I once saw a comedian at an open mic at a coffee house telling a joke about how he got a nickname once when he passed out around friends. Let's just say, it's probably worse than you are imagining. Then he asked a bunch of girls in the back how old they were and they responded with answers in the 15-17 range he still said he wanted to do them.
In the slightly more subtle category I've seen people at open mics go on about politics and other issues where people have strong opinions. The jokes they made fell flat because they picked the wrong political affiliation for the room.
Even musicians can run into this problem. I saw a show once where the opening act told a story about how he had played Lallapalooza. He was a folk singer. The first time he went out on stage he noticed it was raining, only it wasn't raining. The audience was spitting on him. He said he almost gave up music right then and there, but a guy off stage told him he really liked his music and he'd take care of it. After that Eddie Vedder personally introduced him to the crowd. He didn't get spit on any more.
Of course, you can't fix stupid. I saw one person talking about how Socrates invented the Pythagorean Theorem. We corrected him and we spent the next few minutes arguing about who invented the Pythagorean Theorem. He was not a comedian.
Greg, This is a great topic. Sometimes when we play for a family friendly crowd I'm a little uncomfortable with double entendre lyrics and some songs which go beyond. What songs do you guys use when there are children in the crowd? All the best, Jay ---------- Music speaks where words fail.
I have some terrible recordings of practice sessions where I was trying to censor myself as certain lyrics came up because our practice space was in someone's parents house.
I'm not sure about blues songs in particular, but kids like 'Puff the Magic Dragon' and I can play a pretty mean 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'. Nursery rhyme melodies can actually be kind of fun to riff on.
I take my direction from Bobby Rush. I dont change. I have had female friends walk up to me and say, 'Joe, I am really glad you are singing, but I don't like it when you sing songs about beating women.'
Someone is always going to be offended about something. There are going to be very few blues songs that don't offend someone. These is a category for such songs. They are called instrumentals.
Those were no one knows you but are still there to see you (like festivals, special events, openings).
I've played all three and have been in popular bands and not-so-popular bands. Bottom-line is I see too many talented musicians putting up gig video with no audience. If you want to play mostly for yourself, that's fine. However, please don't complain about what you're getting paid, how hard life is on the road, or why you're "owed" anything. For the most part, that doesn't happen on this forum.
Even some of the people considered to be the best players on this forum have a hard time drawing a crowd, getting gigs, or even having a band. It sucks and is frustrating for all parties. They may be immensely popular in the harmonica world, but that doesn't mean a whole lot beyond that group.
Some of the issue is the fact that so many harmonica players play blues and blues is a small niche of music. It is made smaller by playing harmonica. It is then even made smaller by playing harmonica in songs that the general public isn't into right now. Again, even that is made smaller by focusing on being a great harmonica player rather than entertainer.
I will argue until exhaustion that the more energy you put into being a world-class harmonica player the less likely you are to be part of a popular performance group. By popular, I mean beyond playing for other harp players. You have to diversify to some extent. Howard has piano to help pay the bills too!
I know a guitar player like this. He is amazing...just amazing. All he does is play guitar. He has no interest in booking, promoting, networking, YouTube, nothing. For years I told him he had to put effort into the other areas of entertainment if he ever wanted to make enough money to live on. He insisted that by spending 8+ hours a day playing guitar, that was the best thing to do. Well, he was able to gig about 3-4 times a month for $75 or less a show. He got a scholarship at a music school...in a degree that won't really pay him anything. So he took a day job until he reached the conclusion that no on wanted to hear 4 min guitar solos in every obscure and difficult song. He joined a country coverband, plays his 8 bar solos here and there, and puts on a visual show. He now makes $200 or so a show 3-4 time a WEEK and loves it.
Meanwhile, another guitar player, same age, hit the scene too. He is your average SRV type player. Nothing you can't hear a 100 guys do in any guitar band in any town. However, he reached the level where he could do his thing well - very limited compared to the first player - and he put his time into the business end. He went national in two years and was kicking butt until some other issues pulled him back down...
A third guitarist...who is brutal, only networks. He just makes sure to appear to be a huge deal. Well, it has worked for him as he is a full time musician who used Kickstarter to totally fund an album. He doesn't play out beyond coffee shops, and he hasn't written much new music in years, but he has the image and hype around him...important people have noticed and are pushing him along. Brilliant.
