"Connecting" to the music...

[Vito Corleone]

...or, more importantly, what do you do when you don't connect?

 

It's easy to play the {censored} out of a song you love, but what do you do when you don't like it so much?

 

For me, I try--and almost always can---find SOMETHING in the piece I find either challenging or inspiring. And then I'll focus on that little bit of it. On another thread I posted a clip of my band doing "Sexy and I Know It". Not the most challenging, inspiring, or 'connectable' piece of music ever written, for sure. But I do find the groove to be cool (albiet ridiculously repetitive) and so keeping it grooving just like it should is fun as are the subtle changes I weave into the sound palette as the song progresses.

 

Also, the song is about fun and parody, and we use it as a audience-participation comedy bit. Being able to provide that backdrop for the girls to have their fun with the audience and watch the proceedings is enjoyable as well.

 

You gotta find your moments when and where you can in songs. What are your tricks and examples?

[Lee Knight]

When a framer is negotiating a crucial support wall, he isn't thinking about the architectural aesthetic of the building. He's making sure he builds a kick ass support wall. It's... kinda important. The architect made sure of the aesthetics and the structure issues in whole 'nother stage of the project. The design stage. The plumbers are making sure the drains will drain, the window and door guys are windowing and dooring.

 

True, they can't live in a bubble. They do need a sense of the building as a complete entity. But more importantly, the need to make sure that support wall is going to support.

 

If you don't connect, revert to concentrating on your job and how it relates to the jobs of those around you. If you need to "connect"... write a song you connect to.

[dan88z]

When I'm playing a song I don't particularly care for on a personal level, I listen to how good the band plays it and watch the crowd enjoy themselves. I always try to play with 100% effort no matter what the song so that part isn't a factor for me.

[Lee Knight]

Sometimes I'll hear a bassist and drummer and... the bass player is playing low E quarter notes. For some guys, playing those quarters is a big deal. They really want to bust out some Flea. But OK, you've got this guy who is starting to understand the concept of ensemble play. Cool, he "gets it", to overuse an overused item of overuse. Yah for him. And there's that low E 1/4 plod of a sacrifice. Yippee for him and his lack of ego. How very not fun.

 

But... there are so many ways to play that low E 1/4 note line.

 

He could accent and use a mild staccato on the first of every 4. He could ghost swing 1/8s between his 1/4s and be like a spirit reaching up the drummer's ass to tickle his groove and get him to play something he didn't know where it came from but for some reason he's inspired! The bass player could feel like Godzilla in heat and decide to l:GONK... GONKgugu... GONK... GONK..gu:l He could make it feel like sheets of water from a waterfall hitting you in the chest. He could...

 

It's just 1/4s right? But the world is his to do with what he pleases. And here he thought it was a good thing to step back and ease up on the ego. Sometimes it is but... I never made any friends being a {censored}. I did, however, make a lot of friends by making them sound great and them thinking it was them. Then realizing I was their new best friend.

 

So how do you connect? Well, you don't do it passively. You actively reach up and grab it. It isn't anything until you make it something. Connect? You don't connect... you dictate it! And you do it together by paying attention to the one guy at the moment grabbing the groove in your group. And you celebrate it! And you jump on board or you invite them to ride your wave. But you do it together. Always either initiating or being aware of another initiating and you jumping in with him.

 

Connect? This isn't nursing someone back from post traumatic stress disorder. This is a good {censored} with heart. But an emphasis on the the good {censored} part. I got your "connect" right here. And your audience likes a good {censored} and smiles back at you.

[jimiv]

I dunno, I have to admit that I don't give 100% on those types of tunes 100% of the time. I know you have to and I'm in that camp where everybody says you have to bring it on every song no matter what, but in reality, sometimes I catch myself wandering off and waiting for the song to end. Last weekend is a great example, BEG was in the setlist and WILAY AND SHA, because the client requested them. Last set too. I do the leads on the first two and then all the little licks in SWA with the other guitar doing the lead on that one. BEG was fine and I found my "happy place" pretty much through that one, but somewhere during WILAY I caught myself coasting and same with SHA.

