How often do you change your set?

[Woodinblack]

We have gone through long periods of not adding new songs, which is a bit dull, but in general we add a new song every so often and songs get dropped if we either don't like playing them or they don't go down well. We probably have enough songs for 4-5 hours and generally play just under 3, so we can chop stuff around depending on the type of crowd we are expecting.

We have a new keyboard player recently so we have gone through adding quite a few new songs, but on the occasion we play without him we have ones that don't need keys.

However, some of our songs are the ones that we have had for the last 7 years!

[neepheid]

22 hours ago, theplumber said:

singer being busy with work and having a limited vocal range ie he is struggling a bit with some of the keys

 

"Can we drop this song a couple of semitones?"

 

"2 secs"

 

 

OK, go!

 

(other pitch shifter pedals are available - Digitech Drop, EHX Pitchfork, EHX Intelligent Harmony Machine etc. but none of these are less than £50 new)

[Al Krow]

1 minute ago, neepheid said:

 

"Can we drop this song a couple of semitones?"

 

"2 secs"

 

 

OK, go!

 

(other pitch shifter pedals are available - Digitech Drop, EHX Pitchfork, EHX Intelligent Harmony Machine etc. but none of these are less than £50 new)

 

Good shout. I've found that pitch shifters I've tried (including multifx) tend to struggle with anything more than a couple of semis though, and introduce digital artefacts/tone warbles?

[Woodinblack]

5 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Interestingly our keys player has the easiest job of anyone changing key - the keyboard does it on a push of a button (digital keyboard), even easier than capo for guitarist or different fretboard position for us bass players, who I feel have the most work to do with key changes!

 

All keyboards are easy to change the key on, but strangely our keyboard player won't change the key on the keyboard, but if you give him a couple of minutes he will just play it in the new key and doesn't complain, which is quite impressive. We change the key to what the singer can sing (or I or the drummer sing it), screaching out of your range is not a good sound.

I never found changing key on the bass as much of an issue, not on a 5 string at least (otherwise it makes e flat tricky!) untless it is a really fast thing that relies on open strings, or odd tunings, like some Queens of the stoneage or royal blood when they are in Drop C or something.

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, Al Krow said:

 

Good shout. I've found that pitch shifters I've tried (including multifx) tend to struggle with anything more than a couple of semis though, and introduce digital artefacts/tone warbles?

 

Aye, I wouldn't record with it, but in a live mix, it's useable enough.  Even so, I wouldn't dare go lower than -3.  Up the way isn't so bad - I sometimes use mine as an octave up to fill out the sound because we only have 1 guitarist.  Because it has independent dry/wet levels, I don't drown it with the upper octave, just a sprinkle.

[chris_b]

I spent awhile in a band where the singer was a trained chorister. He sang every song in the original without any effort.

 

If singers practiced as much as the rest of us they would be far more flexible than they are.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

I spent awhile in a band where the singer was a trained chorister. He sang every song in the original without any effort.

 

If singers practiced as much as the rest of us they would be far more flexible than they are.

 

It certainly would be eaiser, but there is a limit to how much you can change your physical makeup. Your singer might be able to sing many songs without effort but could he do Soprano stuff and deep bass fine? That is why in a choir you have different groups for the ranges.

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

I spent awhile in a band where the singer was a trained chorister. He sang every song in the original without any effort.

 

If singers practiced as much as the rest of us they would be far more flexible than they are.

 

Have to disagree with you on this one, Chris. The singers I work with are often highly trained, work hard and very professional in their approach. A semi tone or tone in pitch can make a real difference to the tone and power they are able to deliver. So we start all our new song choices with what is the best key for the singer (the only exceptions being if there is a big guitar solo eg Sweet Child).

 

And when they tell me about what works best for them, I tend to regard their opinions as being a lot more expert on the subject of vocals than mine! I guess in the same way that other musicians will give weight to what I have to say about bass (even though I've not had formal training in the way our singers have).

Edited November 1 by Al Krow

[Hurricane Jimmie]

So Anyway, I play in a trio (G/B/D) without a lead singer.  We take turns singing and we each select our own songs.  We've known each other for 40+ years and it's our 3rd year as a band.  We've got 200+ songs that we can pull from.  No originals.  We're not a bar band and we seldom play past 8:00.  Geezer hours.  

 

We don't use a set list.  Each of us will do a standard first time around just to get things established.  After that, I always gauge the audience and the previous song for my next selection.

