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Requests...


daddymack

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This isn't related to my solo act, but more toth trio/jam host gig I do twice a week. The guy in charge is the drummer, he books, he handles teh money and he deals with the gladhanding, etc. But he also takes requests, from anybody, for anything, and will come ask me if I know the song. A lot of times, even if I know hte song, if I feel it is a) inaapropriate for the venue, or b) too complicated to show the rest of the band in ten seconds, or c) an absolutely awful tune, I will say 'nope, don't know it...but tell them to come back next week and I will have it charted out...' and I do.

So Wednesday, he comes up at 12:30 [we end at 1] with a request for Hotel California. I looked him right in the eye and said, 'yes I know it, but there is no way we are doing that song with a bunch of drunk blues wankers at this point in the evening'. Because I knoew who was on stage, and they would not be up to it, let alone backing harmonies, dual guitar runs...

Then I said, 'who asked for that song at a blues jam...?!?!'

He points to a guy I've seen there before, not a player, but a guy who comes in once a month or so and gets plastered. S o Igo over and say to him 'look, if we try Hotel calaifornia, it is going t obe a mess. There is no way these guys will get it through with out ever rehearsing it, sorry...'

And he says...'just you do it, then, solo....'

And I said 'come early next week, put a twenty in my hand, and I will perform that song for you before we start the jam...okay?'

The drummer says, 'We can't do that!'

'I can'....

 

The week before, at about 11PM, here comes the boss with some half drunk guy in tow...'what jazz standards do you know?'

I start rolling a bunch of stuff off...until finally I say 'Summertime' and the guy says 'yeah, I'll sing that!'

I look at the jammers in band behind me...'oy...vey' not a Gershwin fan in the bunch...'okay..Ami..E...a Dmi, a C an F...listen and watch me...'

The guy was mediocre at best [actually he made me hope for mediocre]...but at least he knew the lyrics.

A few weeks ago, at our first gig at a new venue, he let some hot babe up and she called 'Summertime' and proceeded to butcher it so badly, I skipped the solos and went for an early kill...and the drummer said 'gee that was awfully short...'

'were you listening, or just watching?'

 

this happens every week...a cute girl wants to sing...'what kind of stuff do you do?'

'Amy Winehouse!'

'Oh, yeah, I'm sure the house band [meaning me and the bassist] knows all her material...'

 

As a drummer, he has no conception as to the chord structure, number of changes, bridge, etc.; to him it is a beat, some fills, a flam, a roll...piece of cake. [but he has completely blown stuff he said he knew, missed stops, failed to change beats, etc.]

He will also let any one on stage if they say they can play, or sing, and then he expects the bassist and I to cover for them, and cut them short if they are goddawful.

The bassist told me Wednesday he is done. 'I can't keep doing this junk, backing people who have no business being on a stage.' Not exactly his words, but I can't print his words here...

Frankly, if I didn't need the $, I wouldn't do it either.

 

I have tried to reason with the drummer in the past, but he doesn't get it. "Make them sound good, that's all you have to do."

 

Silk purses from sow's ears be damned. No matter how well you polish a turd, it is still...a turd.

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The drummer may book, glad hand, etc., but there's no way he's going to fill the role of music director. Very few groups that I've worked with see the benefit of defining and assigning that role to a qualified person, but I won't consider working with anyone unless that chair is discussed in detail.

 

I've never met anyone who enjoyed a jam host gig for just the reasons you've outlined. Twice a week!? You have my condolences.

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Same thing the bassist said recently, to the drummer...he told him to let me handle the music side...which is why the drummer brings this stuff to me...after he has already said 'okay'...:rolleyes:

Twice a week isn't bad, I used to play five nights a week...almost thirty years ago...unfortunately, I have put my solo career on the back burner because I am gigging this much...but that may all change shortly.

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Why is it that people ask for songs that you clearly will/should not play? I was doing my ca. 1930s thing, and a perfectly pleasant and apparently cogent woman asked if I did any Billy Joel or maybe Margaritaville. I said that no, they weren't what I do and she was okay with that. But WTF?????

