Stop Butchering The Chords to, "Smooth", ya Jackwagon !

[Baminated]

'The Junker Set'---usually the first set,,where you play all your LOW VOLUME MATERIAL that no one will really notice or be offended by,,to get them out of the way,so you can play the "good stuff" the remainder of the night "

I def have experienced those sets too many times to count, and usually find that is definitely the case when the venue manager/proprietor doesn't want you scaring off the "happy hour leftovers" or the "dinner crowd" who are just leaving before the nightlife happens.

With all that said, here are my "Junker Set" standards which have common occurrence for Male Vocal. Any contributions, male or female vox of commonly occuring tunes of this nature are welcome. If female vox - please label as such. I'll then update the list accordingly


Ain't No Sunshine (please shoot me)

Wonderful Tonight (ugggggh)

Moondance (I can at least "sneak" some jazz in there)

Spooky (fun if ya do the Atlanta Rhythm section version, which no one does)

Mustang Sally (cool if ya play either the original or at a hyper funk james brown style - most bands won't go there though)

Brown Eyed Girl (I like to play it as an uptempo ska - other than that - no comment)

Hotel California (at least the solo is cool, and ya can play it reggae)

I Feel Good (there are WAAAAAY better JB tunes !)

Knock On Wood

Let's Stay Together

Long Train Runnin' (no - no - no . . .)

Some Kind Of Wonderful (sigh)

What's Goin' On

Mister Magic

Any and All Stevie Wonder tunes that are NOT played authentically!!

I Wish,

Isn't She Lovely

Europa

Chameleon - but the "A' Section only - not the other cool section after the breakdown which actually make the song GREAT. This is most likely due to the fact that the "A" section stays in one key center, while the "B" section requires people to have to play changing key centers. Playing over just the "A" allows people to "sound great in ONE KEY"

SWEET CAROLINE (Highest bridge in town- 86 the Bungee pleez !)

TOM PETTY MINI-TRIBUTE SET (not the good ones)
Breakdown
Mary Jane's Last Dance
Free Fallin'

Domino

Easy

Feelin' Alright

HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY

Hello

HOW SWEET IT IS (TO BE LOVED BY YOU)

Pink Houses

Jack & Diane

Lean on Me

MARGARITAVILLE

MY GIRL

PRETTY WOMAN (rather do the Van Halen version)

Proud Mary

Rainy Night In Georgia

RED RED WINE

RING OF FIRE

RUNAROUND SUE

SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME

Sittin’ On the Dock Of The Bay

Stand by Me

Tears In Heaven

Turn The Page

TWIST AND SHOUT

UNCHAINED MELODY

What I Got

Wish You Were Here

Wonderwall

Tupelo Honey

Crash

Desperado

Superstition

I Shot The Sheriff

Danny's Song

Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald

THE "SECRET" FEMALE VOCAL JUNKER SET ! (Strong enough for a man, but made for a Woman)

AT LAST

Bobbie McGee

Chain of Fools

COME AWAY WITH ME

Crazy

Gimme One Reason

No One

Pink Cadillac

Something To Talk About

What’s Up

WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL

You Were Meant For Me

[FFTT]

My old band called it the dinner set.

The entire B Side of Abbey Road if we did a short set
and we added in Suite Judy Blue Eyes for a full 40 minute set.

[jazzgtrl4]

haaa that pretty much sums it up i think

[DGTCrazy]

Our "Dinner" set saved us last night. It was the weirdest thing too, as the crowd just sat during some great uptempo songs.....but the moment we played song such as Stand by Me, Wonderful Tonight, Let's stay Together, Color my World, Your Song.....the dance floor was filled. That's never happened at this particular venue we play regularly.

It made for a fun second half of the night, as it was all uptempo Rock and R&B......and they finally started groovin'. Especially when Davey Pattison got up with us for 3 tunes.

[chucke99]

Ideally, a cover band could have two lists of about 50 songs. The first containing the OP's list (a great one, by the way) and a second containing cool and recognizable hits (none from the OP list), but ones that rarely get played (the "fun" list).

Then, you experiment with the first set to see which kind of crowd you have and then go in the direction that will make the place jump.

[gillman royce]

I'm getting depressed.

[andybaylor]

Lotsa good stuff!

[tonejunky]

I played "Wonderful Tonight" last night..

and you're making me reconsider whether or not the funky version of "Ain't No Sunshine" that I've been working on should go in a set-list. Jeff Beck and John Mayer have done pretty good versions of that one, though.

[Baminated]

Originally Posted by jazzgtrl4

haaa that pretty much sums it up i think

I tried to be as thorough as possible - but am sure I missed some

[JimmyD]

Originally Posted by Baminated

I tried to be as thorough as possible - but am sure I missed some

You did a fantastic job. Playing that material made me a some nice moolah.

One could add Domino, Easy and Play That Funky Music...

[HerrRentz]

Wonderful Tonight (ugggggh)

Every night I played this I thought I'd throw up if I had to play that one more time.

God I hate that song.

[Aaron Smith]

A band could make pretty good money playing only the songs that are on your "junker" list.

[Gretsch6136]

Another option is to play an acoustic set and pull some classic rock tunes into that! That always goes down well.

[Baminated]

Originally Posted by Aaron Smith

A band could make pretty good money playing only the songs that are on your "junker" list.

I have and do - as long as my gigs don't get cancelled - I figure since I play them w/a good attitude on the job, I can totally diss & ridicule the songs off premises

[Baminated]

Originally Posted by DGTCrazy

we played song such as Stand by Me, Wonderful Tonight, Let's stay Together, Color my World, Your Song...

wow, i missed Stand By Me ! Gross oversight on my part ! - Thanks ! Glad to hear how your gig went