Set Lists
Created | Updated May 26, 2012
In a band, one of the hardest tasks is going to be selecting material. (This would rank just behind carrying on playing a song when a string has just snapped.) There are several ways to go about doing it:
First off, what type of audience will you be playing to? If you're playing in a large club, quiet gentle music probably shouldn't compose the majority of your sets. Whilst playing a smaller venue, perhaps a coffee bar or a bookstore, death-metal and keyboard rock might be out of place. So this will be your first consideration.
Keeping this in mind, do you play original tunes? If the arrangements you've written for thosw will be be out of place, re-orchestrate them a bit; you'd be suprised how flexible most music is. If your band is well-rehearsed, changing the tempo and feel of a song shouldn't be that difficult.
Don't get caught in the trap, however, of playing all of your material as one style of muslc. A half-hour set of wonderfully sung duets will get boring no matter how good the harmonies are; break it up with some slightly out-of-place material, to jar your audience awake. (Unless you're playing somewhere where you are background music. Then, you want to fade into the background.)
As to song order: There are advantages to selecting music and playing it in whatever order strikes you. However, the larger the band, the less feasible this becomes. This may sound elementary, but get everybody a song list. The guitarists can then mark down where the capos go, the singers can note which songs have the longish instrumental parts and look forward to bathroom breaks from drinking all that "water".
As to what songs to select: Know your band well, to the point where you know what songs would be rejected out of hand, and what might be considered. If you compose, you can write with that band in mind. (If you have a sax player, write for guitar with capo on the third fret, it'll make your life easier.) Know the limits of your singers' voices. And, when you're at someone's house/ aparement/ cardboard box (this last applies to guitarists who buy too many guitars), take a glance through their music collections. You'll be suprised at what you find.
Singers tend to be picky about what they sing -- with exceptions. I once worked with a female vocalist for whom I was able to switch the pronouns in a song I'd written to make it more believable when she sang it. Since then I've tried to write -- and pick songs -- with gender-neutral orientations. It makes them more flexible on stage and in the studio, and I worry less about who "can" sing them.
If you can team with someone else in the band for this task, the selection process will be much more pleasant. When you try out songs, think: Is this boring? Forget how captivating the original was; either strike out the tune, or rearrange it. I've played a ten-minute version of Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" on stage that worked well. It had enough of the original song to satisfy those who recognized it, and enough of the later instrumental passages to add variety. Unless you're Ian Anderson & Co., playing the song in it's glorious 45-minute entirety will most likely lull an audience to sleep -- or out the door.
In closing, think ahead about:
-- What will interest your band -- and an audience
-- Who your band is and wants to be
-- Where you're playing
-- What you physically can sing
... and you should be fine.
First off, what type of audience will you be playing to? If you're playing in a large club, quiet gentle music probably shouldn't compose the majority of your sets. Whilst playing a smaller venue, perhaps a coffee bar or a bookstore, death-metal and keyboard rock might be out of place. So this will be your first consideration.
Keeping this in mind, do you play original tunes? If the arrangements you've written for thosw will be be out of place, re-orchestrate them a bit; you'd be suprised how flexible most music is. If your band is well-rehearsed, changing the tempo and feel of a song shouldn't be that difficult.
Don't get caught in the trap, however, of playing all of your material as one style of muslc. A half-hour set of wonderfully sung duets will get boring no matter how good the harmonies are; break it up with some slightly out-of-place material, to jar your audience awake. (Unless you're playing somewhere where you are background music. Then, you want to fade into the background.)
As to song order: There are advantages to selecting music and playing it in whatever order strikes you. However, the larger the band, the less feasible this becomes. This may sound elementary, but get everybody a song list. The guitarists can then mark down where the capos go, the singers can note which songs have the longish instrumental parts and look forward to bathroom breaks from drinking all that "water".
As to what songs to select: Know your band well, to the point where you know what songs would be rejected out of hand, and what might be considered. If you compose, you can write with that band in mind. (If you have a sax player, write for guitar with capo on the third fret, it'll make your life easier.) Know the limits of your singers' voices. And, when you're at someone's house/ aparement/ cardboard box (this last applies to guitarists who buy too many guitars), take a glance through their music collections. You'll be suprised at what you find.
Singers tend to be picky about what they sing -- with exceptions. I once worked with a female vocalist for whom I was able to switch the pronouns in a song I'd written to make it more believable when she sang it. Since then I've tried to write -- and pick songs -- with gender-neutral orientations. It makes them more flexible on stage and in the studio, and I worry less about who "can" sing them.
If you can team with someone else in the band for this task, the selection process will be much more pleasant. When you try out songs, think: Is this boring? Forget how captivating the original was; either strike out the tune, or rearrange it. I've played a ten-minute version of Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" on stage that worked well. It had enough of the original song to satisfy those who recognized it, and enough of the later instrumental passages to add variety. Unless you're Ian Anderson & Co., playing the song in it's glorious 45-minute entirety will most likely lull an audience to sleep -- or out the door.
In closing, think ahead about:
-- What will interest your band -- and an audience
-- Who your band is and wants to be
-- Where you're playing
-- What you physically can sing
... and you should be fine.