 

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Why is it that people ask for songs that you clearly will/should not play? I was doing my ca. 1930s thing, and a perfectly pleasant and apparently cogent woman asked if I did any Billy Joel or maybe Margaritaville. I said that no, they weren't what I do and she was okay with that. But WTF?????

 

Ahhh, yes. Requests. The age old thorn in the side for musicians.

 

The first question I have is why do people request ANYTHING? Really. Unless it's an "it's our anniversary and this is 'our' song, do you know it?" situation, why does anyone think they need to hear a particular song? ​​I think it's partly because they want to be part of the 'show'. It makes them feel involved in some way. We've all had that person will who request a song, then when you tell them that you don't know it, they request another and another and pretty soon they are looking at your song list until they can finally say "yes! play THAT one!". Why? They just want to be involved.

 

Part of it is also a power trip for some people. They want to be able to make the monkey dance. I've had occasions where I've been tipped hundreds of dollars just to play some particular song or another for no big special reason that I can discern. Why? Because the guy wants to be the big shot is the only thing I can figure.

 

Also, people in the audience are generally absolutely clueless and/or don't really care about what we are doing or why. Your apparently cogent woman probably had no clue whatsoever that you were doing a 30s thing, no idea what era the songs you played were from, and no idea that Billy Joel or Margaritaville aren't from the same time period. Or cared. She just wanted to request a song. I'm sure she was nice enough and cogent enough. She just doesn't really care enough about what you are doing to pay that much attention to it. Her focus is elsewhere.

 

Part of it is also that what we do is all just 'magic' to most people anyway. Had a girl request a song the other night that I told her the band didn't know. She starts to sing it for me. I said "Yeah, I'm not really recognizing it but even if I did, we don't know how to play it." She says "well, I can pull it up on my phone for you...." I try to explain to her that we can't just listen to a song for a few minutes and then all six of us can jump up on stage and perform it". At that point she either sort of understood or just got tired of asking and started talking to me about something else. Very nice girl. She just wanted to be part of the action and connect to the band in some way. But I've come to understand that since most people can't pick up a guitar and play anything at all, they often think that those of us who can are to able to just magically reproduce any song we're even vaguely familiar with.

 

Well, I HAVE known some cats who pretty much COULD do that. I've never been one of those, however....​​​​

 

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I didn't have a problem fielding requests. It was a yes or no answer. Mine were mostly "No", but if I encountered successive requests for a particular song I'd ponder the idea of learning it. There were/are more songs out there (and genres) I won't play because I don't want to.

 

Like guido61 states, audiences are pretty much musical dumb clucks with a very narrow sense of it at best, what it takes to make it and probably no appreciation for the work involved even if they did know it. It's no surprise, though, that background noise is usually the only thing brought and taken from the party. Playing at a wine bar - no vocals - is the most I will go for now. I can't stand the beer swilling demeanor of the typical pub and grub. I just want to be that guy playing instrumentals in the background while guys and dolls lightly chat each other up over their grape juices. And, these days it's amazing to field reactions to 70's music asking if it (whatever a particular song is) is one of my originals. Most times it's because they knew/know them as songs, not the instrumentals I render from them, but it's still funny how that works to completely change people's perceptions of old tunes. Because there's no singing in what I do at the occasional wine bar gig I've never received a request (Classical Gas notwithstanding).

 

Solo. I shudder the thought of making any more of it than that.

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Playing at a wine bar - no vocals - is the most I will go for now. I can't stand the beer swilling demeanor of the typical pub and grub. I just want to be that guy playing instrumentals in the background while guys and dolls lightly chat each other up over their grape juices. .

 

The trick is being able to find that niche where we are comfortable doing what we do and take the bits of enjoyment where we can. For me, I have a hard time doing the background music gigs. ​I got addicted to the "rock star" thing when I was younger so I seek out gigs and situations where I can recreate that to the greatest degree possible. But that's just me. I think just doing the background music thing is awesome as long as the person doing it is happy doing it. And I'm glad there are still enough varied gig opportunities around that most of us can get our rocks off (and hopefully put a bit of coin in our pocket along the way) doing what we love to do the way we want to do it.

