Band Booking Practise Part 2 - Going Solo

A couple of you emailed after the post about rehearsals & band booking success. In answer to you, this 7th holiday tip is about what to do if you can't get the whole band together to rehearse as often as you need.

If this is a problem for you too, you could do worse than investing in what still my remains one of my best pieces of gigging kit.

A phrase trainer like the Tascam GTR1 on the left, is basically an mp3 player which you plug your guitar (or voice) into as well. 

You can then mute your own part on the original recording so you can play along as if rehearsing with the band in question. You're also able to loop and slow down those tricky phrases until you get them absolutely nailed.

Any good semi-pro gigging musician will tell you that effective band rehearsals are not where you all learn your parts for a new number. You should do that alone, before you all get together. 

That way you'll be up and playing those band bookings in 2012 in the fastest time possible.

How to Rehearse your Material for Band Booking Success

Here's the 6th  day of band booking tips for what to day while you wait for the gigs to pile up.

Actually of course, band bookings don't just arrive. You have to go out and get them. But that's for later. For now, there's plenty you can do to ensure great gigging success before you get near the stage.

One thing you can spend this time doing is of course rehearsing your material. Don't do it like most other bands though. To stand out from other bands when you gig you want to do 2 things.

1. Rehearse as if you're playing a gig.

This means deciding on your set-list(s), writing it down for all band members and them rehearsing in the order you'll play them on the night.

This will do a number of things for you. 

Firstly,  playing all the same numbers in the same order countless times before will reduce gig-night nerves. You'll know exactly what's coming next at all times. Second, playing everything through as if gigging, you'll quickly be  aware of any "trouble spots" with potential gaps in between numbers. You can then spend some time working out how to eliminate these for a much more professional show on the night. The third benefit you'll get from rehearsing as if you're gigging is you can plan any stage banter between numbers in advance. how much more easier is that than struggling for something to say with an unfamiliar song order prepared shortly before you go onstage?

More on  rehearsing for gigs

2. Rehearse until you can play the songs in your sleep

Or until you're blue in the face - or however you want to describe it. Having no doubt about your ability on the night will not just eliminate band booking nerves but also allow you to focus a little more on putting on a show and interacting with the audience.  To a gig crowd this looks a whole lot better than two guitarists staring at their fretboards and a singer frowning at his lyric sheets....

Band Booking ebook

Crowd rousing ebook

Band Booking Succeess through Better Set-Lists

Here's the 5th thing you can do to improve your band booking success if you're not gigging enough over this holiday period.

You're not alone if you've never given too set-lists.

Often gig set-lists just evolve over time with new songs coming in and old material being taken out of the lists. There's no thought to planning the overall structure of the show or balance of the material.

Playing a band booking with a well-planned and well-structured set-list will go a long way to securing a repeat gig for you. The more regular repeat work you can get from venues, the less ongoing effort you have to put into getting your band booked. Poor set-lists result in luke-warm crowd responses and little repeat bookings. 

Ultimately you can split up or give up just because you didn't spend enough time planning out what you were going to play....

Check out the balance between uptempo material and versus slower numbers for example. If you're a covers band make sure too much material isn't from the same  all the songs from the same era or genre (unless you specialise of course).

Think about the function of each song within the set-list. Do all of them merit a place there? If so, why?  Which numbers should be played next to each other and why? 

Do you have a strong number to start with? Is it also one which is not too technically taxing so you can relax and gain confidence early on in the show? Which song can ease you into the gig and make a big impact at the start?

You'll also want to plan which song will create the most memorable ending (and most favourable impression) to the set for you. Also, how can you structure your set so other numbers give you a strong, logical build up to your "finale"?

Do a Google search for "band X set-list" and have a look at the structure of some of your favourite bands set-list structures. Ask yourself why you think certain songs might be in and others no,t and why they're positioned where they are in relation to other material..

Band booking ebook

Better Gig Crowd Reactions ebook

4th Day of Christmas Band Booking Tips

When you want to increase your band booking success how do you make finding gig venues even easier?

You can check the basics on the link further down but here's a couple of simple extra tips many bands don't think of.

Your aim should to establish a good size list of potential live music venues you'll target. My own band started with 50 prospects but you'll have more (and faster) success if  aim to draw up a list of  100 potential band booking venues.

"No way!" you cry. "I don't even know of 10 places that have live bands on around here!

The trick is to carve up the responsibility for finding venues between band members and areas.

So for 100 venues if there's 4 in your band each has to find 25 venues. Much less strain  than one person being faced with finding 100 venues. 