 

There, I'm out of the closet on another thing this week. First I had to admit that I own a couple pair of shorts, then that I probably have a music stand somewhere in the garage (actually found it this morning too. Went looking after my post a couple of days ago and sure enough, there it was.....a little dusty though); and now finally, I have to admit I didn't give it my ALL on some of those dreaded standards we all have to play from time to time:facepalm:

[JohnMCA72]

I have a saying for this sort of circumstance:

 

It's not about us. It's not even about the music. It's all about them.

 

"Us" meaning the musicians; "them" meaning the audience.

 

Music is just the method, & musicians are just the facilitators. Some people dance, or do comedy, or magic tricks, but it's all the same thing: Entertainment. The whole point of the performance is to entertain those who have chosen to spend their valuable leisure time with us. Hopefully, they'll invite us to do it again & pay us if we do it well enough. If me playing "Mustang Sally" (or any other tune, cover or original) for the 100,000th time makes a bunch of strangers happy, I'd be showing them extreme disrespect if I didn't give it my 100% best effort every single time. It's not about us. It's not even about the music. It's all about them.

[Vito Corleone]

 

I dunno, I have to admit that I don't give 100% on those types of tunes 100% of the time. I know you have to and I'm in that camp where everybody says you have to bring it on every song no matter what, but in reality, sometimes I catch myself wandering off and waiting for the song to end. Last weekend is a great example, BEG was in the setlist and WILAY AND SHA, because the client requested them. Last set too. I do the leads on the first two and then all the little licks in SWA with the other guitar doing the lead on that one. BEG was fine and I found my "happy place" pretty much through that one, but somewhere during WILAY I caught myself coasting and same with SHA. There, I'm out of the closet on another thing this week. First I had to admit that I own a couple pair of shorts, then that I probably have a music stand somewhere in the garage (actually found it this morning too. Went looking after my post a couple of days ago and sure enough, there it was.....a little dusty though); and now finally, I have to admit I didn't give it my ALL on some of those dreaded standards we all have to play from time to time:facepalm:

 

 

Keeping focus over several sets of music---especially if there's stuff you don't care for and/or have played a million times can be challenging, to be sure.

 

For me it helps that those types of songs you mentioned are usually the ones the bring the hotties up to the stage. I may not be 100% focused on the music, but at least I'm focused on something which helps bring me back to the reason I'm playing that song in the first place...

[Lee Knight]

I have a saying for this sort of circumstance: It's not about us. It's not even about the music. It's all about them. "Us" meaning the musicians; "them" meaning the audience. Music is just the method, & musicians are just the facilitators. Some people dance, or do comedy, or magic tricks, but it's all the same thing: Entertainment. The whole point of the performance is to entertain those who have chosen to spend their valuable leisure time with us. Hopefully, they'll invite us to do it again & pay us if we do it well enough. If me playing "Mustang Sally" (or any other tune, cover or original) for the 100,000th time makes a bunch of strangers happy, I'd be showing them extreme disrespect if I didn't give it my 100% best effort every single time. It's not about us. It's not even about the music. It's all about them.

 

You may as well be serving them coffee.

[Lee Knight]

For me it helps that those types of songs you mentioned are usually the ones the bring the hotties up to the stage. I may not be 100% focused on the music , but at least I'm focused on something which helps bring me back to the reason I'm playing that song in the first place...

 

You may as well get a job stripping.

[Vito Corleone]

You may as well get a job stripping.

 

There's a reason why I don't wear shorts....

 

But, I was being a bit facetious, and the point I was trying to make is that in a live situation the "connection" doesn't always necessarily need to be just with the music and the inspiration for tany musical connection can often come from elsewhere. If my mind is starting to wander a bit on an otherwise boring song, sometimes something as simple as seeing a pretty girl enjoying the music can be enough to snap me back to attention and focus.

[Vito Corleone]

You may as well be serving them coffee.

 

Not all coffee services are the same. You can be a rude, dissinterested server just slapping down an overcooked, lukewarm cup of Joe in a styrofoam cup in front of the customer, or you can deliver a good-tasting, quality brew at the perfect temperature in a beautiful mug with a smile and a quip and asking what else they need to go along with it.

 

Just because your focus might be all about the customer doesn't mean you can't take great pride in what you do, do it to the best of your ability, and derive great satisfaction from that and from the pleasure your customer derives from your quality service as well.

