The Steel Guitar Forum

Most of us have "filled-in" or started with a new band. I'd like to know what some of you do to "cram" or prepare for 4 or 5 sets, in a short time, with people you haven't played with before. You want to sound good, but at least 2/3 of the songs are new to you?

Don't sweat it! Just wing it!

If you know your guitar at all, you should be able to play just about anything that comes up. Arrangements take time.

Anyone that might expect you to know all there is on the first night is expecting a lot.

Most of these band leader vocalists are quite limited in their contribution; only one kind of song by a single vocalist or
cut-time and mess up chords as a rhythm player or don't know when to quit playing if a lead guitarist; or play lead bass all night, often taking you into wrong chords.

Just give it your best shot and then decide whether you care to work with them again.

I get a songlist and sort the songs into three categories:

1) I know it
2) I don't know it, but I've heard it enough times I can fake it
3) I don't have a clue

Hopefully, category 3 isn't too big and that's where I spend the time. If 2/3 of the songs are new as you mentioned, I sort those into two piles, the ones where steel is important or featured, and the ones where it's not. Sometimes you just don't have enough time any way you cut it...

I just read Ray's post while I was writing.. Ditto to wingin' it... sometimes that's all you can do. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bill Terry on 22 April 2003 at 01:09 PM.]</p></FONT>

If you and the band know the Nashville numbers system they can jot down some charts to get you through the uncertain ones. I had a band for 20 years and we used that system to learn songs and we could cover most tunes reasonably well in a short time.

What I do?

I get a CD of the songs if possible, and the ones that are three chord, or three chord with a couple minors, I just zip through. THESE you can play a root ocatave to any chord, to start, unless it's the three minor, in which case you lower the root graceflly. OR a Root and a Sus4. You can move into any of the I IV or V as soon as the bass or guitar show you which it is and not hit a Klunker. You gotta be quick and listen for the first clue. Sometimes a godd vocalist will give it to you. Sometimes a good Bass or Guitar player. Sometimes they will not, just to screw with you. It IS often a game, and you CAN win.

Also, on the II and the VI chords, lots of bands don't do them "Like the record" Two examples. Silver Wings, Often they will major the first II chord and Minor the second. Play a Root/Fifth and let THEM fill it in. Walking after Midnite. Sometimes Major to Minor on the IV, sometimes vice versa, sometimes both. Play the Root Fifth. Let THEM make it major or minor. Comprenez?

Other Songs like Blue, Statue of a Fool, Lost in the Feeling, Shameless, or similar multichord songs you NEED to remember what the chord changes are. IIIma to the IIm or major are fairly recognizable, and the V#-VIIb-I progression on the tag of "statue of a fool" is one that sticks in one's mind too. Those "difficult" ones really do need to be worked out. Charts in Big Letters on the few difficult ones help on notecard sized cards will work. SOmetimes just of the "hard parts".

If it's like a "club band" a lot of time you can either look like you're playing and kill the volume, or be obvious that you're "sitting out a section" by doing something like running your hand slowly down your strings with a "knowing look" on your face. I'm serious. It's a lot better than sitting there looking stupid or confused, even though you might be one out of the two. I've been both at times.

One time I remember seeing Bud Charleton and the String Dusters with Roy Self get a hapless keyboard player up who "wanted to sit in" at Hunter's Lodge outside of Manassas VA. They played Lynrd Skynrd's "I Know a Little". Its a "form song" and you really CAN"T anticipate it unless you *know* it. They tore the poor guy to shreds, though it was all in good fun, or deserved, I'm sure. I "learned" a little.

I just write off the simpler stuff and work on the "toughies".

You'll do fine.

EJL<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Eric West on 22 April 2003 at 07:57 PM.]</p></FONT>

Get the simple chart with lyric and changes above the lyric... Nashville Number system or just plain chord changes.

If the band has a practice tape, get it.

If they have a collection of tunes on cd they have made for learning the tunes, get it.

Otherwise, trust your self, and wing it. Usually in the church bands we would get the tunes on cd on Tuesday and have to be ready for Saturday night and Sunday. Different tunes each week.

A band can't play much more than 10 tunes a set. So at the most there will be 35 - 40 tunes played in the night. Don't practice the ones you have heard or know. Just the ones for which you have no clue!

By the way, as a band leader, I ALWAYS print my charts for ALL band members so they will have the same book I have. I make my chart book by hand. When the band has charts, there are very few questions, and lots of focus, and very little wasted time rehearsing.

2 cents.

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Bill Fulbright
Mullen D-10 8x7; Gibson ES-165; Peavey Vegas 400;
ICQ# 2251620 My Music Site

If the band leader hasn't made you a book or at least a big cheat sheet, he must expect what he gets. Most all pros will give you this and at least a cassette or CD.
You can fake it on guitar better than bass.