You can make this even easier still. Designate different towns for each band member to focus on. Join the Facebook pages for "nights out" or "night life" in each of these towns to get abreast of live music venues - as well of course using the techniques mentioned earlier for finding band booking venues.

For solo artists of course, you'll have to do the work yourself but you too can  think about who you know in each town you want to target.  Who amongst your friends or work colleagues might be able to "scout" for you to find even more venues. 

The key point to remember about establishing a long list of venues to target is that band booking is just a numbers game. The more venues you pitch the more gigs you'll get. If you focus on just a small handful of  potential gig venues the tougher you'll make it for yourselves. 

And we all want band booking to be easy don't we?

Band Booking ebook

Band Booking Paperback

3rd Day of Xmas Band Booking Tips

(Image from realor.com)

While you're looking for ways to improve your band booking success, tip number 3 here is something missed by a lot of musicians.

It applies whether you're gigging already and you want more, or if you haven't yet started playing live.

You might find this hard to believe at the moment - especially if you're facing a Xmas holiday period without any or enough band bookings. The fact is though that once you've learnt the steps for how to get your band booked a few times there's be nothing to stop you completely packing  your gig diary with dates. 

Band booker beware though. If you don't do a little preparation ahead of the game, that's where your trouble can begin.

As a band, you need to agree in advance between you, how much work you want. How many nights a week or month (or year) you want to be out gigging. 

This will do more than give you all a target to focus on and motivate you to get the bookings. As importantly it'll set limits that all band members "sign up to" so that everyone is happy and  gigging doesn't ultimately become a pain and get in the way of other commitments. 

I've worked with enough bands over the years to know that once some band members start complaining about your gigging schedule, or even worse, you have to cancel bookings - your days as a successful live act are numbered....

More about band booking preparation

Xmas Band Booking  Tip #1

Xmas Band Booking Tip #2

Band Booking ebook

Band Booking Xmas Tip 2

Do you need to improve the amount of band bookings you've been getting? 

If so, here's the 2nd of twelve days of band booking tips you can use over the holiday season. These simple techniques have all been used by bands and solo artists in over 15 countries around the  world to fill their gig dairies.


Once you've found out about other bands and acts who are playing gigs at the potential gig venues in your area (see band booking tip #1), you need to look at how they compare to your act. 

You do this, because when the time comes to start trying to sell yourself to venues, you'll need to know what makes you guys different from other bands. This will give you a lot more confidence when you're pitching your band and also help to make it clear to venues why they should book you.


The best way to start this process is just by listing down all the "features" or facts about your band (or yourself if you're a solo act). Things like:


- Numbers of people in the band 
- Instruments played
- Band and individual band members musical history
- Ages
- Where you're based
- Where (if anywhere), you've played before
- Type of material


No matter what your answers are to the above questions, if you have some real differences between you and other bands competing for the same gigs, you'll be able to use the differences to sell you act.


Once you've got your list of features, and you've compared them with the other local bands you've found, ask yourself which features appear to be your strong and weak points. Think about whether and how you might improve your weak points and how you'll aim to push your strong points when it comes to marketing your act to venues for band bookings. 


More ideas on this 2nd Xmas band booking tip here

 

Band Booking and the 12 Days of Xmas

Do you have enough band bookings over this coming festive period? If you don't, here's the first of 12 tips to make sure you're not in the same position next year - and to get you off to a flying start in 2012.

Before we get on to today's tip, make sure you really have done everything you can to  secure those last minute December bookings this year. Have a look at this Last minute Xmas Band booking post first.

When you've done that,today's tip is simply to check out your competition.

Yes, really. 

 

If you're going to be one of those rare bands who actually fill out their gig dairies with more band bookings than they can play (and you can, trust me on this), you'll want to know all about the other bands or acts in the same genre as you who are playing your target area or region. 

Google "originals rock band Detroit", or "Covers band Birmingham" depending on what you're playing. "Band for hire Detroit" or "party band Birmingham" and you take some time today to have a look at these other acts. Your "competition" if you like.

How do they describe themselves on their websites? What sort of material do they play (any cover material ideas you might be able to use there?)If they have mp3s on line how do they sound and how are they different to your own act? 

Do they have a "Gigs" section on their website? If so, take note of the venues they're playing and add them to your own list of target venues for when the time comes to start trying to make your 2012 band bookings.

Keep in mind, as well as finding useful info such as gig venues, what you're trying to do here is to get a picture of how your band compares with the others who will be competing essentially the same gigs. 

Later, you can look at using what you learn from this activity to create a strong identity and points of difference for your own act.

Gig-Getter Band Booking ebook