# Amount of Time Between Songs Live



## Rawkmann (Jun 12, 2016)

Just wanted some opinions and feedback because it seems like every band has a different viewpoint on this subject. Personally I like about 30 seconds to 1 minute between songs when playing live, although I used to be the type that wanted to rush through the set as quickly as possible. Reason being is that when watching a band I really LIKE knowing when one song starts and ends and I appreciate the small break to talk with my mates or grab a drink from the bar without having to shout at everybody. I also think when there is 'dead air' the band thinks they are dying on stage but IMO in actuality the crowd is totally ok with it. Now of course there is a limit, anything over a couple of minutes would be getting pretty awkward. This has probably just come from years of gigging and getting older because I'm way more laid back than I used to be at shows, but a lot of the other guys I play with still feel scared when there's no music being played. Anyway what is You guys' stance on the subject?


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## UnattendedGolfcart (Jun 13, 2016)

I think if you're at the point where you're making inside/awkward jokes to the other band members on stage, you've taken up too much time and should start playing the next song. 

Dead air isn't bad if the band doesn't act like there's dead air. I'm fine with a minute or so of no music if band members are switching tunings or positions or something, but if they act awkward it's weird. The audience only becomes judgmental when the band thinks they're judgmental, if that makes sense.

Also, take the time to introduce the songs, even if it's just "hey thanks, this next one is called ______" and give a quip about it. It doesn't have to be long, but introducing a song just adds so much energy to both the crowd and the band, even if the mood is chill. If you don't introduce any of the songs, that feels majorly awkward. I did a cover band in the spring and at one of our shows my girlfriend (the singer) didn't introduce ANY of the songs, I had to tell her halfway through the set to introduce the songs because people would be a little more into it haha. If it's a cover, the audience gets psyched, and if it's an original, the audience gets to identify the name so they can look your band up online to check out that song with the cool name again.


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## Rawkmann (Jun 13, 2016)

UnattendedGolfcart said:


> Dead air isn't bad if the band doesn't act like there's dead air. I'm fine with a minute or so of no music if band members are switching tunings or positions or something, but if they act awkward it's weird. The audience only becomes judgmental when the band thinks they're judgmental, if that makes sense.



Exactly right, sometimes the other guys in the band are rushing me to start the next song as soon as the crowd dies down from the previous one and it just makes us look awkward. I'm like, 'Guys just calm down it'll be fine'. I always put myself in the audiences place and I know that 15 songs in a row with barely a break in between fatigues the hell out of me, probably even more so than being on stage. Also, another thing I really don't care for is running songs together with absolutely no pause in between. Big national bands can probably get away with this because the crowd will be really familiar with their material, but a local band is just going to leave the audience wondering when one song ended and the other began, or if You just played one 9 and a half minute long epic.


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## broj15 (Jun 13, 2016)

Our sets about 15 minutes long (5ish songs ) and we try and blow through it as fast as we can (justified by some artistic bullsh_i_t about creating a freight train of oppressive atmosphere). We usually take 2 breaks for tuning in witch case we fill the silence with some ambient noise we have a loop of and a simple "thanks for coming out. Hope everyone's having a good time, etc."


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## bostjan (Jun 13, 2016)

This is my pet peeve. I can't stand dead air between songs. There are many factors at play, though:

1. Do you interact with your audience? If you need time to tune or drink water or move cymbals around between songs, that's perfectly fine, but this is the golden opportunity to talk to your audience. It can be about your upcoming album, or your next show, or about how great everyone is for coming out to support bands, whatever, but acting completely disinterested in the audience when there is no music playing is a sign of an unprofessional band, IMO.

2. Even at that, if you take longer than it takes to play a song between songs, something is wrong. If you have to change tunings or play with effects pedals or whatever, you should at least make some effort to streamline it. I've seen a lot of young bands bring one guitar to a gig, break a string during the first song, then everyone stands around awkwardly whilst the guitarist changes strings, then play another song and have to retune the entire guitar down a full step. Then, for the next song, the guitar player has to tune back up to standard. That's when I start to really think that whoever booked the band made a mistake. --- If you need to go drop d, that's fine, it takes a second. If you need to retune to D standard, get another guitar for it, and if it's not worth it to you, maybe rethink why you need a song in D standard on your setlist.

