Dave D Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Does your band include certain songs on the set list that they like to play, but not that really popular or well know by the audience? I find that the guitarists are the main culprits. They learn a new fancy riff, which is, to be honest, very impressive and then insist on including it in the set list. I admit that some numbers are just good fun to play, if you're a musician, but dull as dishwater if you're in the audience listening to it. And it works the other way round as well. I've played songs before where i've virtually nodded off while playing, but the crowd would scream for more. Now as the sensible musicians, that we bass players are, i'm sure that we wouldn't allow these self indulgent moments to shape our set lists...........or would we? Do you have any songs that you perform 'just for you'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigthumb Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 No, thankfully! Our two guitarist are great guys with practically no ego, they just do what needs to be done and do it well. The bassist on the other hand is a right prick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomE Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Nice question. I think the answer is yes. Don't tell anyone though. Its a song called "The Rent" by a lady called Gwen Guthrie. The bass part was originally done on a synth but sounds great on a "proper" bass in a live band situation played dirty. The band give it a lot of dynamics. Its one of those great tunes to play that gelled almost straight away at rehearsal. It goes down pretty well most of the time but its not always appropriate which doesnt stop us playing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 (edited) I know what you mean about the dull songs to play, but the crowd love them. I really hated playing Born to be Wild in an old heavy rock band I was in, yet the crowd loved it. Luckily, my current covers band don`t have self-indulgent moments - well we do, but they`re the crowd-pleasers anyway Edited November 9, 2011 by Lozz196 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Not any more When I joined my band there were a sh*tload of self indulgant tracks, but I soon managed to knock the ego's out of 'em Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oopsdabassist Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Drummer asked us the other day if we could do a Trapeze song....'You are the Music, we're just the band'.....erm never heard of it..ok Its Glenn Hughes old band, but the song??? When I finally managed to get a copy of it...a bit to funky for this ole blues rock combo methinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigman Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 [quote name='Dave D' timestamp='1320871948' post='1432682'] Does your band include certain songs on the set list that they like to play, but not that really popular or well know by the audience? [/quote] I'll wager you don't know any of the songs in our set. Our audience probably know a few but our records are quite rare and not many have all of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitz666 Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 [list] [*]Almost the opposite, we have dropped cover songs whihc we know our audience like but they are just dismally boring to play. Whiskey in Jar is one of them. [/list] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gust0o Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 We do a cover of the Black Spiders - Stay Down. Very straightforward, fast rock song. Totally self-indulgent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassace Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Yes, an interesting question. My 'first call' band is a seven-piece dixie Chicago jazz band. We play all the usual standards, Royal Garden Blues, Dippermouth Blues etc. But we also have a tasty rhythm section, particularly our piano player. He, along with each of the front line guys, gets a feature during the course of the evening. So, just to wind the leader up, we often slot in Killer Joe which has a very nice bass riff. We have also done Waltz for Debby. Surprisingly the audiences love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyf Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Bloody loads of them. In one of my bands, we do "Long Train Running". Never works live, complete indifference from the audience. "Hard to Handle" too. Works great if you're the Black Crowes. Not so well if you're us. Especially if the guitar player insists on playing it wrong. I could go on.... T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-bbb Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 we recently did a little gig at local pub and just for a change we threw in a bossa version of teenage kicks went straight over everyones head - like we became the invisible band for 3 minutes - it amused us though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveK Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Self indulgent? You guys talk as if it's a bad thing. We're musicians - we're allowed to be self indulgent. Some great music results from self indulgence. IMV we could all do with a bit more self indulgence. What you're really discussing is popular versus unpopular favourites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dropzone Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We do Last Serenade by Killswitch Engage and Davidian by Machine Head as little treats to ourselves. We used to do Cars by Fear Factory to keep the singer happy but the guitarist and I used to give each other "the look". You know what I mean" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pietruszka Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 In a band that was put together for the parents of 3 of the band members, we did Hit Me. I thoroughly enjoyed playing that one, the band loved to drive the groove, the sax player would just blow and squeak the solo brilliantly well, and my Dad loved to hear it. He played trombone in the band and was happy to sit that one out just to listen to it. It really was just for us that track, it split the audience in half to, those my parents age who remember it and those too young to have heard of it. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 The whole set for me is self indulgent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essexbasscat Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Bloody Sultans of Swing ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRev Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 Loads.... We were once described as 'that band that play obscure pop songs' 'Lilac Wine' (Nina Simone/Jeff Buckley) is the singists' indulgence, 'Shipbuilding' (Robert Wyatt/Elvis Costello) is mine, both can vbe very hit and miss with the audience. Last night we were working on a jazzed up, D'nB influenced version of Leonard Cohens' 'First we take Manhattan' The original could be described as 'menacing', our version sounded downright disturbing. I can see our usual punters cowering in fear if we trot this one out live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted November 11, 2011 Share Posted November 11, 2011 We've tried this a few times but it slowed things down a bit too much. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf9-BCix4io[/media] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 [quote name='bassace' timestamp='1320944043' post='1433577'] Yes, an interesting question. My 'first call' band is a seven-piece dixie Chicago jazz band. We play all the usual standards, Royal Garden Blues, Dippermouth Blues etc. But we also have a tasty rhythm section, particularly our piano player. He, along with each of the front line guys, gets a feature during the course of the evening. So, just to wind the leader up, we often slot in Killer Joe which has a very nice bass riff. We have also done Waltz for Debby. Surprisingly the audiences love it. [/quote] I played in a Dixie band years ago and we used to do Sweet Home Chicago for our own pleasure. Actually the entire gig for me is a self indulgent 'what can I play here' fest. I'm always thinking about new ways to play stuff. Doesn't have to be a million miles an hour, just something a bit different. As long as it fits then I'll try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 I think we have a few original songs that are self indulgent for at least one of the band members (me included). The covers we do on the other hand are not. Things like "Sunshine of you love", "Take me to the river" & "Crazy" are all hardly technical or show offish, but they're good for getting people up. Thanks to 51m0n, I might open the set with the start of Bach's Cello suite 1 as it's in the same key as the song we're opening with. Now that is just for self indulgence! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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