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jw, I agree with you...check out the bar or other venue your playing in BEFORE you get there, & chances are you'll know what the audience expects, & hopefully be able to provide it.

But I still ain't gonna play "Freebird"

Last winter we played a gig where the ppl were all over the place, asking for Skynrd, then Tom Jones, then Pink Floyd, then Metallica, then John Denver...but we're a ROCKABILLY BAND fer crissake!! The ppl that hired us knew what we were, so we'd expected to be accepted. It was a party for a coop, so ages were from 12 to over 80, with musical tastes running the full gamut.

What a nightmare!

Overall, they seemed to like us, but it was touch & go for a while until we won 'em over with winning smiles & good musicianship & singing...until our guest guitarist pissed off some drunk old lady as we were packing up...then it got plain ugly, & all I could do was laugh, which pissed her off even more.

They say we'll be back next year...dunno if I wanna...this was the 3rd year we played there, but the 1st time it ever got all wierded out.

Eh...it happens.

I have and will play FreeBird for money. Heck as a guitarist you get to go off for a while and it can take up a lot of time plus its a slow song for dancing and fast song all in one. Why do we not want to play this? Heck when I go to see bands I yell Play FreeBird myself sometimes. It just goes with the territory.

Reminds me of Waynes World in the music store and the sign says Dont Play Stairway To Heaven.

Sonically:
For guitar in a hard rock band, turn down the gain a little from where you would normally have it set in the practice room or bedroom.
Lets see... roll back the reverb a bit when miced up.

(Oh, and make sure the drummer is hearing what he wants to hear, or needs to hear.)

I have a lot to practice, metronomes and I need to sing a lot more, mostly.
I have been "grounded" with whiplash for a while and have not been able to practice and sing a d play as much as I wanted or needed to. But I believe practice and only practice can help and doing gigs.
because I have been " out of it" for a while and am too anxious and have started all my youtube and myspace stuff, I do take a risk that people are not so superalarmed by my qualities, I realize that.
But I just simply love making music, have been songwriting for 8 months now and really, really needed to air it ouT!! My dear songs, get out of my room and start somewhere the heck in the world. lol!!

My songs are catchy though, the lyrics are real and true and I do not have a bad voice at all. I do know that I can get better, too. I have more potential than right now I am living up to. Any more suggestions? I have some videos on my myspace ( see for url in signature)
Oh, and somebody sent me an email telling me I sucked, but you know that is fine if we all don't have the same tase, but of course if you really don't have to respond if you don't like it. I don't always like all I see and hear either.

Isn't this a place where we all are honest, but moreover encouraging another. If any of us were great and perfect, he or she would be famous and not here... so we can be a little graceful...I hope!! Anyway sorry I diveretd off topic a bit I type and talk very fast

ciao!! xoxo Lony

I have a lot to practice, metronomes and I need to sing a lot more, mostly.
I have been "grounded" with whiplash for a while and have not been able to practice and sing a d play as much as I wanted or needed to. But I believe practice and only practice can help and doing gigs.
because I have been " out of it" for a while and am too anxious and have started all my youtube and myspace stuff, I do take a risk that people are not so superalarmed by my qualities, I realize that.
But I just simply love making music, have been songwriting for 8 months now and really, really needed to air it ouT!! My dear songs, get out of my room and start somewhere the heck in the world. lol!!

My songs are catchy though, the lyrics are real and true and I do not ahve a bad voice at all. yeah, I could practise more, of course. Any more suggestions? I have some videos on my myspaec ( see for url in signature)
Oh, and somebody send me an email telling me I sucked, but you know that is fine if we all don't ahve the same tase, but of cousre if you really don't like what I do, why repsond??

Isn't this a place where we all are honest, but moreover encouraging another. If any of us were great and perfect, he or she would be famous and not here... so we can be a little graceful...I hope!! Anyway sorry I diveretd off topic a bit I type and talk very fast

ciao!! xoxo Lony

At the risk of sounding like Obi-Wan Kenobi.....trust your feelings. Please practice, in addition to following your heart. If Steve Vai asked my opinion, I'd say the same thing.

Heart on Sleeve
Blood Dripping Down
An Artist's Bane
With This, Salvation

And No Regrets...............to reveal...

Being a drummer most of my days leads me to the most basic principle of good live sound. a good musical relationship between the bassist and the drummer is essential. some call it Playing in the pocket. Without this everyone else in the band is lost and will stay lost until this concrete is solidified. A great mix, awesome lead work or a fantastic vocal will never save a band from this primary must have. If you build it.........it will come.

Excellent point Jon,

The vital bass and drums relationship is indeed one of the corner stones of a solid rhythm section. The rule has been broken many times, usually with unfavorable results. Bass players who try to play like Jaco, or Claypool, before they develop solid time keeping skills can bring an otherwise good band down fast!

Howlin'

thanks scarlettrust for your advice. I follow what I feel and it feels very nice to me.

Just to add a small point about covers.

While it IS important to play popular songs from popular bands, Stairway to Heaven isn't the ONLY cliche song out there. I look at any of the biggest bands, and there are songs from every one of them I think the general public could stand to never hear again, like Tom Sawyer, hotel california, paradise city, wonderful tonight, etc.. all great songs, but so overplayed that people would rather stab themselves in the face with a pitchfork than hear them again.

I've been trying to focus on the popular stuff, but not the abused stuff. I think people would rather hear a song they know and like, and be like "wow, I haven't heard that song in a long time, what a great tune!"