3. Don't insult your audience between songs. This pisses me off. If you are Mastodon or Slayer, you could get away with it, but then again, you probably understood not to do that up to the point when you got big. Some band playing their third ever gig calling the audience a bunch of p***ies for not moshing hard enough just makes me think you are a bunch of d*****bags who can't play music that's energetic enough for the crowd to mosh hard to.


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## Riffer (Jun 13, 2016)

I'm in a cover band and we play 3 sets a night. Each set is between 50-60 minutes. We rarely stop completely between songs. We have to keep people dancing so we usually go right into the next song without a stop. Like basically the last beat of a song will be the first beat of the next. Or if we do stop its only for maybe 10 seconds but our singer will talk and promote the band or tell everyone to tip the bartenders and get drunk. Also our drummer will keep the bass drum going with a constant down beat between songs if someone needs to tune or we need to address someones birthday or something.


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## robare99 (Jun 13, 2016)

You have about 7 seconds between songs before you start to lose the audience.


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## VBCheeseGrater (Jun 13, 2016)

Except for planned breaks where the singer or someone else can cover the space, it should be pretty much instantaneous - at most as soon as the crown applause dies down.

We always had maybe 2 planned tuning breaks per set, for a minute tops if no one goofed. The singer is aware of these breaks and can plan a dialog to fill the time.

If you're tuning, something else on stage should be happening - never just sit there tuning while everyone else waits! And for godsakes cut your signal when tuning.


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## TedEH (Jun 13, 2016)

I tend to think of it much the same way as how you'd space out songs on a CD or something like that- you want enough time for each piece to breath or be recognized as a distinct piece, but not so much time that you lose your momentum or break the atmosphere you've been trying to build. How much time that means is going to depend on the band, the style of music, how the songs connect to eachother, etc etc. IMO, a full minute between every song is way too much unless you're filling that time with something valuable. 

It's already been mentioned, but this also cuts into your time slot. If you put more than a minute between each song, that's potentially a whole song you no longer have time to play.


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## bostjan (Jun 13, 2016)

Something should be said about the venue and crowd's level of expectation, as well.

If it's open mic night at the Dirty Water Saloon, you can get away with more slack than if it's as opening act for Tool at Mega Jumbo Stadium. I guess where it irked me most was at a big metal festival, where a lot of bands early on were local, and quite a few of them absolutely did not have their s*** together. The band after us didn't even show up until after we were packed up, then they asked the band after them to switch time slots. When that band said no, they asked us to play for another half hour in their place, but we were already packed up, so it made no sense, plus, by then, they only had 20 minutes left. Not to rag on them, but that was pretty much the way the entire first half of the festival went, nobody came completely prepared. There was one band that played three, maybe four, songs, and went through just as many strings, of course no backup guitar. IIRC, they were missing a drum throne or stand or something, too. I don't mind lending out certain things, especially if I've already finished playing, and somebody needs a pegwinder or a spare string, or a pick, but when people I don't know from Adam are asking me to play my guitar or use my amp, I don't know what kind of answer they're expecting...

Anyway, enough ranting about that...

I'd honestly say, that during a festival show like that, the level of people's irritation with your band is directly proportional to the amount of time it takes you between songs, and is easily compounded by starting late, needing to borrow stuff, etc. Most people in the audience are pretty chill about stuff like that, but some are not. You want to leave the best impression possible, because if you don't, another band will and that band, regardless of how they sound compared to your band, will swallow up any of the opportunities you might have had open up from the show.

