Some Coffee Shop Music

Most coffee shops require original music since they don't pay ASCAP

 

For real?

I've been playing a lot of cover material - and it's definitely NOT mine - at various Cheese & Wine cafes for years.

I always thought that any LIVE performance that isn't broadcast is safe to play. This was in Lawyer-Land (SoCal) and I've never had any problems.

I DO know if a live radio broadcast of the music were to go out over the air, even if it's in the background during an interview on-air, then that's a big problem.

WMGM Radio in NYC had a problem with that once when I was playing at George Silverman's Streamliner. Gussie Moran or possibly Bea Cavendish (the talking heads on that show) had an open mic and they got a serious fine and wrist slap for it.

Otherwise I don't think the music cops have any say in it.

 

Definitely this...

 

Why didn't you note that that was a RHCP video? I wouldn't have needed to waste the time I needed to turn it off before it loaded.

That's just as bad as someone sneaking a RUSH vid into the mix.

YUCK.

 

Perhaps this will cleanse your palate: Frank Sinatra _ The Coffee Song - YouTube

 

Get a couple Real (easy?) books. They're full of short jazz standards that have the chords written out for soloing, and even have a written walking bass line.

I'm in an improv jazz combo that just reads stuff out of those books and we all take solo's over the chords. It's fun, good for coffee shop crowds, and it makes you a better musician.

 

I've found that most coffee shops don't care what you play as long as you play. I've never seen an ASCAP or BMI rep standing at the back of the place making notes on who to sue... That being said there's always that one place that has a stick up their a** about playing covers, so if you're worried, check with the manager/owner.

 

"Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop" by Landon Pigg.

The bass can grab some sweet harmony stuff to the main melody line. I've played it on the acoustic guitar a couple of times live and people really seemed to dig it. It's also super laid back.

 

I remember that song! I was born that year - 1946 - and the song came out that year.

Although I was very young, in 1948-50 we lived in Guantanamo, Cuba and the song was being played then and I remember our cook singing it to me.

Thanks for that - my parents - both deceased now - and I had some nice times in Cuba in those days - and you got me into some nice memories.

One I particularly liked was Peggy Lee singing: "Mañana".

----- Back to our regularly scheduled programming -----

 

Real Book 1 and Real Book 2 are where it's at. See if you can find the 5th edition... any edition after that and it's published by Hal Leonard (they didn't have the rights to print all the tunes so 6th and beyond editions are heavily edited). I've got both books as PDF files if you want them (just send me a message). I like the PDFs because you can just print out the tunes you want to play without having to drag two huge books along. Of course, the advantage of having the full book is playing anything on the fly... Your choice.