Members richardmac Posted May 30, 2012 Members Share Posted May 30, 2012 Question - Which of the following do you choose first? 1. The songs you cover2. The venues you play at3. The audience you try to attract We don't much have a conversation about how the pieces all fit together, but we should. I would guess that most people here choose their songs first, and then try to find a venue to play at, and the audience is third in the list. I would also guess that the people who have the most success are those that have a very good understanding of what audience they want to play for, and they choose their material accordingly. And I think there are a handful of people in here who can entertain ANY audience, because their song list is massive and varied, and they have a lot of experience reading the crowd. From what I've seen, your song selection is almost more important than your talent level. Meaning that I believe most people would rather hear a lukewarm version of a song they love than a great version of a song they've never heard before. So matching the songs to the audience becomes THE most important thing we do. And if you look at it from that angle, then you might start trying to figure out what crowd you want to appeal to, and where you can go to find them. For some, they can play virtually any song and it doesn't matter - it's all music to them. And for some others, there are songs they wouldn't be caught dead doing. So how does it work for you? Do you say "I need to learn some more songs that will go over big at the club where I'm playing," or do you say "I need to learn some more songs that I love and then find a great gig for them." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike McLaughlin Posted May 31, 2012 Members Share Posted May 31, 2012 So how does it work for you? Do you say "I need to learn some more songs that will go over big at the club where I'm playing," or do you say "I need to learn some more songs that I love and then find a great gig for them." In my case it started off with the latter, and then turned into the former. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bob Dey Posted May 31, 2012 Members Share Posted May 31, 2012 Question - Which of the following do you choose first?1. The songs you cover2. The venues you play at3. The audience you try to attractFor some, they can play virtually any song and it doesn't matter - it's all music to them. And for some others, there are songs they wouldn't be caught dead doing.So how does it work for you? Do you say "I need to learn some more songs that will go over big at the club where I'm playing," or do you say "I need to learn some more songs that I love and then find a great gig for them." It's a little bit of each depending on if you want to work or not. I started out learning the songs I wanted to do i.e. Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder. I get a call for my first gig and find I have to learn some old Hank Williams songs, so that's what I did to get the gig. I learn songs that people request the most, especially at places that become regular, or songs that fit the age group. I had a solo act friend that told me it doesn't matter how well you do the song, as long as you play what's requested. People just wanna hear their song. I agree with that, but I want people to love my performance. Some songs I perform very well, others... not as good. Number 3 not so much. At this point in my life, I should play what I want and my audience should come to hear what I do. But since this isn't a perfect world I try to play to the audience's demographic the best I can. What kind of audience would I want to attract? Good looking women with money to spend sounds good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted May 31, 2012 Members Share Posted May 31, 2012 i guess i dont try to attract any certain type of audience... i've never wanted to be pigeonholed into being a certain style or "genre" and have usually found that good music, despite the label placed upon it, appeals to a large variety of people... and over the years i've noticed that approach, delivery and timing are almost as important as luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members leftyjay Posted May 31, 2012 Members Share Posted May 31, 2012 when i lived in ohio, the only venues that made any decent money was the dance rock. there were plenty of venues that had style of music. so i leaned in that dirrection so i could make a living. when i moved to sw florida, that music didnt go in the venues that supplied the best income and most gigs, so i change my setlist to more of the retired seniors. that was over 12 years ago and the venues have all changed again. now i'm geared more for the baby boomers and play late 50s-60s-70s with some modern country mixed in. i never threw away the music i played in ohio because i'm still able to play a song here and there. i'm sure it will come back in style down the road. i'll be ready when it does. guess thats how i accumulated such a large list of songs over the years. i'm kind of a pack rat when it comes to throwing away a song because somewhere down the road, somebody will ask for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted May 31, 2012 Members Share Posted May 31, 2012 lefty, up here in tallahassee i've noticed quite a few college age folks enjoying the 60's and 70's stuff... our draw seems to be an increasing number of them