Rehearsal expectations.... How many songs?

[beaglesandbass]

There are a few key variables

1) Originals or covers? If it's covers there are some you may already know or at least be familiar with them. Originals are songs you've never heard before and there are no tutorials or tabs (if you use them) if you get stuck on a part.

2) Timeline. If you have 2 days to prepare, it's a lot different than if you had 2 weeks.

3) How bad do you want it? If you're more motivated to be in the band, you'll work harder by nature to learn them quicker.

 

[electracoyote]

Bullet dodged IMO.

You sure did.

Any band that is even remotely serious about the "business" part of the music business, or even generally considerate of others' time and effort, will be able to share sound files, video, past accomplishments, future goals, etc. Even a start up is often made of people who have some kind of tangible resume they could share, and if they are all that new to the game, you have an even bigger decision to make.

Of course, maybe getting out of the rehearsal space and in front of an audience is not a concern or ambition for them. Some bands roll that way. Don't ask questions or have goals, just show, wank, be a good hang, have fun, and go home. Once a week. Forever.

As for the number of songs, if I researched them, liked what they were doing, and was motivated to be part of it, I'd learn 10 country songs for them. That would give me an edge over the bass players who drew the line at five.

 

[TheReceder]

One of the bands I auditioned for sent a setlist, they told me to pick a few for the audition. Most of the songs were tunes I'd done and the remainder were interesting enough to take the time to learn. I was close to unemployed and pretty much bored. When I got to the audition they were floored when I told them they could pick any tune.

Then they asked me to play a song that I never played, and had heard nothing but bad things from other musicians. Mustang Sally. Don't ask how I dodged that bullet over 30 years.

Since I'd never played it, and really didn't know how it was supposed to sound, I guessed on the feel, gave it a punchier bass and went high energy. They told me later that was the song that sold my playing and they were adding it into the set list even though they all hated it before.

great band... a lot of fun, and stable people. I never would have known them if I'd opted to mail in the audition and just learn a few tunes.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Seems a bit odd, but some people are just bad or rushed at communicating. Maybe BL was getting texts and emails from a bunch of candidates, and just decided not to reply. If you want the gig, you do the audition. Simple as that.

 

[StatesideRambler]

When you say you're "learning 10 songs" I wonder what you mean. Are these songs you've never heard so you're really first learning them or are they songs you've heard before and you're mostly getting them under your fingers and working out arrangements? The music played by cover bands is mighty unlikely to be musically deep so rehearsals and learning are more about arrangements, set lists and finding the groove with these bandmates.

If the setup is requiring me to learn a slug of songs I've never heard in a style I've rarely played, they'd better approach me as pros and put me on the payroll. I'll do it if they're serious but I've got no time for dreamers who're larding on workload with no gigs on the books.

 

[Engle]

In this situation, I can understand. There is a goal and a short deadline to meet. Absolutely acceptable. In this case, they have no provided any background about their group. For all I know, they could be a bunch of middle-aged guys having a mid-life crisis who bought expensive guitars and can barley get through the songs themselves. And they are not forthcoming with information about their band.

They demonstrated how they communicate (they don't), so IMO you saved yourself a lot of trouble by not going there.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

I would say that 10 songs is a bit more than the usual audition amount, but it's not a deal breaker. The deal breaker is the refusal to give any info about the band. There's nothing in what I saw in the communication from the band that indicates they've got anything worth spending even a minute of prep time on. There's nothing to say that there's even a "gig" worthy of the name. No band name, no videos, no recordings, no press, no goals, no plan, no rehearsal or show schedule? Unless more info is forthcoming, sounds like a nothing sandwich. I'd pass.

There's of course a theoretical possibility that they do have something going on and are just being weirdly and probably unnecessarily secretive about it. Up to the OP if it's worthwhile to spend the time on finding out. I personally wouldn't, but YMMV.

 

[lfmn16]

Sometimes I wonder why I look at CL at all...