We also offer to play requests, and sometimes we'll end up doing a song we've never played before.  

My kind of fun.  

[asingardenof]

Been with the band for about 2½ years now, and while the core of the set is still the same we've had eight new songs make it into the set (not counting our abortive experience with the New Order song that dare not speak its name) with a further two potentially in the pipeline.

[AllYourBassAreBelongToUs]

On 01/11/2024 at 10:21, Al Krow said:

Interestingly our keys player has the easiest job of anyone changing key - the keyboard does it on a push of a button (digital keyboard), even easier than capo for guitarist or different fretboard position for us bass players, who I feel have the most work to do with key changes!

Our drummer find's it easiest 😉
That said, last gig the singer turned around to cue the final crescendo and yelled at the drummer "G FLAT!!!"

[BigRedX]

I know this thread is probably aimed at covers bands, but my originals band changes its set every time we have a new song ready to gig. We have a 45 minute set and a 30 minute one. Each has a different opening song, and both end with the same two which are our big crowd pleasers. What happens in between is fairly fluid. There are combinations that work better than others, but we will always try out a different order at rehearsal first to make sure that the set flows properly from start to finish.

[AllYourBassAreBelongToUs]

It is interesting when creating or joining a (cover) band, you/everyone rapidly learns about 30-50 songs in a week or two, but once things are going, sometimes even getting one new tune in is difficult!?

One group I'm in had a good set-list for it's style (not typical party/function) but when I joined we found as a group that throwing in a few jokes and musical references was fun, the performance evolved to be quite interactive, medleys formed organically and even surprise rapping emerged. Hit a really good stride and enthusiastically shoved in new tunes. Shows went well, felt fresh and exciting, and then it stopped. We lost confidence in picking up new songs. Agree to learn, and then on the night discover one of us hadn't done the homework. Or learn, but not feel it's right in the moment. Fear of losing audience affirmation, ironically not what the band was about.

How many audiences really care about how fresh the band is? Very, very few. Despite being somewhat removed from the typical repertoire of cover bands, we still get heckled for the usual "Oasis" "Valerie" "Brightside" "Sex Fire" (more recently, despite no keyboard even present, "Bohemian Rhapsody")
Desire to be new comes from the band. I'm now pushing this group to go for it with the (internal) suggestions. Show them we will do a great job and they will like it - just like how the current repertoire came to be.

Which is tough because it means... I have to learn the songs 😅😫

[Lozz196]

On 30/10/2024 at 14:35, Lozz196 said:

We (The Spacewasters) have pretty much a core set for 30 mins, we then add in if doing 40/50/60 mins and choose the songs based on the gig. One 40 min set may well be different to the next depending on the type of event we`re playing. In general I`ve always said just play your best songs irrespective but the rest of the band prefer to pick & choose and in fairness they`ve been on the psychobilly scene for years, I haven`t. 

Moving on from this, although we’re an originals band we try to put in a different cover as an encore (if asked for of course). 

[AllYourBassAreBelongToUs]

8 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

I know this thread is probably aimed at covers bands, but my originals band changes its set every time we have a new song ready to gig. We have a 45 minute set and a 30 minute one. Each has a different opening song, and both end with the same two which are our big crowd pleasers. What happens in between is fairly fluid. There are combinations that work better than others, but we will always try out a different order at rehearsal first to make sure that the set flows properly from start to finish.

Fondly recall originals. Yes, there's not just a desire to, but a need? to share your creation, the newest being the most exciting! For everyone involved. And you're not going to do yourself a disservice, so practice practice. Nice balance, mixing old and new and seeing the reactions. 
Artists evolve, they enjoy the process, I guess cover bands hit a point where they don't have to.
I am massively generalising and speaking from my own experience.

[AllYourBassAreBelongToUs]

On 31/10/2024 at 11:12, Al Krow said:

Definitely a fan of trying to keep things fresh for both audiences, particularly where we have residencies, and equally importantly for us.

One thing we did a few months back was to organise all our material (currently about 80 cover songs) into 3 full sets, which allows to us to cycle through all our material and also keep everything up to gig standard.

Really dig this method. Recurring audience, recurring venue, recurring band, sometimes once a month. And (sometimes this is REALLY important) recurring staff! The most likely persons to see a band repeating themselves over and over... and ultimately decide to keep booking or not.