 

 

 

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Like guido61 states, audiences are pretty much musical dumb clucks with a very narrow sense of it at best, what it takes to make it and probably no appreciation for the work involved even if they did know it.

 

That's true, but we have to understand that it's not necessarily a BAD thing. Few of us are in the position to be playing only for musically sophisticated audiences or have fan bases large enough that they fill up rooms just to appreciate what WE do and how WE do it. We're just there to entertain them for the time we have their attention.

 

It's like the magic of movies. At best, people can see a great movie and be generally impressed with the art and skill that went into creating it​​ but they don't really understand it all nor should they. If they were entertained and moved for a couple of hours, then the goal of the film's creators were met. Few people are going to sit around afterwards marveling about the cinematography or set design. If a few movie-head-nerds do---great! But it's not usually the goal of the moviemakers nor what is going to put butts in the seats.

 

So songlist, musicality, vocal skills, costume, dance moves, sound, lighting, etc etc are all just part of the package and tool kits we all can draw from in order to ​connect to the audience and have them enjoy the time we spend with them. If they want to make a request, that's usually a sign that they are having a good time and want to be more involved. Which is a good thing.

 

Still doesn't mean we have to play it, but I try to take that they are interested enough to even make a request as positive thing.

 

 

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I'd hate to run a jam session.

 

In our duo situation, we very rarely let people sit in. We prefer that to be never and do our best in that direction.

 

If the person wanting to sit in is a pro, we explain we have backing tracks, in our key, and in our arrangement and if he/she doesn't sing in our key or know our arrangement it will make him/her look bad so we don't do sit-ins. Followed with "If you want to rehears with us, we'll let you sit in next time."

 

Requests are another thing. 99% of the time if we say something like "That's a great song but sorry, we don't know how to play it." it works. But then there are those rare people who won't take know for an answer. We play that one by ear. It depends on the person and level of intoxication.

 

We do publish a "smart phone request list" but that isn't working to well, so I'm thinking about doing photocopies for someone to browse through. "I'm sorry we don't know that one, but here is our song list, if you want any one of those we'd be happy to play it for you." I saw a band when I was on vacation in DC do that.

 

I love my audience, and I love them to be involved, but I dislike those moments where it doesn't work.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

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One place I was at many years ago had a piano player that basically had bunch of lyrics books available. If it was in the book she would play it and everyone got to sing along. So one approach might be to have your song list handy and simply say that if it's on the list you can play it and if not, then it won't happen.

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What also kills me, as Guido mentioned was the people who come up and say do you know this song?

da-da-dadada-da...da..dadada...? [with no actual melodic context]...

I once said, sarcastically "ah, that is INA DADA DA VEE DAH, right? Sorry, the drummer doesn't know it."

 

The Amy Winehouse requester followed me outside on break and played me the songs on her cell phone and said 'so, you can do them now, right?' I said "wait here", and went inside and pulled the 3 page chart for Blue Bossa from my guitar case, and showed it to her. "I need something like this to be able to show the band how to play that. Just hearing the song is fine for me [HAH, not really], but they can't read my mind, see?"

"Oh, so, you could do that for my songs and I could come back next week and do them?"

"Yes...I could..." and I did and we did and she tipped me a twenty the following week...but damned if that isn't the hard way to make twenty bux.

 

Once we had a request for House of the Rising Sun [which is #2 on my list of songs I will not play*], and I said "I'm sorry, but that song is #2 on my list of songs I will not play ever again", and I called up another guitarist who is less discerning than I ...and he didn't know the song.

 

But our drummer should be smarter than that, but he is all about being the crowd pleaser. He bills it as a blues jam, but when people come in and want to play angst-pop, country rock, jazz, etc...he says sure, go ahead.