Found a local country band in need of a bassist... I've never done new country, but at least I wont be expected to play like Geddy Lee or Steve Harris. The add lists 10 songs. So I reach out to them, ask them a few questions about them etc. Reply comes back asking me if I can learn those 10 songs. I reply sure, nothing beyond my capabilities, and what about your band again? Their reply is to let them know when I learn those 10 songs and I can audition.

10?

I say sure, but can I have some info on your band? What is your skill level? what are your goals? what is your rehearsal and show schedule? Do you have a name? A youtube channel? Give me something to go on, Otherwise I will do 3-5 of your choosing.

I get back... "I had to learn 10 songs and another band I had to learn 30. Sorry you feel that way. Best of luck."

Bullet dodged IMO.

You did dodge a bullet, what a jerkwad. I won't even learn one song until I've had a number of questions answered. It's just as stupid on their part; why do they want to waste time auditioning someone who they could find out wouldn't be a good fit with a few questions.

 

[mcnach]

Sometimes I wonder why I look at CL at all...

Found a local country band in need of a bassist... I've never done new country, but at least I wont be expected to play like Geddy Lee or Steve Harris. The add lists 10 songs. So I reach out to them, ask them a few questions about them etc. Reply comes back asking me if I can learn those 10 songs. I reply sure, nothing beyond my capabilities, and what about your band again? Their reply is to let them know when I learn those 10 songs and I can audition.

10?

I say sure, but can I have some info on your band? What is your skill level? what are your goals? what is your rehearsal and show schedule? Do you have a name? A youtube channel? Give me something to go on, Otherwise I will do 3-5 of your choosing.

I get back... "I had to learn 10 songs and another band I had to learn 30. Sorry you feel that way. Best of luck."

Bullet dodged IMO.

Ridiculous. You don't need a guy to play 10 songs to find out if you want to give them a go or not. If they ask for that, and are adamant about it, who knows what other BS you'd find later. Bullet well dodged indeed.
I'm not learning 10 songs just to audition, unless you're Metallica with a £1 million cheque that could be mine. Then you can ask me for 1000 songs.

 

[SteveC]

I got a call on Friday morning for a Saturday night gig. The main concern was can I play "Devil Went Down To Georgia." I said I could. I "knew" the song already but I learned it that Saturday morning. I don't think they sent me a song list but I basically just went and played cold.

Another time I filed on for a friend but had a couple weeks to learn the tunes and a set list to work from. Again no rehearsal, just played the gig.

I don't know what the magic number is, but my current band can easily work 5-8 new songs a rehearsal. The expectation is of course that you know your parts before you arrive.

 

[nilorius]

When i changed my bands, i always said that i will never learn the wanted song program from sended mp3 at home. I will learn then at rehearsal, writing down the chords on paper and playing through 4 - 5 times then another song. It always worked fine until something went down at the band and left it.

 

[newwavefrank]

Sometimes I wonder why I look at CL at all...

Found a local country band in need of a bassist... I've never done new country, but at least I wont be expected to play like Geddy Lee or Steve Harris. The add lists 10 songs. So I reach out to them, ask them a few questions about them etc. Reply comes back asking me if I can learn those 10 songs. I reply sure, nothing beyond my capabilities, and what about your band again? Their reply is to let them know when I learn those 10 songs and I can audition.

10?

I say sure, but can I have some info on your band? What is your skill level? what are your goals? what is your rehearsal and show schedule? Do you have a name? A youtube channel? Give me something to go on, Otherwise I will do 3-5 of your choosing.

I get back... "I had to learn 10 songs and another band I had to learn 30. Sorry you feel that way. Best of luck."

Bullet dodged IMO.

Honestly I am guessing they weren't the best band, whatever. If I were running an ad, I would expect you to ask all those questions and I would answer them and ask you similar questions before I would even schedule an audition. If you gave me an ultimatum, (Answer these questions...or else..) Which is kind of how it came across, I would pass on you as well. If I were in your shoes and auditioning to join the band, I would ask all those questions before deciding if I even wanted to go audition. Then I would negotiate how many tunes to learn.

