Keeping It Fresh

[skidder652003]

Following on from the "Playing for Nowt" Thread, I mentioned that even though I got paid for last nights gig, I was pretty much bored stupid. This is solely down to the fact that the set has to my mind got stale and we have been banging out the same 30/40 numbers for some time now. We have agreed that we will no longer have rehersals every week unless we concentrate only on new material (covers) and as we are gigging every week for the next 2 months, its not worth going over the same stuff already played 100's of times.
Anyway, my question was how often do you introduce new material into the set, every week? Every month? Do you have a completely new set every year or do you have a few perennial favourites that you can't drop? (For us thats the usual Dad Rock stuff - Hendrix, Zepp, Cream - Yawn...)

[Hobbayne]

We introduce new numbers every couple of weeks, although at the expense of other numbers which we consider to be stale.
Sometimes when we need some extra numbers for encores, we pull the dropped numbers out of the hat and realise they were not too bad after all.

[Len_derby]

We tend to adjust the set list to try and suit the venue and crowd mix. So, it's not always the same each time.

I think one of the lesser talked about skills of a performing musician is the ability to play the same material time and time again and keep it sounding fresh.
How many times must BB King have played 'The Thrill Has Gone'? He always, to the end, made it sound like he meant it.
It's probably a rare skill. I don't think I have it, but I'm working on it!

[BottomE]

We binge on new songs though it can be a right faff agreeing on what material we are going to learn. That said, once agreed we try and nail 6 tunes at a time - 4 of them will probably make the set.

We rehearse about once every two months. This means that in a year we are likely to add approx 24 new tunes to the repertoire which is almost 2 sets of material. This way we can add contemporary stuff if needed, cull older stuff that we are bored of, re-jig the order and dynamics of the set.

That seems to work for us.

[JTUK]

Not sure I would get why you'd rehearse every week if those rehearsals weren't entirely about putting in new ideas and numbers.
That is a sure-fire way to get stale for starters.

It also depends how free or able the players are in bringing in new ideas...
The time to drop a track is when that stops happening ...

But it really depends how the band is set up and who is playing.

[RockfordStone]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1465130994' post='3065476']
Not sure I would get why you'd rehearse every week if those rehearsals weren't entirely about putting in new ideas and numbers.
That is a sure-fire way to get stale for starters.

It also depends how free or able the players are in bringing in new ideas...
The time to drop a track is when that stops happening ...

But it really depends how the band is set up and who is playing.
[/quote]
agreed. if you are playing the same songs every gig, and gigging regularly, you shouldn't need to practice that often

[BigRedX]

[quote name='skidder652003' timestamp='1465120170' post='3065372']
Anyway, my question was how often do you introduce new material into the set, every week? Every month? Do you have a completely new set every year or do you have a few perennial favourites that you can't drop? (For us thats the usual Dad Rock stuff - Hendrix, Zepp, Cream - Yawn...)
[/quote]

As quickly as we can write then and get them suitably rehearsed to be able to gig. On average we write about 20 songs every year of which half will make it to a gigable state. IMO nothing is sacred. We no longer play any of the songs from our debut EP in the set, although we still practice "StickyPants" for the occasional encore.

Edited June 5, 2016 by BigRedX

[KevB]

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1465126951' post='3065440']
How many times must BB King have played 'The Thrill Has Gone'? He always, to the end, made it sound like he meant it.
It's probably a rare skill. I don't think I have it, but I'm working on it!
[/quote]

It's a very valid point. If you put yourself about a bit and don't keep going back to the same venue too often then there is a good chance a fair proportion of the audience that night won't have heard you playing the set before so it's down to you to make it as good as it was when it was all fresh and shiny in the set. With the new band I've joined they are still effectively waiting for me to get fully integrated into the set before freshening up with new material (just done my third gig with them) but we already have four potential new covers to work on once we get a break in the schedule to get in a rehearsal room. We only have 1 gig this coming weekend so chances are we will get a session in next week and primarily work on (i) vocal harmonies on some of the existing set and (ii) what we can do with the 4 potential new ones.

Edited June 6, 2016 by KevB

[gary mac]

These days we get together in the rehearsal room, only when we have new songs that we want to add to the set. The important bit, is that we have all learnt the six or so numbers at home first
We do this every six weeks or so, thus keeping the set evolving and staving off (mostly) the set getting stale.

[LewisK1975]

[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1465221643' post='3066243']
....The important bit, is that we have all learnt the six or so numbers at home first
[/quote]

THIS x1000000000!!!!! It's my biggest pet peeve! Book 3 hrs in a rehearsal room only for someone to turn up and say 'I've had a quick listen'

[KevB]

The other pet peeve of rehearsal rooms is wasting the first 20 minutes of a 2 hour slot working out which combination of mic leads/desk channels provided actually work properly. When you demonstrate it to them they go 'Oh yeah, we have that down to get repaired next week'. Next week never seems to materialise.

Edited June 6, 2016 by KevB

[blue]

With your gigging schedule unless your adding new material weekly rehearsals are not necessary.

Don't fall into that trap of getting bored with playing the same material, that's they way it is for most working bands. As a bass player find new fresh ways of playing those songs your bored with. I been playing a lot of the same material for the past 5 years and I never let it become boring. This is something you have control of.

