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#3
09-17-2012, 09:43 PM
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Does he mean "the Sound of Silence?"
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#4
09-17-2012, 09:50 PM
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I guess you spent years ( how many years?) learning different songs and it just happened that someone asked you to play THAT song?
On the other hand, a professional guitarist suddenly get to be asked to join that famous band currently on tour because a band member got sick.... how did she/he was able to just fill in the spot without learning every songs that they've got?
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#6
09-18-2012, 03:10 AM
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Quote:
It doesn't take a professional long to get acquainted with a new band's repertoire. And normally, when a guitarist is asked in that kind of situation, the band will make sure to ask someone they already know, who plays in the right style, and/or is enough of a fan of the band to already know many of their songs. They wouldn't ask just any professional guitarist, certainly not without any warning. Sometimes, if there really is no time to learn everything, they'll use music onstage in some way; if not a music stand, then some kind of cue sheets or maybe a laptop or e-reader device. (In any case, bands usually do lengthy soundchecks and run-throughs before every gig, which can be enough time for a new member to familiarise themselves with most things.) In jazz, it's different - because it's usually all about improvisation from standards. All pro jazz musicians know 100s of standards by heart (jazz standards tend to adhere to a handful of quite simple formulas), and improvisation is their business. So anyone can sit in with anyone at a moment's notice. Even with jazz groups with a repertoire of original material, jazz musicians are usually good enough to pick it up by ear as they go, unless they have to perform a lead role. Still, you will often see them using music on stage. Wayne Shorter tells a great story about being asked to join Miles Davis's band, in the 1960s. He turned up to meet them for the first time, expecting a rehearsal, and found it was a gig. Before they went on, Miles asked "do you know my music?" Of course WS said "sure" (he was familiar enough with the great man's work). Miles replied "Uh-oh". IOW, he actually liked new musicians to be totally fresh, to have to play totally by ear. The less rehearsed they were, the better, as far as he was concerned.
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#7
09-18-2012, 08:19 PM
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One of the greatest things about playing a harp guitar is the way it changes how people think.
When you walk on stage with a 6-string, the audience's minds are wondering "I wonder if he'll play [insert mile-long song list here]?" and no matter how many songs you know, someone will always come up and say, "I was really hoping you'd play X because I was on the phone with my mother who's in the hospital and she promised me she'd hang on to life just so she could hear you play X. Now she's dead and I couldn't be there because I was here listening to you not playing her song. Nice job." When you walk on stage with a harp guitar, everyone in the audience has the exact same thought: "What IS that thing?" Not playing covers also helps you escape this trap 
__________________
Jim Dorman - The Acoustic Pedestrian www.jimdorman.com "I'd think learning to play the guitar would be very confusing for sighted people." -- Doc Watson
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#8
09-19-2012, 12:27 AM
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I'm amazed with ppl who can play songs by request ... how do they do that? I had my guitar when my friend came over and she asked me ... can you play.. no. Can you play... no. Can you play... no... ... .... what songs can you play? ....
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#9
09-19-2012, 08:41 AM
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Quote:
 ) the more likely it is that you'll be able to play what someone requests.What pisses me off (as I implied in my first post) is that in the band I'm in we often get requests for songs that I know, but the rest of the band doesn't. So (if it's me they ask) I have to grit my teeth and say "sorry..." Of course, there's always those dumb folk who come up and ask for a song that's way out of character of the style of the band. ("Er, we're a blues band, what makes you think we're likely to know any Barry Manilow songs...?") Quote:
 
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#10
09-19-2012, 06:40 PM
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I can't. And then I should probably whip out some random bluegrass or a jazz standard. I don't know. Or Call Me Maybe. Maybe Never Gonna Give You Up.
__________________
Musician and producer Inspirations: Bill Monroe, Brad Paisley, Eric Church, John Mayer, Taylor Swift YouTube Twitter Instagram
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#11
09-19-2012, 07:04 PM
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The recent profile of Bruce Springsteen in The New Yorker says that he and his band use discreetly placed Teleprompters to display song lyrics and keys as required, say if something from deep in the back catalog is called for (or, presumably, age simply factors in - it mentions the Stones and late period Sinatra using a similar arrangement).
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#12
09-19-2012, 07:37 PM
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I always say "man, i just did it in the last set..."
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#13
09-19-2012, 07:53 PM
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Probably not. I get asked "what song is that" alot while playing original stuff or just noodling around.
__________________
I actually have a goatee. ..
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#14
09-20-2012, 02:40 AM
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Quote:
The other thing that gets me is when you're playing (what you think are) some great dance tunes, and someone who is not dancing comes up and asks "can you play something we can dance to?" Just dance, you f*****! It's not difficult!
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#15
09-20-2012, 11:46 AM
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FREEBIRD!!!!
constantly get asked.
__________________
-Nick 72 000-18
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