Demos for gigs

[dannyg1]

You've been inundated with positive energy so you know that you've done good but I have some criticism that I hope might help you.

In listening to Chasing Cars, I felt that you didn't start to lose yourself in the song until the very end. Your transitions from the strummed to the picked were static and your vocals were straight and without nuance. Both things changed at the 4 minute mark, so you obviously could've done better. Left me thinking that if you'd only done a couple of more takes, you'd have had a stellar track.

Listening to the other tracks left me wondering why you'd chosen the songs you did, as only one of these, the Tonic song, was truly complementary to your voice. The other songs I listened to: Your song and Cover me didn't capture my attention at all, FWIW.

As others have said, you've done plenty right here and feel free to disregard what I've written here if you're sure that I'm nuts (I mostly am!), I just thought that in the interest of pushing others to their best, I'd say my piece.

[GibbyPrague]

We do use music / note stands but slowly trying to get rid off them. However they are quiet small A4 size and fit on the mike stand (you can clearly see them on our vids in our thread 'HD recording at hard rock'.

But our goal in the next few weeks is to get rid of them, Im pretty much there my singer still needs them for some time as its obviously harder to remember words than chords ...lol ..

Originally Posted by BoB/335

You'd be suprised at some of the comments by musicians on forums about music stands. I actually brought it up at an Open Mic I go to where everyone is almost like family there. Very supportive and encouraging. They laughed at the thought that this would be a problem on a forum.
So I have not yet experienced displeasure in person and see music being used more than not by solo duos. Heck, I could never figure out why horn sections were exempt.

[BoB/335]

Originally Posted by dannyg1

You've been inundated with positive energy so you know that you've done good but I have some criticism that I hope might help you.

In listening to Chasing Cars, I felt that you didn't start to lose yourself in the song until the very end. Your transitions from the strummed to the picked were static and your vocals were straight and without nuance. Both things changed at the 4 minute mark, so you obviously could've done better. Left me thinking that if you'd only done a couple of more takes, you'd have had a stellar track.

Listening to the other tracks left me wondering why you'd chosen the songs you did, as only one of these, the Tonic song, was truly complementary to your voice. The other songs I listened to: Your song and Cover me didn't capture my attention at all, FWIW.

As others have said, you've done plenty right here and feel free to disregard what I've written here if you're sure that I'm nuts (I mostly am!), I just thought that in the interest of pushing others to their best, I'd say my piece.

That's interesting as MOST comments on the Tonic song site the song as being beyond my range.
Chasing Cars has a missed note in the transition to the picked part at one point. I'm actually not happy with the chord part.
Cover Me has been said when playing LIVE to be one of the best songs to fit my voice. (Don't know if that would be said of this recording though)

I appreciate ANY comments especially from one who seems as heartfelt as you to Pushing others to their best. I'm no great singer and don't pretend to be. Maybe that just happens to be my best. I will go back and listen with your thought in mind and I thank you for taking the time to comment!!!

[dannyg1]

I will defer to people who are more familiar with your music. I would though, really like to know how you chose the songs? I've never thought of actively putting together a 'demo' (The stuff of me I do record is mostly a learning tool) and I'm interested to hear if you're aiming it at something/someone in oarticular.

[ferg]

Originally Posted by TaylorPrague

We do use music / note stands but slowly trying to get rid off them. However they are quiet small A4 size and fit on the mike stand (you can clearly see them on our vids in our thread 'HD recording at hard rock'.

But our goal in the next few weeks is to get rid of them, Im pretty much there my singer still needs them for some time as its obviously harder to remember words than chords ...lol ..

We use music stands, but I'd rather not. The biggest issue is that we only gig about once per month. We practice weekly, but spend most of that time (except for the last practice before a gig) working on new stuff. I have thin binder that I carry...it has a computer-generated cheat sheet in the order of the set we're performing (so I don't have to fumble through it when playing).

I play with a percussionist, though, who sings on a few songs. I don't know what his deal is, but he seems to have a lot of trouble memorizing lyrics. It's problematic. Even just memorizing the chorus for songs that he sings background on, he can't do it. So, he has a binder of everything, and he's often flipping through it for what I consider too long. On the songs he does sing, his unfamiliarity with the lyrics often results in poor delivery of the vocal...as if it's obvious he's reading the lyrics or struggling to remember them. It's kind of unprofessional. Ok. Not kind of.

