Once I saw Chuck Mangione during a jazz fest, and he announces, "now I'm going to play the song that sent my kids through college.." Then he, of course, plays "Feels So Good"... Now he's probably played it a zillion times, but he didn't phone it in, he didn't skate through it... He played it like it was the first time he ever played it and the audience could tell.

Now I don't know what you guys in your local bands are thinking, and of course you can do what ever you want, but is the music you really want to do so sublime, are you so above it all that the people who pay for your ass to be standing there don't matter?

Are you about to launch into Beethoven's 9th? Or are you just gonna play just some other rock song that nobody knows what the f*** it is but you think is so awesome....

Hey, whatever... It's a constant comment that I don't get, but then, I don't have to.

 

[LiquidMidnight]

In my band, we play whatever the people want to hear, whatever makes them have a good time. Mustang Sally, Gimme 3 steps, all that. I love doing the bassline to Simple Man... People dig it, and it makes me feel great to see people have a good time.

Once I saw Chuck Mangione during a jazz fest, and he announces, "now I'm going to play the song that sent my kids through college.." Then he, of course, plays "Feels So Good"... Now he's probably played it a zillion times, but he didn't phone it in, he didn't skate through it... He played it like it was the first time he ever played it and the audience could tell.

Now I don't know what you guys in your local bands are thinking, and of course you can do what ever you want, but is the music you really want to do so sublime, are you so above it all that the people who pay for your ass to be standing there don't matter?

Are you about to launch into Beethoven's 9th? Or are you just gonna play just some other rock song that nobody knows what the f*** it is but you think is so awesome....

Hey, whatever... It's a constant comment that I don't get, but then, I don't have to.

I totally dig what you're saying, but I think you're missing the point. People often make the Freebird request to be obnoxious, not because they're legit Skynyrd fans. That's what rubs a lot of musicians the wrong way.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

The guitarist I'm the band I play in always flips off the requestor and says "no charge", but he always does it witha big smile and a laugh.

Most bar bands don't have a piano or piano player that can really pull it off. Most who request it wouldn't recognize it if it were played correctly, they are just waiting for the lead for the last 7/8 of the song.

I admit that I don't play it well, because I don't practice it at all.

 

[MoireBass]

It's a drunk Redneck thing, not just in the southeast but in Texas as well. Skyrnd was always enormously popular with that crowd and Free Bird their most expansive/ambitious song. And, like StH (and American Pie), it really is a pretty good song that was just so enormously overplayed on the radio that it became a parody of itself. Then it became the stereotypical thing for a drunk to yell out at a concert...

I love the idea of doing a reggae version - that's absolute genius!!

 

[Lazylion]

I always thought Freebird would make a good waltz, but I can never convince my country bands to try it...

...I have yelled it out at gigs where I know the band well (as a joke). And yes, they get the joke.

I sometimes go up to a band and say "please DON'T play Freebird." They get the joke.

Is it a good idea to give it a good makeover some 40 years after the facts and to play a modern version of this song?

NO.

I have been in bands that played it just to surprise those who yell for it, but by the time we were done, both them and us wish we hadn't done it!

Yep, about 10,000 times!

People often make the Freebird request to be obnoxious, not because they're legit Skynyrd fans. That's what rubs a lot of musicians the wrong way.

Exactly.

Skynyrd was a great band back in the day, and Freebird is a classic tune WHEN PLAYED BY SKYNYRD. It sucks when played by my band or your band, unless...
1. you have practiced it and have the arrangement down.
2. you have at least one fabulous guitarist.
If you are lacking either of these, LEAVE IT ALONE.

Best policy: either the finger with a smile and "no charge" or ignore the whole thing.


Edit: I saw Yes in concert about 18 months ago, and I actually heard some jerk yell "Freebird". Good thing for him he wasn't near me at the time.