If you want a target amount of time between songs, I'd say you should shoot for zero. At rehearsal, you should be able to run through your setlist without stopping. If you need drinks of water or tuning breaks or drumset adjustment breaks or figure-out-what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-the-bass-amp breaks, make it imperative that you continue entertaining the crowd during that time. Seriously, people's attention spans are not very long - single digits of seconds.


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Jun 13, 2016)

We always planned our sets to where songs with tunings that were the same were grouped together, ie; 

3 songs in A-440
4 songs in D (Down one step)
4 songs on 7 string

That made for only two guitar changes. Minimal dead air between songs, over the course of a 45 minute set, that may save you a few minutes, which may allow you to fit another song in there.

Make the show the "SHOW", save the banter for the after party, sans a short introduction of band members or song title.


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## Rawkmann (Jun 13, 2016)

There are definitely tons of factors, I'm just thinking of most gigs that we attend being the typical bar/club setting. Opening for a national act then we probably would take just long enough to intro each song. Also, if You have a charismatic frontman (and if they are Your frontman they should be) give him a chance to talk up the crowd. That stuff probably annoys musicians but most people get off on it. Spacing out the songs a bit is probably the only thing I'm a little relaxed on, because at our gigs we ALWAYS get there early, start on time, set up/break down quickly, and NEVER EVER curse out the audience. For some reason more than half the local bands You go see around here seem to think You are obligated to call Your audience MotherF****** the entire night. Also, looking at it from a listener's viewpoint, do You like when a band just plays straight through with hardly a break in between? I hate it when I turn to my buddy, and rush to tell him something only to be cut short when the band immediately launches into their next song. Of course I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the only guy who thinks like this, I'm usually the odd man out lol


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## bostjan (Jun 13, 2016)

Rawkmann said:


> Also, looking at it from a listener's viewpoint, do You like when a band just plays straight through with hardly a break in between? I hate it when I turn to my buddy, and rush to tell him something only to be cut short when the band immediately launches into their next song. Of course I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the only guy who thinks like this, I'm usually the odd man out lol



If you're at a show, like the ones I like to go to, to catch up with old friends, then you are at the wrong place. Usually, though, we see 3-20 bands play back to back, and there's not much time (typically 20-40 minutes on average) for bands to play, and plenty of time to chit chat between bands. But I do hate it when the house music between bands is as loud or louder than the bands themselves.

I guess to address your point further, if you stop long enough that people think it's time to strike up conversations with other people in the audience, you already took too long.


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## Rawkmann (Jun 13, 2016)

Guess I'm in the minority then, I'll shorten the gaps between songs from now on.


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## zenshin (Jun 16, 2016)

It all comes down to knowing your venue, audience, etc. However I'm personally in Bostjan's camp. I do like setting up special interludes to help transition between songs that carry a drastically different energy to them. They can be musical or they can be something random yet entertaining that the crowd doesn't expect. 

My view is, always be throwing something at the audience that makes you memorable. When people leave the venue, you want them to be talking about you and your show so always throw something out there that is unique and memorable. A great example was when I saw Nothing More and they did this insane bass session where 2 or even 3 band members would be jamming on one bass at the same time. It was incredible... and memorable. People remember things like that so it's worthwhile to come up with something that is unique to your art.


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## TheWarAgainstTime (Jun 16, 2016)

I've only played in one band where we had a vocalist who was also a good frontman and actually came prepared. Ironically, that was the band that played the least and smallest shows  all the others would stand with their back to the crowd, ramble about things not related to the band/show, and try to make a joke about "oh .... what song is next" or "I need my phone to read the lyrics on this next one"  

I always shoot to have 5 to 10 seconds in between songs if we're just playing song after song with no crowd working or interludes. Just enough time to identify the space as a new song starting, but not so long that you lose everyone's attention. Interludes on an iPod or other backing track can be cool if you need to buy more time for adjusting a drum throne, change tunings, or grab a swig of water, but I'd still try to keep it around 60-90 seconds tops. I think a good frontman effectively talking to the crowd thanking them for coming out, mentioning an album release or another show, or giving a little tidbit of info about the next song (inspiration, dedications, etc.) is good for keeping an audience's attention, but too much can really kill the vibe in a room. People want to hear your music!


