Good Instrumentals for a Cover Band

[Camstone]

We are doing Santana's Europa and it gets a great response, but we aren't playing bars. Almost all wineries.

[tommy p]

Sissy Strut is cool.

My old band would open our third set with Homebound by Ted Nugent.  We didn't want to waste a vocal song while everybody was finishing up conversations, coming back from the bathroom, or paying for beers.  It served as notice that we were about to crank it up again but gave them a few minutes to get where they wanted to be.

[veatch]

Like the idea of starting the last set with an instrumental.

[DaveH]

I like the idea of 'Homebound' too... Damn good song!

[scottcald]

I think rather than picking a few to do with a guitar lead vocal melody, pick one well known song, preferably a longer one, do that one really well and showcase it in the set. 

 

[stobro]

If your drummer is a reincarnation of Gene Krupa, you could try tackling this.

 

[beezerboy]

 

add Crusaders... a little Larry Carlton

[Hamer_SS_guy]

I would do some "easy listening" stuff. That's what I would love to do. Most guitarists I know just want to play flashy stuff and fast licks. I am in an age where fast stuff doesn't impress me much. I'd take some mellow stuff, looking for classic Motown, Neil Diamond, Leon Russell, Dr. John, Burt Bacharach or whatever, and make instrumentals of them.

[The Shark]

On 8/23/2023 at 11:55 PM, cmatthes said:

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.

 

If it wasn't a big hit, we don't play it (for the most part).  We used to play the best songs on the record, even if it wasn't on the "radio".  A fools errand.

That being said, we used to warm up with Europa.  And FBI (the Ian Hunter version).

[Biz Prof]

Going back to my college era band:  For several months, we actually opened our last set with this stupidly simple instrumental. It gave us a soft opening and the show was at its height of popularity.  It worked.

 

[alantig]

This is a nice little tune to play.  This particular recording has a long middle section - I recorded a version that keeps it much shorter, but obviously, it can be stretched or shortened as needed.

 

[HSB0531]

On 8/22/2023 at 11:50 PM, veatch said:

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. : )

You could always "play" the vocal.

Keys, sax and guitar would do that nicely.

But I don't have any recommendations for drums except a really good drum machine, but they never appealed to me.