Help me put together my setlist...

[Kreatorkind]

I'm going to embark on solo gigs, playing acoustic guitar... here's what I want to do so far: (in no particular order)

 

Behind Blue Eyes- The Who

Tonight, Tonight - Smashing Pumpkins

Overkill - Men at Work

All my Loving - The Beatles

Dead Flowers - Rolling Stones

Plush - Stone Temple Pilots

No Rain - Blind Melon

Baba O'Riley - The Who

Paint it Black - Rolling Stones

Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles

Disarm - Smashing Pumpkins

Black - Pearl Jam

Closer to the Heart - Rush

More Than a Feeling - Boston

Wild Horses - Rolling Stones

Something - The Beatles

What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

Please, Please Me - The Beatles

Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd

 

...and several originals...

 

What would you suggest?

[Notes_Norton]

This may not be the right answer for you, but I'll give you my opinion.

 

Don't do set lists unless you are doing a "show" in a concert hall.

 

Play the audience. Unless you are clairvoyant you will not know what the audience will want the song after next, much less by the end of the set.

 

When I arrive, I take note of the audience. What is the mood? What are they wearing? (we do a variety of musical styles and you can tell a lot about shoes and dress as to their taste in music). How old are they? (again we do a variety of venues). And so on.

 

Then based on my conclusions to these and other observations I try something for the first song and see how it is working. While I'm doing the first song, I take a small part of my consciousness to notice how the audience is reacting, and this tells me what to play next. By the time the song is over, I am ready to start the next song. Then I simply repeat the process. As time goes on and experience teaches me more and more, I get better and better at predicting what to play next.

 

In a small venue, the music should be a dialog between the musician(s) and the audience. You should interact with them.

 

I know it's a dying art, but if you can find a good piano bar performer, you can learn a lot about working the audience.

 

Insights and incites by Notes ?

[richardmac]

Bob, I think that's good advice, but not for someone starting out as I'm assuming the OP is. He's not gonna have a thousand songs in his bag - he's probably going to learn just enough songs to cover the gigs. Kreatorkind, please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

When you are starting out, it's about matching the song list to the venue/audience. You should think seriously about the probable audience demographics and go from there. In general, there are some bands/songs that will work with almost any audience - Beatles songs just plain work. Big mega hits also work - I do Comfortably Numb too, and it usually goes over very well if it's a "listening" audience (ie they're not dancing.) The big temptation is to play songs that you love that are cool and you think people will go "Ah, cool, he's playing such and such!" But in reality that usually doesn't work so well. It depends on the audience, again.

 

To me, you look like you're going for a classic rock type of set list, which works well with older folks and some younger folks - Beatles, Stones, Who, Pink Floyd, Rush, Boston. Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots don't fit. Blind Melon doesn't fit either. So if your song list is classic rock, you'd want to play those songs in places where people want to hear classic rock.

 

Ultimately you have to decide why you're doing this. If you are doing it to have fun and play the songs you love, and you don't care about the money, then play whatever you want and don't worry about it. If the money matters and you want to please audiences, you'll find that those two concepts are related. The more you please audiences, the more money you can make. The 46 year old guy who really enjoyed hearing Comfortably Numb isn't going to know any Smashing Pumpkins songs except maybe 1979.

 

As you gig, you'll see which songs make it and which songs don't. Even in a coffee shop where people are reading a book, or on their laptop, or talking to a friend, you'll see people stop and look up at you, or tapping their feet. If they don't like it, they'll totally ignore you. In a bar, people are more vocal about it. They might shout "Play something we know!"

 

I'd replace the non-classic rock stuff with more Beatles songs. If there's one band that always works, it's the Beatles. Just my advice/opinion.

 

Once you get to the point where you've got over a hundred songs in your bag, you can start tailoring the music to the crowd on the fly, as Bob suggested. People like it when you can play a request. I play keys as well as guitar, and because I play keys people almost always request "Piano Man." And of course I play it, and usually there's a tip involved. And when you can get to the point where you can get people up and dancing, you can charge more $$.

 

I think one of the hardest things about being a solo performer is putting your ego in your car's glove compartment before the gig. Sometimes people totally ignore you. You're singing and playing your heart out and they won't even give you eye contact. It happens.