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## mongey (Jun 16, 2016)

I like as short as possible but it also depends on your singer or who is interacting with the audience .if they are a good talker and entertaining it can be a little longer. ours starts telling bad jokes so we keep it short


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## shredfreak (Jun 21, 2016)

As short as humanly possible.

That's mainly because i'm not much of an entertainer for such things. Also if you want to display some energy for a heavier genre it just doesn't look good. We got 2 pair of songs where the outro & intro is nitted together wich helps.

Just a spot to notify the crowd with merch & cd's is more then enough for my tastes. You definatly want to avoid that you need to fill the space between songs or it'll start looking like a bunch of newbies who don't have enough material to fill a set.


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## MattThePenguin (Jun 22, 2016)

I'd say give yourself like 5 or 6 minutes in between songs at LEAST for bathroom/smoke breaks.


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## Science_Penguin (Jun 22, 2016)

I think pausing for audience interaction is key to forming a connection, so you don't just seem like you're going through the motions and rushing through your set. True, if you're at a club and you've only got so much time, you don't want to be cut off, but its still good to make time for the audience.

Still, if you're going to talk for a lengthy period, make sure you're good at it. I think Bruce Dickinson is a fine example- he'll prattle on for a bit, but it never really seems like a "prattle," because he's got good wit and charisma. If you're not, maybe plan what you're going to say so you're not standing there going "uhhhhh..." between every clause. 

And you probably don't want to do it between EVERY song either. The way my band gets around this is we'll either have songs transition right into each other, or the keyboardist will play a little interlude piece. And we either won't say anything or maybe I'll just briefly state "This song is called..."


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## A-Branger (Jun 23, 2016)

also to add to what the other guys are saying, do not introduce each member of the band. Nothing says Im a newbie more than introducing each guy of the band. If you have a guest from another band to come to play one song, then yes, do so, but for the rest no-one cares about your names, and no one would remember either.

Keep it as short as possible. Dont aim for a singer/frontman chat, allow for a song change and let the singer fill the gap if any. Just quick and simple before he starts to improvise if that makes sense. Its all about confidence, if he starts to "think" then he lost the audience as it shows hes waiting for the band to be ready.

The badn should be ready for him to shut up, so as soon as he finish the last word the band should start right away. If he finish speaking and turns around to nod or count or give a signal then that 4 second gap feels like a eternity to the audience as its a silence. In a way it must feel that the band almost interrupts the singer, he comes in latter during the song so dont wait for him to signal, start playing

way way later down the track when you actually build an audience and a follower. Then there you can chat more to the audience as now they are "your" people, plus the singer would have gained more experience by them.

also be nice to the other bands. And thank the main act who is letting you play at "their" show, if thats the case. Worst case scenario people would get hype one you ask for some excitment about the main guys


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## GunpointMetal (Jun 24, 2016)

10-30 seconds...30 if you have to tune... and something better be happening, either BS'ing with the crowd or some other noise. One band we have is weirdo-spazz-tech-metal and we go hard, so there are several tuning breaks, but I try to keep people engaged. Our other band plays entirely to a click and we have between-song interludes that play between each track, so the song ends, and there is immediately something else happening while we grab some water, tune, do a quick adjustment to our monitor mix or something. Our vocalist does crown engagement stuff during the interludes or spaced out intros. Keep it moving.


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## VBCheeseGrater (Jun 24, 2016)

Science_Penguin said:


> I think pausing for audience interaction is key to forming a connection, so you don't just seem like you're going through the motions and rushing through your set. True, if you're at a club and you've only got so much time, you don't want to be cut off, but its still good to make time for the audience.



I agree with this, as long as it's done in a way that does not keep the crowd waiting. If a band can pull it off without having to plan it, great, but for the most part these sort of breaks should be planned, mainly so you have groups of songs where the transition is pretty much instantaneous. but if your frontman can keep things flowing without a plan, even better - probably pretty rare outside of axle rose on a good day.

