songs all dep musicians should know

[karlplaysbass]

hi everyone. Im looking into going into dep work during my possible final year of uni, and was wondering what are the best songs to learn in preparation ( i may already know most i dont know) and was just looking on advice? cheers

[chris_b]

I don't know how you learn a repertoire as a dep in bands you've never heard before. They'll probably play the numbers in different keys and may use different arrangements. Then there are dep gigs where you'll be expected to read the dots. How's your reading?

I always ask for a set list and if there are any originals I ask for mp3's.

I chart the songs I don't know and use a music stand. I don't care what anyone thinks about that. My objective is to sound better and fit the band better than the guy I'm depping for.

[Bassistclem]

Look up a selection cover band set list online, pick out the ones that crop up the most and start there...oh and assume you need to play them in different keys. There's many old standards that most band do, plus usually a few current tunes for good measure

I'll get you started...

Mustang sally
500 Miles
Don't stop me now
Blame it on the boogie
I will survive.......

[ChunkyMunky]

Happy - Pharrell Williams
Superstition - Stevie Wonder
Respect - Aretha Franklin
Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry

...I feel sick now.

[dadofsix]

Honky Tonk Woman
Alright Now
Black Magic Woman
Brick House

C'mon, gents and lasses, let's purge ourselves of these demons! lol

[ChunkyMunky]

We've dodged 'Sex on Fire' so far, thank goodness.

[Truckstop]

Have a look at the websites of a few wedding and function bands and then learn about 50 of them to give yourself a head start.

Thankfully, most are fairly easy but there are a few that end up being a small challenge and, as others have said, practice changing keys on the fly. Have you got a 5 string? That'll make life a lot easier when there's a number in Eb!

[Norris]

I think the key to depping is being able to learn songs quickly, and the structure of the song is as important as the actual notes. You will build a repertoire the more deps you do, which will depend on which bands you play with.

[jonnythenotes]

What my band has done, is record a rehearsal as if its a gig, stick it on a cd and its ready to hand to any dep needed in the band, with any differences to the originals, be it structure or key changes etc. Also, it will be in correct running order for him... Any dep worth his salt will then have a100% accurate record of what is required of him well in advance of the gig which he should be able to knock into shape in a few days... If you are a band with a massive repertoire of songs, just record 30 of the easiest to learn...(chances are he or she will know a lot of em any way )... again, in running order, and there you have a 'dep set,' or a ' someone just left the band set,) all ready to go.

[Dave Vader]

Learn to watch the guitar player/keyboardist's fingers and translate it very very quickly in your head.

Then you don't need to learn anything

[chris_b]

[quote name='jonnythenotes' timestamp='1432021829' post='2777243']
.... there you have a 'dep set,' or a ' someone just left the band set,) all ready to go....
[/quote]

We put together a simplified set if we're using a dep. It makes sense and gives you a fighting chance that the night will go well even if 25% of the band aren't familiar with the material.

On the other hand, you'd be surprised how many bands (even some of the good ones) give you a list of numbers and then proceed to play completely different songs on the night. Some of the numbers are completely unbuskable; like a chord per bar and key changes. It's stupid and unprofessional really. They've wasted my time and put me under needless pressure on the night when I should be concentrating on other things.

[jonnythenotes]

That's Bang on Chris......I learnt 28 songs a couple of years ago for a pub rock covers band from the original recordings, of which most were extended with extra choruses or verses, guitar solos etc which they forgot to tell me about. The singer bottled out on several songs which had to be replaced with songs I was expected to blag, with chords being shouted across stage by the guitar player, this in full view of the audience. As we progressed through the first set, the actual set list running order became meaningless as songs got replaced or moved within the set. Certain songs I was told moments before we were ready to play them had been drop tuned to D....(and this was if they remembered to tell me they had been dropped...) What made this ghastly nightmare of a gig infinitely more agonising, was every time something happened, the band looked at me, which in turn made the audience look at me as if I was responsible for this unfolding musical disaster.It would not have been so bad if it was a blues based band with three chords to grapple with..... This was Foo Fighters...Muse..... QOTSA.... Snow Patrol territory I was in. Apart from the hardest 80 quid I ever earnt, the best thing to come from this gig was never walk into a dep job unless you are given a written assurance of what is expected from you. That is the reason...as mentioned earlier in this thread, that my current band records our set exactly as we play it ready to hand to a dep if and when required. I would never put any musician in the position I found myself in that night....it was 2 hours of unfolding cringiness that I was stuck in, that I new was going to get much worse as each song progressed... A modern day Greek tragedy....

