I'm gonna be in so much trouble at rehearsal

[AdrianP]

Got a rehearsal with the instrumental band I'm in tonight. The bandleader has said he wants to try a new song Goodbye Pork Pie Hat by Jeff Beck. Never heard of it, to be honest, but the BL sent a YouTube link to a version he likes. So I set aside some time yesterday to listen and put some ideas together.

Hell's teeth it's boring. I put the video on but kept winding forward to the bit when it really starts. Turns out, it doesn't. Tried listening all the way through but, 30 seconds in, I'm just staring out the window at the traffic going by. In desperation,  I punched myself in the leg a couple of times and resolved to sit through it. Within a minute, I was watching a video of puppies playing in a box instead. 

I have no idea what I'm going to play this evening. Can't work out the chord structure or even the key. I'm in so much trouble!

So how do you guys break down a problem like this? When you have to play a song where you're totally disengaged? I'm out of ideas.

[Woodinblack]

I have those moments with some of the songs we pick. Luckily we don't have a band leader as such, we are more.. I won't say democratic as generally what the guitarist wants he gets, but I do have an endstop of 'no way am I doing that'. But we still do some dull ones.

I find the dull ones are better when doing it with a band as you can add a bit of life to it, like the slap bass section of 'Need your love so bad' (what do you mean there is no slap bass section??) and in general there are a lot of songs that are more fun to play than to listen to.

TBH, the first year with this group every time they said 'we are going to learn this', I would spend time getting it right and learning it, then go to practice and say 'are we going to try X now' and get 'Oh I didn't really get time, we will do it later' and years later we still haven't, so basically when someone suggests something, I work out what it sounds like, the key etc, and don't put much work in until I have figured out that someone seriously wants to play it.

The guitarist wants to do the durgy john lennon christmas song. So I ended up practicing Everyday Hurts by skunk anansie, that is a fun bass line. OH John Lennon, right, I will get right on it! 

[Happy Jack]

Or you could just say, "That's a Godawful song and I have no intention of wasting any of my life playing it. Next?".

 

[lownote]

well, it's a great piece for a lazy bassist.  you could forget the bass line and just duet / converse with the guitarist.  that's what i used to do and never got told off. 

Edited October 14, 2018 by lownote12

[Barking Spiders]

ha ha, this reminds me why I've stopped playing in bands. In the last band I ever played in when the set began to feature more c@ck songs than good ones I jacked it in once and for all.

And as for Jeff Beck, his appeal has totally passed me by. Maybe he's a groundbreaking player but boy is his jazz rock duller than any stretch of ditchwater

Edited October 14, 2018 by Barking Spiders

[Nicko]

38 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Or you could just say, "That's a Godawful song and I have no intention of wasting any of my life playing it. Next?".

 

+1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.

 

[Sonic_Groove]

It is actually a Charles Mingus tune Jeff covered

 

Edited October 14, 2018 by Sonic_Groove

[kyuuga]

Here's my question: it seems that you're in a cover band, right? What kind of covers do you play and which audience do you appeal to?

I'd only be in a cover band for 2 out of 3 reasons: 
1) the money is good;
2) the songs we play are awesome;
3) it's a band with friends and we all have fun together.

Now if you're going to play a completely random song by Jeff Beck I'm assuming that the band isn't actually making much money because no one is going to want to listen to that when they're checking a cover band at a pub. You're supposed to either bring out a theme (like a tribute band) or some very famous hits from the past decades. That's not one of them for sure.

Why did the band leader choose that song? Just because he likes it and wants to play it? That doesn't seem very fair/smart to me. If I'm in a cover band I assume I'm gonna play some hits or some specific themes that will appeal to the audiences and bring out the masses for some cash flow, I'm not going to spend my time learning some songs just because someone wants to play it with a band.

In your situation I'd just re-think what I'm doing in that band. Are you there for fun or for making money? Because, from what you just posted, it doesn't seem that you're getting any of those.

Edited October 14, 2018 by kyuuga

[Rich]

37 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Or you could just say, "That's a Godawful song and I have no intention of wasting any of my life playing it. Next?".

 

This is the approach I adopted many years ago when the singer in a band I was in announced that we were going to do Dance The Night Away by the Mavericks. He was adamant, but so was I. It became quite a frank exchange of views in the end, especially when I told him that if he insisted on doing it at a gig, I would put down my bass and head to the bar for the duration of the song.

[casapete]

3 minutes ago, Rich said:

This is the approach I adopted many years ago when the singer in a band I was in announced that we were going to do Dance The Night Away by the Mavericks. He was adamant, but so was I. It became quite a frank exchange of views in the end, especially when I told him that if he insisted on doing it at a gig, I would put down my bass and head to the bar for the duration of the song.

My old function band used to do this, and everyone but me hated it. Two chords, repetitive etc etc. Think our brass section didn't like it as there was too much for them to do in it. 😄 However, have a listen to the original - what sounds like a deceptively simple song has quite a lot going on in it, and whenever we played it the audiences loved it and always got up to dance. I think it's one of those tunes you hear everywhere that you get sick of, but then when you hear the original you realise most people don't play it anything like. Think Mustang Sally etc etc....

 

[Rich]

Oh believe me, I did listen to it. Several times. Tried to not to hate it. Failed.

Edited October 14, 2018 by Rich

[Woodinblack]

28 minutes ago, kyuuga said:

In your situation I'd just re-think what I'm doing in that band. Are you there for fun or for making money? Because, from what you just posted, it doesn't seem that you're getting any of those.

I genuinely don't understand how you can work out his income from that post

 

[chris_b]

I guess the band leader is a guitarist? I honestly don't know what guitarists see in Jeff Beck.  IMO his high point was the Truth and Beck-Ola band!