 

[LeFunk Machine]

I'd say just learn the songs. If you learn them and show up for the audition and the band meets your expectations, great. But if you learn them and they don't message you back, or you show up and they don't meet your expectations, sad and waste of time but at least you learned 3-10 new songs and those same songs can show up in the future.

 

[MobileHolmes]

I think a lot of people are missing this point. Generally speaking, getting through 10 songs is going to take 40-ish minutes. Include setup and chatting, that's an hour for an audition. You can get a good sense of someone's skill and likability within 15-20 minutes (often times less because a lot of musicians are highly unlikable). 3-5 song auditions are normal, especially for first auditions. If you like a couple of people and need to filter one out THAT'S when you schedule the 10 song follow-up.

The only exception I would make is if a gigging band has an emergency slot open and they're like "We need someone who can learn songs quick cuz we've got a gig in a month." Then being able to prove you can competently knock out 10 songs in a hurry is a qualifying part of the audition.

Yeah, I totally agree. I haven't done a proper audition in a while, but you can usually tell pretty quickly who is going to work and what isn't. As a bass player (whose dad and brother are drummers), I'm especially sensitive to drummers. I can tell in about 30 seconds if they are any good, and I'm not playing in any band with a bad drummer

 

[groooooove]

lotta CL ads are posted by folks who don't understand their own coded language.

"bassist" in this case meant "a person who will do what i say"

bulled dodged indeed.

 

[Tom Gallo]

If I were a band leader, I would tell a prospective member to learn 3-5 songs and once those are done at the audition, I'd throw something they didn't know at them to see how well they could hang. I think it's important for players to be able to think on their feet and handled curveballs thrown their way. I wouldn't reject someone because of the last part, if they came prepared with the songs they were supposed to learn.

 

[MobileHolmes]

Just stewing on this more-

I had a first rehearsal with a new band this weekend. I've worked with the singer before, she'd worked with everybody else before in different capacities, and some of them had been in bands together in the past. So it was a first meeting, but not really an audition for anybody. And for that, we started with 5-6 songs.

 

[kevindahl]

10 songs is definitely doable especially modern country. There is no perfect audition request. I have done 3 songs, 5 songs, my choice of a band's setlist. When auditioning players I would not ask for more than 10 songs. 5 is a number I like. In the last few projects I have been in, coming out twice has always been the norm. I understand that pro's would not tolerate this but we also use CL and if they are answering a CL ad then they probably aren't pros.

The other side of it is yes I would like to know the rest of the details. Goals, expectations, rehearsal time/frequency, how many gigs per month etc. The more info given between two parties is the best way to go IMO.

 

[40Hz]

I really don't think 10 songs is a big ask. The last time I played bass for someone else (I usually run my own music projects) I was given a list of 60 on a Tuesday for a one off gig and was asked have them learnt for the rehearsal on the Saturday a few days later. At the first rehearsal we played all of them through, I guess the other folks did their homework too. Only one more rehearsal and we played the gig.
It was rock, pop, reggae, soul tunes, it's not like it was in depth classical music or obscure bebop tunes.
So I think 10 is doable, especially since you would need to learn more to play gigs.

Mind my asking how much you made for that feat of musical derring-do?

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Sometimes I wonder why I look at CL at all...

Found a local country band in need of a bassist... I've never done new country, but at least I wont be expected to play like Geddy Lee or Steve Harris. The add lists 10 songs. So I reach out to them, ask them a few questions about them etc. Reply comes back asking me if I can learn those 10 songs. I reply sure, nothing beyond my capabilities, and what about your band again? Their reply is to let them know when I learn those 10 songs and I can audition.

10?

I say sure, but can I have some info on your band? What is your skill level? what are your goals? what is your rehearsal and show schedule? Do you have a name? A youtube channel? Give me something to go on, Otherwise I will do 3-5 of your choosing.

I get back... "I had to learn 10 songs and another band I had to learn 30. Sorry you feel that way. Best of luck."

Bullet dodged IMO.

I bet you they can't play those 10 songs without stopping