taking song requests from audience

Kurch · #1 03-27-2017, 09:34 PM

Have any of you while playing a gig had an audience member ask for a song request that you didn't know, couldn't play, too drunk to remember, etc? I'm not asking about the drunk guy in the bar yelling "Freebird" either. What did you do in the situation and was it awkward for you? Did it make you want to learn the song afterwards? Were you able to suggest a similar substitute or something from the same artist?
Another question is, are there songs that you just hate to play during a gig but you do it anyways cuz you think someone is going to eventually ask you anyways?

midwinter · #2 03-27-2017, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurch

Have any of you while playing a gig had an audience member ask for a song request that you didn't know, couldn't play, too drunk to remember, etc? I'm not asking about the drunk guy in the bar yelling "Freeboard" either. What did you do in the situation and was it awkward for you? Did it make you want to learn the song afterwards? Were you able to suggest a similar substitute or something from the same artist?
Another question is, are there songs that you just hate to play during a gig but you do it anyways cuz you think someone is going to eventually ask you anyways?

I do all request shows. If someone wants something I don't know, I learn it on the spot if I can (iPad with LTE) or add it to my list of tunes to learn.

SunnyDee · #3 03-27-2017, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midwinter

I do all request shows. If someone wants something I don't know, I learn it on the spot if I can (iPad with LTE) or add it to my list of tunes to learn.

Goodness! How?! How do you learn a song while standing on stage with a bunch of people waiting and watching?

midwinter · #4 03-27-2017, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunnyDee

Goodness! How?! How do you learn a song while standing on stage with a bunch of people waiting and watching?

If I'm familiar with it and sort of know how it goes, it's not that big of a deal. If it's something I'm not familiar with, it goes on the list.

I'm trying to think of the most recent ones where I've done that. The most memorable one was when I was on the road in CA last year, someone asked for "The Joker." I thought, I know how this goes; can't be that hard; maybe 4 chords. So I looked it up. I happened to have a banjo on at the time, so I just played it on that. And now it's the only thing I ever play it on.

With that said, Friday night, a guy came up and requested about 6 "Bro Country" songs in a row before it sank in that I had literally never heard ANY of the music he listens to.

I mean, at some point, it becomes an indictment of your taste in music....

ManyMartinMan · #5 03-27-2017, 10:46 PM

I just tell them when I'll be back and I'll play it for them then. If it's a song I know but don't play, I may look it up (iPad also) during a break and open with it when I start up again.

SalFromChatham · #6 03-28-2017, 03:57 AM

At my last gig with my acoustic partner, three women kept persistently asking us to play something by Cher.

We then started introducing each song we did as a song by Cher... they laughed. And frankly if we had known any, we would have graciously aimed to please.

And learning on the spot... it can be done... like 85% anyway.... we launched into Sinatra's Summer Wind on the spot, and it worked.

RedJoker · #7 03-28-2017, 04:15 AM

I got a request for one of my own original songs but the owner of the venue. It's not one that I play often and I ended up screwing up the lyrics.

Cabarone · #8 03-28-2017, 04:20 AM

We were playing at a VFW one night and the crowd kept calling out for "Take This Job And Shove It". We didn't know it and kept putting them off. When we took a break two of the good ol' boys confronted me in the Men's room. "You haven't played our song yet." "Fellas, whatever it is I promise we'll do it next set." What I did was have them tell me the lyrics and, since it was late enough that the alcohol was pretty much running things, we engaged the crowd in a sing-along...turned out to be the highlight of the night...

On the flip side, we got called by a friend who was at a bar and the band didn't show up. He told the manager, "I know some guys." When we got there someone asked if we knew any John Prine. "Buddy, this is your lucky day; what do you want to hear?" "Anything off Sweet Revenge." The guys I was playing with had to stop me at three...

Yrksman · #9 03-28-2017, 04:41 AM

A club I had played previously played at on a Friday night booked me again for a Sunday. This turned out to be Ballroom Dancing night for the elderly. I'm about to start with my acoustic guitar around my neck and oblivious to this when a guy comes up to me and asks "Do you know any quick steps and foxtrots?". (I still don't)

The clock hands moved very slowly that night!