So, think of it as a slow blues, then it's pretty straight forward to play.

[yorks5stringer]

Just checking, if you went into a jewish or muslim Bakers and asked for a Pork Pie Hat, would you be refused?

Edited October 14, 2018 by yorks5stringer

[Rich]

They'd say "Pork Pie Hat? Goodbye!"

[ambient]

Stanley Clarke did a nice version of this.

[AdrianP]

1 hour ago, kyuuga said:

Here's my question: it seems that you're in a cover band, right? What kind of covers do you play and which audience do you appeal to?

I'd only be in a cover band for 2 out of 3 reasons: 
1) the money is good;
2) the songs we play are awesome;
3) it's a band with friends and we all have fun together.
 

Thanks very much for all the comments. Yes, it is a covers band. Exclusively instrumentals as the BL believes there is a local market for this type of thing. What sort of market wants to listen to endless guitar widdling is anyone's guess. And the fact that we are 1) making little money and 2) playing boring songs is probably not unconnected. But, and it's a big but, I do like the folks in the band. Which is why I'm still with them. 

But I do need to grasp the nettle. Stop playing stuff that bores audiences stiff or I'll walk. I have my main band still so not desperate for this. But tonight is probably a good time to get this all out in the open.

[bertbass]

Never heard this one before so I've just watched it on youtube and I'd like to say what a brilliant tune and why are you complaining, however, I can't as it's total crap!  I share your pain.  It's just a vehicle for a guitarist to show 'how brilliant am I' and yes I did suffer all 6 minutes and 9 seconds just in case I missed a good bit but I didn't.

[casapete]

50 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I guess the band leader is a guitarist? I honestly don't know what guitarists see in Jeff Beck.  IMO his high point was the Truth and Beck-Ola band!

So, think of it as a slow blues, then it's pretty straight forward to play.

Jeff is a true innovator, and is one of those players who you can pick out from all of the others. The recently aired documentary on BBC4 'Still on the run' was a brilliant film, highlighting his long and varied career. I wasn't a big fan of his, but watching this changed my perception a lot. Always uncompromising and with a wry sense of humour too, top feller.

[Mudpup]

I have the same glazing over feeling when we do Comfortably Numb......i've never liked Floyd or the song in general. The annoying thing is that we keep getting asked to play it in the pubs and the geetards do a good job of it by all accounts. I usually just slide off to the rear of the stage and pull funny faces at the drummer for 5 minutes to try and put him off a bit 😉 

Edited October 14, 2018 by Mudpup

[kyuuga]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

I genuinely don't understand how you can work out his income from that post

 

Because honestly a cover band whose bandleader alone chooses to play a random Jeff Beck song isn't probably very serious about its work and isn't drawing a large crowd. I have no problem against the artist or the song itself but unless it's a tribute band I don't see how that tune would draw people to the crowd. And I was right.

21 minutes ago, AdrianP said:

Thanks very much for all the comments. Yes, it is a covers band. Exclusively instrumentals as the BL believes there is a local market for this type of thing. What sort of market wants to listen to endless guitar widdling is anyone's guess. And the fact that we are 1) making little money and 2) playing boring songs is probably not unconnected. But, and it's a big but, I do like the folks in the band. Which is why I'm still with them. 

But I do need to grasp the nettle. Stop playing stuff that bores audiences stiff or I'll walk. I have my main band still so not desperate for this. But tonight is probably a good time to get this all out in the open.

Playing with friends is always fun, you just need to figure out if it's worth it or not for you. I'd hardly believe that an all-instrumental cover band is going to have a place in the local market unless your members are very well known and have a huge following. 

It's not uncommon (nowadays it's actually very common) for musicians to be in cover bands to make a few bucks on the side. But they normally do it for the money and they play well known songs that get people dancing and enjoying themselves to get a decent paycheck. If I want to just play random songs for the fun of it I'll either jam on my bedroom or get together with a couple of friends to do it. To each his own, you just need to think about what you want to do with your time.

[Sibob]

30 minutes ago, AdrianP said:

Yes, it is a covers band. Exclusively instrumentals as the BL believes there is a local market for this type of thing

I don’t even know where you live and I can tell you that he’s mistaken lol

Si

[Japhet]

1 hour ago, casapete said:

My old function band used to do this, and everyone but me hated it. Two chords, repetitive etc etc. Think our brass section didn't like it as there was too much for them to do in it. 😄 However, have a listen to the original - what sounds like a deceptively simple song has quite a lot going on in it, and whenever we played it the audiences loved it and always got up to dance. I think it's one of those tunes you hear everywhere that you get sick of, but then when you hear the original you realise most people don't play it anything like. Think Mustang Sally etc etc....

 

Ha ha!! For a moment there I thought you were saying you got people dancing to Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. Now that would have been quite an achievement. As it happens, I'm a big Jeff Beck fan and as with everyone who pushes the envelope, some of it misses the spot, but he's a totally unique artist and innovator who never followed the crowd.

[chris_b]

9 minutes ago, casapete said:

Jeff is a true innovator,

So they say. . . I also get stick from drummers when I question why they all like John Bonham so much!!

Don't get me started on Geddy Lee!!!

 

9 minutes ago, Mudpup said:

I have the same glazing over feeling when we do Comfortably Numb......

Me too. . . . or I did. I have never been a Pink Floyd fan, until I saw Dave Gilmour's Albert Hall gig on his last tour and I came away loving this song and most of the others he played.

 

[lemmywinks]

It's a Charles Mingus tune, if you're band leader is suggesting the soulless Jeff Beck version then he needs his head reading. Here you go, learn this one instead:

 

Edited October 14, 2018 by lemmywinks