lately... have you noticed anything similar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sgt. Rock Posted May 31, 2012 Members Share Posted May 31, 2012 I play the same songs night after night wherever I play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted May 31, 2012 Members Share Posted May 31, 2012 lefty, up here in tallahassee i've noticed quite a few college age folks enjoying the 60's and 70's stuff... our draw seems to be an increasing number of them lately... have you noticed anything similar? Buffalo, NY and yes it amazes the {censored} out of me! It's pretty refreshing and makes the night that much enjoyable for me. I get to play Beatles/Eagles/Paul Simon and still get to play Goo Goo Dolls/Oasis/DMB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Notes_Norton Posted June 1, 2012 Members Share Posted June 1, 2012 Leilani and I started playing out in 1985 with the intent of playing for the elderly audience. We've both done different genres through the years and decided that if we played the elderly audience we could mix in a bit of jazz. After all, at that time the condominiums and associated audience were still steeped in the "American Songbook" repertoire - and we still heard the fantasy "The big bands are going to come back." So we learned some Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Tom Jobim, Cole Porter, and other songs of the era, mixed in a few lighter jazz things from Horace Silver, Grover Washington Jr., Freddie Hubbard, Paul Desmond and then added some contemporary songs that we thought would appeal to that audience, derived from our then limited experience playing for them. The "American Songbook" songs have all been jazzed up so we picked styles that would be jazzy enough for us and still recognizable enough for the audience. Well there is an old saying, "If you stay on the bandstand long enough, people will tell you what they want to hear" so from day one we asked for requests to be written down. We saved all the requests and the songs that got requested the most frequently got learned the quickest. Pretty soon we found ourselves being a "baby boomer band" which is OK with me as I like that kind of music too. But we also strove to expand our song list so that we could become chameleons and change our musical colors to fit a variety of venues. The majority of the songs in our list are the result of audience requests. A small percentage of them are songs nobody requested but we wanted to do anyway. Many of the requested songs were also ones we wanted to learn. It's working OK with us. We have no problem with audiences as long as we aren't mis-booked. Insights and incites by Notes ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mike Riley Posted June 1, 2012 Members Share Posted June 1, 2012 Yes I have.We do covers of long train running gimme shelter and lean on me.I dont really get it but kids go nuts and as always you get that guy that yells freebird.We condense that song down I get sick of playing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members leftyjay Posted June 1, 2012 Members Share Posted June 1, 2012 lefty, up here in tallahassee i've noticed quite a few college age folks enjoying the 60's and 70's stuff... our draw seems to be an increasing number of them lately... have you noticed anything similar? i havent noticed it, but then again, i dont play any local taverns or bars where there are younger people. i'm playing mainly the yacht club, golf course country club, gated housing community, as well as the senior mobile home parks. the new retirees seem to be the 55-65 yr old. when they first move down here after retiring, they are party people. they dont want the mellow music. i can play just about anything for them. but i still get jobs in the older parks where the average age is 70-80. they are still wanting the 40s-50s easy listening. i can do other styles, but i always have to fall back into their era of music. anything newer than "oh pretty woman" is hard rock to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ides of March Posted June 1, 2012 Members Share Posted June 1, 2012 I get booked for original shows mostly, so my setlist is what it is. I may add a cover but it depends. I may shuffle some original tunes here and there but that's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted June 1, 2012 Members Share Posted June 1, 2012 When I get requests for a song I don't know, I'll text them to myself right on the spot if they're reasonable. This is cool for my weekly gig that I have- it impresses people when I come back 7 days later and can play the tune Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 Started, as many do, by learning the songs that appealed to me, but added songs, as requested or circumstances required. Have a varied enough repertoire (folk to blues to Classic Rock to Country Gold to Jazz standards, from the turn of the last Century to Today), to make pretty much anyone in the audience happy. Rarely do songs that I don't like...but can be bribed, as long as the song in question is Family-friendly (or can be made so ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted June 2, 2012 Members Share Posted June 2, 2012 Have a varied enough repertoire to make pretty much anyone in the audience happy. That's about it right there for me too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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