Members doezer Posted November 1, 2011 Members Share Posted November 1, 2011 ok folks.. so youve just set up for a gig.. just about to go on and in walks a gang, mostly already well lubricated and, say in their 30s or 40s, mostly women and are all clearly gagging for a singalong..! theyre not into being quietly cajoled into it - they want it, and they want it NOW!! maybe theyve all just been watching X-factor too so they see you as their own personal karaoke machine ive picked that age group but it could be say in their 20s too. i picked mostly women cos i find women to be much pickier on the tunes they hear - guys seem to get into whatevers going.... so whats your 1st FIVE Tunes that you play!!!?? go on. mine? i guess i'd plan with these but maybe not in this order. if i found they were bombing id revert to some beatles or elvis or something pretty quickly.. Dont Look Back in Agner - Oasis. Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon Angie - Stones Rehab - Amy Winehouse All these things that I have done - the Killers Rockin in the Free World - Neil Young this list could of course be totally different tomorrow d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sologrrl Posted November 1, 2011 Members Share Posted November 1, 2011 Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond Laid - James Home for A Rest - Spirit of the West Don't Stop Believing - JourneyBenny and the Jets - Elton John 500 Miles - Proclaimers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gary Blanchard Posted November 1, 2011 Members Share Posted November 1, 2011 Thankfully, I don't need "banker" tunes. I just play my music. I stopped playing those type of gigs years ago. Back when I did those gigs, I could get the audience going with Neil Young and Grateful Dead tunes. Shows how many years that has been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EightString Posted November 1, 2011 Members Share Posted November 1, 2011 Here are a few off the top of my head... Don't Stop Believin'Brown Eyed GirlFly Me to the MoonFriends in Low PlacesMustang SallySeptemberWe are the ChampionsHighway to Hell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 I just play my set. If they like it, fine; if not, that's fine too. I long ago quit trying to be all things to all people. I find it more rewarding and more convincing to play stuff I'm passionate about than try to pull stuff out to please others. Ironically, when I'm happy playing what I like, I get better tips and better response. Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 Get consistantly great responses out of (in no certain order): American Pie - Don McLeanWonderful Tonight - Eric ClaptonMe 'n Bobby McGee - who hasn't recorded this tune?Georgia On My Mind - Ray Charles, but hasn't recorded this tune?City of New Orleans - again, who hasn't recorded this tune? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fingerpicker Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 Sometimes I think I am on a different planet than the Harmony Central Crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members doezer Posted November 2, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 ok fingerpicker.. so half the tunes you see suck.. so lets see your list then?! or is it so amazing it had to be patented...! its so good it can never be played out . remember.. alot of the folks whove posted would be earning exactly that amount on a regular basis, myslef included... so theres loads of different ways to skin the cat cheers d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fingerpicker Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 No the tunes mentioned don't suck, I just would not do any Neil Young, City of New Orleans, etc for a bunch of people who are ready to party. I deleted my suggestions, and will try to be more constructive from now on or just not reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 No the tunes mentioned don't suck, I just would not do any Neil Young, City of New Orleans, etc for a bunch of people who are ready to party. I deleted my suggestions, and will try to be more constructive from now on or just not reply. The problem is, most solo gigs around where I live aren't party gigs. They're restaurant/small cocktail lounge/coffee shop/ private party background music gigs. Those songs like Terry posted would work fine for these type gigs. Half my songs are slow to medium tempo finger-style guitar songs, and obscure as well, things like Steve Earl and James McMurtry, John Hiatt, Shawn Mullins, Dylan, John Prine, and so on. Out of 80 or 90 songs I do, maybe 15 of them have seen airplay on the radio. People come in to where I play and sit down for dinner or drinks and listen with one ear. I generally get decent response and decent tips. I have built a nice little niche market doing what I do, and few other people are doing it. There are also solo/duo gigs that are dance gigs and tavern gigs. Those are completely different, and are often guys using backing tracks and/or sequencers or loopers to sound like a full band or solo guitar players playing hits and singalongs. The point is, not all solo/duo gigs are the same, and you have to know your venues and