Members jw10 Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 At all of our gigs, no matter where, it seems like in the first set we are all just drudging to get through. There is no crowd participation at all either. But come second set, we start playing tighter, and the audience all dances and sticks at it. Does anybody else experience this? I'm a firm believer in "If the audience is having fun, your having fun", but it seems like nobody starts to dig it until halfway into the gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 What sort of songs are you playing during your first set? Are they as strong as you have in the later sets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 Yeah I'm thinking that you have to get moving right away...After those few "intro" songs you have to be at 100%. Grab some of those prime 2nd set tunes and punch them in halfway through that first set. It's probably more of your attitude a little bit too when you guys start. It's almost like Monday morning work. You don't get motivated until 11 or 12 unless you have something to motivate you. Man.. I started tonight to about 10 people in a bar that holds 100 and it sucked bad. I played the first 30 minutes like those people paid $100 each to see me. As a solo dude if I didn't do that I would imagine people would think I was boring or just going through the motions and have no desire to stay and listen. I can't have that. I need them to think they haven't seen any better. You can force people to participate or listen too. Last night I did Pearl Jam's, "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town". I don't know if you're familiar with the vocal but you have to belt it and put yourself out there vocally... the listener definitely has to pay attention. This was the third song because I knew I didn't feel like waiting around for them to notice. It worked...I got a little bit of applause and people knew I was there to do my thang and they could have fun too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 double post... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jw10 Posted June 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 I'm pretty confident in our first set. It's definitely the most attention grabbing and the tightest. The second set is more or less simpler songs, and the third is all out impro-solo/jam alive-pearl jam and heartbreaker-zeppelin, all that type of stuff. And by the way, potts, love me some PJ. How do you put up with playing to ten people? I get really frustrated on slow nights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 How do you put up with playing to ten people? I get really frustrated on slow nights It's tough when that happens- thank God it was only about 30 minutes before people started showing up and the party got moving last night. My biggest anxiety is never playing to just a few people, it's the pressure of not bringing people in. I'm sure we've all felt that way when it's a dead night. We're just waiting to hear {censored} from the bar owner or something. If it's dead I always give the venue the option to pack up and work out a deal. I've always done it as part of my normal business practice for years and it's served me well. It's basically "lets call it a night and book another gig" for the future and give it another shot. I'll take the future booking any day! If they want me stay and play when it's dead? My real secret is to go puff one real quick and then I'm normally adjusted enough to have a good time playing to nobody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 More Killer, less filler. It took us years to get three solid sets of pure aces that worked for us. Years ago we would stack our most popular material in the 3rd set... to keep people till the end of the night and also to end with a bang. (Funny I remember telling people... "You leaving? Stick around... we're playing "XXXXX' in the next set. ) These days, depending on the room and number of sets we'll either start the first set with a short buildup (a medley that warms up the crowd) or hit them staright between the eyes with a popular song right off the bat. For instance.... 3-Sets, 10pm cold start.... late room and maybe 30-40 people there... much busier later we'll open with Laid, into American Girl, into Walking On Sunshine 2-Sets 11pm start... room packed and DJ has been spinning for an hour we'll open the first set with Pour Some Sugar On Me, into Baby Got Back, into Party Rock Anthem. The difference between the song choices in both scenario is energy and delivery. What are your normal first set songs? If no one is usually there during the first 2-3 songs, hell throw in something that really reves your engines. Do a shot of tequila together... something to warm you up and shake off those jitters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 My real secret is to go puff one real quick and then I'm normally adjusted enough... Apparently there's a theme going on here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 we don't drudge thru, but we play some of our more laid back stuff. a lot of it are the songs that we enjoy playing more. things that get the wheels greased so to speak. a lot of our