I used to a lot but have been cutting right back due to time constraints etc.
But recently agreed to stand in on the 14th for a soul funk band who I don't know, but bassist is someone I taught a few years ago.
So technically I am doing him a favour, but now the set list has dropped in my lap, I feel I may have bitten off more than I can chew this time.
Luckily I am on guitar so majority of stuff is easier than if I was on bass, but there is still some songs, where the solos are quite difficult to say the least for someone who mainly plays in a major scale!
Stuff like Hot Stuff by Donna Summer and Superstition by Stevie Wonder is outside of my country with a bit of Chuck Berry limited licks!
No Rehearsel, just turn up and meet band on the night! Should be ...........interesting to say the least!
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Something I have found with any of the dep work I have been doing is that if you bring your own personality to the song, it tends to come off as much more interesting than doing something note by note. OK, yes if you were playing a song the guitar part be it lead or rhythm was an integral part of then you have to learn it. I'll give you an example. One band I have done some work for is mainly funk orientated. I got thrown Carwash halfway through the set. I pretty much blagged my way through it half remembering the guitar slide funky part. The singer then turns to me and shouts solo! A second or so fumbling around remembering what key I was in, hitting a drive pedal and I went into what can only be described as a screaming cock rock fest of a guitar break. Totally inappropriate but everyone from the band as well as the punters lapped it up. So much so, the singer dragged it out for ages.
I have now become quite well known on the circuit and have a pretty busy diary for the rest of the year. The moral of the story is do the important/ memorable bits right. The rest you can make up and just have fun with.
It's universally accepted that a dep gets £200 for a gig (travel expenses negotiable) which is a shade more than most of us get for standard gigs, so we're all happy to do it.
I sort of dep for a three-piece..I say "sort of" cos I have done a fair few gigs with them now, and a lot of the repertoire overlaps ours (also a wedding band), plus it's with a bassist/ singer I have known for over 20 years, so it's not like going in cold with a bunch of strangers.
In terms of learning songs, you'd be surprised how straightforward most songs are - or at least most songs that you are likely to play in a covers set. There will, of course, be songs that are more tricky than others to play like the record, but, as has been said on these boards before many a time, the idea of having to play songs just like the record is a red herring and once you shake off that notion, the job is considerably less stressful.
I spent about 2 years as Dep guitarist in an electric folk band! longer than any of there regular guitarists as is goes.
These days I don't gig much but do still fill in for friends now and again, I think the scare factor adds something which I don't appreciate in the real world, but on stage it just seems alright.
Funk is my thing @Koneguitarist, it's a shame you're so far away else I'd pop down and have a bash with you.
I dep on guitar in 2 bands and just got made permanent in the 3rd band I was depping for, albeit on bass. I don't mind it as they're all very different, good musicians and nice people and variety is the spice of life and all that malarkey. However, there's nothing like being a permanent member in a band and feeling that sense that you truly belong to something with regular rehearsals and the social side.
My only bit of advice for depping is make a note of the songs you've learned i.e.keep your cheat sheets/tab etc in a folder as you'll never know when you'll need them again and let's face it, you've gone to the trouble of learning the stuff.
The gig went great and we had a good laugh. Depped for them and another couple of bands many times since then. Always seems like you're flying by the seat of your pants but that makes it more fun somehow.
Or, can we call it "jazz-style modulation"...?
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Oh and another thought: I used to be very nervous about the idea of playing a song live if we hadn't rehearsed it over and over until we were super sure of it before unleashing it on an unsuspecting crowd...but playing so many weddings has put paid to that.
What are we going to do, have a rehearsal every week just to learn each first dance song? Or just do our homework and trust ourselves that we can navigate a safe course to the end of the song?
It's surprisingly easy to play a song unrehearsed so long as you have agreed a key, discussed intros/ endings and any other potentially contentious parts (eg "Are we really doing three choruses at the end like the record, or shall we knock it off after two?")