Being in a band takes a lot of time....

[KasperFauerby]

Hi,

As some of you guys will already know I've joined a new band fairly recently, and just wanted to report back....
It's all great and super fun to be playing with other people. But I've learned that even for me, as an experienced player, it takes *a alot* of time and focus to be part of a band This new outfit that I joined have a number of gigs lined up for the xmas season and beyond... but where my previous bands played 2x65min concerts this new one is 2x90mins... and it's a HUGE task to be well prepared for gigs of this size. We're talking concerts of 37 tracks (no papers on stage, all prepared to memory), and with me playing lead guitar it's a ton of work to prepare for.
Not complaining, but just a message for all of you guys out there looking to join bands

Cheers,
Kasper

[Rossco01]

2x90 mins slots is absolutely huge! I hope you're getting played well for that amount of playing. Typically here for your average pub they'll take 2x45/50 min slots or at most 2 1 hour slots. I can whole heartedly agree that having enough material and being ready for a gig is huge. We're pretty new but even getting together a 45 minute set seemed hard...although now we have it the next 6 songs have come quite easily...but of course you need to keep practicing the whole set. The key is to try and keep fun...as soon as it becomes onerous it's difficult to keep it going.

[DavidP]

Thanks for the update, Kasper. Wish you well for the gigs. Hope there'll be some footage to share at some point.

[LievenDV]

Hey, thanks for pdropping in!

180 minutes of live music without any aids is a lot of work, especially when playing lead!
Good luck with that, we are currently at a set of 1x45 min

[J.W.C.]

I feel your pain. I still struggle with memorizing entire sets. I've gotten used to playing with sheet music (or at least a lead sheet) handy. Probably the classical music influence, in my case. Plus, I'm lazy...

[tobyjenner]

Great share Kasper and I wish you and the band every success.

Jeepers 37 songs to remember, I struggle with 2 or 3 at most but would say have only just recently worked through my playable song list (those I sing and play). Even then just a couple of times and stopped after about 6 or 7 as the time just flies by ! And that's with using Setlist Helper as a guide and I would struggle without it but I can use my age as an excuse.  Hopefully, one day I'll get through the 19 in the list but every month a few more get added, so the target will keep moving.

That is some serious dedication and commitment. As Jason said, I hope the rewards are worth it.

Cheers

Toby
  

[adi_mrok]

That is a very interesting topic which I hope you can expand a bit further on Kasper - how do you balance between normal work and prepping for such a long performances and family life? Unless playing in a band is your only source of income?

Keep on rockin' my friends

[CT]

Really cool update! I would love to hear one of your band's sets. I know that you will bring the juice. I'm crazy happy for you.

[SgtColon]

How do you remember 3 hours of songs? It is impressive stuff.

It would be great if you could record and share some of it.

[KasperFauerby]

I can elaborate a bit on the strategy that I made for learning it all.
This was a bit special because I joined a band where many of the songs were already on their set, we probably picked up 10 new ones over the last year or so but the rest was material that they already knew.

So initially I had to focus on learning all the new songs. We rehearse every Monday, and I split it up so that I would learn 5-6 new songs each week. So after a couple of months I had a first version of all the songs. This was really a lot of work as well, of course it got a little easier once I had managed to "catch up" with the other guys..

For a while the band would then pick at random from all 40+ songs at each rehearsal... but that was a bit too much for me. So instead I suggested that we split them into small 10-13 song sets, and we then rehearsed those mini sets in rotation.

Next step was then rehearsing ONE "performance set" each week, so approx. 17 songs. That still leaves us time to work on some songs, if they are not 100% as we want them.

And finally, before a show we have a few weeks with trial runs of the entire concert from start to end... in this "mode" we don't stop if there are mistakes, but instead rehearse how to deal with these small mistakes (which WILL happen live) without the audience noticing (too) much...

As for how to make time for it all - it's just a hobby for me, and I also have a family. But I do try to play the guitar at least 30 mins each day, usually more.. most of that time playing some of the hardest songs. Otherwise it's just about playing them enough, then they'll eventually be internalized

[LievenDV]

good call on the organized setlists on rehearsals.
I usually announce a little agenda too, about to expect of rehearsing set, practicing harder parts of songs, learnign the new ones or working on new material. Setting such agenda's really works well and they can still shift where needed

[tobyjenner]

Thanks again for sharing Kasper. Logical to break it down in to manageable chunks to get the material down and honed. Then ramp it up toward the gig date with a full set. I am sure you put in extra time during that catch period but at least you should now be on a level footing with the rest of the band. 