I have learned a whole night of a band I had never heard, starting the morning of the day before the gig several times.
Last time was an irish gig on guitar where 90% of the music was unknown, or played totally differently than ANY version I had done. But the book was top shelf and clear. Not fun, but possible. Take your own notes.

Last month we had the night before a restaurant gig to break in a PSG and 2nd guitarist for 3 sets. 3 of 5 players were lost for the night. 5 hour rehearsal and decent charts. It went well.

Good advice here
There are about four different country songs and I know all of 'em. And even fewer rock songs. Where I (and many other steel players) fall a bit short is pop tunes. That's the general category of much of what they call country today, but ISN'T. What many of us like about a straight VFW-style country gig is that it's often much easier to wing that stuff than some Steely Dan stuff from the 70s-80s or, for that matter, Beach Boys or Beatle tunes.

My advice:
1. RELAX and do the best you can
2. Get whatever preparation you can do out of the way ASAP. Once you've heard some of the unfamiliar songs and played through them, you're probably in as good shape as most of the band.
3. If everyone uses charts, that's fine, but it can look very unprofessional pawing through a stack of paper between songs. Be discrete if you use notes or charts.
4. DON'T FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO PLAY A MAJOR PART IN ALL SONGS. You are probably there to help the band sound country. Shine on the ones that you know and lay back on the others. NEVER play the first verse of a song you're not familiar with. LISTEN instead. Get the feel of the songs with your EARS not your HANDS.
5. No matter how nervous you are, be warm and friendly to the band members, audience, and ESPECIALLY to whoever hired you. They will determine whether you are asked back.

Sitting in with a band I've never heard is one of my favorite things to do. It sharpens musical skills that don't get a good workout when you're playing the same four or five sets every week. Another thing to ask yourself is how much time is appropriate to spend. If you're making $50 for a four hour gig, I (personally) would hesitate to prepare for more than an hour or two -- UNLESS there's a regular gig in it and you see a future in investing the time.

Good luck. Let us know how it went.

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<small>Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

When in serious doubt, Air Steel. Or as quiet as you can be.

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Marrs D-10, Webb 6-14E

I wouldn't spend to much time thinking about it. Obviously you are a seasoned musician or you would have not been invited to a "COLD" gig.

Great info here..

Me I prescribe pretty much straight down the line that Bill states above.

I would spend a few minutes on the ones I never heard and listen to them somehow. Does illegal download come to mind here ? Not really try to learn them but to rather listen to them and get a feel for meter, changes that may be unfamiliar..intro's and endings..

I recall that Jeff Newman once said to us years ago that if you really don't know what to do , ask the singer to sing the last line for you, that will give you the key, the meter and the intro all at once ..makes sense to me..now the rest..maybe they don't even need a Steel , take a nap !

Oh yes another thought..

How many times have you done a gig COLD with a band , played songs that you sort of knew,maybe played or not played before, and turns out you knew them better than the band that has been playing them for a long time .

tp

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 23 April 2003 at 07:20 AM.]</p></FONT>

just learn the signaturelicks from the important songs, write down all the chords from the songs you don't know, practice what you think is needed,depending on importancy from the gig and your part in it.If it's just a bar-gig, do whatever you think is needed. If it however is important for the band, you, and or the organisation, work your ass off in practise, day and night!
Go for it! JJ

I recently took the Mel Tillis gig and I had to leave for Branson to meet up with them on a Thursday...I received 3 live CD's with 65 songs on them on Wednesday. I had about 5 hours (by the time I got my wife and little girl out of the house) to learn 65 songs to go play with the Statesiders...not just a normal bar band. NO PRESSURE!!!

I took the songs in order of importance relating to the steel guitar...the ones with steel intros or twin parts to play with the guitar or fiddles I learned first and then went backwards from there.

Don't sweat it! Smile a lot and act like you know what you are doing. Oh yeah, play what you know how to play and play it from the heart and you'll be just fine. Words to me from Paul Franklin.

Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Larry,
I really liked your response, your last paragraph got me thinking: I do lots of gigs here in the city where we have one rehearsal before a show and sometimes none, but I have usually been given a CD beforehand. Charts are much less common. So figuring out the changes is up to me, which depending on the complexity, number of modulations, etc., can turn into a number of hours invested for a gig that might not pay all that much. But the experience/ear training is usually worthwhile.

Now I understand your point about balancing our time investment against future gigs, dough, etc., but my approach has always been to spend maybe more time than probably made sense from a time investment/money recoupment perspective, just because here in New York, you never know who may have just wandered in to the club. I try to sound as though I've been with the band for years. Sometimes the result has been knowing the material better than the band, but I'd prefer to have it that way than the other!

Gerald
Williams D-10
VHT, Bogner, Alembic

I like to make an agreement with the guitar player before the gig starts, to use a "formula".

One formula I like in these situations is, you take fills on the first verse, I take fills on the second verse (Same formula for the verses after the solo section).

