David's Tip of the Day: Joining a Band - Part 1 (Requesting Material)

When students join a band, their focus changes from learning one song at a time to learning thirty songs in a hurry to be ready to play their first gig. This is an exciting time, but also a challenging one to deal with the breadth of material.

Here's how you get started...

1) Request a copy of all of the songs they play (CD, thumb drive, dropbox, whichever format works). There can be many versions of a song out there, so it will be essential that you base your practice on the one closest to the version they play (some songs a band will do their own thing with the arrangement, but at least this will get you started). If they have actual recordings of them playing these songs, this will be great to include (you still want the original versions as well though).

2) Request their printed list of songs, which should hopefully include basic information such as the title, key, groove (shuffle, swing, etc.) and the opening and ending types used (most lists just have name and key... we can add more information ourselves).

More on Monday. Have a great weekend!