I want to do away with the books. I don't use them in rehearsal, except for new songs. This is also one of the other reasons I've been playing hourly "live" shows in Second Life - to practice, and not need the cheat sheets. It's definitely helping.

All of that said - not everyone has the specific problem my act has with music stands, and I've found that, in coffee house type gigs (which are most of our gigs), they're pretty commonplace. I like having the charts there as a reminder...but I don't just stare at the book and follow along - I usually just glance at it just before starting for songs that aren't as burnt in my brain, but I'd rather not rely on them.

Back in my full-band days, we never used such things. I played in cover bands that probably had catalogs of 70 or 80 songs, and it was never even a consideration. Then again, being a rhythm guitarist in a 5-piece band doesn't leave you nearly as exposed as how I'm playing now.

Anyway - the original topic...

Bob - I think your demo recording sounded good. Perfectly suitable for demo purposes. You consistently make self-deprecating remarks about your singing, but you're a good singer. I thought the performance was good.

And to round it out...getting gigs...

Bob - your approach is one I would LIKE to employ, but it's like torture. The notion of getting out there and doing that seems like torture, and I think that's held us back, at least a bit. So, I've yet to get a gig that way, but I DO think it's a fine approach, and it's why I have business cards and pre-printed blank CDs. My aforementioned percussionist is a salesman. My hope was that, since I was making the full financial investment in the band (all of the equipment is mine, including the percussion he plays), he'd step up and hit the pavement. That was never actually discussed and hasn't happened. Oh well. I exercise complete creative control over the band, so I guess that's what I get.

Fortunately, I've been lucky enough to get gigs through easier means for my introverted self. We gig regularly at one place who was willing to set the whole thing up via email. I have a website for the band with audio, video, info, etc...it serves as kind of an electronic press kit. That was good enough for this one place. Now, anytime I want to play there, all I have to do is email her. In playing there, I met a fellow who did bookings for another place (which has since changed ownership), and he started booking us. We've also met people at our gigs at that same place (that booked via email) for private parties and art shows. Now that I think about it, the majority of our gigs started with that one - and we still play there. We have gotten a few other gigs by playing open mics as well as through our reverbnation page (though those were mostly street fair type events).

Frankly - I'm not sure why I can't deal with people online and avoid tracking all over town. They're all online. They all have facebook pages...or Twitter. All of our material that I'd hand them is online. This is just one of the things I need to learn to get over - I need to head in and introduce myself. It would actually be good for me on a number of levels.

[BoB/335]

Thank you ferg for the vote of confidence. To be honest, I don't think I'm terrible. For the most part I think I sing on key which is probably the most important. I really like to sing but I understand my shortcomings. My range is limited and I just don't think I have the kind of really nice sounding voice that I love to listen to. And when I listen to some here I really think are good, well .................................

I appreciate dannyyg1 for his honest critique. (As well as someone else earlier in this thread) It's great to get "atta boys" but it's really helpful to get the other side and I appreciate everyone here on this section of the forum. I have had an awesome time in the last few weeks both posting songs as well as listening to others and posting comments. It's been one of my highlights in an otherwise mundane day.

How I chose my songs for the demo is tough to answer. I had time to pick out my list but didn't do so until the evening of the recording as I finished one song to the next. It was tough because I like a lot of the songs I do. Some consideration was in how some of these have gone over. The Tonic song goes over huge and was a good way to end. (I play at several Open Mics for over a year now besides the few gigs I've done and some of these get really good responses)
Your Song I just happen to like playing. For "me" it's unusual to play a piano song on guitar and I happen to like singing it and like the way I sound singing it and someone I highly respect as a musician stood watching me play it recently and had some good feedback immediatelt as I finished it.
I play with a Looper and wanted to get a song in there with a lead break. Cover Me is my most upbeat with a lead. I do Unchain My Heart, Simple Man, Ain't No Sunshine, ARS version of Spooky a couple of Clapton blues based.
Play Me was a tough choice. I feel like I put people to sleep during that but the response when I'm done ALWAYS surprises me. I like doing Solitary Man better but Play Me gets the better response.
And Chasing Cars is fairly up to date compared to a lot of my other material and is well known it seems. I do that with my Duo partner who does some pretty good harmonies but I hate the way he plays bass on it.

Others that I thought of doing:
With Or Without You
It's Only Love
American Girl
Have You Ever Seen The Rain
Her Diamonds
Lonely No More (a slower version)
Wonderwall (might have been a good choice)

[firebill]

Good job, bud. See you at the lanterne one of these days.