 

 

 

*I started this list years ago for the songs I just couldn't bear to play one more time ever again...Proud Mary is #1, HOTRS is #2, G-L-O-R-I-A is #3, and there are a ton more. These were the songs that every band did in the 70s and 80s, and when you do them 2-5 nights a week for months on end, you develop a distaste that never seems to go away. These are, unfortunately, an almost identical list to The Idiot's Guide To Band Requests...

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I used to play in a band where we did a bit called the "Medley of Songs We Don't Know". Between the guitarist and myself we could fumble our way through the opening licks of just about any classic rock tune, so we'd ask people to shout out requests of songs we don't know. Then we'd play the first couple of bars and then stop and say "no, no, no, we don't know that one....next?" which usually was met with "awwwws" and laughter and we'd keep it up until somebody hit on a song we DID know and we'd play that one through.

 

Fun for us and the crowd always seemed to enjoy the joke as well. ​

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I seldom get requests, I think because I don't really pause from the moment I hit the the first note to when I am taking my last bow. I fill the gaps with banter and jokes etc. therefore I can remember a couple of times when I have had them.

 

One was when I was literally strapping my guitar on and a little boy aged about 8 (even in a holiday resort this is unusually young but the parents where owners of the bar) came up to me and asked me to do Whisky in the Jar which was his favorite song. As I knew it, of course I said I would, thinking I will throw it in somewhere in the middle of the set. However this little chap had other ideas, as soon as I said I would he went and fetched his chair and brought it right in front of me and sat down in anticipation. Needless to say it was the second song I did, much to the appreciation of the crowd who thought it was hilarious.

 

Another time a couple of drunken women who had been to my previous shows started shouting for me to do 500 Miles which they had previously heard me do. I playfully said that I wasn't doing it tonight, at which point they decided that wasn't an acceptable response and so started singing it at the top of their voices, within seconds the whole bar was joining in, leaving me no choice but to join in myself.

 

 

 

 

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There are no songs that I will not play anymore. If I know them, and they request them, I'll play them (OK, I'm a ho - but a good ho) ;) Funny thing to me about being tired of playing a song, once I start playing it, I forget that I'm tired of playing it and have a good time anyway.

 

But there are songs I will not learn. These are songs I would not have a good time playing - ever - because I dislike them extremely. And others like "Strokin'" or "Why Don't We Get Drunk And Screw" would alienate part of the audience and I feel are bad business to play.

 

People can be really touchy about sex. It's weird. I once wore a tie that had a line drawing of Botticelli's "The Birth Of Venus" on it (wearing sunglasses). The Birth Of Venus is one of the world's most famous works of art, and I've seen the painting in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. The tie is not suggestive, as it is only the outline in line drawing with a dot for a nipple, but after the gig, the agent asked me not to wear that tie anymore because he got a couple of complaints. These were from adults in the PGA Player's Club in Palm Beach Florida.

 

Now if they complain about that, can you imagine "I stroke it to the north, I stroke it in the south, sometimes I even stroke in in her ....." or "Why don't we get drunk, and screw".

 

Some people just have no sense of humor.

 

BTW, I like the idea of a medley of songs we don't know, and just play famous intros. That could be fun. Right away I think of "Smoke On The Water", "Louie Louie", "Sunshine Of Your Love", "Beethoven's Fifth Symphony", "California Dreamin'", and I'll think of dozens more as soon as I click Post.

 

What would you add?

 

Insights and incites by Notes

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An observant sole once noticed me putting my harmonica on the harplock as I was setting up and I overheard him say to his missus that he hoped I played Heart of Gold as it was his favorite. So I played the intro on both guitar and harp and the chap had a big smile on his face until I stopped dead and said that I really should learn the words to that one. Whilst the truth is the song I feel works best in its original key and it's just too high for me so I have given up on it.

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Guido61, your first post spoke much truth.

