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synth player's decission: improvising live

D

Devo-lution

Jun 24, 2009
535
4
#1
Hi hi

I'll tell you about my funk/psychedelic/jazzband "Purple Goo". I used to be in the local jamscene a few years ago. I had a lot of open space at home, so I invited musicians at home to jam with and a regular "jamband" was created.

Now, one and a half year of jamming later, three jammers (including myself) are left and we decided to become an actual band, using the most pretty riffs and progressions that came to life during the jams.

I had some trouble structuring a band that used to thrive on impro in a rehearsal space, but I managed to put 4 of the 8 songs in a "structure". Fills and feel and individual notes are still open to a lot of impro and the length and mood of these songs can still vary, but there is a bit of a structure.

The other 4 songs are still randomly improvised and "under construction".

Now, our synth player called me yesterday that he landed us a gig tomorrow evening and that we'd just improvise those four songs entirely... :D. Since we're all quite busy during the week, another rehearsal is impossible.

Not that this frightens me, but any hints on improvising live with an entire band? We're all quite accustomed to improvising, but live is a different deal, I guess.

If you fail in rehearsal space, all you can get is a good laugh of your compadres. If you'd entirely fail improvising live, it seems much worse :/
 
#6
I think Col. Claypool himself said that the beauty of watching a jam band is seeing how close to the edge of falling apart they can take the music while keeping it together. And sometimes people like seeing it fall over the edge too.

Keep your ears open and have fun. There's only 4 of you so communicating on-stage shouldn't be too hard.

Good luck! :bassist:
 
#7
It's an unpaid reception gig for the employees of a bank. Someone who befriends our keyboard player organizes the deal. Rumors are that by the hour we take the stage, most people will be either tipsy or drunk :p

actually, there are only three of us left :p...

1: workstation, synth, hammond
2: bass
3 drumz/percussion

And we are used to a lot of improvising, so no big problem there.

Right now I'm looking for a way to set up live so we can see each other. When improvising, the non verbal signs are absolutely necessary for us to get everything to work out.
 
#8
These are the best gigs!!!! No money, no pressure.

A.) Lay down the groove 1st..with no groove nothing will work.
B.) Stretch out...you know that same lick you use to start or end your solo? F*** it. Play something else.
C.) End the jam somewhere near where you started...start in groove, end in groove, usually.
D.) DYNAMICS!!!!...Most underated aspect of music period. Know when to soften up and when to be wide open.
E.) Most importantly, act like you know exactly what your doing even if your more lost than Columbus..Confidence is a communicable disease that spreads from you to band to crowd.
 
#10
Basshoofd said:
I wouldn't if it's a paid gig. Chances are that it will seem amateurish. It depends on what the gig is though. If you think you can pull it off then definitely go for it!
Click to expand...
even the best players have train wrecks ......better to do some organizing......leave spaces for improv and work out a system to allow for someone to stretch a solo if he's hot.....but work up the heads,endings,bridges etc
 
#12
Sounds like fun! I had a "band" with three friends - I say "band" as we only ever played two gigs. We called ourselves the Doctors of Involuntary Reduction (from a mis-hearing of the Doctrine of Involuntary Induction from Frank Zappa's autobiography). I think we all wore white lab coats to one of the gigs, too...

We all could play (at least somewhat passably) guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, so we had those four instruments set up on stage. Someone would call a key and start playing, we'd all join in, and at any moment two or more of us would switch instruments. Soooo much fun. I have no idea how it was for the audience... :ninja:
 
#13
hmmm, I was looking forward to it...

But, apparently our drummer got turned down by a girl AND had her convince him to arrange her a date with another guy and he's acting all depressed and angry since.

I tried to cheer him up by joking around (We do that often about just about anything) but he just plainly replied that I am to cut it out.

Hope this won't jeopardize the gig :/.
 
#14
It was OK... As long as we were grooving, people seemed to be having fun. While playing some of the more moody, atmospheric songs, we noticed the people starting to get bored.

Seemed like a samba jam had the most effect (with some of the girls getting up and starting to do a little dance)
 

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