 

And at least one moron will shout "Free Bird!" Different people have different responses. My response is to say "You better be careful - I might actually PLAY it!" which usually gets some laughs.

 

Best advice, though, is keep coming here and asking questions. There are folks here who've been doing this for a living for a long time and they know their stuff.

[Notes_Norton]

 

<....> And at least one moron will shout "Free Bird!" Different people have different responses. My response is to say "You better be careful - I might actually PLAY it!" which usually gets some laughs. <...>

 

 

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, but have you noticed, nobody ever asks for "Free Bird" or "Skynard" in a conversational voice? They sit at the back of the room and yell "Skynard" or "Free Bird" at the top of their lungs. I know there is a message in that but I can't figure out what it is.

 

OK, back on topic.........

 

Richard has a lot of good to say as well.

 

I had been playing in bands for decades before I decided to go duo with my wife (she had played in other bands for years too). So when we started the duo, I did set lists. That lasted about two weeks. We would be playing something and getting a great reaction from it or dancers got on the floor for the last 15 seconds of the tune, and the next song on the set list was not close to similar, so we would call something similar on the fly. Calling on the fly seemed less work than set lists and it seemed to work better with the audience. Of course YMMV.

 

All in all, you have to play to your audience if you want to gig. Playing Mario Lanza songs in a rock house isn't going to bring you back. Playing rap for senior citizens will get you thrown out on your ear.

 

And if the audience doesn't seem like they are reacting, that doesn't mean they aren't listening. Always do your best.

 

I can't count the number of times I thought I was playing into a huge mattress, no obvious feedback coming from the audience. I look at my partner and it's obvious she is feeling the same way. And at the end of the night, a number of people came up to us and said things like "Great music", "I really enjoyed it", "Perfect", etc.

 

And earlier in the month we played a gig where we were supposed to be 'sonic wallpaper'. The agent who booked us told us to play nothing but low-keyed instrumental background music. So we did an hour and a half of easy listening instrumentals. We didn't expect any reaction from anyone. The crowd was having dinner between financial business meetings, and the hosts were going around to tables giving them pamphlets to prepare them for the next meeting. I thought the only one paying attention was my duo partner.

 

At the end of the set, while I was getting the van to load the gear, the person who booked us through the agency came up to Leilani, gave her a big hug and said, "It was perfect. Everybody said they loved the music." The next day she told the agent, "Perfect! The music was just what I was looking for."

 

Moral: always do your best, and always try to be appropriate for the kind of gig you are doing. And let me add, if you can't provide what the entertainment purchaser is asking for, turn down the gig and tell them you will contact them again when you have the kind of material that they want.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[pogo97]

 

They sit at the back of the room and yell "Skynard" or "Free Bird" at the top of their lungs. I know there is a message in that but I can't figure out what it is.

 

 

"Hey everybody, look at me!!!!"

 

 

And if the audience doesn't seem like they are reacting, that doesn't mean they aren't listening. Always do your best.

 

 

When I'm listening, I'm listening. Sometimes I'm chatting (not always voluntarily) with my table-mates. I'll applaud unless I'm the only one--that's just embarrassing.

 

If I'm not listening (I'm not into the music) I react similarly but I'm less likely to come back. And there's the catch: the 'audience' you hear and who interacts with you may or may not represent the majority of the clientele--they may be extraverts or higher than most or just lonely. Who's to tell?

 

Dance gigs, you can tell. Listening gigs.... ? Harder until your audience grows or doesn't.

 

 

_________

 

Fort Pierce. Nice place. I once taught a canoeing course there for Mark and Becky Molina on their own little pond. First night of the course, we sat in our canoes and watched a shuttle take off from Cape Canaveral. Memorable moment.

[cephus]

 

I'd replace the non-classic rock stuff with more Beatles songs. If there's one band that always works, it's the Beatles. Just my advice/opinion.

 

 

I agree, but "Here comes the sun" is not the song I'd do. I know it's easy to pull off on acoustic guitar, but I have just heard it butchered so many times. I know people love harrison's few contributions. I like the record. I love it when paul simon and george did it on saturday night live. It just usually seems flat when covered.