You take the first solo (or first half), I take the second solo (or second half).

I won't play when you're playing, you don't play while I'm playing.

Work with a set list and mark any steel intros you can do on the guitar players list, the words "Steel Intro" will do.

While it's sometimes hard for steel players, try to enguage in as much eye contact a possible with the other members.

When it's your turn to shine, blow the guitar player away!

Gerald,
I hear you.
I s'pose what I meant was 'UNLESS there's a regular gig in it AND/OR you see a future in investing the time'

Any time spent practicing is worthwhile. Time spent practicing wisely is even more worthwhile. If learning tunes and writing charts is something I'm consciously working on -- OR I want to impress the band what a quick study I am or how well I do my homework -- I'll spend LOTS of time for very little monetary reward. The first time I did 'Whorehouse', I probably spent 12 hours listening and rewriting the charts so that I could actually use them. So far, I've played in that show for four other productions and the charts saved me hours of time. How you choose to balance the time vs the money is up to you. I probably wouldn't make much/hr if I tried to do this for a living.

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<small>Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Some nice advice here. I'll play a festival in June with 5 different artists, 6+3 sets in two days. Two artists I know, one I've played with last year (Chris Wall from Austin), and two I don't know (a local guy with the best backingmusicians in Norway (not me) and DB Harris also from Austin. I will have to do my homework properly, and write down a setlist with the key and if I have to do intro, chorus, outtro and special fills. The main thing is to comunicate with the lead guitarist and not overplay or play over the singer. The worst thing abouth this gig will be to run between three stages with only 15 min. between some of the sets. It'll be fun.

When I'm lost on a song,(usually because it has more than the standard three chords), I sometimes play sliding harmonics, which make the other players in the band think I know what I'm doing. Another trick is to harmonic a sixth chord and slide it to somewhere where it fits, and let it ring.
I recently played Girl From Ipanema, and had not a clue what I was doing.

You guys have given some great examples. I've been playing for years, but it's always been with the same guys who could read each other's minds. I've avoided much of the "hired-gun" situations because that usually involves a bunch of top 40 songs which I don't listen to that much. If they were a 60s, 70s or 80s (I'd even settle for 90s) country band I'd be right at home. Hey.. Maybe I can make some of that top 40 stuff sound country.

I do it somewhat successfully al the time. Horn Lines in Mustang Sally, great tags and stuff in "What you won't Do for Love" Angel Eyes. Lesie stuff in "Born to be Wild", Travis slap back on Elvis stuff.Richards Root Fifths on Stones songs, Horn lines in "Celebrate". Play that Funky Music WB. All kinds of stuff.

What the hell. Play what you want to play. Or not I guess...

Banjo on the other hand....

EJL

Many years ago I got called to do a few shows with a C artist in Ct. He had heard that I would be able to cut a gig cold and would do a good job for him. He called me during the week , we spoke, he said he had some demo's that he really needed to play and he would drop them off in my mailbox and he asked me to learn the steel parts just like on the 45's ( what the heck are those ) that he would drop off.

Well he definelty dropped them off, I listened and was in trouble..I'm talking big trouble..

His demo's were produced by , and all the Steel parts, Guitar parts and Bass parts were done by ...Curley Chalker...These were shuffles and the Steel was dominant, and incredibly awesome..

I did the shows, I was not dominant or incredibly awesome...I was there..and I played the tunes..in the same key..I think...

But thinking back it really didn't matter all that much, the guy couldn't carry a tune in a bucket...

TP

Lots of great insight here... I have to say that sitting/filling in has been much of the best eartraining I ever got. I sure agree with Larry on the time/return factor. (Of course I agree with Larry on a lot of things!)If you have the time, any practice comes back to you manyfold, but if time is thin... I had three pickup gigs this week, one for a Gal Singer with all original (new Nashville) tunes. I put together a band of local pros for that one- one hour of rehersal with goods charts and the band sounded really great. The show on Thursday was for an outdoor festival- it poured rain and we played to maybe 100 people from under a tiny tent- and the band sounded fantastic. Friday and Sat. I played a Rodeo with some folks who've been together for years, even after a 5 hour rehersal it was pretty hopeless, (clueless bass player taking every wrong turn possible) and sure enough the gigs were packed out, several thousand people watching us hack it up. I spent a lot more time preparing for the trainwreck. Go figure!

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C'mon by and visit!- www.markvanallen.com
My Bands: Sugarland Kate and the Retreads Kecia Garland Band Shane Bridges Band Dell Conner Blues Band

Well the weekend came and went. The gig had some good moments and terrible moments. I broke a string the first song of the second set. I was really upset because it was a brand new set and I actually knew that song. The bass player took every rabbit trail possible, but I survived and they want me for this weekend. Go figure.

Thanks for all your wonderful suggestions.