Bass/vocal song ideas for Open Mic Night

[Budgetneil]

Wotcha,
An open mic night has just started near me so I thought I'd use it as the kick up the proverbial to practice and learn some new songs. I've previously sung and played bass in bands but never at the same time so fancy doing it now which brings me on to my question...
What suggestions do you have for songs that would work with only bass + vocals?

As a starter, here's a few thoughts:
Fever - Elvis
Moon Over Bourbon Street - Sting
Big Bottom - Spinal Tap...
(no genre barriers here!)

Lemme know your thoughts :-)
Neil

Edited April 26, 2012 by Budgetneil

[icastle]

[quote name='Budgetneil' timestamp='1335483597' post='1632174']
Lemme know your thoughts :-)
[/quote]

I think you'd be far better off hooking up with a guitarist or two (or three!).

On the few occasions I've seen solo bass acts at Plug & Play nights they've really not gone down very well with the audience...

[kendall]

Where Did You Sleep Last Night - Leadbelly/Mark Lanegan/Nirvana?

I'm also thinking about doing something similar at an open mic night in my local. But was heading down the route of bass soloing (as I have a truely awful singing voice)....need to give it more thought.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1335484156' post='1632184']
I think you'd be far better off hooking up with a guitarist or two (or three!).

On the few occasions I've seen solo bass acts at Plug & Play nights they've really not gone down very well with the audience...
[/quote]

+1 for this.

Not only are bass+vox routines pretty boring for any audience, but if you do this then most of the audience will see that as 15 minutes of stage time being hogged by a single individual when there could have been a scratch band (i.e. some lead guitar widdlers) up there.

As if that ain't enough, if you're going to sing and play bass at the same time then it is BLOODY helpful to have other musicians up there with you to keep things moving along when you screw up. I sing up to half a dozen songs with my band at a typical gig, and I wouldn't be without that support.

[leftybassman392]

+1 to guitar/vox duos. I've done hundreds of them over the years (mostly - though not entirely - acoustic), and really enjoy it as a format.

Bass/vox is much more difficult for all sorts of reasons, and needs to be spectacularly good to engage even modest audience interest. To be fair most people attending OMN's will be expecting the occasional oddball act, but even so...

+1 to guitar/bass/vox - I can think of a few U2 songs off the top of my head that should work in that format.

[cheddatom]

I think it'd work if you're playing chords and high up the neck etc. I've arranged some songs for this where I can play the bass line as well as some accompaniment, and then sing on top (not that i'm good).

[icastle]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1335512716' post='1632296']
I think it'd work if you're playing chords and high up the neck etc. I've arranged some songs for this where I can play the bass line as well as some accompaniment, and then sing on top (not that i'm good).
[/quote]

That'll work just fine if you're one of the bass 'demigods' with a loyal troupe of followers hanging on your every note and buying basses with their demigods name written on the headstock, but it'll really cut no ice in a bog standard plug and play setting.

[cheddatom]

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1335514450' post='1632329']
That'll work just fine if you're one of the bass 'demigods' with a loyal troupe of followers hanging on your every note and buying basses with their demigods name written on the headstock, but it'll really cut no ice in a bog standard plug and play setting.
[/quote]

I disagree. I play a 6 string and the high C enables me to play a chord accompaniment which is comparable to guitar, as well as play bass lines on the lower strings. I don't see the difference between this and a guitar/bass duo where the guitarist sings.

[crez5150]

I used to do Superstitious with a loop pedal and that worked really well.... the audience always enjoyed it and joined in. It's good if you have the personality that you can get the audience to participate from the outset too.... depends on the gig I suppose.

[paul_5]

PEAbyFLEA!!!
[media]http://youtu.be/C3O0GcPZDys[/media]

NSFW

[bremen]

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1335517607' post='1632382']
PEAbyFLEA!!!

[/quote]

Beat me to it.

[pete.young]

Bit of blues always goes down well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mavu1RvKJAM

[Geek99]

Didnt Michelle Shocked used to do this ? Perhaps one of her songs.

[The Dark Lord]

What about Tea in the Sahara by The Police

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDJGPjaIMj8&feature=related

[Count Bassy]

"Sixteen Tons" - because

A: the bass line is easy, and easy to play while singing (I can do it, so it must be)
B: the bass line is the overriding theme/feel to the song, even in the Ernie Ford version.


"Sitting on Top of the world" in a Howlin Wolf style also works, because

A: the bass line is easy, and easy to play while singing (I can do it, so it must be)
B: The song feel works with sparse instrumentation.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Count Bassy

[dmccombe7]

Alright Now - Free

Dave

[stoker]

how about Joy Divisions 'Dead Souls'?

[leschirons]

Whatever you do is going to need to be a little eye catching and different or you run the risk of it not being a crowd pleaser. An example of something that worked for a mate of mine (as a party piece)was a fairly brisk slap version of Stand by me. Works really well with just bass & vox.

[icastle]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1335514968' post='1632338']
I disagree. I play a 6 string and the high C enables me to play a chord accompaniment which is comparable to guitar, as well as play bass lines on the lower strings. I don't see the difference between this and a guitar/bass duo where the guitarist sings.
[/quote]

I've yet to hear a solo 6 string bass player make their instrument sound anything other than a bass guitar trying to do an impression of a 6 string guitar.

FWIW the last time I saw a bassist trying to do that, the audience thinned out noticeably.
Yes, he was good at what he was doing, but god it was dull to listen to and the audience voted with their feet.

There's a big difference between playing what 'we' like and playing what an audience likes.

[Kirky]

[size=5][sub]You really want sparse songs. How about "Ain't No Sunshine". Suzanne Vega does "Left of Centre" with just bass.[/sub][/size]

[sub][sub][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Fqk2neBNM[/media][/sub][/sub]

Edited April 28, 2012 by Kirky