Blue

[Hobbayne]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1465247470' post='3066548']
With your gigging schedule unless your adding new material weekly rehearsals are not necessary.

Don't fall into that trap of getting bored with playing the same material, that's they way it is for most working bands. As a bass player find new fresh ways of playing those songs your bored with. I been playing a lot of the same material for the past 5 years and I never let it become boring. This is something you have control of.

Blue
[/quote]

How can you make Sweet Home Alabama more interesting??

[blue]

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1465126951' post='3065440']

How many times must BB King have played 'The Thrill Has Gone'? He always, to the end, made it sound like he meant it.
It's probably a rare skill. I don't think I have it, but I'm working on it!
[/quote]

My point exactly.

Blue

[blue]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1465247835' post='3066551']
How can you make Sweet Home Alabama more interesting??
[/quote]

Change up the bass line, add something, try a different sound, use an effect, pretend it's the first time your playing it.

Remember [i]Lynyrd Skynyrd[/i] have been playing it for 40 years and they're not bored.

Blue

[Norris]

Half of our new songs come either from random requests from the crowd, or a song that the guitarist launches into on a whim. Others will be picked out when we hear them on the radio maybe. We don't add stuff that often, but then we pick songs from a repertoire of many years together. We never use a fixed set list - just call them out as we go. We have learnt a few proggy tracks recently - showing off really, but having a tasty guitarist with an ElectroHarmonics organ pedal lets us tackle some material that you won't hear other bands doing

[Muzz]

In the main gigging band we don't rehearse at all (well not for at least two years now, and the last one was when we got a new PA, so I guess that'd be a 'technical rehearsal', as opposed to a 'musical' one) and that helps a lot. If you're getting paid to entertain people, you need to sell the songs via a performance, and that means working at it. If the band looks or acts bored, the audience will spot it a mile away, and they'll be bored too.

[discreet]

Our material is very niche anyway, but there are always about three numbers that we're working on for inclusion at any one time. The are added to a roster of about 120 songs of which we will play around 25-28 at each gig. So there's usually something we haven't played for a while at each gig which keeps it more interesting.

Also, we keep working on existing material. Too many bands will get a song to a broadly playable state - and that's how it stays for the rest of time. We are always listening to source material and different versions and work towards a 'finished' version, but one that has our stamp on it. That's a never-ending process of course, but again it keeps things more interesting.

Edited June 6, 2016 by discreet

[uk_lefty]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1465247835' post='3066551']


How can you make Sweet Home Alabama more interesting??
[/quote]

Going to play it with my bass round behind my back tonight...

Seriously, I play some p!ss easy songs, our last rehearsal felt stale even though I've not been with the band long, it's easy songs and they've played them for four years together. So we can add more and more songs but also really fine tune some of the performance aspects such as how we transition from one song to another or ensure each player gets a slot to flourish, change up the rhythm and breaks in songs... We all try to add a bit of spontenaity but sometimes it's hard to recapture!

[neilp]

I'm not sure I understand the problem here. It's always fresh, because every time you play you play to a different crowd, and in the end you're there to entertain the people in front of you, not to indulge your own ego or musical tastes. Focus on the job.

I saw Springsteen at Wembley on Sunday. He's been doing his thing for 40 odd years now. Whether you like what he does or not, you can't deny the energy, sincerity and passion he brings. Not to mention the world's best bar band - Blue will know!

[KevB]

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1465287136' post='3066710']
Not to mention the world's best bar band - Blue will know!
[/quote]

Only if they play a minimum of 4 hours with a couple of short breaks.

[neilp]

3 hours 45 mins, no breaks. Should satisfy even Blue!

[blue]

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1465287136' post='3066710']
I'm not sure I understand the problem here. It's always fresh, because every time you play you play to a different crowd, and in the end you're there to entertain the people in front of you, not to indulge your own ego or musical tastes. Focus on the job.

I saw Springsteen at Wembley on Sunday. He's been doing his thing for 40 odd years now. Whether you like what he does or not, you can't deny the energy, sincerity and passion he brings. Not to mention the world's best bar band - Blue will know!
[/quote]

Agreed,and I'm not even a Springsteen fan.

He fills 45,000 seaters so he doing something right.

Blue

Edited June 7, 2016 by blue

[BrunoBass]

We add new stuff every few weeks. Having something new to play keeps it fresh and makes playing some of the 'crowdpleasers' (which do sometimes get a bit tired) a bit more fun. I like the thrill of playing something new for the first time; despite being well rehearsed there's always a frisson of excitement that it might go horribly wrong!

[Happy Jack]

As always when this topic comes up, I'm gobsmacked at the number of Basschatters prepared to lecture us all on how you shouldn't rehearse, or need to rehearse, unless you're introducing new material.

I can only assume that you all hate your bandmates.

The key bit of that last sentence was 'mates'. They don't have to be your friends but [i][b]By God![/b][/i] does it make it easier when they are.

For me, Tuesday night is the night when I hook up with the Junkyard Dogs and we have some fun. We play some songs, have a cuppa, play some more songs, go to the pub, talk bollocks, part as friends.

If I thought that was too "stale" I wouldn't be axing rehearsals, I'd be checking the availability of nearby therapists ...