[Terry Allan Hall]

The advice to consider your adience demographic is GOLDEN...work up a variety of songs, so that anyone, from age 8 to 80, be they hipster to redneck to yuppie to housefrau, will hear at least a few song genres that they like.

 

You can NEVER miss out by throwing into your set "Something", In My Life", "Ramblin' Rose", "Georgia On My Mind", "I'm So Lonesome, I Could Cry", "Mr. Bojangles" or "House Of The Risin' Sun"...in nearly 38 years of gigging, from one end of North America to the other, and in quite a few foreign lands, I've NEVER played a gig where someone in the audience didn't appreciate those tunes, no matter what sort of venue it was. Classics are called "classics" for that reason.

 

When I'm listening, I'm listening. Sometimes I'm chatting (not always voluntarily) with my table-mates. I'll applaud unless I'm the only one--that's just embarrassing. If I'm not listening (I'm not into the music) I react similarly but I'm less likely to come back. And there's the catch: the 'audience' you hear and who interacts with you may or may not represent the majority of the clientele--they may be extraverts or higher than most or just lonely. Who's to tell? Dance gigs, you can tell. Listening gigs.... ? Harder until your audience grows or doesn't.

 

Watch their feet...if their toes are tapping (or other bodily movements are sync'd) to the beat, you're doing fine.

[BlueStrat]

I get good response with Paula Nelson's version of "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" and I do a cool version of "Lodi" by CCR as well. John Fogerty songs lend themselves well to a solo acoustic performance.

 

Here are some others I do well with:

Jimmy Buffett: A Pirate looks at 40, Wonder Why We Ever Go Home, Miss You So Badly, Son of a Son of a Sailor

John Prine : Sam Stone, Living In The Future, Big Ol' Goofy World, Hello In There, Illegal Smile, Angel from Montgomery, That's The Way the World Goes Round

Shawn Mullins: Shimmer, Gulf of Mexico, Santa Fe, Blue as You

John Hiatt: Like your Dad Did, Lipstick Sunset, Feels Like Rain, I wanna Thank You Girl

Tom Waits: Shiver Me Timbers, San Diego Serenade, Better Off Without A Wife

James McMurtry: Lights of Cheyenne, Levelland, I'm Not From Here, No More Buffalo

Lyle Lovett: If I had A Boat, Closing Time, She's No Lady She's My Wife

James Taylor: Long Ago and Far Away, Mexico, Sweet Baby James, You've Got A Friend, Fire and Rain, You Can Close Your Eyes

Bob Dylan: Don't Think Twice, Forever Young, I Shall Be Free, Everything Is Broken, Just Like a Woman

Simon and Garfunkel: Homeward Bound, Sounds of Silence, Mrs Robinson

Chris Knight: If I Were You, Broken Plow, Enough Rope, Sound of a Train Not Running, Send A Boat

Ryan Adams: Sweet Carolina

and lots of other one-off songs by various other artists both older and newer, like Randy Newman, Amos Lee, ZZ Top, Stones, Van Morrison, Beatles, etc. Obviously, my gigs are listening type gigs and not rowdy bar or dance gigs. I play mostly restaurants, wine bars and galleries, etc. and play a lot of my own stuff as well. I have probably 160 songs I could play. One thing I like about playing a lot of more obscure stuff is that it is new to lots of people, and believe it or not a lot of younger hipsters like it because they haven't heard it. Go figure! Now if I could just teach them to tip...

[Terry Allan Hall]

