Lets share our stories. I have been playing acoustic guitar and singing for people for 6 years. Do you find that at some venues, people are really attentive and others it seems like no one is listening at all? It can even change for the same places. Some nights the atmosphere is brilliant and you can go for 3 hours or more and they still want more, and others, you play the minimum 2 hours and seems like people arn't really fussed if you stay or go. At one place, I arrived, set everything up, had a drink, walked up the mic and my electro-acoustic just didnt work. I thought it was the battery so I asked the landlord if he had a battery and he said no. He then said sternly "no I havn't, everyone is waiting for entertainment, what are you going to do?" I had to run to the nearest supermarket and get another battery and it was already past 9pm. The assistant had a limp and walked slowly to show me where they were and I just wanted him to hurry up. Im sure a lot of people thought I was a theif the way a legged it accross the carpark. When I got back to the pub, I was so out of breath, I was worried about singing. Plugged my guitar in and it still didn't work. "uh oh" I thought. I picked up my telecaster as a last resort (which I nearly didnt bring) and plugged it in. It worked and I played the whole 2 hour set on that, got paid and got home. I found out for some reason, that particular lead worked with the electric but not the acoustic.

Our stories are not supposed to be impressive, funny or overtold, lets just share some good, honest tales, thoughts and experiences on the road, and see what we got!!

I find most people are not interested in originals. They want to hear something they are familiar with. Venues that promote originals tend to SUCK big time. A lot of beginners w/ no ability, or virtuosity, trying to sing their lame originals thinking they'll be propelled to fame.

Don't get me wrong. Originals are ok as long as you "prove" yourself first w/ a cover. Then people are more apt to listen. NEVER open w/ an original. That is a sure way to get people to NOT pay attention. I know I don't.

you hit the nail on the head there mate. There was this open mic the other night and this girl kept telling stories about her songs and said "sorry im not playing any covers but hey". People were just getting bored cos she was up there for around 30mins and of course, nobody knew the songs. definatly mix it up with covers, I rekon around 10:2 with the majority being covers.

Another point, what do people think about playing constant "lively" songs? If I play something like "youve got a freind", I enjoy it and a couple of people will say something like "that was lovely" but most people will say "have you got anything happier that we can dance to?" that gets annoying cos it makes you think
about learning stuff like "amerillo" and "500 hundred miles" just to please the crowd. Has anyone ever played anything they hate so much, just cos it gets a good crowd reaction? do u think this is right or wrong? should we be playing for the crowd or play for yourself and hope people like the stuff by chance?

As far as lively songs go, it all depends on the venue. I'm not going to try AC DC at a coffee house but You've Got a Friend may be more suitable. Conversely, I would not want to put people to sleep on a Fri night at a bar w/ You've Got a Friend.

I already have my set planned and the songs I am going to perform practiced. If people don't like what I play, then that is their problem. I got over the issue of trying to please everyone long ago.....it's impossible and someone ALWAYS will complain.

if the crowd doesn't like what you do, it's not YOU but it may be that you are playing in the wrong venue.

In my experience, people don't get excited about in house "bands" until around 1030 or 1100 pm when they are all inebriated. At that point it doesn't matter what you do, they'll like it. Up until that point, it doesn't matter what you do, people are just milling around even if you sound good.

Non-musicians take music for granted. Many do not realize the effort it takes to produce/play music. WE hear music in just about everything we do in our daily lives and just think it's "supposed" to be there.

I think a well executed original will come off better than a poorly played cover.

But to me it all comes down to how you see the art of music. All good art is never appreciated immediately . . . that is, in my honest opinion, because art is usually ahead of society. Society needs time to catch up. It all depends on what you are in it for. If you are in it to please people . . . more power to you. But if you are in it to try to create art . . . you will need to accept that it may not be well received.

Yes people like what they know . . . but times and attitudes do change and eventually what was ignored ten years ago is being idolized in lieu of what is currently being played and that will be idolized in another ten years. Its a vicious cycle.

Very true. Most people in an audience prefer to hear familiar covers (done properly). They don't usually mind a few (note: Few) originals, but they want those done with a pretty fair degree of expertise (in both playing and writing ability). Let's face it, just about everybody who's ever picked up a guitar and can strum a gee-cee-dee thinks of themselves as a singer/songwriter with something everybody wants to hear. Ninety-five percent of them are just plain wrong and probably another four-and-a-half percent quickly see reality and go for covers. That leaves about a half-of-a-percent that have the skills and wherewithal to truly pull it off. Originals that people (besides their girlfriend, drunk buddies and their mom) actually think are good tunes. Good enough to actually pay money to hear.

If I thought I was a great singer/songwriter (which I don't) I'd still keep it down to maybe one out of three being original. Maybe even less than that. Of course if one thinks of himself as a pure "artiste" and won't "sell-out" or lower himself to do covers, that's cool too. As long as that person is happy to do mostly open-mics and the rare drinks-and-tips gig. Most club/coffee-shop/etc owners that pay for entertainment will only pay if it draws customers. Or at least satisfies customers. If it doesn't, he doesn't want it. That's his business. (Unless he's some sort of patron-of-the-arts type, and most aren't.) Maybe that guitarist/singer/songwriter will be the one-in-a-million (probably less than that) who actually "makes it."

