Strings on storage instruments - tension or not?

[kcole4001]

We tune down a half step for everything, & if it is too low or sounds odd, we use capos or play in a different key, as long as the chords can still be played accurately.
We're quite particular about chord voicings sounding right, not just close enough, so if it won't work we drop it & pick another song.

I should mention that our band is concentrating on doing mostly tunes outside the most usual selection of cover bands: ie: stuff that has been described by a typical cover-player as being "pretty obscure". We do current hits, some older songs that were band favorites, some that have fairly complicated timing & really good vocals. Just stuff that no one else does, the theory being "why do the same songs as every other band?"

I usually kid the singer when we're searching for a key for a song & say "it must be in A", since that's pretty much his key.
A singer's range is what it is, there's not a lot that can be done to change that, so we just do what we have to do to make the song work, & if it doesn't work, we don't play it!
The singer seems to think it's his fault, but I see it as just a fact, nothing to apologize for.

Tuning down facilitates using open chord voicings also. More important to the guitarists, of course, but helpful overall.

[firstbassman]

Thanks Kevin for your comments about your band, playing in a particular key and your singer. Much appreciated.

Band song selection, I have found, is one of the touchier subjects. If you've read some of my posts or gone to my band's website, you might notice that my personal tastes do not cover (no pun intended) exactly (at all) what my band plays. I know what we do is mostly typical bar band stuff. But trying to get five (and soon to be SIX!) guys to agree on anything is pretty difficult.

I'd be very curious to hear which "obscure" songs you guys cover. You can either list some here or send me off-line. Thanks!
FirstBassman13 at Yahoo dot com

[kcole4001]

"Obscure" as described by a traditional cover band member! That just means that he wasn't familiar with the tunes. They usually weren't familiar to me either.
The songs were usually on the radio at the same time we were playing them, or we covered them shortly after they peaked. Also some older stuff that we've never heard anyone else do.

We've done in the past & still do some of these:
Maroon 5: This Love, Harder to Breathe
Tonic: If You Could Only See
April Wine: Say Hello
Good Charlotte: I Just Wanna Live
Black Eyed Peas: Let's Get It Started
Eminem & Nate Dogg: Shake Your A$$
Collective Soul: Better Now, How Do You Love
Seether: Broken (our own extended version, lots of dynamics, usually to end the night)
Big Sugar: Digging A Hole

We probably throw out 4 or 5 songs to every 1 we actually put an effort into. After that we probably throw out half of those.
The singers propose the songs & if there are no objections we try 'em. Plus a few leftovers from previous bands that always worked well.

[beatlefreak]

Trying to get a cover band to do obscure songs seems to be next to impossible. They all worry that nobody will know the stuff. Hey - Isn't that the point?

[firstbassman]

Yeah, pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

Since we are a "classic rock" band, we do covers of well known classic rock songs. That's what our audience expects. If we did a great song that they didn't know, would they still enjoy it? Sure. But I'll wager that most of our audience knows probably about 80% of our
set.

There's always one person who comes up after a set and asks who did that song we just played. They kinda remember it, can't place it exactly. That's part of the fun too, I guess.

That's an interesting list Kevin but wouldn't work for us. Let's face it, I know it's mostly a nostalgia shtick we're doing. I can live with that. We're entertainers.

If I could do "my own stuff" it would be folk, country and blues based.

[kcole4001]

Obscure was the word used, but it's really only obscure to the guy I was referencing. He only plays oldies, some blues & country. Totally traditional bar covers.
The stuff we did & do is basically hit radio material, & we try to stay as current as the extremely cumbersome selection process we have allows.
I had never previously heard most of the songs we tried, but you do learn to like some elements of most of them even if it's not your thing normally.
A broadening experience.

And the crowd we draw are the people who recognize the songs. Now, that's our reputation & the oldies crowd doesn't fit very well, so there's no real incentive to go that route.
I've done it before & so have all the other band members at some point, so we're keeping things fresh & challenging ourselves at the same time.

The last band I was in (for 10 years) played the SAME songs for the last few years of it. No change at all. After that I didn't play for 3 years as I was fairly bored with it.
As an odd consequence, I've never played "Taking Care of Business" because everyone else had already played the song so much they hated it.
However, I don't think it's possible to count the times I've played "Brown Eyed Girl" & "Old Time R & R"!

In the end everyone has to do what feels right to them. If you like what you're doing & are comfortable with the whole atmosphere of the project, then I'd say you're doing something right & don't mess with it.

Oh, and back to the topic at hand, I can't see why it would be of benefit to totally remove tension when storing a guitar since it spends the whole time not being stored under tension and is actually meant to be that way.
If the guitar would suffer from long term tension (not over tension) then I'd say it's a poor design & won't last no matter what you do.
There are plenty of vintage guitars around without any such damage, so it must not be a problem.
Quite understandable to worry about it, though.

JH has stated that Ricks are engineered to be at equilibrium under tension, or something to that effect, so I'd tend to believe that.

Whew!
I'm never gonna reach 10,000 posts this way!

[firstbassman]

I can't see why it would be of benefit to totally remove tension when storing a guitar since it spends the whole time not being stored under tension and is actually meant to be that way. If the guitar would suffer from long term tension (not over tension) then I'd say it's a poor design & won't last no matter what you do.

That's exactly what I said.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

I would love to start a band called Buried Treasure or Hidden Treasure, and we would play classic rock covers, but the deep album cuts that seldom get airplay. That would be some fun.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

All we need is jets!

[kcole4001]

I'm surprised that no one's done just that. After all, the songs would be almost as familiar as the hit songs.
People were more into listening to whole albums then, it seems.

[johnallg]

That's what Deep Tracks on XM 40 does. I listen to that and the 60's. Also Tom Petty has an hour show once a week on Deep Tracks called Buried Treasures where he plays early old rock songs that had an influence on him.