I get good response with Paula Nelson's version of "Have You Ever Seen The Rain" and I do a cool version of "Lodi" by CCR as well. John Fogerty songs lend themselves well to a solo acoustic performance. Here are some others I do well with: Jimmy Buffett: A Pirate looks at 40, Wonder Why We Ever Go Home, Miss You So Badly, Son of a Son of a Sailor John Prine : Sam Stone, Living In The Future, Big Ol' Goofy World, Hello In There, Illegal Smile, Angel from Montgomery, That's The Way the World Goes Round Shawn Mullins: Shimmer, Gulf of Mexico, Santa Fe, Blue as You John Hiatt: Like your Dad Did, Lipstick Sunset, Feels Like Rain, I wanna Thank You Girl Tom Waits: Shiver Me Timbers, San Diego Serenade, Better Off Without A Wife James McMurtry: Lights of Cheyenne, Levelland, I'm Not From Here, No More Buffalo Lyle Lovett: If I had A Boat, Closing Time, She's No Lady She's My Wife James Taylor: Long Ago and Far Away, Mexico, Sweet Baby James, You've Got A Friend, Fire and Rain, You Can Close Your Eyes Bob Dylan: Don't Think Twice, Forever Young, I Shall Be Free, Everything Is Broken, Just Like a Woman Simon and Garfunkel: Homeward Bound, Sounds of Silence, Mrs Robinson Chris Knight: If I Were You, Broken Plow, Enough Rope, Sound of a Train Not Running, Send A Boat Ryan Adams: Sweet Carolina and lots of other one-off songs by various other artists both older and newer, like Randy Newman, Amos Lee, ZZ Top, Stones, Van Morrison, Beatles, etc. Obviously, my gigs are listening type gigs and not rowdy bar or dance gigs. I play mostly restaurants, wine bars and galleries, etc. and play a lot of my own stuff as well. I have probably 160 songs I could play. One thing I like about playing a lot of more obscure stuff is that it is new to lots of people, and believe it or not a lot of younger hipsters like it because they haven't heard it. Go figure! Now if I could just teach them to tip ...

 

Laugh if you want, but I have a sign beside my tip jar and business card holder that says: "Tips...just one more way to say "Thank You" for not playing anything by Justin Bieber"...get's a laugh, and then they often reach for their wallets!

[Kreatorkind]

Good advice guys... I wanna clarify, by "setlist" I mean a collection of songs to have ready to play... I already know a couple hundred songs and I've been playing live for about 10+ years... I just haven't been out and about for over a year and I'm going to be getting back out there. I was just looking for some songs that I have either forgotten about or something new that I never considered. Thanks for your contributions!

[BlueStrat]

"...get's a laugh, and then they often reach for their wallets!

 

Awesome! I've had good luck with "TIPPING: Not Just Another City In China!"

[Quarterwave]

Great suggestions here - my biggest suggestion would be to learn a lot of Beatles tunes. They work just about everywhere, many are instantly recognizable, and they have so many great tunes to choose from, you can be selective to find the songs that work best with your voice / style.

[glepko]

good advice in this thread. i've found a good way to learn playing the crowd in the acoustic realm, with little risk, is open mic sessions. find one, plan your 3-5 song set out before you get there, and be ready to adapt on the fly when your slot is up.

 

what some players do well, and others miss the boat on during acoustic shows is knowing if they (or entertainment) period is the draw, or simply ambiance. takes a little different mindset each way, but those who learn to be on either side get the most work. we've played shows that start as background dinner music, progress to the draw, then return to background music. i'll take that work over smoky bars that are too loud and playing til 3AM any day.

[charlie13]

Really excellent advice being given here, especially from Bob and Terry. Although I do make set lists, I have alternate songs on the side to choose from in the event that I need to change gears. The reason I still do set lists is because just when I need to remember the name of a tune, it escapes me and will not come to me, especially if DJ music or break music is playing. So, to prevent me from standing around looking like an idiot, I have the alternate (stand by) tune ready. These alternate tunes can swing the mood of the set in whichever direction I need to move depending on audience response. If by the second tune they're up and dancin', then I keep 'em there and then move the set more towards dance material. If they are sitting, listening, appreciating..then I pick material that is easy to listen to. Currently playing some smooth jazz guitar tunes and folks are digginn' it.

[BlueStrat]

I don't do set lists with the solo; I just call tunes I feel like playing. But I do have them mentally broken up into categories: classics, originals, folkie, alt-country, blues, and by tempos. It all depends on the crowd what I play on any given night, and the order I play them in.