There's a middle-ground too. Re-arrangements of other's tunes. I don't do bad at that myself. I seem to have a decent knack for it and have gotten a lot of compliments on some. (It's a good feeling when someone comes up at break-time and says he liked your version better than the original.) There are also... (how do I say it...)... topical tunes, that are often well-received. Often using the music of another tune with your own words, and generally kind of comedic in nature. (Political, socially-relevant, etc.) I don't do bad with those either. (I actually have a friend who was so good at it he sold his extremely lucrative podiatry practice in NYC and now travels extensively doing things like conventions, banquets, meetings, etc. He's fairly "apolitical" and can trash Clinton or Obama just as easily as he can Bush or Cheney, depending on the audience (translation: Depending on who is paying him.) He makes what would be a decent living for a musician (although he doesn't need the income at all). It started because he loved to play and at open-mics he always "kept 'em laughing" and eventually was approached by people who'd ask him "Hey could you do a whole set of tunes like that at this banquet (or whatever) I'm setting up for _________?"

If I look back (and I have) at all the hundreds of tunes I wrote over the years and thought they were just great when I wrote them, there are probably less than a dozen I still think that way about. (I was going to have one of my tunes done on an album that work was to start on in April by a fairly well-known and acclaimed (within the genre) artist. (Unfortunately for both himself and me, he died about two weeks ago.)

But basically when I play out I cover tunes of people who have been dead for fifty or sixty years. It's what I do. I don't try to cover them note-for-note. They didn't even always play it that way themselves when they were alive. I just try to get good in their "style." And then try do their tunes as I think they might if they were still around.

You never know how a gig will turn out either. I've played places full of old-blues "afficianados" who did nothing but talk through four sets of solid old-time blues. And gigs where there were only ten or fifteen (or less) people where they sat and really listened to every note I played. Of course usually it's somewhere in between. I don't "play out" that often any more, but I expect to again in the future. (If my job and retirement funds can handle four years of Obamanomics.) And I'll once more experience the joys of playing a Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs cover, interrupted in the middle of my Blind Boy Fuller/ Lonnie Johnson set, for the twenty dollar tip a drunk is ready to drop into the hat for it.

Re-arrangements of covers....that's where I fall in the mix. I don't play any cover note for note. I get the chords for the tune and that's about it. Everything else is me, how I deliver it, my own speed and feel and sometimes even change how I sing the tunes. I try not to be so far off that the tune is unrecognizable.

Main reason is, I never took the time to sit down and learn any popular tune note for note. I just don't believe it is conducive to being creative. I like to see how I hear the tune.

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Hello, I use to play out live a lot and usually the piedmont country blues, ragtime type stuff. I remember times when I would play out; someone would always want me to play a Dylan song but I never did. I use to joke with people some times that we had a deal that I didn't play any of his songs and he wouldn't play any of mine. One of the early songs I learned was Don't think Twice, but I just don't play it anymore. I have noticed a lot of people really like the Leo Kottke stuff especially because of the fast picking I guess. I had moved in the last little bit and a now do Activities in a Nursing Home and play there during some activities. I don't do as much of the stuff like I really enjoy of the older blues there, but I have got more in to doing early Jazz and Show tune, and Tin Pan Alley type stuff. I haven't really had much time to go and play out, but I really love playing for the people in the Nursing home. I have noticed that they enjoy it much more than some big crowds do and aren't scared to sing a long either even if their lyrics are wrong lol. They have told me on different occasions that a song I was playing wasn't the right version and I told them that was the way I learned it. I like the rawer syncopted sound like Leon Redbone and early players did where it's not about being so clean.It's just doing the best you can and having some fun and I like to get who you're playing for smiling or laughing a bit; even throw in some kazoo or throat trombone.

I always end up re-arranging a tune, its rare i learn anymore than two verses and chorus/bridge anyway unless reading out of a book, i only ever play in front of crowds or parties anyway, in which case someone will usually know the rest of the words or i'll wing it and make 'em up.

I find when at open mic night or small bars, that most "originals" only players tend to 'go over' worse than those that have a mix of covers and originals IMO anyway.

Very true. So many guys will say (add pompous artiste' voice) "We only do original material."

That's cool, and hopefully they have enough friends-and-family to make a decent crowd at a gig.

I've said lots of times that people prefer and want covers, even re-arranged covers. They need that herd-mentality mental-association that the music is "good." (And usually it is, or the covered tune wouldn't have become successful.) Anybody with a guitar and a pencil and note-pad thinks he's a great songwriter. A few actually are, but of course most fall somewhere between mediocre and pure sh!t.

I don't know how many times I've seen a band or solo-guy have the crowd going great with a good cover, and then announces "Here's one of our originals..." and everybody sits down and table-conversation starts like it was some kind of signal.

I'd recommend no more than a 3:2 ratio of covers to originals, and then only if they're good originals. (The crowd will let you know if they are.) (Not your mom or little sister or best-bud. ) If you're good enough and lucky enough to develop a "following" that likes your stuff, then eventually start to change the ratio maybe.

Everybody starts out by doing mostly covers. Dylan, the Stones, The Yardbirds, Beck, whoever... The Beatles started out as a great cover-band.

It's the nature of the beast. Play a lot of covers. Or bring lots of friends-and-family to gigs, or get used to free-gigs, mostly in your room!

I completely disagree with the idea of mostly playing covers. I live in Oregon and if your band went to play a covers set in Portland, you'd be laughed off the stage. Nobody cares about that old music, especially young people. I think you're not giving the youth enough credit. All of those covers had to be originals by someone, and if they stuck to playing covers they never would have ended up hits.

Just sayin'.


I like covers if the song's by a band that I've never heard before if that tells you anything.