I was just flicking through the thread about songs that go down well and a comment made by
@DrBob about playing "sex on fire" made me laugh but also made me think about how often we get to play the music we really enjoy live and in front of people.
When I was in a band playing our own music often the only people there were the other bands on the bill that night and friends and family.
When playing in function bands our choice of songs is dictated not by what we want to play but by what the crowd will enjoy the most (of course we all will enjoy some of the songs but chances are not all).
Sessions are not about what you want to play, often you get booked to play and it's a case that you are doing what you are asked to rather than what you would want to play.
So other than signed pro's and of course tribute acts (I presume they must be loving what they are doing?) who gets to play the music they love and would chose to play live and in front of people? Do we do it because we love playing the guitar and it doesn't matter what so long as we are getting some money in for playing an instrument we love regardless of the song choice? (DrBob's comments, and I agree fully with his sentiment though I do play it) would suggest otherwise.
I would like nothing more than to be able to play blues and Jazz all the time but a) I'm not good enough so the chances that anyone would actually want to sit and listen are remote at best b) pop music is the gig that pays.
So does anyone here get to play the music they love live?
Comments
I play originals and only originals in my band. Furthermore, they are instrumental originals! Gig attendances vary but we very rarely have played to only 2 men and a dog. We don't have a big following but there is a knot of fans and it is growing.
Pub gigs are a source of income primarily because the audience is often indifferent. It can feel like you might as well be stacking shelves when that happens, but if you put your back into it you can win them over.
We are trying to grow ourselves into a festival act, but it takes time and you have to identify the right promoter cliques and small "feeder" festivals that lead to bigger ones.
Again with function bands, some of the selected material can be quite nice, it's just that if you're a 'metal/chose a style' guitarist you can't widdle your way through the night.
Blues tends to be a style that is great to play but boring (for the most part) to watch.
I think if you are of a standard that you get invited to play in several bands, then you get decent variety and get to appreciate music in many of it's forms.
YMMV
That just about sums up playing in a band for me. "Hanging about".
* original apart from the classical & jazz stuff we nicked
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Playing a song you don't normally like can make you listen to it in a different way and enjoy or appreciate it more.
Having part of the set be stuff you don't really like but fits with the band ( all this is from a covers perspective) is probably par for the course.
If you don't like anything you play and it doesn't pay the mortgage I'm struggling to see why you would bother at all. For us ( occasional) weekend warriors it is, to paraphrase Bob Geldof, a 90 minute holiday from being yourself. Ideally you enjoy your holiday.
If you can't be with the one you love...
Love the one you're with
Lotta wisdom in that. That's how playing covers is, for me. And I'm guessing for a lot of us.
I saw @DrBob 's comment about "Sex on Fire" and I just don't feel that way about it, or any song.
I've had the normal quota of really shit jobs: Unloading lorries of frozen meat (not great if you're a veg*n); in a factory making armour plating for tanks (not great if you're a pacifist); and pulling on wet motorcycle leathers at 6am because it has been another crappy wet English winter and you've got to ride around London for the next 10 hours trying to earn enough to feed your wife and family, and it's dangerous, and cold, and wet, and horrible.
So when I play "Sex on Fire", (even though I never listen to it), and some 20-something in a pretty dress and heels is doing her pole dancing moves with the singer's mic stand in front of us and the whole place is rammed and having a great time, and the landlord has offered us an extra 25% if we'll just play a few more songs.... well, I fucking love that song! Or any song that does the job. And when this happened a fortnight ago and it was "Sex on Fire" and "Johnny B Goode" ... oh gawd, how can you not love those songs?
Love the ones you play.
it was a job as the resident pianist at a jazz cocktail bar in the centre of Vienna (called Nightflys, look it up, its awesome) for 9 months. Getting to play the music I loved in front of appreciative folks who shared the same passion was a real revelation to me. It re enthused me to keep playing and try other stuff. Contrary to what others have said about not being able to listen to stuff for enjoyment I found to be the opposite. It got me listening to everything anew, to old Miles Davis records, to big band, even Jamie Cullum. And i appreciated stuff a lot more for it as I was listening from a piano point of view, and trying to get into their heads. Also worked for other styles, if I got stuck on an awkward bit of Rachmaninov, stopping and thinking "How might Gershwin have played this?" was a brilliant way to think differently about your playing
Sadly its all been downhill since then as I took up rock guitar instead, and GAS/life took over...
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
I have previously always tried to do 2 bands, an orignals for the music I want to Play and a covers for Money, that Kind of worked.
now though I am playing in backing band for a singer/Songwriter, this is interesting as I get to write the majority of my parts and do a lot of Improvisation, but without the stress of having to produce the Songs and I gotta say It's one of the more enjoyable bands that I've been in. I do like her music though (kinda early Cheryl Crow but more bluesy)
Spot on