I could be wrong *shrug* but I hope not.

I am liking what I've read so far but I am certain there are people here who can share even more about what you do that is different than most that helps you keep it in tune, in time and in balance when doing it live.

Perhaps later I'll share as well, but I want to see what others are saying before I spill my beans. Thanks. Some very good posts so far.

Yeah. that is a little vague-

Keeping in tune? Having good gear (good guitars with quality tuners) is an obvious must. As far as vocalists go, you got me *shrug* I know it's easy to screw them up, and as far as getting it right on stage, I will let you know when we get there

Keeping in time? That's really about the #1 priority after hitting the correct notes in practice. If a member can't keep his/her timing, then they should have been booted long before the band hit the stage IMO.

Balance? That's the vague part, do you refer to song selection balance, volume balance? ego balance? whatever balance you refer to, you surely know it's always a juggling act, to some degree.

I always suggest that a part of every gig gets set aside for gear repairs...nothing worse than having an axe onstage that needs new tuners & keeps going out, or one that has a bad jack & buzzes all the time...& you can't always depend on ppl to keep thier gear in tip top shape...but when the $'s there in the band kitty, there's never any excuse!

In tune. I think as far as a guitarist or bass player that you should just be in tune. I run one of those Boss tuners that you can mute and tune silently with. If you have someone whos instrument will not stay in tune then as a band it should be addressed. I dont know of any guitarist that doesnt carry a tuner with them at all times. So I would say a TUNER is essential gear for any bassist or guitarist.

As far as tube amp players: a spare fuse, spare preamp tubes and even spare power tubes, When I played a lot I always carried a little solid state Fender amp that could be miced up in place of my main amp. I wound up using it a number of times.

Guitarist and bassist: extra set of strings, make that 2 extra sets, guitarist that have 2 guitars should have both with them in tune ready to go at all times, extra straps and extra cords, extra 9 volt batteries for effects pedals

Drummers: extra sticks and maybe drum heads, oh yeah a wrench to tighten up your stands, maybe even the little chain or strap that operates the kick, I have used shoelaces for this before and Im not even a drummer

Timing: I would think that if you are at the gigging stage you would be able to stay in time, if not stay at home cause you arent ready

The spare amp is a great idea I'm going to keep my little 15w Ibanez and an extra mic handy. Not ready for changing tubes on the fly yet. May have my pedal board bronzed to hang on my mirror

Great info here. Philby why the hell aren't you a lot less than a 15 hour drive from me??? Dammit...Can't find many people with a performance viewpoint like that. You covered every single thing I look for right off the bat and then some.

I don't carry two guitars for intonation...I carry 8. Including acouple in open D and G and an acoustic, soon as I can afford it an acoustic in open G for a few songs I'm dying to play. One of them I wrote, I'll retune for it even though I hate retuning onstage and refuse to do it.

Ditto for amps, I run a dual amp rig to begin with for clean and raunch 'n roll without having to sacrifice tone for cleans, and a volume pedal for much better control over the volume level. If one amp goes belly up I can just step on the A/B switch and wing it. I played nothing but fill in gigs for 3 years in the 80's, so playing by the seat of my pants is very familiar territory, I've mic'd a Fender Champ and I've plugged straight into the board in a pinch, and played through a seperate channel in a keyboard amp.

I'm another one that uses a wireless and checks the sound from every corner of the venue. I want the vocals on top at all times and GOOD control over dynamics - the rises and drops in volume level during a particular song. If I snap my fingers into a mic I want to HEAR IT no matter what the overall volume level is.

There's no such thing as close enough. I don't drink at all and I don't think "well, they're all too drunk to notice" justifies getting drunk yourself and playing sloppy. I'm usually considered one of the best guitarists in my area, wherever that may be, mostly because I'm the only one always sober, not because I'm actually that good. Many start off better than me...till that 3rd beer...

Don't show up looking like you just walked out of the county fair...or a neighborhood BBQ. You're an entertainer, LOOK like one...I see sloppy clothes on stage and I'm much less likely to take the band seriously. Wipe your guitar down more than once a year, it looks tacky onstage if it's grungy. I wipe mine down before they go back in the cases, usually it's 3 AM and I'm ready to get outta there...I still wipe 'em down.

Tag lines...signature licks...If I say "Wonderful Tonight", what goes through your head instantly? That intro guitar lick. 3 notes. 4 actually but one's a single note bent down in pitch.

"Layla"

The first 7 notes just went through your head didn't they?

Anything else you can get by with, if that signature lick or tag lick isn't there the audience thinks you played it wrong.

I have to disagree though, on some of the song selections, Freebird in particular. It's way too long, the audience gets bored before you're halfway through, you lose them. A few of the other standards I'm just sick of...Sweet Home Alabama and Cocaine are my two favorite pet peeves...Margaritaville is damn close...as much as I loved to play it when nobody else I heard covered it yet...yeah i'm not a spring chicken any more. Strange, but when I first started covering Margaritaville years ago nobody thoguht it would work, people gave me a hard time about it, even though I had played it a few times at solo gigs and it did fine. They didn't think it would go over well and didn't like learning it. I try to pick out popular ones, but not the same ones every band in the known universe has played, changed, misplayed and outright butchered for 38 years...enough already...I don't even want to hear the original recording of Freebird any more...seriously.

OK I'll stop ranting...