gigs are restaurant/outdoor deck type venues where people are still eating during the 1st set so we try to ease into things vs come out gangbusters. here's our 1st set for tonight, i'm experimenting with doing 4x45min sets vs 3x60.Be Your Shelter (Taylor Dayne)Game of Love (Michelle Branch)Reelin in the Years (Steely Dan)Songbird (Fleetwood Mac)What a Fool Believes (Doobies)I Am So Into You (Atlanta Rhythm Section)Chain of Fools (Aretha)I Can't Go For That (Hall and Oates)Get Ready (Rare Earth version)Come Together (Beatles) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 we don't drudge thru, but we play some of our more laid back stuff. a lot of it are the songs that we enjoy playing more. things that get the wheels greased so to speak. a lot of our gigs are restaurant/outdoor deck type venues where people are still eating during the 1st set so we try to ease into things vs come out gangbusters. Oooh.. 45 minute sets huh? Not judging of course but I just couldn't do it. On a 3 hour gig I take about a 10 minute break after about 90 minutes. Once I get rolling I don't like to stop. (great tunes in that set BTW) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 Usually we do 60 on, 30 off. 1 of our venues is 45/20 and that keeps the break shorter but gives us time to socialize with the crowd. We've been trying that out in some of the 60/30 rooms. Most don't care what set/break times we do. I guess doing a solo gig is a little different. we can pump up the line dance/hip hop stuff between sets and people keep dancing so there really isn't a break in what is going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 Most don't care what set/break times we do. I guess doing a solo gig is a little different. we can pump up the line dance/hip hop stuff between sets and people keep dancing so there really isn't a break in what is going on. That's cool that you get the flexibility. Some of the venues are really strict up here with full bands and set lengths and breaks. Yeah the solo thing is different. I struggle at times with playing long sets that will keep people there and listener fatigue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KeysBear Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 in my main band the singer needs some warmup songs so we aren't very lively until midway first set. We do 4 hours in three sets or three long sets and one short one to end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OldGuitarPlayer Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 It's tough when that happens- thank God it was only about 30 minutes before people started showing up and the party got moving last night. My biggest anxiety is never playing to just a few people, it's the pressure of not bringing people in. I'm sure we've all felt that way when it's a dead night. We're just waiting to hear {censored} from the bar owner or something. If it's dead I always give the venue the option to pack up and work out a deal. I've always done it as part of my normal business practice for years and it's served me well. It's basically "lets call it a night and book another gig" for the future and give it another shot. I'll take the future booking any day! If they want me stay and play when it's dead? My real secret is to go puff one real quick and then I'm normally adjusted enough to have a good time playing to nobody This. I remember playing bass in a band 30 yrs ago and we made an 8 hr drive to play a two nighter in some old hotel bar. The first night all we played to was some old dude yelling out for us to play some "Ernest Tubb"...LMAO. The next day the hotel/bar manager says. He will pay us for last nights show but would rather let us go home and not play that night. He was cool about it and gave us our money and we went on our way. We were never so happy to get out of a place... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 we don't drudge thru, but we play some of our more laid back stuff. Definately all venue/gig dependant. If you're playing where people are still eating, you definiately want to start off laid back. Like you're doing, we have a separate "dinner" set just for those type of gigs. But if it's a gig where we need the party to start right off the bat, we kick right in with the heavy dance stuff (our idea of 'easing into it' is beginning with a couple of disco classics) and those dinner set songs never see the light of day. Having the right set list for the gig is the key. Where many bands fail is in trying to 'hide' certain songs throughout their sets or filling up their first set with a bunch of schlocky stuff and convincing themselves "well, we need to warm up the crowd anyway" when they'd be better off just hitting them with their best stuff from the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted June 2, 2012 Moderators Share Posted June 2, 2012 What I find that helps immensely with the 1st set blues is doing rhythm exercises with a metronome for 15 minutes. It doesn't even have to be on my instrument, though I like to warm up my bass fingering as well. But working Louis Bellson's Rhythm Studies with a metronome gives me a strong sense of pocket. That's what's so tough about the 1st set. Everything