 

As for me; In lounges and restaurants, I don't often get requests because I'm often background. If I do get requests they are usually in the style of what I do. The requests I've had in the last month were: Ain't No Sunshine, Alberta, Masquerade, What's Going On, Under the Boardwalk, and a waitress requested Soul Shadows by Bill Withers (which I just happened to know). I think that's been about it for requests in the last month.

 

Oh yeah. I did do Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac. No tracks or drum machine and I didn't know the words except the first line of the first verse and a little bit of the chorus. It went over big time so go figure. Got tipped twenty US as well. Why did I do it? The guy tipped me first and then requested the song - no way he was getting his money back!

 

As for jams, they are hard. I sub at this blues jam every once in a while. It's run by a very good and very gregarious drummer (seems to be the norm). This jam gets all types. Some of the best players in the city, and some of the worst. The drummer somehow manages to walk the tightrope and knows when to use the hook and how to balance the evening. He also hires guys that know lots of tunes and can fake well. We even get guys that do their original material and you just have to guess as to where they are going.

 

Daddymack, I feel for ya. It's too bad there are so many duds at your jam. A few here and there can be okay, but when it's most of the night -then that can suck the spirit right out of a person. However, I guess there are worse jobs.

 

 

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Yeah, because we are in LA, we get a weird mix...pros [session/touring heavyweights], semi pros, wannabes and neverwillbes...some nights are great [last night I did the first set and like two songs late...spent the night manning the PA board, easy-PZ] a couple of wannabes, mostly semi-pros. Some nights can be abysmal, no one but the wannabes and neverwills until almost closing...by then, the energy is gone.

Worse jobs? Heck yeah...I could be flipping burgers, folding pizza boxes, cleaning bedpans... I just keep thinking...I am getting paid to play music...and, even better, to sit and listen to music!

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<...> Whilst the truth is the song I feel works best in its original key and it's just too high for me so I have given up on it.

 

I've noticed through my life that some songs seem to only work in the original key, and others can be transposed with no problem. At least from my point of view.

 

Anybody else notice this?

 

If so, do you know why?

 

Insights and incites by Notes

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I don't mind playing requests. If I know the song I will do it and if I don't know the song I still might try to do it. We have been known to do songs with my wife holding up the lyrics on her iPhone. I even have a 30 second version of Freebird worked up. For us we like just playing and having fun. I agree with Notes, I do not have many "won't play" songs - "Strokin'" may be the only one. I'll play "Let's Get Drunk and Screw", but only in the right setting.

 

But we feel that we can do this because our song list is all over the place anyway. If I were playing a specific genre of songs I'm not sure that I would want to take requests outside of that genre. If I were playing jazz or standards I wouldn't want to do Johnny Cash or Jimmy Buffett (unless it was "Stars Fell On Alabama Last Night").

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We were playing at a campground - wicked drunk audience. Some guy was jokingly yelling "In A Gada Da Vida". I happened to know the drummer knew the solo (he'd noodle it all the time) so we faked it best we could and they loved it - glad we didn't have a recorder goin'. I was filling in anyways and prol'ly sucked LOL. They paid us an extra Franklin to go another set - not horrible for a four piece halfarse bar band hereabouts...

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Very typical in my experience. The most recent one was just this Monday. I'm 2 songs into my solo acoustic + vocals gig and an older guy comes up to me while I'm doing the intro to Norwegian Wood and starts asking me if I like Glen Campbell and can I play any. He keeps talking and I had to cut him off and start singing after about 8 times through the intro. He was nice though and a sincere guy. He "bought" me a beer from one of the many trays of free beers going around too.

 

Non-musicians and bad musicians don't know they sound bad or have chosen a really poor song. Just like the paradox that you need to be smart enough to know you're dumb. :)

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Went to see a guy last Saturday. He's an excellent player, singer, songwriter and entertainer. In his last set, he basically opened things up for requests. Gads! what a complete clusterffuucckk! No coherent order, partial songs, forgotten lyrics. Ugh. It was bad enough to make me reconsider going to see him again. Completely not what I go out to hear. Made about seven drunk people happy but kind of lost my respect.

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