Good Instrumentals for a Cover Band

[veatch]

Our band is "retooling" as we've lost our drummer/ singer/ leader. One of the options I'm considering is adding some instrumentals, but I have not had great response at bars playing things like Cliffs of Dover or Summer Song. 

Are these worth trying to pull off, or are non-vocal songs in a bar a snooze-fest for the average Joe (or Jolene)

Anyone doing instrumentals?  Are they working?

Taking recommendations. : )

[RobB]

Green Onions

Hocus Pocus

Always With Me…

YYZ

Still I’m Sad (Rainbow’s version)

Apologies to Pearly

Albatross

Hideaway

The Supernatural

…many more out there. Research!

[Bennyboy-UK]

You’ve got to get stuck into the Shadows mate!

Apache

Wonderful Land

The FBI

Atlantis

 

Loads of great stuff

 

How about some of the old surf bands stuff?

 

[stobro]

Borrow something from Los Straightjackets' playlist.

[hamerhead]

Who are you trying to appeal to? The average stool jockey doesn't know or care about our favorite guitar heroes. They want 'familiar'.

Try instrumental versions of songs on your setlist, recreating the vocal lines on guitar. People will sing-a-long in their heads. It will keep them interested and give you a fresh perspective.

...but Rob's choice of 'Green Onions' was my first thought....

🐄

[Dana_V]

9 hours ago, RobB said:

Hocus Pocus

But Hocus Pocus isn't quite an instrumental, is it?

Yodeo da dodeo da dodeo da dodeo da dodeo da dodeo da doh bop bah
Yodeo da dodeo da dodeo da dodeo da dodeo da dodeo da doh bop bah
Ahhhhhh-aaahhhh-aaaaaa-aaaaAAA
Ohhhhhh-ooohhh-oooooo-oooOOO

And the chipmunk-gibberish part - and, of course, the whistling.

😆 

[hamerhead]

1 hour ago, Dana_V said:

...chipmunk-gibberish...

My new band name.

[mudshark]

Tunes by:

Link Wray

Duane Eddy

The Fireballs

Bill Black Combo

The Ventures

The Shadows

Los Straitjackets

The Surfaris

Dick Dale

The Meters

The Champs

The Revelles

Booker T and the MGs

The Astronauts

The Blue Stingrays

Bill Doggett

[DaveH]

Eruption. 😂

[JGale]

Anything by Ronnie Montrose. 

[stobro]

7 hours ago, mudshark said:

Tunes by:

Link Wray

Duane Eddy

The Fireballs

Bill Black Combo

The Ventures

The Shadows

Los Straitjackets

The Surfaris

Dick Dale

The Meters

The Champs

The Revelles

Booker T and the MGs

The Astronauts

The Blue Stingrays

Bill Doggett

Another vote for The Champs

 

[Steve Haynie]

The Allman Brothers had instrumentals that people can recognize, and you can make those tunes into jam sessions. 

[veatch]

11 hours ago, hamerhead said:

Who are you trying to appeal to? The average stool jockey doesn't know or care about our favorite guitar heroes. They want familiar. 

Yeah, this was my main point. (Sorry if I don't speak so splain....)

I have a *ton* of instrumental music, but I doubt the average barfly will tolerate Holdsworth, Di Meola, or even Eric Johnson (though I'm willing to try...  : )

Some of the songs listed above have great promise.   I appreciate it!

To ask the original question a different way,  what instrumentals has your band played that have gone over well?  We're a bar band. Mid-sized, seating around 100 to 250 depending on the place. 

[Jakeboy]

2120 South Michigan Ave

Steppin’ Out

Jeff’s Boogie

Jeff’s Blues

The Nazz are Blue as an instrumental works. 

[DaveH]

I'll bet you could do something really cool with 'Baker Street'.

[Jakeboy]

Becks Bolero. So much fun.

[veatch]

1 hour ago, DaveH said:

I'll bet you could do something really cool with 'Baker Street'.

Actually, that's been on the set list in the past. 

Great idea!

[cmatthes]

Honestly?

Bar patrons just don't want to hear instrumentals - not from cover bands, anyway. Maybe a more eclectic bar/club will cater to young, original fusion/instrumental talent, but if you're talking beer, wings and pub fare being the primary drivers, the general public wants to hear a song they know the words to or at least sorta remember.

If you're going to play an instrumental, maybe make it an intro to a familiar song - play a minute or so of it, and whack them with, I don't know, "You Shook Me", or "Summer of 69", or something else that they all know in their sleep, and will hoist their beer for and air guitar/shout along to their hearts' content.

Just my $0.02.

 

[veatch]

I hear ya. That's what I'm afraid of.

: /

We might be able to sneak a couple in. I'll let you know where it goes. : )

[cmatthes]

1 hour ago, veatch said:

I hear ya. That's what I'm afraid of.

: /

We might be able to sneak a couple in. I'll let you know where it goes. : )

Definitely!  

We used to do "Switch 625" into a variety of harder-hitting rockers that people knew, and that seemed to be a nice ramp-up.

[neastguy]

from my exp.. instrumentals dont work..  I would avoid at all costs.   

 

[shankyboy]

One of the instrumentals we do is "Time is Tight" by Booker T. Found out that The Clash used to play it for their opening song. It goes over well every time with our audience. One of these days I hope we can do the version with the extended ending. 

[Jim85IROC]

On 8/23/2023 at 8:53 AM, hamerhead said:

 

Try instrumental versions of songs on your setlist, recreating the vocal lines on guitar. People will sing-a-long in their heads. It will keep them interested and give you a fresh perspective.

 

This would be my suggestion too.  I learn a lot of songs this way because often the best and most memorable melodies in a song are the vocals.  Listeners would still recognize the songs too.  For ideas, look up Kfir Ochaion on YouTube. 

[Biz Prof]

On 8/23/2023 at 7:41 PM, Steve Haynie said:

The Allman Brothers had instrumentals that people can recognize, and you can make those tunes into jam sessions. 

Jessica.

ETA:  The band I gigged heavily with in the early '90s worked up a medley of "Jessica" and "Revival".  We cut off "Jessica" at the breakdown where Greg's piano solo would start (we didn't have keys) and used that acoustic guitar riff as the launchpad for the opening riff of "Revival" and then played that song in its entirety.

It worked perfectly. Audiences loved it.

[LucSulla]

On 8/23/2023 at 7:20 PM, veatch said:

Yeah, this was my main point. (Sorry if I don't speak so splain....)

I have a *ton* of instrumental music, but I doubt the average barfly will tolerate Holdsworth, Di Meola, or even Eric Johnson (though I'm willing to try...  : )

Some of the songs listed above have great promise.   I appreciate it!

To ask the original question a different way,  what instrumentals has your band played that have gone over well?  We're a bar band. Mid-sized, seating around 100 to 250 depending on the place. 

@Steve Haynie and @Biz Prof are right. People, at least around these parts, love some "Jessica". We also do an instrumental version of "Beat It" as a horn feature. 

As long as it isn't a 20 minute, two chord jam, folks are usually cool with a few sprinkled in here an there, particularly if you use them as transitions. I think it's more a question of how many vs. which ones. If you can pull of "Cliffs of Dover," most anyone watching a rock cover band will be down with that. But if they came expecting more singing than not, there probably isn't a three or four song run you could do of anything that wouldn't start to make them antsy to hear something to sing along with.