The Steel Guitar Forum

It bugs me the way audiences don't seem to have the slightest grasp of the music. No-one has told them about syncopation. So many times the audience clap on the upbeat instead of the downbeat, and it destroys the music. It's as if they have no comprehension of the basic off-beat nature of rock and roll, blues, bluegrass, traditional jazz, etc.

What do you do when this happens ? On one performance the Beach Boys were so upset about it that they stopped playing and instructed the audience how to clap. John Denver used to start the audience clapping sometimes before he started singing, so that they would start right.

I've even heard up-tempo music where the audience were almost half a beat behind the band.

This is one topic that just bugs the fire out of me. Some people cannot feel the beat and cannot hear chord changes. Sure makes playing very tough. I just have to bear it and try to act as if nothing is wrong.

At chruch I would tell the congregation not to clap as it would through me off AND others would have a hard time hearing my beautiful fiddling.

Larry Behm

Nobody ever claps for us.

We tell people "If you want to sing or clap along please don't cause it really screws us up"

We say it as a joke.......or do we?????

When things would get boring at a gig, and the line dancers looked like a corps of robots, I'd instruct the band to insert one bar of 3/4 or 5/4. Then we'd laugh our butts off watchin' the line dancer's complete confusion. It was like bowling a smashing strike! Pins flyin' everywhere!

Clapping out-of-time is only slightly worse than white folks clapping on 1 & 3. Directing them is the best option and as already mentioned, using humor (but being serious about the end result) is probably best. I've told folks before that they shouldn't clap along because my ailing Grandmother was backstage and her life support was attached to a "Clapper". Usually doesn't help...poor Granny.

What the band is really saying is "SHUT UP" my time is more important than yours and this concert is all about me. I'm the star and your the Fan so just sit there and Fan when I tell you to Fan.

On Pete Seeger's Carnegie Hall concert album, the audience starts clapping along, and it gets hairy really quick. Without skipping a beat, Seeger tells them that it's going to sound awful, but in his clever/dorky way. They stop immediately.

Mike S.

Your post is exactly what I was thinking. What was the Ray Stevens song that mentioned people clapping on 1 & 3?

Another story even worse. We were on stage and somebody decided it was time to put another banner in front of the stage. You guessed it, hammer and nail time. Nothing to do but stop and laugh.

Does this question imply that they have ever clapped IN time?

I used to play in a trio - piano, steel and bass. There was a regular at the bar where we played who joined in on tambourine. She had a good sense of time, but always played on the 1 and 3. I sort of enjoyed it - it was so authentic! It drove the bass player bonkers.

I'm happy to have a gig. Its even better if people are there and having a good time.

I didn't vote in the pole because its fine with me and really not a problem.

Unless the audience is made up of musicians, I don't see why anybody should expect them to keep good time. How many of us have complained about drummers or other musicians that don't keep good time.

I also think bands should be able to decouple a reasonable amount of distraction like this well enough to play without problems. It requires focus, but is part of the gig, to me. Of course, how much of this distraction is OK depends on the context, IMO.

Naturally, one can just crank it up and drown them out. I've been in more than one band that did just that - but it's not always a pretty sight.

Just play through it and pray no one in the band starts to follow them.

What b0b said is funny...we used to joke about "1 and 3's" vs 2 and 4's". When we played bluegrass, the claps were 1 and 3. The same group of players also had a blues band - then it was the " 2 and 4's".

When the 2's/4's clap on a bluegrass tune it usually works just fine, and adds a punchy backbeat you can play off of - since that's usually where the mando player hits his chops anyway.

But 1&3 claps on blues or funky stuff...yikes, what a trainwreck.

We would usually instruct the audience to wait until the end of the song before clapping .....

I'm glad our music makes people want to clap. And being a former drummer, I prefer to have it be on 2& 4 to go along with the snare drum, but we'll take what we can get. What really chaps me is our drummer that hasn't learned when or how to use the double kick drum pedal he has.

I used to play one regular gig where a homeless lookin guy would play along with those two weird shaped hardwood sticks called "bones" that are held kinda like chopsticks and clicked together with a swinging motion of the hand. When played correctly they remind me of castinets. Anyhow this guy would work his way around the room making this completely random loud clickity-clack sound and envariably end up right in front of me clacking away right in my face with a $*!+eating grin like he was doing something wonderful.It was impossible to play that way and since he was just out of range of my stun gun and I didn't have a baseball bat handy,I would just leave the stage till he moved over to the other side of the bandstand to torment the guitar player.

Michael, was that around LA? Because I swear we had that same guy show up to the regular Palmdale blues jam a couple times - he was "convinced" by a bouncer that his presence was desired elsewhere after the second night...

With some of the drummers and bass players I've worked with, what ever the audience did was an improvement. Of course I'm exaggerating, but not by much.

I was going to ask why you listen to the audience for rhythm when you've got a bass player and a drummer. I guess you answered the question, Howard.

There was a video of the Doobie Bros. live, where they actually START the audience clapping at half time, and then PLAY double time over them--and the audience just goes along with it...it's CRAZY to watch, but just brilliant...you could never get an audience to clap half time in the midst of a song....

and...

Bass players shouldn't clap. Ever.

A

I used to play in Port Aransas Texas in the 70's.
There was a guy named "Lawmmower Ted" that would come to the club/bar and
"jam" with us with a gas powered lawn mower.
Ted would actually fire up his lawnmower and hop around the dance floor.
I can't remember if he had a blade in it.
The locals seemed to tolerate him.
Ted also liked to drink a lot.

It's not a problem with me.

I've got to say the best clappers I've ever played with are in the House of God Church. They all don't have good time (stereotypes aside) but at least they know where to clap. And there's a pretty good percentage that could be drummers...

Just be happy you have a crowd.

ernie