Members Jimbo_Keys Posted September 7, 2015 Members Share Posted September 7, 2015 Just thinking about this the other day. I need to add more [fill in genre here]- True for me a lot, I've added quite a bit of country lately. It's a song I've always wanted to do and I don't care if no-one wants to hear it.- Yeah, and sometimes these turn out to go over surprising well (and sometimes a lead balloon comes to mind) . I need to keep up with what's popular today.- Not me ... I realized quite a while back that the audiences I play for don't really want to hear Lady Ga-Ga or whatever. I get regular requests for this song or this artist.- Yeah, call me a 'ho but I'm up there to please people ... so this is probably the reason for most of the additions to my repertoire. Any others?- Jimbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted September 7, 2015 Moderators Share Posted September 7, 2015 I need a more balanced show...I need some material suitable for children... I am usually in the 'I always wanted to learn that song...' mode myself I rarely find any of the 'modern' popular music very exciting or challenging, and gag me with shovel if anyone asks me to play a Taylor Swift song... I had to learn 2 Amy Winehouse tunes to back up a singer last week...I was not familiar with her material, and now am relatively unimpressed...where did people come up with comparing her to Tom Waits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted September 7, 2015 Members Share Posted September 7, 2015 I do theme shows sometimes -- prohibition, WWI, WWII, like that. When one of those is coming up I'll go hunting for new (to me) songs from those years and the decade before. Then I pick my favourites and learn them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted September 8, 2015 Members Share Posted September 8, 2015 Lately I've just been making it up as I go... Every bit of it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve mac Posted September 8, 2015 Members Share Posted September 8, 2015 1 at the specific request of the employer ie a first dance song etc. 2 for the challenge of learning a new style ie bluegrass, Travis picking etc. 3 to surprise the occasional younger audience member with a song recently in the charts. 4 to build repertoire in order to perform "theme" nights 5 to stop myself getting stale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members msmooth Posted September 8, 2015 Members Share Posted September 8, 2015 Sometimes, I will hit a chord and the sound just makes me think of a certain song and I start noodling and then decide to learn it. Other times my wife wants to do a specific song. The last few that we added, were specifically added to get a few more up-tempo songs into our mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moogerfooger Posted September 8, 2015 Members Share Posted September 8, 2015 you guys learn new songs hummm intersting - Ive added new songs for all of the above reasons, or no reason whatsoever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve mac Posted September 8, 2015 Members Share Posted September 8, 2015 this week I am learning Passangers "Let her Go" to improve my picking and to have something uptodate in my pocket and also A flat picked version of "The Leaving of Liverpool" as I am putting together an Irish Bar type theme night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted September 8, 2015 Members Share Posted September 8, 2015 Learning new songs doesn't even compute with what I'm doing right now. I suppose this has been coming for a while, totally improvised performances executed in a style or technique that appears to be, as far as I can tell, my own... I've looked for any info on the little twist to my technique and. If anyone is or has done this, nobody's talking or writing about it... I may have actually stumbled onto a very eccentric niche market where my inherent weirdness and lack of concern for the mundane world of structure can work to my advantage... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted September 9, 2015 Members Share Posted September 9, 2015 Almost all of my solo gigs are at places I play two to four times a month. For the most part, I learn new songs to keep the staff and regulars happy. I don't learn current songs because there aren't many new ones I like, and that fit my style. Theme songs are also ones I'll add. I learned Up On The Roof, because I used to gig at this rooftop revolving restaurant. I just learned Come Fly With Me, because I started playing at a hotel that's attached to the airport. Great changes in the bridge, although yes, the song is old, overdone and kind of cheezy - but again, love the chord changes. I once did a three month gig, three days a week with the same bartender every night. I learned a ton of songs during that period, to keep from boring the bartender, and myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted September 10, 2015 Moderators Share Posted September 10, 2015 got a good chart on Come Fly with Me? I have the 'Vanilla' version...kind of weak in the bridge changes, which as you noted, is the cool part... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted September 10, 2015 Members Share Posted September 10, 2015 I think we need to learn new songs just because they are different. Here are the top 4 reasons I really want to play that songI think our typical audience would like this songIt's been requested enough times to make it worth the time investmentA regular customer put a big tip in our jar and when we apologized for not knowing it, he left the tip in (he/she will get it next time they come in) But do you really need a reason? How about using the mountain climber's reason: "Because it's there!" Insights and incites by Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted September 10, 2015 Members Share Posted September 10, 2015 daddymack, I've got a chart for Come Fly With Me in the unusual key of E (I do it in C), that's reasonably hip. I'll have to scan it and then figure out how to post or PM it to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted September 11, 2015 Moderators Share Posted September 11, 2015 PM me just the chord changes [in whichever key] for the bridge [the verse, as you well know, is fairly straight forward]..there is a lot of nice 'movement' in the bridge I am just not quite up to sussing out on my own...much appreciated !I heard the Buble version yesterday..and I am sorry, but I cringed after so many decades of the Sinatra take, MB is just, well, talk about vanilla...don't get me wrong, he has a good voice and a sense of rhytym, but he ain't no Frankie...