[JamesBass]

The way I do it is by getting the set from the band, making sure I know where and what they've changed. Then learn the chord sequence of songs more than the notes, for instance Stay with Me by Sam Smith is in C Major, and is a VI, IV, I. progression if for some reason down the line some band do it in E Major, then I know the song already give or take.

All the songs I've learnt I've done this with and then just improv and feel the rest of the line, unless of course the line is less open to interpretation and improv. But I do notate or write out everything I do and save it as PDFs so I can take them anywhere on my iPad.

[ianent]

I am doing a Dep gig with a Corporate Function Band in July so I asked if I could go to a upcoming gig and FILM their 2 sets on my pro camera gear, do them a couple of DVDs and upload a few clips to Youtube/Facebook, plus I now have a record of both sets in the correct keys with arrangements, ( I also got paid for filming them ( result !! - everybody wins)
Otherwise - setlist - create Spotify Playlist and make some notes

[ChunkyMunky]

Karl, if you're going into depping work and such, I'd thoroughly recommend going through the websites of all of the functions bands and find a general pattern. Try and learn a bunch of songs from a certain era in a day as you'll find some of the 50s stuff, for example, to follow some sort of permutation of the same Latin influenced rhythm as well as a lot of chord tones. Grouping them by association makes the process SO much quicker!

[JTUK]

To be a rounded dep, you are going to have to be able to play all sorts...
So, you need to know your way round standard blues changes... shuffles, swing etc ..
You need all the RnB Blues Bros type numbers, so bone up on Stax, Motown and Atlantic output.
You'll need standard 60's from Buddy Holly through to Beatles....and then a few of the rockier numbers
that survived..which there are quite a few.
Jazz standards...inc the funk jaunts of Herbie Hancock, and then the old stuff like
Nightingale, Valentine etc ..
Disco, including Chic and all the one hit
wonders. 60's 70's 80's 90's rock..and throw in a few modern ones too.
If you have all that... you'll have way over a hundred that you can pretty well busk...
Do them in a few keys as well, so learn to transpose on the fly... and train your ear
so you can get through a song, by hearing the changes without ever having played the song.
and then bone-up on your reading as once you have this repetoire, you're going to get reading gigs
...and you need to be able to make sense of a chart.
It is all about the guys trusting you to be prepared, so fail to prepare and you're prepared to fail.
Most guys wont tolerate a major blow-out simple because a lot of them don't have to..there is always someone
else...

Edited May 19, 2015 by JTUK

[chris_b]

Make sure you've got a couple of good bands to underpin the depping. It's even more flakey than normal band work.

I built up a roster of about 7 good bands that I depped for on a regular basis, but after a couple of very good years with the regular bands turned into a down turn, I discovered I wasn't being called any more.

If you're not available when they want you you'd better be very good or they'll find someone else, and there are a lot of great players out there.

[Bilbo]

I know Jazz musicians who know 1,000 standards and can play them in any key (I am not one of them). I think this may be about the kinds of dep gigs you have. I do quite a lot of deps and never learn anything because I ask for charts (usually chords only) that are sufficient for me to 'fake' it. To put this in context, I play in two different bands who will regularly put new tunes in the set ON A GIG without asking me if I know them (and I invariably don't). So the first time I play the tune is when the audience hears it. It rarely crashes because most tunes are fairly predictable and a lot of the links can be managed with eye contact, established cues and a tame drummer.

I saw a thread on-line the other day where guitarist Nigel Price (a monster player who knows EVERYTHING insude out) was detailing how he had to resort to the 'real book of shame' to play a Jazz standard he had forgotten in an odd key. He related a great story where he was on a gig and didn't know the changes to a tune. After floundering about a bit, he turned to the band with a 'OMG, help me out' look on his face, only to have the DRUMMER, wearing a bag ass grin on his face, call out the chords to him. I did a gig with Gilad Atzmon where I needed a real book and he poured (good natured) scorn on me for not knowing the tunes.

Truth is, I don't even know the ones I wrote.

[Conan]

It might sound daft, but listening to the radio a lot can be helpful! Many function bands update their sets regularly with what is currently popular, so at least if you hear the songs a lot and have a good ear, it makes it easier and quicker to learn/busk them.