[SpaceNorman]

 

...or, more importantly, what do you do when you don't connect?

 

 

I can always find something that I like in each song that I play - even if it's a song that I honestly don't care for as a song. In many cases, my likes revolve around some element of interplay between the part I'm playing and something a bandmate is playing. Other times it's a vocal harmony. To be honest, it doesn't have to be much ... for example, one of my projects does "Do You Wanna Be My Girl" (Jet?). I don't think the original has any keys in it ..... I get to play the living {censored} out of the tamborine in the tamborine / bass duet we play to start the song. During the tune, there's an A-C-D-A passage that repeats a couple of times that I play an organ pad on. It's an absolute no brainer part ... yet, I find myself smiling when I time the dynamics of the organ swell and the start and stop of the leslie sim just right. Depending on where it fits in the list ... and the size of the stage ... sometimes I'll grab my keytar, and get at least half of the ya-yas I'm after by striking cheesy rock poses with the rhythm guitar player while I bang out the simple chord comp. I don't really like the tune all that much ... yet I don't mind playing it and can actually enjoy the 3 minutes or so of the night while we're playing it simply by focusing on riding the dynamics of a tiny part.

 

I can always find something I like about playing virtually every song on the list. Some I gotta dig deeper to find than others ... but there's always something I can enjoy about it.

[tim_7string]

I watched J.Paul perform with Gwen Sebastian last Thursday and it was a great experience. They put a lot into their onstage performance and even though I'm a hyper-critical, nitpicking musician, I couldn't find much fault with what they did. That's impressive to be able to not only strive to that level but to make it seem like every song they do is a winner. Maybe each bandmember at one point or another was thinking to themselves, "Argh, here comes that song I don't like," or "Oh no, time for that song I don't quite have down 100%," but I never got that impression watching them. True professionals, even when things were not going as planned (which I learned before and after the show, but not that much during).

 

I don't think everyone is at that level or can be at that level. It's like saying everyone could potentially be a huge star. Yeah, that's like saying everyone could potentially live to be 100 years old (or beyond). But, of course, they don't. Some people can connect to songs and still put a smile on their face while they perform something they can't stand playing. Others can't. My personality is directly related to why I play and sing and perform the way I do. I'm an honest, blunt, passionate, no bull{censored} kind of guy, so when music comes out of me, it comes out the same way. Just like people can tell when I try to fudge the truth on something, they can tell when I'm not 100% into the music I'm playing at that moment. But the flipside of that is when I'm on, I'm ON. It is a great experience.

 

It's a different way of performing and probably not going to result in super-stardom for us, because we aren't catering to the masses. And that's fine too. I don't want to be like the other bands in town. I want people to like us for what WE do. After much thought and discussion, my band has decided to focus more on the stuff we do well and keep the stuff we don't for 'request only' moments. It should be interesting to see what happens.

[TrickyBoy]

It's funny, but I rarely ever have this problem with a song. I really dislike LISTENING TO a lot of the tunes we play, but I really enjoy playing all of them. We Are Young is a perfect example. I hated it from the first time I heard it. I really dislike songs like that with the overdone anthemic crap (ie the end of Hey Jude makes me want to kill babies). All that being said, I also knew right away that we had to add it and the first time we played it, it was obvious as to why. I still immediately change the station when that tune comes on, but I actually look forward to it in the set.

 

I guess when push comes to shove, I really enjoy playing.

[nchangin]

Grin and bear it, think of yourself as a prostitute, your being paid for a "service" with out the diseases and with out breaking the law.

[Lee Knight]

 

Not all coffee services are the same. You can be a rude, dissinterested server just slapping down an overcooked, lukewarm cup of Joe in a styrofoam cup in front of the customer, or you can deliver a good-tasting, quality brew at the perfect temperature in a beautiful mug with a smile and a quip and asking what else they need to go along with it. Just because your focus might be all about the customer doesn't mean you can't take great pride in what you do, do it to the best of your ability, and derive great satisfaction from that and from the pleasure your customer derives from your quality service as well.

 

 

Of course. My 1st post in this thread was along those lines. Sometimes it's best to step back and focus on your part of the job. If my part is to lay down a solid groove, I don't care if it's YMCA, Pokerface, Over the Hills and Far Away or Mack the Knife.