[on the other hand if Harry Connick Jr. would PLEASE cover it...he has the right sensibilites and musicianship...IMHO] I actually do not like the over-production of this version, but Mr. S is in top form...his unaspirated [the nnnn's and mmmm's] sustains are just incredible, something, frankly I think you really have to 'have', not learn... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted September 11, 2015 Members Share Posted September 11, 2015 Okay daddymack, the file was too big so I thought it would be faster to type it out then post it somewhere - I was wrong... Obviously it's missing the dots but at least I transposed this one to C. I'm not stating the title in case there are copyright issues. [A] // Cmaj9 C6 / E-7 Ebdim / D-7 / G7 / / Cma7 C6 / G-7 C7 / Fmaj9 / Bb9 / Cmaj7 C6 / C6 F9 / 1st end / E7 A7b9 / D9 G13 :// 2nd end /C6 D7b9 G7 / Cmaj7 / //Abmaj7 / F-7 / Bb-9 / Eb9 / / Bb-7 / Eb7 / Ab6 / Bb-7 Eb9sus4 / / Abmaj7 / Ab6 / Gmaj7 / E- / / A-7 / D7 / G7 G7sus4 / G7 Bb7/Ab F/A G7 // (previous bar, each chord gets one beat) [C] // Cmaj9 C6 / E-7 Ebdim / D-7 / G7 / / Cma7 C6 / G-7 C7 / Fmaj9 / Bb9 / / Cmaj7 C6 / C6 F9 / E-7b5 Bb7 / A7b9 A7 / / D9 / D-7 G13 / Cmaj7 / D-7 G7 // D.C. Note that instead of the C6 in bar one... you could also play / Cma7 D-7 / E-7 Ebdim / and so on. So hopefully these changes are a little hipper than what you've got, but If not, then it's up to you to add the magic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted September 12, 2015 Moderators Share Posted September 12, 2015 WHOA! SCHWEEEET!...must absorb....thank you everso! Yes, much more involved, and I can kind of already see the melody wending its way through the changes... BTW, I think, absent the lyrics and melody, there is no copyright to enforce... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted September 13, 2015 Members Share Posted September 13, 2015 If I was in a country duo, I'd certainly be learning this song: [video=youtube;KKjzolqJwgY] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted September 14, 2015 Moderators Share Posted September 14, 2015 I'll bet they do both kinds of music...country and western..Doyle & Debbie...Fat Wimmins in Trailers...ahh-ha... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted September 14, 2015 Members Share Posted September 14, 2015 Why wasn't this a number one hit? Is it a conspiracy? Maybe her hair's too big? [video=youtube;ol2q9VgS-Nk] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted September 20, 2015 Members Share Posted September 20, 2015 I can't stomach almost anything new. My mind compares it to The Beatles, Billy Joel, Elton, Joni, Jame's Taylor, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, etc etc..and it NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER stands up....I have learned a handfull of newer country though....That said, I learn "new tunes" Which are usually older tunes that I always wanted to learn, are great, are for my band, out of genre like the Crooner stuff which I love, etc...I have so many tunes I my stable i'm fine with it and it hasn't cost me a gig. I do get the occasional request for Taylor Swift, new Maroon 5 etc..I just laugh it off and play a John Mayer or something:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve mac Posted September 20, 2015 Members Share Posted September 20, 2015 I do get where you are coming from sventvkg, although there are some gems that come along now and then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted September 20, 2015 Members Share Posted September 20, 2015 I sing mostly older songs -- 20s etc. -- and any given year is good for a handful of great songs and a smattering of good ones. The rest are potboilers. I doubt that's changed. But I understand the old songs fairly deeply and I don't understand the current songs much at all; there's the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted September 21, 2015 Members Share Posted September 21, 2015 While we learn new songs, they aren't necessarily new songs, but new songs for us. We just learned Gladys Knight's version of "Grapevine" and the Marley version of "I Shot The Sheriff". I think a Mose Allison song ("Your Mind Is On Vacation") or a Jethro Tull ("Living In The Past") might be next. That doesn't mean we don't learn actual new songs, but with our crowd, we don't do that often. "Happy", "Blurred Lines", "I Don't Look Good Naked Anymore" are a few recent ones we learned because either the audience or clients requested them. I like learning new songs (and old new songs) because there is that period of exploration when a song is new to you, followed by peaking, and then pretty much routine. Then I like to put it away for a while and bring it out as an old friend. Insights and incites by Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members senorblues Posted September 22, 2015 Members Share Posted September 22, 2015 "I think a Mose Allison song ("Your Mind Is On Vacation")" Yes! . . . Anybody else had any success with Mose Allison tunes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted September 22, 2015 Members Share Posted September 22, 2015 Mose is not mainstream, but he is a great pianist, clever songwriter and a singing stylist. I was in a group that did a rock version of Parchman Farm back in the 60s. It sold out our minor-league pressing, but it took too long to warrant another. It got scant radio play back when you could bribe DJs instead of program managers. I think our weekly marina gig crowd would like a Mose song or two, but that's about all we'll get out of it. But we've been there going on 8 years now, so I don't mind working up songs just for them. We do a versioin of "Shame And Scandal" in which I wrote a couple of extra verses myself, and we do a version of Winter Wonderland with tropical lyrics and they crowd loves them. It's a listening crowd with very few dancers, so anything goes there. Insights and incites by Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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