feels cold and locked up. Like doing yoga in a cold room. But if you hit the stage with a strong pocket, you don't have to either wow them with "energy", which is usually just misguided nerves masquerading as "show", or you don't have to start slow. You can start steady and true. People know a pocket. They might not realize its absence, but it'll feel cold. But offer up pocket from note 1 and... life is good. But you gotta warm up to do that, and no, I'm not talking running scales here... I'm talking making the metronome disappear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 I thought this would be a post about playing all blues in the 1st set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 But you gotta warm up to do that, and no, I'm not talking running scales here... I'm talking making the metronome disappear. I've been doing a lot of that lately! Click tracks are everywhere! It's a trip playing along to one AND the band at the same time! I'll be doing that again tomorrow at church. The downside of playing to a click is sometimes I can really hear the drifting away from it from certain players! It doesn't always disappear like it should! And that causes a "push/pull" in the time. I'm not a big fan of that, because it's a more sterile push/pull and can be inconsistent. I'd rather lock with the drummer, as a bass player. Let the drummer set the click. Even if the click drifts a little. Because when people set the click, they tend to do it in their own predictable way. When people are fighting a click track, they tend to drift back and forth in a non-predictable way. I don't like that sound. Too sterile and at worst it can sound like a bunch of people all playing the same song, but not really together. I'm hoping one of the things I can influence this praise band in is playing more TOGETHER. I'd like to get the click out of all the cans EXCEPT for the drummer! I'm going to bring that up tomorrow at rehearsal, as a suggestion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 I'd like to get the click out of all the cans EXCEPT for the drummer! I'm going to bring that up tomorrow at rehearsal, as a suggestion. That's a no-brainer IMO too. Good luck with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jw10 Posted June 3, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 3, 2012 I thought this would be a post about playing all blues in the 1st set. Lol, I'd shoot our drummer if he made us do that... Isn't it supposed to be the other way: the guitarist is the blues junky? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jw10 Posted June 3, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 3, 2012 What I find that helps immensely with the 1st set blues is doing rhythm exercises with a metronome for 15 minutes. It doesn't even have to be on my instrument, though I like to warm up my bass fingering as well. But working Louis Bellson's Rhythm Studies with a metronome gives me a strong sense of pocket. That's what's so tough about the 1st set. Everything feels cold and locked up. Like doing yoga in a cold room. But if you hit the stage with a strong pocket, you don't have to either wow them with "energy", which is usually just misguided nerves masquerading as "show", or you don't have to start slow. You can start steady and true. People know a pocket. They might not realize its absence, but it'll feel cold. But offer up pocket from note 1 and... life is good.But you gotta warm up to do that, and no, I'm not talking running scales here... I'm talking making the metronome disappear. Interesting Idea, I get what you are saying completely. You always tighten up after you get warm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alan Roberts Posted June 3, 2012 Members Share Posted June 3, 2012 I've been doing a lot of that lately! Click tracks are everywhere! It's a trip playing along to one AND the band at the same time! I'll be doing that again tomorrow at church.The downside of playing to a click is sometimes I can really hear the drifting away from it from certain players! It doesn't always disappear like it should! And that causes a "push/pull" in the time. I'm not a big fan of that, because it's a more sterile push/pull and can be inconsistent. I'd rather lock with the drummer, as a bass player. Let the drummer set the click. Even if the click drifts a little. Because when people set the click, they tend to do it in their own predictable way. When people are fighting a click track, they tend to drift back and forth in a non-predictable way. I don't like that sound. Too sterile and at worst it can sound like a bunch of people all playing the same song, but not really together.I'm hoping one of the things I can influence this praise band in is playing more TOGETHER. I'd like to get the click out of all the cans EXCEPT for the drummer! I'm going to bring that up tomorrow at rehearsal, as a suggestion. I agree. The click for the drummer should be enough. If you have everyone hearing it and reacting to it, they're either no longer reacting to the drummer or they're trying to react to both - and either way is bad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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