 

There's a job to be done and I'm going to make sure I brew and offer up that coffee with a pride. I'm going to make a mean cuppa.

 

But my point is... this is not a service industry. And we do it a MAJOR DISSERVICE by looking at it like one. Our audience does not want coffee served to them. They want musicians to offer up something they can't. Groove, balls, flights of fancy, happiness. Not freaking "good service".

 

Liberace wasn't doing, Mammy!, he had the balls to be a larger than life version of his gay self, and you know that had to take balls, and he brought something. He didn't back off and be a good little straight boy, he blew it up and was THAT FREAKY GUY playing his ass off.

 

I think the place to go when you don't "connect", is to that groove. That place barristas can't go. But we can. That takes confidence, it takes vision, it takes a certain level of skill, and it takes heart.

 

This isn't serving coffee. I have no interest in the service industry. I am a musician. There's power in them-thar grooves. So mine it. That's your job.

[Piano Whore]

+1. When the dancefloor fills up at the first riff of BEG,for example, it doesn't matter to me that I've already played it a zillion times. Being bouyed by the energy and response of the audience compensates for alot of boring music sins, in my book.

[Lee Knight]

 

Grin and bear it, think of yourself as a prostitute, your being paid for a "service" with out the diseases and with out breaking the law.

 

 

Your mother would be proud.

[Piano Whore]

 

Of course. My 1st post in this thread was along those lines. Sometimes it's best to step back and focus on your part of the job. If my part is to lay down a solid groove, I don't care if it's YMCA, Pokerface, Over the Hills and Far Away or Mack the Knife. There's a job to be done and I'm going to make sure I brew and offer up that coffee with a pride. I'm going to make a mean cuppa. But my point is... this is not a service industry. And we do it a MAJOR DISSERVICE by looking at it like one. Our audience does not want coffee served to them. They want musicians to offer up something they can't. Groove, balls, flights of fancy, happiness. Not freaking "good service". Liberace wasn't doing, Mammy!, he had the balls to be a larger than life version of his gay self, and you know that had to take balls, and he brought something. He didn't back off and be a good little straight boy, he blew it up and was THAT FREAKY GUY playing his ass off. I think the place to go when you don't "connect", is to that groove. That place barristas can't go. But we can. That takes confidence, it takes vision, it takes a certain level of skill, and it takes heart. This isn't serving coffee. I have no interest in the service industry. I am a musician. There's power in them-thar grooves. So mine it. That's your job.

 

 

RE grooves, I remember a comment you made about taking cues from other band members- for example, a keyboard player playing something as simple as the opening riff of "Heard It Through the Grapevine" and it jumps out at you that he's got it, he's ON, and he sets the vibe for the entire band. Sometimes the simplest stuff is the hardest to do- at least for me, being a geeky music theory nerd that at times falls into the trap of playing from the head instead of the gut.

[gjb3]

 

When I'm playing a song I don't particularly care for on a personal level, I listen to how good the band plays it and watch the crowd enjoy themselves. I always try to play with 100% effort no matter what the song so that part isn't a factor for me.

 

 

This ^^

[Lee Knight]

 

RE grooves, I remember a comment you made about taking cues from other band members- for example, a keyboard player playing something as simple as the opening riff of "Heard It Through the Grapevine" and it jumps out at you that he's got it, he's ON, and he sets the vibe for the entire band. Sometimes the simplest stuff is the hardest to do- at least for me, being a geeky music theory nerd that at times falls into the trap of playing from the head instead of the gut .

 

 

It's a great point. Maybe some study on what groove actually is might be helpful. For a lot of people.

 

For anybody who is uncomfortable with the idea of being able to get an audience to dance with just your instrument, you probably need a brush up on groove. Really, if you're not confident in the idea of starting a song and maybe extending your one instrument's intro to 16 bars and getting the floor moving and dancing, you need to step back and work on that.

 

Set your metronome (you have one, right?) to half the tempo of what you're trying to play. Now hear the metronome on just 2 + 4. Now feel how each note you play feels against that 2 + 4. Do that every day. For an hour. It is the funnest thing you'll ever do.

 

Start hearing and feeling everything you do dancing around, behind, over and through that 2 + 4. At that point, no song will ever be boring. It can't be. You might be because you forgot the groove, so you go back to it.

