Cover band practice Hell.
- Thread starter reverend1
- Start date
Denverdave
Resident Ragamuffin
Most cover bands have dumb playlists. At least the ones I was in did.
reverend1
Kick Henry Jackassowski
True, but this is just stupid.
Song list has anything from Mary Jane's Last Dance to Going Down to the River by Dougs Seegars. That one makes me want to jump off of a bridge.
The worse part is the instrumentation is way off. Three guitar players, one of whom only plays acoustic, the other is a good keyboard player (working making that permanent) and nether one can play anything other than open position chords. They don't understand dynamics, or how to change up they parts they are playing. Just full steam strumming all the time. For the first few nights, they would look at me to see where I was and get all screwed up because they thought I was playing the wrong chords because I'm playing triads or chord inversions up the neck. It's been pretty interesting.
Humorously, they think I'm some sort of guitar hero because I can play leads and improvise a bit. It's not really an ideal situation for me, I would rather be the worse guy in the room, and learn. But it's a regular night to play with a full band outside of my regular blues jam rotation.
I can do a whole cover gig with a double humbucker guitar. Les Paul, McFeely, PRS. The single coils only get the first half of the night done and not at all in some rooms with bad power. The PRS actually has thin enough sounding humbuckers and coil splits so that works well for the first set too.
telecaster911
Kick Henry Jackassowski
This seems like every band I’ve been in. It’s like every song is one big full volume sausage.
reverend1
Kick Henry Jackassowski
We did better at Pragestock.
It’s bad enough that I just play the leads or a few stabs here or there because it’s so muddy.
Did I mention both guys play everything dry all of the time? No effects at all, ever.
reverend1
Kick Henry Jackassowski
I could have done it all with the Tele. I really just brought the other guitar for my own entertainment while doing Stray Cat Strut, I was the only guitar one that one.
Chad
Slender Hobbit
Sounds like a mess, but good for you. To think you are the main guitar player in the band. I think you were even more reserved than me at Pragestock, playing wise. That's awesome.
reverend1
Kick Henry Jackassowski
I know right. I went from can’t get me to play to can’t get me to stop.
baimun
Funkasaurus Rex
That red guitar is HOT!!!
Regarding the set list, I feel like if each member brings a list of songs they dig, and at least a few from each list are used, and then combined with some crowd favorites, each member of the band has to like 25 to 50 percent of the set list. If that isn't accurate, then somebody is just playing for the money.
Regarding the set list, I feel like if each member brings a list of songs they dig, and at least a few from each list are used, and then combined with some crowd favorites, each member of the band has to like 25 to 50 percent of the set list. If that isn't accurate, then somebody is just playing for the money.
Modern Saint
Starve your Fear, Feed your Dream!
Chock it up for the level of play for this band. Very cool that you have recognized the level of play as this will be your biggest challenge in finding the right players to play with. Sounds like some of the blues jams that I attend. All depends on the quality of the player. The better the player, the more they understand about dynamics. These guitarists that you are playing with may be struggling to just play chords within songs so anything else is a struggle.
You may need to find another band or stay with them to hone some of your own skills. If you choose to look for another project, you can still play with them during the interim and when it is time to depart, let them know that this project was not right for you.
But that is good! It feels great to be on top at times and now up to you to seek players better than you to help you grow. What you may have already found is that this may not be the right band for you. Keep in touch with the keyboardist and maybe you both could do a side project.
reverend1
Kick Henry Jackassowski
Thanks Randy!
I’m lucky that our blues jams are actually really good. I’m very much out of my league there, but I try to stay out of the way, keep any solos short and look for complementary parts to play. So far so good. They are very nice to me and get me up to play every time so far. I also got invited to play the private jam with some really great players. So I really look forward to jam nights.
Modern Saint
Starve your Fear, Feed your Dream!
Excellent!!!
This is where your growth will really come. Don't cut yourself to short as you do get two choruses to play over, one for slow blues unless you can really make the solo sting. The complementary parts are the most exciting. Mostly because you do no always have to play and work on accents rather than filling the overall sound which some players can't do. Those are the ones that you just want to tell the STFU.....lmao.
Peen Simmons
Let’s Get Obtuse!
Oof. I’ve never been inclined to do the cover band thing and threads like these justify my decisions. I did audition for a couple as a bassist when I thought I cared about money, but ultimately I turned em down because the prospect of playing a bunch of random tunes in suburban bars just seemed like a needlessly complex part time job.
I was in a more structured cover thing for a while (70s glam covers) with some other slumming original band folks and the pay is crazy good compared to the free Pabst and/or swift kick in the pants you make playing originals. But even then no one cared hard enough to keep it going past a few gigs.
In short, mojo.
I was in a more structured cover thing for a while (70s glam covers) with some other slumming original band folks and the pay is crazy good compared to the free Pabst and/or swift kick in the pants you make playing originals. But even then no one cared hard enough to keep it going past a few gigs.
In short, mojo.
Chad
Slender Hobbit
That red guitar is HOT!!!
Regarding the set list, I feel like if each member brings a list of songs they dig, and at least a few from each list are used, and then combined with some crowd favorites, each member of the band has to like 25 to 50 percent of the set list. If that isn't accurate, then somebody is just playing for the money.
I've never done the cover band thing. All of my bands have been mostly original songs, with a few covers sprinkled in to fill out a set. Usually for the covers, we each just picked one or two and we played them. It is a little different when 10% of your set is covers, it's easier to overlook some shaky ones.
The closest I came to a cover band was I used to jam with some guys, where we did nothing but covers, but we never gigged. We just hung out and played whatever anyone wanted. We didn't have to learn the songs ahead of time, the person who wanted to play it, would bring in the chords and we'd just take a stab at it, so it was pretty fun.
reverend1
Kick Henry Jackassowski
Thanks! It’s the Greg Koch Gristlemaster! The Fishman pickups are crazy good.That red guitar is HOT!!!
Regarding the set list, I feel like if each member brings a list of songs they dig, and at least a few from each list are used, and then combined with some crowd favorites, each member of the band has to like 25 to 50 percent of the set list. If that isn't accurate, then somebody is just playing for the money.
