Advice needed for first gig after a LONG break

H

harsh

Inspired
Fellow Fractalites, I need your help!

I quit playing live music after becoming a dad. After a 3 year break, one of my close friends asked me to play live for his covers band coz his guitarist suddenly had to cancel. I said yes without realising what a challenge this will be - I basically have to learn about 40 songs in just over 2 weeks! I can play most of the songs at home, but I'm worried I'll forget the chords etc when on stage.

I've seen session musicians refer to ipads while playing live. Is there some sort of software that I could use? Or, if you guys refer to notes, how do you go about putting them together? I read tabs, but I can't read sheet music, so this becomes even more difficult.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
ChristThePhone said:
Can you read tabs while playing? Honestly, take the most important parts and learn them inside out. Way more fun to play live that way. If it's on sheets it's not rock'n'roll ;)
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I definitely wouldn't want to read chords while playing, but I was pre-empting anyone asking if I could read sheet music :). I was going to do exactly what you suggested, but would really like to put up a tight performance.
 
Don't cram.

Start going through the songs now to build muscle memory.
Take breaks often Don't over do it or you will fatigue your hand and arm and will damage yourself at the gig or worse.

While resting your hand you can listen to the songs to learn the structure and visualize yourself playing along will help, but muscle memory for performance is key.

I would approach this as familiarize yourself with the songs you know already, then learn the easy ones, all the while picking one or two other advanced at a time learning the basic structure and solo high spots so you can improvise..., and then bring them up to speed. I would break the songs up into four groups so as not to get overwhelmed.
 
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harsh said:
Fellow Fractalites, I need your help!

I quit playing live music after becoming a dad. After a 3 year break, one of my close friends asked me to play live for his covers band coz his guitarist suddenly had to cancel. I said yes without realising what a challenge this will be - I basically have to learn about 40 songs in just over 2 weeks! I can play most of the songs at home, but I'm worried I'll forget the chords etc when on stage.

I've seen session musicians refer to ipads while playing live. Is there some sort of software that I could use? Or, if you guys refer to notes, how do you go about putting them together? I read tabs, but I can't read sheet music, so this becomes even more difficult.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
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I found myself in a similar situation and my approach was to play the songs that i knew (just to refresh my memory). Start playing that ones which are "less comfortable" as @Mr.nobodysaid to learn the structure. I use (and still do!) a notebook with the basic chord progression for a quick peak (not for all the songs). I also use the notebook to write down the songs structure I.E. Intro x1, Verse x2, Bridge etc. for the more "complex" one so I don';t have to stress about that either. Hope this helps a bit :)
 
When I have to perform a bunch of new songs that I haven't memorized, I just use a chord chart with the basic form of the song. It gives me a safety net while playing the songs, and because it's not a full note-for-note chart, I'm not tempted to follow it throughout the song. I find that approach pretty helpful because I know the song form (along with any non-obvious chords) are there are a guide.
 
harsh said:
I basically have to learn about 40 songs in just over 2 weeks! I can play most of the songs at home, but I'm worried I'll forget the chords etc when on stage.
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Sleestak said:
When I have to perform a bunch of new songs that I haven't memorized, I just use a chord chart with the basic form of the song.
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I've been in your position a number of times, where I can play all the tunes/sets but haven't had the time to commit them fully to memory. I do exactly what Sleestak does. I write out only the basic chord names in simple, clear notation for a single verse, chorus, bridge, and solo, then the arrangement for those elements, no. of repeats, etc. and only refer to them as an occasional safety net. I can usually get all my cheat notes on a single page with big black fonts/writing as the notes are very concise/stripped down and a quick glance is all I need.

Good luck and have fun on the gig....
 
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iPad app wise, the 2 I use are iRealPro for chord charts and OnSong for lyrics. Both are really good. There are others, but these work for me.

With both, you can create set lists and just flick to the next song. They can be as simple or complex as you need to ast as a reminder.
 
Playing a song live when your not sure if you know it 100% is an amazing feeling. It's like rock climbing without a rope. Well, as long as you dont fall.
 
guitarmanUK said:
iPad app wise, the 2 I use are iRealPro for chord charts and OnSong for lyrics. Both are really good. There are others, but these work for me.
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+1 for OnSong: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/onsong/id502344938?mt=8

Not trying to be self-indulgent, but my goal as a guitarist is to have all the chords/transitions/intricacies/solos memorized by the time a gig rolls around. For this particular case as others say, don't try to cram it all in your head. I would get the actual set list of what you are playing and split it up into reasonable bi-weekly (twice weekly) chunks. If it really is 40 songs (a 3-4 hour set?) and a two-week "deadline", take 10 songs for the first part of the week and 10 songs the second part. This is why a setlist is key though to prioritize the more difficult tracks ahead of time.

