Re: [Harp-L] Set Lists - I'll Show You Mine if You Show Me Yours

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Jul 12, 2009, at 2:07 PM, David Payne wrote:

> A list of songs you'd play on stage. If you played out a lot, you'd  
> have more than one, one for dive bar, one for the church picnic,  
> etc. It's the reason musicians typically don't draw a blank on  
> stage "OK, what do we play next?" It's there on the list. During  
> the concert, you just work your way down the list.
> I'm getting together with some guys tonight to make a set list for  
> a show we are playing Thurs at the Texas Roadhouse in Vienna. We  
> play a bunch of songs we know and say "Hey that was good, put it on  
> the list" at the end of the session, we'll have a list of songs  
> that we will play Thursday.
>
> Dave
> ________________________________
> www.elkriverharmonicas.com
>
> That's what we do too. The drummer will ask the lead guitar player  
> "What's next", and if the guit player doesn't come up with  
> something right away, the keyboard, bass, horn, (me) will usually  
> suggest something. We try not to duplicate too much.

We are also sensitive to breaks. 50 min is the max you should play.  
Then only take a 10 min break, Then 40 min with a 15 min break. The  
last set isn't as critical. Take too long a break and you start  
loosing the crowd.
>  I called fake books crap the other day. Yeah, it was me. In  
> actuality, 'I' use something called 'Real Books'. I have one for  
> standards, jazz, country, and blues. (Actually several). I even  
> have a Latin one. Here's the problem I have with them. When you're  
> looking for the tune YOU want or (in your own estimation) a REALLY  
> good tune, you usually won't find it in one of these books.

It seems that there must be a copy right issue here and since there  
are a LOT of song writers who belong to the various (sic) 'artists'  
organizations, the whole system has contrived to make sure that  
everyone gets a piece of the action Even if it's only pennies. And  
(my opinion only) some of these tunes are only WORTH pennies.

So here's the deal. You buy a book for $39.95 ($42.75 with tax). By  
the time you divide the 250 tunes into that, you get 17.1 cents a  
tune. Hmmm, not a bad deal. But wait, once you toss out the real  
UNadulterated crap. you're left with 83 stomachable tunes. Ok, we're  
still at only 51.3 cents per tune.

Note: Using a country western book as an example: The chance of me  
playing 'Dang me, dang me, they oughta take a rope and hang me', or  
'Harper Valley PTA', falls somewhere between sh*t and fan.

Ok, after we glean the good stuff from the book, we have 27 good  
tunes (ok, $1.53.9 per tune). Only 9 tunes in the whole book will be  
what I would call exemplary and worthy of REPEATABLE play. Ergo, you  
might as well buy the charts separately. Books are fine if you're  
gonna play all those looser tunes written by loosers, who still have  
to eat, are still part of the music organization. But chances are,  
you will wind up with a big stack of books that reach to the ceiling  
in the corner of your bedroom and could have been replaced by a note  
book binder.

As for jazz books, you're not going to get Haarlem Nocturne, Song for  
my father, Little Sunflower, or any of the more modern stuff. What  
you WILL get is old tunes. Nothing wrong with that but I don't want  
to hear them FOREVER. I go to the conventions and hear the same stuff  
over and over and over. Are these old tune good. Yes, some are  
classics. Are all of them good. No. I have several books and all of  
them have the same problem. The tunes 'I' want are never there. And  
of the ones that are, only 25-30 are useable. Fake books, real books?  
Waste of time.

smo-joe