audiences. I avoid tavern-type gigs and focus on listening type ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Gary Blanchard Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 Back in the 80's, my brother and I would perform the bar circuit in Baltimore's Fells Point area. We would mix classic tunes from the 60's and 70's with a few originals and some (then) current tunes. I guess it was fun at the time, and sometimes paid well, but it was also frustrating. People would just as soon have been listening to the radio or jukebox. Now that I am in my dotage I prefer to play to small crowds who want to hear original music mixed with some traditional classics. I might slip in a Folk Scare era cover now and then. I have a lot of respect for people who make their living playing the club circuit, but there is no way I'd go back to doing that. Too much effort for too little reward. God knows, I'd be hard pressed to name any songs recorded in that last 10-15 years let alone play one. Out of curiosity, how did the term "banker tune" come about? Are these songs the Wall Streeters sing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jersey Jack Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 Banker tunes? Okay, here goes: Woody Guthrie: Pretty Boy Floyd (some will rob you with a six-gun, some with a fountain pen) Allison Krauss and Elvis C: Scarlet Tide (and brokers who, break everything) Neil Young: Fork in the Road (there's a bailout coming, but its not for you) Steve Earle, Christmas in Washington (There's foxes in the hen house, Cows out in the corn) James McMurtry, We Can't Make it Here Anymore (The billionaires get to pay less tax, The working poor get to fall through the cracks) Bruce Springsteen, The Ghost of Tom Joad (Shelter line stretchin' round the corner, Welcome to the new world order) That oughta get 'em up and dancing, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted November 2, 2011 Members Share Posted November 2, 2011 I don't cater much anymore. I used to do it and it always backfired. I used to play a hotel up in Whistler Mountain where the crowd could change on a dime. I found the more I tried to please a particular crowd, the more they felt they owned me. So if I see a crowd that wants Rock or Pop, I'll play some Grapevine, or I Feel Good. Then if they truly want to kick it up and aren't beligerent I'll eventually segue to a few of their favs. I find I get more respect and a better reaction, as the R&B guy that played a few Rock tunes for them, than the Rock guy who didn't play enough AD/DC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted November 3, 2011 Members Share Posted November 3, 2011 No the tunes mentioned don't suck, I just would not do any Neil Young, City of New Orleans, etc for a bunch of people who are ready to party. I deleted my suggestions, and will try to be more constructive from now on or just not reply. If the audience requests those songs, your tip-jar will appreciate you knowing them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fingerpicker Posted November 3, 2011 Members Share Posted November 3, 2011 so youve just set up for a gig.. just about to go on and in walks a gang, mostly already well lubricated and, say in their 30s or 40s, mostly women and are all clearly gagging for a singalong..! theyre not into being quietly cajoled into it - they want it, and they want it NOW!! Thats the original post. If the audience requests those songs, your tip-jar will appreciate you knowing them... So a bunch of drunken women who are "clearly gagging for a sing-along" Will ask for City of New Orleans or Fly Me to the moon? MmMkayyy BTW I do know most all the songs mentioned above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members doezer Posted November 3, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 3, 2011 yeah. for the record fingerpicker... your original post was fine dunno why u edited it out. everyones entitled to an opinion and from my side i pretty much agree with all you said in it too.. some of the tunes listed probably wouldnt work for the original post, including my Neil Young suggestion.. but if theyre working for people well then 'nuff said i guess. now heres another question for you all for that kind of crowd, as per that original post... do you turn on the backing tracks or do you go with just acoustic. im starting to think acoustic played well you can still win them over, im using backtracks less and less. but i dont want to drop the backtracks if it means losing those types of gigs.. (theres too many of them and they pay better ). know what i mean?? d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HarpNinjaMike Posted November 3, 2011 Members Share Posted November 3, 2011 I thought we were really going to talk about tunes related to bankers...like a Wall Street protest-thingy type thread, LMFAO. I was way off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted November 3, 2011 Moderators Share Posted November 3, 2011 Banker tunes? Okay, here goes: Woody Guthrie: Pretty Boy Floyd (some will rob you with a six-gun, some with a fountain pen) Allison Krauss and Elvis C: Scarlet Tide (and brokers who, break everything) Neil Young: Fork in the Road (there's a bailout coming, but its not for you) Steve Earle, Christmas in Washington (There's foxes in the hen house, Cows out in the corn) James McMurtry, We Can't Make it Here Anymore (The billionaires get to pay less tax, The working poor get to fall through the cracks) Bruce Springsteen, The Ghost of Tom Joad (Shelter line stretchin' round the corner, Welcome to the new world order) That oughta get 'em up and dancing, no? you forgot Penny Lane: and the banker never wears a Mac in the pouring rain...very strange as to the OP: Most solo gig rooms (at least here) are 1) usually too small and intimate for people to get up and dance 2) not the place a bunch of drunk women are going to go on a 'bride's night/bachelorette party' and 3) not appropriate for a 'singalong'...especially a drunken one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sologrrl Posted November 3, 2011 Members Share Posted November 3, 2011 you forgot Penny Lane: and the banker never wears a Mac in the pouring rain...very strange as to the OP: Most solo gig rooms (at least here) are 1) usually too small and intimate for people to get up and dance 2) not the place a bunch of drunk women are going to go on a 'bride's night/bachelorette party' and 3) not appropriate for a 'singalong'...especially a drunken one... I disagree. There have been plenty of evenings where I've been swarmed by drunken ladies who fill up the space around me and the front door of my house gig on Thursdays. It's a bar restaurant with no dancefloor, just aisles between chairs and booths and one small square where they meet the bar and those ladies tear it up! I always end my gigs with Home For A Rest by Spirit of the West because A) I'm going home after the gig and I generally make a lame joke about it and B) People in Canada go CRAZY for that song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted November 4, 2011 Members Share Posted November 4, 2011 People in Canada That explains a lot!~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted November 4, 2011 Moderators Share Posted November 4, 2011 must be a Canadian thing, eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted November 4, 2011 Members Share Posted November 4, 2011 play Penny Lane I go crazy it's pavlovian and inevitable that and "The Good Old Hockey Game."; I rut up against the nearest mammal or anything by Gordon Lightfoot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members saturn1 Posted November 4, 2011 Members Share Posted November 4, 2011 Women in their 30's and 40's you say? This is an ideal crowd. These are folks who probably don't get too many nights out with their friends - no kids, no significant others - they are ready to have a good time and enjoy what you can play. And, they are likely to have a little disposable income. Your list is great for people in their 20's. For these folks in the next age group, if you've got some Bon Jovi, some Journey, maybe some Cars, some Joe Jackson, you will be richly rewarded for your efforts. And the longer they stay, the happier the club owner will be. It's always more enjoyable to play for people who are into what you are doing. Have a great time and go with the flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members doezer Posted November 4, 2011 Author Members Share Posted November 4, 2011 yes fair points there saturn1.. and yes that type of crowd is ideal i hear you. the reason i named that kinda crowd, is, is that even though they are ideal and its great when you see a group like that coming in.., i find they are quite impatient and every time there will be one or two individuals who think they OWN you.. like if that next song isnt exactly what they individually want to to hear theyll get pi$$ed off.. even though others in the same group maybe loving that tune.. surely youve met them??... its a drink thing. its a duel edged sword. it gets most people into great spirits and kick starts the party but then theres always one or two who go the wrong way. as for my list... rehab is one of those tunes that has moved straight in with the classics. goes down a bomb with that age group. dont look back in anger always does too... but having said that a few 80s hits wouldnt go amiss your right. the Cars. nice one why didnt i think of that.. d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Howie22 Posted November 4, 2011 Members Share Posted November 4, 2011 Yeah, I'd have a really hard time agreeing with some of these selections as "sing-along" suggestions. When I think sing-along, I think: -Brown Eyed Girl-Sweet Caroline-Sweet Home Alabama/All Summer Long-Perfect Country and Western Song-Family Tradition-Margaritaville-Chicken Fried-Country Roads-Wagon Wheel-Blister In the Sun-Five O'Clock Somewhere-Let Her Cry Now, all of those may or may not work for every crowd. Only some of those mentioned would work for the crowd the OP described. Also, since I'm in the SouthEast, some of these may be regional. For the OP's described crowd, Don't Stop Believing is probably the #1 best choice. I just don't do that one. Bon Jovi/Poison type stuff would also likely be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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