I think a good baseline is if band members are looking around wondering if other guys are ready yet to start the next song yet, you have a problem. The way you pull it off, to keep the crowd engaged and look professional, can vary I guess.


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## Mo Nodehi (Jun 25, 2016)

It depends on your style, genre, audience, artistic choices, etc. etc. But generally I believe it should be continuous and congruent. Even if there is 1 minute of awkward silence, it has to be for a reason, and it has to be used as a part of the performance. People are there to be entertained, if there are 30 seconds of nothing happening, then in my opinion that's insulting to them. Someone must at least converse with the audience, tell them a story, crack a joke, tell them to buy drinks, I don't know something. I find those unplanned unused times between songs similar to commercial breaks, they're annoying and kill the flow.


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## noUser01 (Jun 28, 2016)

Depends on a lot of things, but as long as your audience isn't bored or feeling awkward, then you're good.


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## 4Eyes (Jun 29, 2016)

I would say it depends on the songs and how you plan your set. try to go for as short brakes as possible, if you need longer brake for tuning etc make it and intro for the next song, talk to audience. learn how to jump from one song to another, with introducing next song while it's starting, you don't need to stop playing to introduce the song etc. think about how you build your set, don't go full throttle all the time, let people rest for a while, but don't get them bored while resting.

it's not that complicated. watch live shows from big acts and learn from them


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## Drew (Jun 29, 2016)

Rawkmann said:


> Just wanted some opinions and feedback because it seems like every band has a different viewpoint on this subject. Personally I like about 30 seconds to 1 minute between songs when playing live, although I used to be the type that wanted to rush through the set as quickly as possible. Reason being is that when watching a band I really LIKE knowing when one song starts and ends and I appreciate the small break to talk with my mates or grab a drink from the bar without having to shout at everybody. I also think when there is 'dead air' the band thinks they are dying on stage but IMO in actuality the crowd is totally ok with it. Now of course there is a limit, anything over a couple of minutes would be getting pretty awkward. This has probably just come from years of gigging and getting older because I'm way more laid back than I used to be at shows, but a lot of the other guys I play with still feel scared when there's no music being played. Anyway what is You guys' stance on the subject?



You're absolutely in the minority here. If an average song is, say, 5 minutes, then a minute between songs means 20% of the set is silence. 

Taking the occasional break between songs to banter with the audience is fine, but I'd only do it one or two times a set, and the impetus here is to be engaging with the audience, not giving them time to buy a beer. Basically, the whole time you're on stage, you're performing. Every single thing you're doing on stage should be done with the aim of connecting with your audience, and with that in mind you want to keep downtime between songs to the absolute minimum. A few seconds is fine, but by the time you're up to 10-15 seconds, unless there's a reason you need that time - instrument switch, whatever - you're wasting your audience's time.


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## A-Branger (Jun 30, 2016)

^^ thats a pretty good response



Mo Nodehi said:


> tell them a story, crack a joke, tell them to buy drinks, I don't know something.



1- dont do that, no-one wants to hear your story about nothing related to you should be playing a song now

2- nope nope nope, you are not and you wont be funny, and good chances are the joke would be too cheesy, you are trying too hard here

3- yeah sure, imply that your band/song is that boring that please make your way to the bar and dont pay attention to the stage, or that the break is so long that it would give you enough time to walk/ask/pay for the drink

4- yes, something else, but not the above. Remember you are trying to build/keep the hype going and thats it



4Eyes said:


> watch live shows from big acts and learn from them



although yes, be really careful with those. Take some pointers and scale them down to the bare minimum and only use it if necesary. Remember something, those big acts already have "their audience", those people actually pay big $$$$ to see only them, they know them and love them to dead. They can do whatever they want on stage and get away with it, even tell the cheesiest joke and everyone would laugh. But you are just starting on a band, people dont really know you yet, they dont fully trust you, so sadly they would be judging you more easily. Chances are they are there waiting your set to be over to listen to the next band they came to see or any other scenario


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## xwmucradiox (Jun 30, 2016)

My bands only have two breaks where there isn't anything going on in our sets. One after the first few songs and then one before the last song or two. All the other time is either direct transitions between songs or some sort of loop that lets us tune. But the idea is a cohesive set where there isn't time for the audience to talk or get distracted. 

