Yikes!!!

[Yank]

I need to learn 24 new songs in 7 days for a gig. Got them on CD last night. Wish me luck.

[gary mac]

Good luck with it.

I seem to have got myself in the same situation, only with about forty tunes and five days learning time.

[Lozz196]

I had to do roughly the same when I depped a few years back. 24 is a lot, so break them down into batches:

Songs you already know how to play roughly
Songs you know but don`t know how to play
Songs you don`t know at all

Then put a schedule together for cracking on with them. Prioritise those you don`t know obviously, and if 5 days in there are any you really can`t crack tell the band asap, see if there are any other songs in their rep that can be swapped in instead.

[musicbassman]

Yes - I agree with the other posts
I'd actually pick out 4 or 5 really tricky ones, either in terms of virtuosity or complexity, and then go back to the band and ask them to drop at least one of these..
Then you'll have a more manageable workload!
Good luck, and of course it will all help with improving your ear and your playing in the future.

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='Yank' timestamp='1500116659' post='3335715']
I need to learn 24 new songs in 7 days for a gig. Got them on CD last night. Wish me luck.
[/quote]

Like they used to say in the eighties' aerobic exercise videos... "Go for the burn!"

Good luck. Let us know how it goes?




Disclaimer; Despite the implication, the author does not admit to watching Jane Fondle VHS tapes for any purpose other than research.

[Froggy]

I thought i was doing well with 16 in 6 weeks! Now I have to do it all over again because we need to double the set length for the next gig. I'm feeling better about it now after seeing your task!

On the plus side my playing and technical ability has come on leaps and bounds since I joined the band!

[bassjim]

Learnt 20 new tunes for a dep gig. ended up playing half of em! We just all happened to know other tunes that worked well on the night.Still, good learning process. another string to the bow. was a great gig!

[Yank]

Thanks all. I've got CD's to listen to while driving. Others have done, and do it. I just have to cram.

[dmccombe7]

That's hard going.
Did 34 songs in 3 weeks and i struggled with that.
Played the gigs and found we only played around 20 of them.
All the best with the gig and let us know how you got on.............Good or Bad
Dave

[blue]

24 songs in 7 days would be tough on me.
I think it's a lot for 7 days. My retention isn't very good, never has been.

Blue

[CameronJ]

I once had to learn 4/5 songs in an afternoon for an impromptu recording session later that day. Thing is, I was told about it when I didn't actually have my bass to hand, so I had to kind of learn the songs through listening on YouTube only until I could get home and physically play them. None of the songs were all crazy difficult and I have a good ear so it all turned out fine in the end. Not perfect, but certainly passable. Looking back it was really quite a fun experience.

[Elfrasho]

I've literally spent this afternoon learning 30 odd tunes for a wedding dep next weekend. On top of that alot of the the other ones I already knew are in odd keys. Fun! 😶 the first dance is a bloody masterpiece on bass too.

[ivansc]

I use tiny A5 aide memoir cards on a sort of mini music stand clipped on my mic stand. Usually just the basic structure and any turnarounds, takes very little room and are enough to remind you where to go. Good luck.

[thepurpleblob]

I just did 40 songs for my current band in 3 weeks and only one rehearsal before the first gig. I ended up playing off hastily scribbled chord charts. It's not my first choice having a music stand in front of me but needs must. I still got caught out once or twice with different arrangements I didn't know about and we hadn't rehearsed. It's all character building :-D

[TimR]

Excellent. I've managed to make a dent in the 35 tunes I have to play in 4 weeks time. A shed load of them are 3 chord wonders. Happy days. A shed load of them I've never heard of before though. Not so happy days.

Edited July 17, 2017 by TimR

[bazzbass]

write out cue cards showing chords for verses choruses etc. Just writing it out helps a bit

then as you learn them you might just need to note the key of the song or the first chord.

keep them on top of your amp just in case you memory fails you

[Yank]

Oh Yes! I will have notes. I've now got a handle on the songs but could never memorize them all in a week. Hopefully it will turn into a steady gig. Then, I will memorize.

[MikanHannille]

Good luck!

I find that learning the songs wasn't so bad for me. But tying them up with what the song is called is a struggle! So I have to learn them in the order of how the set list will be. I'm just weird.

[KevB]

Someone I knew asked me to dep at a posh restaurant gig and sent me 45 songs to knock off in just over a week. There were a lot I'd never played before. What made it worse was that on the night (2 x 60 min set) we played a total of 7 from the list and the rest were others he just chucked at me on the fly to improvise around. I was a bit of a wreck by the end of the night but we got paid and no one died. We're still mates but I've never depped for him since.

[Grassie]

+1 for the cue cards. Plus YouTube is your friend. 😁

[blue]

You know, there are songs and then there are songs.

Are we trying to learn "Teen Town" or "Mustang Sally"?

Blue

Edited July 19, 2017 by blue

[Yank]

Hey, Blue. Not "Teen Town". Genre is "red dirt Americana", some 1-4-5, but a lot with w***y chord structure, so not "mustang sally" either. Beyond chord structure, you have to keep your antennae up for things in the arrangement like dropping down dynamically or dropping out in spots, double turn arounds, punching certain notes, etc.

[Yank]

Thank you all. Gig went great! Whew, that was a lot of work, but well worth it. Looks like it might develop into something more.

[SpondonBassed]

Well done!

Here's wishing you continued success.