Long rambling post short...if you want people to like your music, you have to make connections with them, including giving them music they want to hear. You can make music for the people or for other harmonica players.
If you want to have relevant material, play covers people want to hear. If you want to be audience appropriate, entertain them. Befriend them. Stop playing harmonica just for yourself. If you want to do that, get a webcam or home studio and make music for us on the forum here! ---------- Mike Quicksilver Harmonicas
-what happpened to gregg? did he meet with sudden and unexpected fate? was his last effort on earth to hit the post button? --------- MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
I'm still here - just didn't have anything to add. It is interesting to see where this thread went. Honestly, I just thought the video was funny.
I agree with Mike 100% though - you must be interesting to the audience, which means "get over yourself" and play Mustang Sally. (We don't, but we should.) Got My Mojo Workin' is another crowd pleaser.
In my band we choose great material - good lyrics - lots of chords, breaks, key changes - anything to break up the monotony of I-IV-V for 3 hours.
AND you have to do it all - sales, marketing, etc. ---------- /Greg
With regards to mixing up the repertoire beyond 3-chord 12-bar blues, I play in a trio with two guitarists. Most of what we do is blues or at least blues based. I don't sing much beyond backing vocals, but usually I'll sing the country tune "Georgia on a Fast Train" and it always slays 'em! I reckon it's just that the song really clips along and they're ready for something different. YMMV.
I listen to the radio a bit just to keep current. I notice these trends in modern popular music (2005-2010):
1) Polyphonic texture between bass, melody, and rhythm. Particularly in R&B and musical hip hop. It's everywhere and I don't think anybody hears it, cause it's amazing and no one ever talks about it. In other words, there are three distinct voices, each worth listening to on their own, but interacting with each other on equal footing. To me this is the most significant change I've heard in my lifetime, and I expect it to be a trend that continues.
2) Continued emphasis on Verse - Chorus -Verse- Chorus type forms. Also, Verse-verse-bridge-verse has been succeeded at least once ('house that built me')
3) Continued emphasis on spectacular production, less emphasis on spectacular musicianship for the instrumentalists. There are some exceptions, but for the most part I don't see anyone new getting respect from wailing guitar solos. Categorical exceptions in heavy metal where virtuosity (or at least the appearance of it) is still highly valued.
4) Phrasing and melody are a little different these days. I'm not sure how to put my finger on it, but modern melodies in most genres I hear don't have straight forward melodies. The are rhythmically complex and don't resolve in the traditional fashion. This, though, is nothing really new, I just think it is moving a little farther in the direction it's been heading for awhile.
4) (con't) I happen to think this is as much fashion as necessity. It's not too hip to sound like a folk song these days, especially folk songs that rely heavily on moving from I to V as primary harmonic movement. Modern songs seem to be very into harmonic movement by third, and the I to IV relationship is huge. V seems to be relegated being an occasional last chord in a progression OR the second chord in a sequence. This changes melodies a bit.
5) Dramatic whole step modulations seem to have lost their impact, I don't hear them much, not even in new country songs.
"In my band we choose great material - good lyrics - lots of chords, breaks, key changes - anything to break up the monotony of I-IV-V for 3 hours."
That's great!
Too many musicians are very self indulgent when it comes to what music they play. Shuffle after shuffle after shuffle is great if you're soloing over them, but unless its a die hard blues audience,you will bore people.
I reckon picking a good set-list is very hard and until you actually try it out live,you won't know if it will work or not.
I try mixing up all songs by tempo and style eg, swing,shuffle,boogie,straight blues, amped,acoustic.
Only nearer the end of the set will I string a load of up tempo dance numbers together.
Regarding inappropriate blues songs. I've toned down my spoken intro of "Must be Jelly baby" as I just dug myself a large hole and lost the audience. Without the intro no-one knew what I was singing about.
I also sing about slapping pistols in womens faces and putting them in lonesome graves!! Getting under their hoods and checking their bores. Getting my pole wet in your fishin hole. etc,etc
There's a whole genre of "dirty" lyrics esp in early jump blues.
I love playing the harmonica and blues, but "biker bar music", as it was referred to in an earlier thread, entertains the crowd and gets us call backs from the local clubs. I've successfully included some blues tunes into our set list, but have found that inserting harmonica into songs where there wasn't any allows me to play more, while keeping our music appealing to the audience. Also, as I'm only a still learning non professional player, adding harmonica to songs where there was none forces me to "create" music.