When Im on tour the worst thing I see local bands doing is taking a 2 minute break between every song. It pushes their set past 30 minutes which is a bit ridiculous for most shows, especially if you are the opener. Id say if you are breaking between every song you could put a lot more effort into making your set a true performance rather than a bunch of songs played in whatever order you picked that day. Otherwise you look like an amateur.


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## Mo Nodehi (Jun 30, 2016)

A-Branger said:


> 1- dont do that, no-one wants to hear your story about nothing related to you should be playing a song now
> 
> 2- nope nope nope, you are not and you wont be funny, and good chances are the joke would be too cheesy, you are trying too hard here
> ...
> 4- yes, something else, but not the above. Remember you are trying to build/keep the hype going and thats it


I think you missed this very important part:


Mo Nodehi said:


> Even if there is 1 minute of awkward silence, it has to be for a reason, and it has to be used as a part of the performance.


 Everything has to be congruent and glued together, including your jokes and stories. Obviously if you tell a stupid story/joke, specially if it doesn't have anything to do with your band's image, it's gonna sound stupid. But my point was that if you have to have a long break, let's say to change guitars, tune up/down, etc. then you need to communicate and converse with people in a way that keeps your image intact, and at the same time doesn't distract, and/or disconnect the audience's attention, or even better in a way that creates more hype and anticipation. 

Also you're forgetting one thing, people who come to see your show, and like your "Songs", actually like your Personality/Performance + Environment + Alcohol, and maybe, just maybe your actual song. People just want to be entertained, and story telling is entertaining IF you know how to tell a good story, specially if it's inline with your band's sh1t. That's much better than only playing a bunch songs that are so loud and unclear that no one can really understand.



A-Branger said:


> 3- yeah sure, imply that your band/song is that boring that please make your way to the bar and dont pay attention to the stage, or that the break is so long that it would give you enough time to walk/ask/pay for the drink


If you are going to have a long break, then it's(more than) ok to do that, and in no way it suggests that your band is boring etc. etc. UNLESS your band actually is boring(regardless of telling them to get a drink or not.) It actually shows your respect for people, the venue, and those who work there. Again, obviously everything has to be said and done as a part of the performance and not in a "Sorry we don't have anything to do, so go grab a drink while we jerk around" way. If you just say "Go buy a drink" then that sucks no doubt, but if you have an effective way to tell people to go get drinks that encourages them to get drinks, and they actually do go get drinks, which by the way helps the venue make some more money, and helps the audience become drunker and as a result enjoy the show even more, then that's a win-win-win-win situation for you, the audience, the venue, and the other bands playing that night. Human beings are simple creatures who LOVE to be significant. Show them how significant they are in general, and how even more significant they are if they go grab a drink, and not only they will do it gladly, but they'll talk about that 1 minute break for days.

Anyways, I can't completely disagree with you @A-Branger, because there's no denying that if you tell an irrelevant and/or stupid story or joke, and/or your performance doesn't have people's full attention, energy, and respect, then these things will most likely have a negative effect, just as you've already mentioned. BUT done properly these can be very powerful tools to make friends with people.

Thank you for mentioning the potential risks these can have though @A-Branger, definitely good points to consider.

