How Much Time Between Songs?

[Sgt. Rock]

How big of a gap is there between your songs when you perform live?

[dparr]

I don't spend much time at all between songs.

 

I run them together a lot of times.

[EightString]

 

I don't spend much time at all between songs. I run them together a lot of times.

 

 

+1

[leftyjay]

i can run songs back to back to keep the crowd dancing, but if i change the pace up, i usually give 10-20 seconds before i slow it down. that way i can take a sip, or grab another guitar, or sit to play piano.

 

medleys work, but they get predictable if you play in the same place. my keyboard allows me to load the next song while the current song is playing, so there is really no gap. i can pick them on the fly.

[donkey 12]

Big gaps between all songs for us usually. I often talk as much or more than we play music. For some venues, we just play our music, but this is rare.

[Stackabones]

Once, just once, I did two straight hours without stopping in-between songs. Something I'll never do again.

[richardmac]

It depends on the gig. If I'm background music while people are eating, I don't talk hardly at all, and I might put anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds between songs. If I'm supplying music to people on a dance floor, I try to go from one song to the next as fast as I can and keep the beat going.

[RupertB]

Solo: None or nearly none. I pause to tell them who I am and take requests but thats about it.

 

Duo: We try to keep it brief. 10-20 seconds on average.

[Notes_Norton]

It depends on the gig.

 

If it's a dance oriented gig, I do not break at all between songs until the audience looks tired. This is when I pause to make any necessary announcements.

 

They I'll play a dance that has a limited 'audience' like a cha-cha or tango, and after that follow it up with a slow song to get the dance floor full again.

 

On the other hand, I have another weekly gig where there is no dancing. I break between every song and apply some announcements, schtick or a running gag. The audience interacts and we have a great time playing music and goofing off with the audience between songs.

 

Notes

[HarpNinjaMike]

 

It depends on the gig. If I'm background music while people are eating, I don't talk hardly at all, and I might put anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds between songs. If I'm supplying music to people on a dance floor, I try to go from one song to the next as fast as I can and keep the beat going.

 

 

This. I talk and do schtick from stage with loops already started. In this way, I can breakup some of the predictability of loop-stack-stack-sing, etc. I have a few vamps/chugs I'll use to end a song with loops and then keep that going for a bit before getting to the next song.

 

For me, the key is to not be musicless on stage...either foot stomping, chording, looping...something going. Occassionally I have to break just to switch harmonicas, lol.

[Shaster]

If it's background music I take my time. Sometimes I'll play the chorus rubatto or just do some nice noodling. It gives people a chance to request songs or give me birthday... requests - as sometimes people won't approach you when you're playing (of course there's always the guy that wants to hear piano man right in the middle of you singing Moondance). I also use the dead time to eavesdrop. Again, depending on the room, I can hear someone talking about a birthday or whatever and respond accordingly.

 

Even if it's half background half show, I'll talk to folks, remind them of the great food, tell them how hard the staff is working for them, blah, blah, blah.

 

If people are dancing that's a different story. I let the dance floor dictate how much dead air occurs. But I still do an audience check every two or three songs.