TRW1 · #10 03-28-2017, 04:46 AM

I used to play tons of requests. If you could fake it a little and get at least one verse, they were usually happy. Getting the audience to join in is a great idea.
Funny story- big drunk dude comes up and asks me to play 'Linda Lou.' I was stumped, nothing came to mind. He insisted I knew it, and had better play it right now. I apologized and offered to play anything else, so he just stalked back to his table. Few minutes later he is getting into a shoving match with a waiter, and the police were called. As they carted him out (in handcuffs) it suddenly came to me, and I started singing, "I was cuttin' a rug, at a place called the Jug, with a girl named Linda Lou." He grinned, flipped me the bird, and sang right along as they walked him out.

You just can't make this stuff up.

#11 03-28-2017, 05:22 AM

Doing a solo one night in a bar/restaurant in the early 90s, the door opens and in come the bikers, all leather and chains, beards and bandanas, etc. They get settled in and I see one coming toward me. Here it comes I'm thinking. He hands me a twenty and says, "Do you play any Frank Sinatra?" He'd come to the right place. I took the twenty and played four in a row.

ChrisE · #12 03-28-2017, 07:32 AM

Last summer I started playing pool parties at resorts. I pretty much have my setlist worked out because I don't know hundreds and hundreds of songs and don't use a lyric book or ipad (maybe I should).

Usually when someone requests a song I don't know, I'll usually offer up whatever is next on my set list. "Sorry, I don't know anything by Tom T. Hall, but here's one you may know" and then play something totally unrelated like something from Goo Goo Dolls or REM.

And since it's a resort and the audience changes every week, I say "I don't know that one, but I'll learn it and play it next week. Are you going to be here next week?"

I really admire people who know hundreds of songs or can learn them on the fly. I'm not quite at that point yet.

The worst is when people request a song and then try to convince you that you know it and then demonstrate by humming it to you. "You know--it's that one about the girl and they go on a road trip and it starts out like da daa da bum bum daa dee dee! You know--that one!"

midwinter · #13 03-28-2017, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisE

The worst is when people request a song and then try to convince you that you know it and then demonstrate by humming it to you. "You know--it's that one about the girl and they go on a road trip and it starts out like da daa da bum bum daa dee dee! You know--that one!"

Last summer, I was playing a rooftop bar where there was a private event going on. They didn't realized that I wasn't part of their entertainment—I was there for the regular Thursday night music.

Anyway, this one girl is HAMMERED and keeps requesting that I play "something aggressive." I play her some Zeppelin—"Ramble On," "Going to California"—and some more rock and roll-y kind of stuff, and she finally starts hollering for TOOL songs. She won't let it go. I keep saying that I don't know any TOOL and she keeps responding "Of course you do! Everyone knows TOOL!" She keeps badgering me about TOOL.

Finally, I look her dead in the eyes and hold up my instrument and say "I AM HOLDING A BANJO!"

tgaume · #14 03-28-2017, 10:02 AM

I can tell you this. Never again will I book St. Patrick's Day.

I'm billed at "Country Tom", no... not that country, this one.

mr. beaumont · #15 03-28-2017, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurch

Have any of you while playing a gig had an audience member ask for a song request that you didn't know, couldn't play, too drunk to remember, etc? I'm not asking about the drunk guy in the bar yelling "Freebird" either. What did you do in the situation and was it awkward for you? Did it make you want to learn the song afterwards? Were you able to suggest a similar substitute or something from the same artist?
Another question is, are there songs that you just hate to play during a gig but you do it anyways cuz you think someone is going to eventually ask you anyways?

All the time...well, never too drunk to play, I'd never gig drunk, that's for amateur hour.

My go to is to play another tune by that artist, or a similar style tune. And I'll give a nod to the requester-- "Thanks folks...I had a request for "It was a very good year. It's been a very bad year for my memory, so I can't do that one tonight, but here's another one of Frank's favorites" (and then I'll play "Night and Day," or whatever.

As for the "hate to do" list, yeah, I got 'em. My set is mostly jazz, so a lot of times I'll get requests from people for Jimmy Buffet tunes and such, so I've made it a point to learn them, arrange instrumentally, and they usually get smiles from people who recognize it. Generally, I don't go out of my way to play songs I dislike, but if I know there's a crowd pleaser and maybe the tips have died down a bit, I'll pull one out. Good to keep some crowd favorites in pocket for the right moment.