Mo


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## 4Eyes (Jul 1, 2016)

A-Branger said:


> although yes, be really careful with those. Take some pointers and scale them down to the bare minimum and only use it if necesary. Remember something, those big acts already have "their audience", those people actually pay big $$$$ to see only them, they know them and love them to dead. They can do whatever they want on stage and get away with it, even tell the cheesiest joke and everyone would laugh. But you are just starting on a band, people dont really know you yet, they dont fully trust you, so sadly they would be judging you more easily. Chances are they are there waiting your set to be over to listen to the next band they came to see or any other scenario


I meant it mostly from professional perspective - you can notice there is very little space for improvisation, everything is planned, everybody know what to do and when to do, they have planned phrases between songs, jokes, when they play a bit with audience, when they tune, change instruments etc etc.. preparation is the key. if you watch various shows from the same band from one tour you'll see that live shows are very much the same, they change songs a bit, but the core is there, dialogues do not change that much, jokes do not change etc.

pay attention to details, plan your setlist, if you're not famous, consider if it's worth to have every song in different tunning while having only one guitar on stage and 5 songs in the set. you don't have to introduce song names during breaks, you can do it during beginning of the song, think of it, it will reduce breaks and it will help the "flow" of the live show. if you're not good at stan-up comedy, don't tell jokes. there is nothing worse like a guy from not known band who is trying to be funny for about 3 minutes, while other members are standing and praying for him to finish this lovely moment


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## wheresthefbomb (Jul 24, 2016)

none. use a tuner pedal while your amp and delay pedal pummel the audience's puny brains into submission. they can have a break when you're good and finished.

don't just dick off though. practice your transitions so it looks like you know what you're doing. I've been able to change a string during transitions with nobody noticing.


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## Kryss (Jul 29, 2016)

none most of the time unless crowd is really freaking getting into it or gassed out and needs a minute. I generally like as a guitar player to sustain notes til the band is ready , if I get more than a few seconds of dead air thanks to the other peeps. it's really easy for any person in the band to keep a crowd into things, drummer doing a couple quick fills, guitar player doing a quick riff, or singer thanking people etc. really should be very little dead air time in any show. I have always preferred the bands live that say virtually nothing. NIN is a great example reznor says nothing and just plays his stuff as fast as possible and it's fantastic. no one is paying to hear a bands bs just see them perform so as an artist with limited time and energy on a stage just give that to them. time goes by super fast once you start.


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## Andromalia (Jul 30, 2016)

The first and only time I saw Suicidal live I wanted to kick Muir in the groin for spending half the show talking nonsense.


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## Unleash The Fury (Jul 31, 2016)

if I was at a show and the singer said "go buy drinks", I'd walk out and go home


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## jase (Aug 9, 2016)

My band plays a 8 song set these days, and we have four 20-30sec intros to use before a few songs. They are just cinematic sound effects (no music, no dialogues) to set the mood for the song that follows. The drummer triggers these from his sampler.

Some songs we can go straight to the next one without any dead-air, some we leave a few seconds to say the song name and count in, and we always leave around a minute or so in our set to thank the bands, venue and organisers. 

We try not to have any dead-air in our set, but give some breathing spaces for the audience with the intros and minimal talking.


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## bostjan (Aug 9, 2016)

I really struggled with this at our last show. I was ready to run songs together, but it seemed like there was always something interrupting my momentum. Some things I totally understood, like the bass player needing a drink, or the drummer scratching an itch, but other things kind of got me frustrated, and it seemed like there were only two transitions of the dozen or so that went smoothly. Several times, I started the song, then no one else was ready to come in on time, because of the plethora of distractions happening. I'm not upset with the guys in the band, of course, since none of it was their fault, I just wish I had been more prepared to handle such a thing. I thought we still had a great night, and the fact that people were rushing the stage was probably the best sign of that, but I found out just how much of a weakness this was for me, to have my momentum taken away over and over, after so many shows where I got to just keep riding the wave.

After previously having been so preachy in this thread, it was humbling to have a show where I seemed to have no control whatsoever over the flow of songs from one to the next. If I had been more flexible all along, I think things could have went even better.


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## RaulThrashMetal (Aug 10, 2016)

We completely struggled with the time between songs in our band days...to the point our singer ended up learning some juggling tricks to keep the public entertained.


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