[amx13]

Thats a really nice setlist you got there! ...here's some suggestions:

 

RHCP - Snow, Under the bridge, strip my mind

Incubus - Drive

Pearl Jam - yellow ledbetter, Daughter

U2 - one, still havent found what I'm looking for, with or without you

Soul Asylum - runaway train

The Wallflowers - heroes, one headlight, 6th Avenue Heartache

Cat Stevens - cats in the cradle

Def Leppard - Two steps behind, hysteria, Miss you in a heartbeat

REM - losing my religion, everybody hurts

Bryan Adams - back to you, heaven, summer of 69

GreenDay - wake me up when September ends, when I come around, 21 guns

Pink Floyd - wish you were here, breathe

 

And just about any Beatles song :-)

[Mike McLaughlin]

I utilize a setlist in my backing track software (Sonar). Prior to starting, I set the order for the evening. At break time, I may do some rearranging also. After one song finishes, a tap of the spacebar and I go right into the next song. Or I can set certain songs in the list to start automatically right after the previous song. This eliminates down time.

 

I can (and do) vary the order on the fly. I just click on the setlist window and drag and drop the song I want to play next into the order, or jump over a song that might not be appropriate at the moment. Using a setlist, I can easily pick what songs I know that will work without having to think too hard about what to play next.

[glepko]

bumping an old one - played a winery recently, mix of friends and folks under 40 so we threw in 'no more mr. nice guy' because a lot of musical buddies were in the crowd. before the first lyric two couples in mid 50's-60's came in - my gut reaction was a chuckle and internal dialog of 'oh {censored} this is going to be interesting'. and interesting it was - they started singing along before ordering a glass, said thank you as they walked by to take a table, then stayed the duration of the show (2.5 more hours). we played a few tunes for them, included them in the show, and left with a nice tip and an invitation to play a private party.

 

had they been seated quietly before i started that tune i'd never imagine including it, and lost out on a great time.

 

i guess the only way to predict your 'set list' is if the venue hands it to you when you book and requires you to play what they demand haha!

[tim_7string]

 

bumping an old one - played a winery recently, mix of friends and folks under 40 so we threw in 'no more mr. nice guy' because a lot of musical buddies were in the crowd. before the first lyric two couples in mid 50's-60's came in - my gut reaction was a chuckle and internal dialog of 'oh {censored} this is going to be interesting'. and interesting it was - they started singing along before ordering a glass, said thank you as they walked by to take a table, then stayed the duration of the show (2.5 more hours). we played a few tunes for them, included them in the show, and left with a nice tip and an invitation to play a private party. had they been seated quietly before i started that tune i'd never imagine including it, and lost out on a great time. i guess the only way to predict your 'set list' is if the venue hands it to you when you book and requires you to play what they demand haha!

 

 

Yep, just goes to show you can never tell if a song is going to go over with certain people or not. I have been pleasantly surprised before, like when a bunch of older folks started dancing to an AC/DC tune I was playing a few weeks ago. Now that was something I definitely did not expect!

[Notes_Norton]

I play for retired people, and have been doing so since I was in my 30s. It used to be that when I saw grey hair I'd play standards (Especially Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw).

 

Years went by and the standards faded away and Elvis era rock filled the floor.

 

Last weekend we did "Old Time Rock & Roll" followed by "Wooly Bully" and it just seems weird to see granny-type ladies jump up enthusiastically to that song.

 

My first reaction is "What are these old people doing listening to my music." Of course a look in the mirror defines what my music is

[pogo97]

 

... it just seems weird to see granny-type ladies jump up enthusiastically to that song.

 

 

And find yourself checking them out...

[Notes_Norton]

Ouch! Don't remind me

[EightString]

 

"No, no. I don't live here. I'm just here for the ladies."

[tinfish]

My Two Cent: for me, it all starts with, "do I like that song". I don't use backing tracks, NEVER use set lists, and rarely use a harmony pedal I recently bought. I find that if I like it, I play it better. I flatly refuse to play buffet, even though I play a tuon of dock bar gigs. I live in a place where people see a lot of live music, and if you don't believe in what you're playing, the crowd I play for will see right through you. you started playing out of love. don't the people you're playing for and to deserve to feel and see that on you?

[Notes_Norton]

I guess I'm weird. I like playing music and don't really care if it's Buffett or not. It's just fun to play.

 

In fact, it's fun to play different genres of music, as I have to put a different musical 'hat' on and get my head into that space.

 

I seldom listen to country music, but really enjoy playing the country songs we have learned.

 

To me it's all play, it's all fun.