I have an ongoing Set list of Songs that i keep changing, In my notebook, i keep writing new Songs that i want to do and what old ones i want to drop. I have recorded, 11 full length Albums of my own Songs, 1, 6 song EP and a Compilation of all of my Songs plus 3 new ones. All together i have 145 Songs to choose from. For doing an Open Mic, you have 3 Songs or fifteen minutes. One of those, i always try to do a Cover Song. So what Songs, do i choose from all of my ones to do? Depending on the Venue, the vibe of the room, what the other Performers are doing. There are a lot of variables to deciding what to play. If it's a Blues Bar with a Biker crowd you are not going to do something sweet and sentimental. Your going to do something gritty. So if you have some Blues or Classic Rock songs in your list, it might work better than what you had initially planned. The opposite might be the case where a soft sentimental Song is the right choice, with an older crowd or Children. There is that phrase "Where preparation meets opportunity" , gaging the vibe of the Venue and being prepared can make a huge difference. As i said in my previous blogs, i have a lot of Songs in my Songbooks to draw from, so i am always going through them and writing down lists of ones i want to learn. With my Computer, i can go to one of the thousands of Guitar Chord and Tab sites and just about everything thats ever been done is up there. It's not always accurate, all of the posts are put up by various Musicians and some transpose them wrong. When learning to play Music, it is a good idea to get some songs on a list and memorize them, all of the Lyrics and Chord structures and go over them until your sick of them. Learning to Sing in Public is a real test, i would pick ones that were in my range and easy to do. Pick say 5 that you can do by your self with an Acoustic guitar, find an Open Mic and get your feet wet playing in front of people. I used to go to the Granville Public Market in Vancouver B.C. Canada , where i signed up for a Buskers licence. You could play for 30 minutes at each location in the Market. So you had to get at least 10 songs down to play. The White noise in the Market is so loud that you really have to compete with all of the chatter all around you. I did that for a number of years, just to get out and play. So developing a Set list is really important. When you go to a Jam, the question that always comes up is "What do you want to do"? if you have some Songs that you have in your pocket, then you can just pipe up and suggest one. It keeps the Jam going and if you know the Words and can show the others how it goes, you can have a fun Jam. I have a book i like to travel with, it's called " The little Black Book of Setlists" by Portico. It lists a number of the Greatest Performances in History and gives the Set Lists. Like The Beatles at Shea Stadium or Elvis in 1968 on his comeback TV show. It's a great resource and is really small.