[brianlarsen]

Great share Kaspar.
I'm surprised you find the time to still check in here tbh, but appreciate the peek through the keyhole 
Next level stuff
Tillykke! 

[dtougas]

Fascinating post! How many years were you learning guitar before you felt you were ready to be in a band?

[jsgreen]

Really interesting thread, thank you for sharing!

Kasper, what impact has Justin Guitar had on your playing? 

[close2u]

I can attest to this story Kasper.
I told my own of running and playing in a band some years back.
Thanks for giving further insight in to your band workings.
We all knew you had joined this new band and you offer up some reality of the effort involved in a high-functioning covers band aiming to do well paid gigs.

[KasperFauerby]

@jsgreen:
 
I would say that Justin Guitar has had a great impact on my playing, but perhaps not in the same way as most other people around here. Justin is most know for his fantastic beginners course, but when I discovered his YouTube channel, and later his site and these forums, I was already well past most of that.

The story behind how I initially came across him was also band/gig related. I got hired to sit in, on very short notice, for a gig and had to learn a ton of new songs very, very quickly. My normal procedure for learning songs at the time was actually to transcribe everything myself - but since I was so pressed for time I decided to look around on YouTube to see if I could "cheat" a little and perhaps find some chord charts for some of the songs. I then noticed that the same guy kept popping up and that his lessons for the songs were pretty damn good Curiosity led me to check out the site he kept mentioning, and later these forums..

But where I feel I have learned the most from being around here is probably on recording, more than technique/playing. When I joined these forums I had been in a studio a few times, but had NEVER recorded anything myself. And recording material is very different from performing it live. I think it has taught me a lot about really listening to my own playing, about being precise, about timing, tone, touch, feel and more. I started recording a song as often as I could (back then at least once a month) and by posting them all on SoundCloud I have a nice way of going back in time to see how my progress as a player really has been - that can be hard to judge when you're at a certain level and progress happens in very small incremental steps. But go back 4 years to a previous recorded cover and the difference becomes much easier to hear

[DarrellW]

I agree entirely with your analysis of how difficult it is to juggle playing in a band and family life. In my case I almost lost my wife during the birth of my first born, this was what induced a long break in doing anything guitar related. I had to prioritise what I needed to do rather than what I wanted to do for the immediate future.
Having our second child was easier but she was 8 weeks premature so again I had priorities for family life. I managed to have a tinker about again when they were school age but nothing serious, so until I joined up here about 5 years ago I didn’t do a fat lot but with the quality of the material here and the support of the community I have done more than my wildest dreams were, such a great community to be in!

[CT]

Does playing the same songs over and over again ever get monotonous? There would seem to be a fine line between a song (or set) becoming second nature and becoming old hat. I think I would need to change tempo, keys or some element of rote playing in order to keep things fresh. How do you keep it from becoming a grind?

[Rossco01]

@CT ideally you have enough songs to rotate your set so you don't get bored and you can mix and match based on what sort of gig you are doing.  I would say yes it does get monotonous (if you don't mix things up a bit)  and I think you'll find even big bands say they get fed up of playing for the millionth time their number one hit song..which I guess is why they try to change them up sometimes as well.

[KasperFauerby]

@CT: Good question!

I guess this will be different for everybody. But for my own part it's not a big problem. Most songs are fun to play again and again, especially if you feel you're playing them well. Of course some songs can be a bit of a chore, but those are normally the ones that doesn't need to much rehearsals.
In our band we try to always be working on something new, as well as maintaining the current set. So at rehearsals we'll normally "warm up" with some of the old songs, and then work on 1-2 new songs each week.

[LievenDV]

Does playing the same songs over and over again ever get monotonous?

for us it doesn't and we play less songs than Kasper.

prepping them for a show is more than just playing them.
You must work on the entertainment factor of your show, making it work, keepin it interesting.
Songs are the buildingblocks for a show but they have a plan and mortar to keep them together as well.
playing them alot makes you discover coo lstuff by accident or improv as well!

[stitch101]

for us it doesn't and we play less songs than Kasper.

prepping them for a show is more than just playing them.
You must work on the entertainment factor of your show, making it work, keepin it interesting.
Songs are the buildingblocks for a show but they have a plan and mortar to keep them together as well.
playing them alot makes you discover coo lstuff by accident or improv as well!

Nailed it Lieven.

I think this is what separates professional musicians from the rest.
Your not just playing songs for people to listen to, you're putting on a show for people to enjoy.
This is why it's called the entertainment business. If your not entertaining your audience you're
not in business very long.

[CT]

Awesome replies all! Hats off to you folks that are out there making it happen. Good on you!