Chappers Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Hi Guys, Does anyone have any suggestions for instrumental breaks the bassist and drummer can play while waiting for the guitarist to re-tune his guitar during a gig? I hate those long drawn out silences once the singer has stopped interacting with the crowd. Cheers, Col Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Get the guitarist a second guitar and a roadie with a tuner. No need for any embarrassing silences again, or any irrelevant bass and drum musical interludes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 (edited) Don't do it ! It always sounds exactly what it is, a cover up. If it's something that happens often then your guitarist needs to get his guitar seen to and should have a spare to grab anyway. The frontman needs to keep the audience interested whilst the guitarist does a swap. Edited February 19, 2012 by icastle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidder652003 Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 [url="http://www.gig-getter.com/articles/interaction.htm"]http://www.gig-getter.com/articles/interaction.htm[/url] useful possibly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidder652003 Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 [i][url="http://www.gig-getter.com/articles/Rouse%20Your%20Gig%20Crowds.pdf"]http://www.gig-getter.com/articles/Rouse%20Your%20Gig%20Crowds.pdf[/url][/i] [i]sorry this is much better...[/i] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 [quote name='Chappers' timestamp='1329689939' post='1546095'] Hi Guys, Does anyone have any suggestions for instrumental breaks the bassist and drummer can play while waiting for the guitarist to re-tune his guitar during a gig? I hate those long drawn out silences once the singer has stopped interacting with the crowd. Cheers, Col [/quote] Get a guitarist who can actually keep the guitar in tune. Anything else is just not good enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Stu Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 [quote name='Chappers' timestamp='1329689939' post='1546095'] Hi Guys, Does anyone have any suggestions for instrumental breaks the bassist and drummer can play while waiting for the guitarist to re-tune his guitar during a gig? I hate those long drawn out silences once the singer has stopped interacting with the crowd. Cheers, Col [/quote] Depends what kind of set you do I would say; in the good old days of yore Slade used to do a verse & chorus of Bolan's "Hot Love" for that exact reason; H's John Birch guitars could be a sod for staying in tune. It gave Nod a chance to go off for a couple of beers & then take the piss when he got back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodyratm Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I used to do "hadda been playin on the jukebox" or the muse jam. Haddas a good one though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chappers Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Thanks Skidder/Big Stu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1329690222' post='1546099'] Get the guitarist a second guitar and a roadie with a tuner. No need for any embarrassing silences again, or any irrelevant bass and drum musical interludes. [/quote] Exactly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Tipping Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I agree with the others ... just don't. In my last band we used to have a couple of filler tunes if there was a serious problem with the guitarists gear. Only once had to sing space cowboy .. just me and the drummer, the guitarist managed to get his back up guitar out and tuned just in time for the solo .. it almost looked planned. The singer also had a couple of acoustic crowd pleasing numbers he could do on his own if anything went wrong with the drums or bass .. only had to do this once when my old ampeg failed on me .. thankfully I had my back up head with me which I got up and running just in time for the build up at the end of "candy". Get your guitarist to tune up quicker and get your singer to fill the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 If a guitar keeps going out of tune, get it to a luthier to check it out. It may be something very simple that can be dealt with. The other thing is though, some guitarists just have to tune up after every song, irrespective of whether their guitar has gone out of tune or not. Could this be what`s happening here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 [quote name='crez5150' timestamp='1329690270' post='1546103'] [/quote]lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Try recording the sets and playing it back to them the gaps are pretty shocking. It's pretty disrespectful to the audience to constantly retune on stage and I don't think they realise quite how much time they take up. Are they playing drop D or DADGAD or something, then get a second guitar or run the set so the retuning only has to be done once or twice. In the end I run an extra mic for me and we banter whilst the guitarist sorts himself out. Not perfect but better than ignoring the audience. Sometimes it seems like Ken Dodd could do his whole routine in the gaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 It really does depend on what your style(s) are. If you're a straight out rock band, then have a couple of songs that start with bass & drums & just extend the intro, play a short solo piece or let the drummer do a solo & add incidentals in (if you practice together, then you could have certain parts where you play along just a couple of notes). In my old rock band, our drummer would play something completely random (usually jazz based) & we'd just jam an unusual version of a cover, usually so it wasn't known to start with & then once everyone was ready we would break into the song (quite often it was Use Me, by Bill Withers as the chords are just E & A so the band recognised it). If you can get away with it, have a listen to some DnB. [url="http://ourhelicalmind.bandcamp.com/"]Our chap here has some good stuff that's just Drums & Bass...[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ead Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Strike him roughly and throw him to the ground centurion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monckyman Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 [quote name='ead' timestamp='1329729579' post='1546330'] Strike him roughly and throw him to the ground centurion. [/quote] This. Only in Latin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 [quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1329721949' post='1546260'] The other thing is though, some guitarists just have to tune up after every song, irrespective of whether their guitar has gone out of tune or not. Could this be what`s happening here? [/quote] It's like a nervous twitch. The only way to stop this behaviour unfortunately seems to be to beat it out of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudewheresmybass Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Grab the mike and take the pee. You will probably find over time they will do it less and less Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 For us it's the drummer disappearing down the back of his kit wiggling and tightening things every other song. Drum kits are a mystery to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 [quote name='dudewheresmybass' timestamp='1329731262' post='1546358'] Grab the mike and take the pee. You will probably find over time they will do it less and less [/quote] Yeah, and I remember where that got me when I used a radio mike...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Vader Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 If your frontman is not fronting through the gaps, kick him in the arse. Or get your own mike, and do some jokes at both his and the guitarists expense. (Works for me, has shamed them both into being less crap) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4 Strings Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Sounds like a combination. Frontman needs to learn to cover more and guitarist should need tuning less and tune quicker. Both need a kick - harder one for the guitarist though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Low End Bee Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I do my stand up routinme. The other two need around a 10 second break to wipe sticks and guitar necks. Sweaty buggers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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