 

That post I wrote about um... "making love" to your audience, that's what I'm talking about. You can't "eff your mate with a kindness" if you can't dance. Learn to dance with your metronome set on the 2 + 4.

[Piano Whore]

I want nothing to do with Scientology, but I can see how it could appeal to musicians in that the goal is to reach a state known as "the clear"- where you disable the mental filter that keeps the music from effortlessly flowing. On (too) rare occasions I have experienced that and I would bet there is a way of getting there without all the Scientology mumbo-jumbo and weirdness. But in my case it happens seemingly by accident, if at all. I'm sure a Scientologist would make the "you like the cake but you don't like the ingredients" analogy.

[MusicalSchizo]

I have to sing the majority of songs I cover, so what I do to "connect" when I'm not connecting is to pretend I wrote the song - no matter how lame or abhorrent the lyrics or music or whatever, I pretend that it's something I wrote, that I mean the words I'm singing, and that I put as much of myself into the performance as possible.

 

It's acting, kind of, but a little more "method" than most musicians would commit to. I do try to avoid playing songs I think are worthless in the sense that the crowd won't relate to our performance of it (and thus the song wouldn't work for us), but when I do have to do a song I think is stupid crap, I just pretend that I MEAN IT...and I think that works great. It takes fearlessness, in the sense that you could be doing something that to the "cool" musicians is fantastically lame, but if you aren't dedicating yourself (or at least outwardly appearing to dedicate yourself) to what you're doing, you won't be able to really nail the energy and emotion of what you're doing, and you will have more trouble relating to your audience.

 

Then, of course, there are situations where a song is becoming kind of old, and that's when I try to find new ways to make the song "fun" again, by changing up parts or feels and tweaking it just enough to keep it satisfying.

 

But the "method acting" approach has always worked best for me...especially on more emotional songs.

Brian V.

[TIMKEYS]

 

I watched J.Paul perform with Gwen Sebastian last Thursday and it was a great experience. They put a lot into their onstage performance and even though I'm a hyper-critical, nitpicking musician, I couldn't find much fault with what they did. That's impressive to be able to not only strive to that level but to make it seem like every song they do is a winner. Maybe each bandmember at one point or another was thinking to themselves, "Argh, here comes that song I don't like," or "Oh no, time for that song I don't quite have down 100%," but I never got that impression watching them. True professionals, even when things were not going as planned (which I learned before and after the show, but not that much during). I don't think everyone is at that level or can be at that level. It's like saying everyone could potentially be a huge star. Yeah, that's like saying everyone could potentially live to be 100 years old (or beyond). But, of course, they don't. Some people can connect to songs and still put a smile on their face while they perform something they can't stand playing. Others can't. My personality is directly related to why I play and sing and perform the way I do. I'm an honest, blunt, passionate, no bull{censored} kind of guy, so when music comes out of me, it comes out the same way. Just like people can tell when I try to fudge the truth on something, they can tell when I'm not 100% into the music I'm playing at that moment. But the flipside of that is when I'm on, I'm ON. It is a great experience. It's a different way of performing and probably not going to result in super-stardom for us, because we aren't catering to the masses. And that's fine too. I don't want to be like the other bands in town. I want people to like us for what WE do. After much thought and discussion, my band has decided to focus more on the stuff we do well and keep the stuff we don't for 'request only' moments. It should be interesting to see what happens.

 

 

Gwen and her band have been workin their butts off. My regret is that I never stopped by to catch their shows. They were just up the street, and I was getting off stage at 10 or 10:30 Hey JP, are you guys ever going to get back down to the island, or are those days over? This place is the end of the earth.

 

There is a band that have never made it back off the island from a quarterdeck booking.

[J.Paul]

 

When I'm playing a song I don't particularly care for on a personal level, I listen to how good the band plays it and watch the crowd enjoy themselves. I always try to play with 100% effort no matter what the song so that part isn't a factor for me.

 

 

Yeah

I'm with Dan.

If I'm not digging a tune (and there have been MANY)

I at least enjoy the people I'm playing with,

try and find something in the pocket or dynamic or at least enjoy the audience digging the song

Besides you only got 4 minuetes until the NEXT song.... lol