OnSong does also do chord changes if you import the correct copy/key you are playing for a reference. I know how difficult it is though to be the primary start/stop individual responsible for getting a song correct. It sometimes feels like Rock Band when you miss a note and the crowd goes "huh?!" except, with real people.

You will do fine mate, try getting the band to commit to a set list so you can commit the first groups down pat.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Have fun with it exercising your memorization skills!!
 
I'm with the above folks, particularly about planning out your learning process, and about making short form cheat notes per song. I've found them invaluable for similar situations.

But I'd be a bit careful pulling in the iPad and new software. That is going to put you into a position where you're on stage relying on a program that you have less than 2 weeks experience with, stacked with 40 new songs, stacked with 3 years off. Also, you'll have to burn practice time over the next two weeks learning and setting up the program- a very expensive approach in terms of your time right now. It's taking a difficult situation and potentially making it even more complex. I'd be all about paper and ink right at this point. No batteries to fail, no accidental taps to try to undo on the fly, etc. Unless you have experience with OnSong or similar, then that's a different story.
 
I would take the "flash card" approach. Review your list song by song. I'm guessing that some of them will be easy and pose no difficulty. There may be a few that require a bit more work. Then there are the problem children. Even with these, it is likely that you have difficulty with the same parts of the song, each time (I know that is how it is for me). Set the easy ones aside, then work the "got it mostly right" songs, and get them done. Now that you have it narrowed down to the ones where you always stumble, really work on those, and get them down. I really doubt you will have trouble with the whole list. By focusing your efforts on the difficult songs, the problem will be more manageable. Just my $0.02.
 
40 is a lot. Personally I tend to
Listen and try to play along firstly to identify the easy and harder parts
Then write out the structures in chord charts clearly distinguish couplets refrains and bridges
Then I start to memorise playing along with the song and the charts
To finish you need training with the band and play out the charts all alone to get confident with your own play
Then you need a bit of luck to make it happen

Keep on rocking
 
OnSong works great, and I don't see why folks object to using it live.. it will scroll automatically based on song length and it's not that hard to use while playing.. but it WILL take time to set up. I had 63 songs to learn in 3 weeks for my current band and used OnSong for the first few gigs, because THAT's A LOT of SONGS! That was 3.5 yrs ago

I mostly do NOT use OnSong live now (tho I bring it with me), only when the BL pulls a song we haven't played in a while, or occasionally at church.
 
s0c9 said:
OnSong works great, and I don't see why folks object to using it live.. it will scroll automatically based on song length and it's not that hard to use while playing.. but it WILL take time to set up. I had 63 songs to learn in 3 weeks for my current band and used OnSong for the first few gigs, because THAT's A LOT of SONGS! That was 3.5 yrs ago

I mostly do NOT use OnSong live now (tho I bring it with me), only when the BL pulls a song we haven't played in a while, or occasionally at church.
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I'm probably just being overcautious regarding OnSong. My concern is simply that if he has no prior experience with it I don't know if it's the best time to try to learn and configure new software, then use it live for the first time at what is probably going to be a pretty tricky gig. But that's just my take.
In any other situation though, using software like that makes a lot of sense to me!
 
Dendrite said:
I'm probably just being overcautious regarding OnSong. My concern is simply that if he has no prior experience with it I don't know if it's the best time to try to learn and configure new software, then use it live for the first time at what is probably going to be a pretty tricky gig. But that's just my take.
In any other situation though, using software like that makes a lot of sense to me!
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Point taken :)
 
I'll second the 'don't dig into a technology that you're not familiar with.' You have enough to do without piling a learning curve for the software on to that (and it will add stress to the gig when you have to think about this AND play. And, they're not playing originals, so you have familiarity I'm sure with most of the songs, so have confidence; you'll probably only really need to dig in hard on a few songs. Doable.

I'm more analog:
Had to do this once...got a week to get a 2 hour show down. I simply got a folder, printed out double spaced lyrics, and made notes during a practice. Thus you can add the chord names if you feel you need them, and any small annotations about breaks/changes/whatever. It felt a little odd to have a music stand off to my right but desperate times call for...

For some reason it was more soothing if I had the lyrics to follow along...the guitar work seemed pretty easy then.
 
IMHO no substitute for time. Unless you can sight read like a mofo, and that takes the fun out of performing. Repetition. I sing in the car going to work to remember lyrics, over and over.
 
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