The 75% Rule

[LBS-bass]

It depends on the band and why everyone is there. I prefer a 100% rule where everyone in the band at least enjoys playing every song, and the reason for that is because playing songs you don't like is a negative energy situation that the audience picks up on. My primary reason for playing music these days is fun, and I've always believed that if the band is having fun, the audience is also going to have fun. You can pick up discontent on a stage very easily; the times I've played with a surly band member are always the same shows where what normally works didn't, and nobody got out of their chairs. Every single time. So rule #1 is to keep everyone happy.

That said, you still do need to choose songs that the audience will love. I'm pretty much in agreement with @QORC about song selection.

The funny thing is that the band I'm currently putting together will jam on a lot of stuff and make song lists based on what we did and had fun with. Certain songs end up falling off that list because we just never get around to playing them again. We solidify our list based on what we are all coming back to. They're all songs we know people will recognize and like, so we don't generally get into arguments about that. It's not been hard to find songs we all like to play.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Execution is what’s key and every band member has to be on it. There’s always something to be learned.

I agree, and going back to my example... every time I play Sweet Caroline I try to do it better than the last, regardless of the fact that I've performed it over 200 times. I can always add more emotion, lock in better with the drummer, play more dynamically, etc. And with songs I can't help but to hate (we do some Cardi B) the challenge is the same with the added practice of owning the song and being happy about performing it. That, I believe to be a super important performer skill, and one that's taken me a long time to get good at.

All bass playing, to me, is playing notes to fit in with other instrumentation. To make it work the best I can regardless of what the music is, always makes it challenging and fun for me.

Forgot what we we're taking about . Apologies for the derailment.

 

[RicosoundRabbit]

I was in a band where anyone could veto a song for any reason, no explanation necessary. The drummer said, "There are probably 10,000 great songs out there. No reason we can't find 40 that we all like."

We tried something similar. Everybody made a list of songs they wanted to do and then we all ranked them anonymously. It turned out that one member down voted most of the ones the rest of us selected (and told us flat our that there were certain songs he refused to play regardless of the rankings), so the top 10 list had a bunch of songs that we were collectively "meh" about. We added a couple of them and one of the highest ranked ones was a total snoozer on stage and the rest weren't too much better.

Not long after that, the one member that down voted everything left the band and we were able to add a bunch of stuff we'd been wanting to do.

 

[lfmn16]

We tried something similar. Everybody made a list of songs they wanted to do and then we all ranked them anonymously. It turned out that one member down voted most of the ones the rest of us selected (and told us flat our that there were certain songs he refused to play regardless of the rankings), so the top 10 list had a bunch of songs that we were collectively "meh" about. We added a couple of them and one of the highest ranked ones was a total snoozer on stage and the rest weren't too much better.

Not long after that, the one member that down voted everything left the band and we were able to add a bunch of stuff we'd been wanting to do.

Yea, that approach doesn't work very well if one or more members are jerks.

 

[LBS-bass]

We tried something similar. Everybody made a list of songs they wanted to do and then we all ranked them anonymously. It turned out that one member down voted most of the ones the rest of us selected (and told us flat our that there were certain songs he refused to play regardless of the rankings), so the top 10 list had a bunch of songs that we were collectively "meh" about. We added a couple of them and one of the highest ranked ones was a total snoozer on stage and the rest weren't too much better.

Not long after that, the one member that down voted everything left the band and we were able to add a bunch of stuff we'd been wanting to do.

That sounds like a fundamental misinterpretation of what your band's mission is. If you can't at least agree on what sort of songs you're going to be choosing from, that's a situation where someone's not a good fit. Glad that member saw it, too, and left.

 

[51PRI]

We tried something similar. Everybody made a list of songs they wanted to do and then we all ranked them anonymously. It turned out that one member down voted most of the ones the rest of us selected (and told us flat our that there were certain songs he refused to play regardless of the rankings), so the top 10 list had a bunch of songs that we were collectively "meh" about. We added a couple of them and one of the highest ranked ones was a total snoozer on stage and the rest weren't too much better.

Not long after that, the one member that down voted everything left the band and we were able to add a bunch of stuff we'd been wanting to do.

I was in a band once where we thought we had the perfect idea to get the perfect songlist that everyone in the band would like. Everyone had a veto power over any song. We ended up with a songlist that WE loved but that didn't connect with the crowd. That band didn't last very long.

 

[RicosoundRabbit]

That sounds like a fundamental misinterpretation of what your band's mission is. If you can't at least agree on what sort of songs you're going to be choosing from, that's a situation where someone's not a good fit. Glad that member saw it, too, and left.

Exactly, we were on two separate pages and I think everyone was relieved when that member decided to leave. Luckily, they left under good terms, so no friendships were harmed and they are probably going to sit in for a song or two at a gig we have this fall.

As for what position the person had in the band - since this is Talkbass, the answer should be obvious...