One of my advanced students recently inquired about me recommending him for gigs I can’t do.

My question in response was…

OK. What tunes do you know?

He named a few jazz standards he’s worked on over the past year like “Girl From Ipanema,” “Straight, No Chaser,” and “Oleo,” but his list quickly ran out.

His answer launched me into a 45-minute lecture about the importance of, not only knowing how to play the saxophone well, but also knowing the right tunes for the gig.

Learn Songs That Feature Your Instrument

Your primary instrument will inform which tunes should be on your priority list to learn.

Since saxophone is my primary instrument there is a diverse range of music that I need to know. Not only is it expected that I play the melodies and improvise on a variety of jazz standards, but also I need to be able to play the horn lines and primary melodic hooks for the core funk, R&B, rock, and pop tunes for my cover band gigs.

One strategy is learn how to play all the signature parts of the major pop tunes on your instrument:

• Guitarists should be comfortable starting “Brown Eyed Girl” and playing the solo on “Don’t Stop Believin’”
• Keyboardists should be fluent on the clavinet part to “Superstition” and the piano introduction to “Build Me Up Buttercup”
• Drummers should be ready to start “Brick House,” “Billie Jean,” and “Hard to Handle” (with the right feel and correct tempo)

Here I have compiled a suggested list of pop songs all horn players should know (45).

Learn Songs With Good Gas Mileage

Not only do I recommend learning songs specific to your instrument, but I also recommend prioritizing your learning based on what tunes get the most play.

I believe in maximizing the work I put into something. If I am going to learn a new song, one of my considerations will certainly be how much mileage I will get out of any song.

Every genre has it’s own standard repertoire. Learn the core songs for the genres you’ll be playing on your gig.

If you are playing a jazz gig, you should be familiar with standards like “Blue Bossa” and “All the Things You Are.” Every hip hop band does “Rapper’s Delight.” Learning funk tunes? “Brick House” and “Play That Funky Music” are staples. Straight rock and roll gigs invariably feature “Honky Tonk Woman” or “Don’t Stop Believin’.” And every reggae band I have ever heard plays Bob Marley at some point in the gig, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start with his greatest sing-along of all time, “No Woman, No Cry.”

Learn Songs Specific to Your Gig

After you have begun learning tunes specific to your instrument and prioritizing tunes based on popularity, another major consideration should be to focus on the songs that will be featured on your next gig.

If you are appearing as a sideman, get a song list from the band leader to begin learning. Some bands I wind up playing with have a set book of songs and the show rarely changes. It is very predictable. In these cases, I get the charts, review the original recordings, and practice my part.

Other bands have shows that change all the time and a huge list of songs that they have played over the years. In these cases, I ask the leader for a priority list of tunes that we are likely to play on the gig. A hot list helps cut down on unneeded work. Why learn an obscure song on a song list if the band isn’t likely to play it?

Now You’re Learning the Right Tunes, But How Quickly Can You Learn New Tunes?

There is an economist named Paul Zane Pilzer that I have read and listened to since 2004. He has said a lot of things that have shifted my paradigm over the years, but one of his most impressionable quotations is…

Prosperity belongs to those who learn new things the fastest.

Pilzer believes that it is good to have accumulated valuable knowledge, but if you don’t learn new stuff at a fast rate, you are going to get left behind by those that do.

I believe this quote appropriately relates to working musicians learning new tunes.

There will always be new gigs with new musicians featuring new music that you have never played before. Not only is there an incredible amount of music already written that you haven’t played, but there will continue to be new music written in the future and even new arrangements of music you’ve already played.

I frequently talk to drummers, bassists, keyboardists, guitarists, and singers about doing gigs with me, and they are all very fine musicians. The quality of musicians is rarely the problem. The problem, invariably, is the rate at which they can learn the songs. Not only are there musicians who don’t know core tunes in the major genres, but there are also really good players who don’t learn new tunes very quickly.

This One Time… With a Salsa Band

A few years ago, I got the opportunity to play with a serious salsa band named Bio Ritmo.

I got an email from J.C. Kuhl to fill in with Bio Ritmo at a hispanic arts festival in North Charleston about 48 hours before the gig. The show was to feature all original salsa music. Not only do I not play salsa on the regular, but I was also not intimately familiar with the band’s records. On this gig, my personal book of tunes was not going to be good enough. I had to learn new tunes specific to this gig and learn them fast.

I proceeded to print out all the charts that J.C. emailed me and downloaded recordings so I could hear the arrangements. I assembled them into a playlist, dumped it on my iPod, and took to learning around 20-25 new charts in short order. Most of the charts had fairly intricate road maps, were fairly long, and some were hand-written, which made it a bit more challenging than it already was.

I listened to the playlist in the car and in my apartment. I did active and passive listening. I made notes. I read the charts slowly with a metronome and then played along with the recordings once I got my feet about me.

I was already at a disadvantage because I was filling in for the full time saxophonist. I simply wanted to take advantage of every approach possible to make myself as comfortable as possible with the material. I knew that the more comfortable I was with the material, the more music we could make.

Become a Tunesmith

As my friend Ken Mullin espouses,

Become a tunesmith!

Ken and I recommend building your own personal book of tunes. The way I see it is that there isn’t always going to be a Real Book for your gig. There won’t always be charts. You will not have other people do the work for you all the time. The responsibility is on you; it’s your music business.

Once you have narrowed down the tunes you need to learn, study multiple recordings of these core songs. Build you own personal library, and study different arrangements.

I hear musicians say they know this tune or that, but they don’t really know it. They have just listening to it before. They haven’t studied it. If you know a song then you have spent some time with the song. Know the primary melodies, the hooks, the hits, the chord progressions, the lyrics, and the basic structure.

I like to learn songs in more than just the original key. Maybe you don’t learn it in all 12 keys (that would be preferred), but at least learn it in a handful of different keys so that you get the structure and the progressions in your head and under your fingers.

This applies to all the musicians in the band. It’s not just the horn player’s job to know the melodies, so does the guitarist. It’s not just the drummer’s job to know the hits, it’s the keyboardist’s too. It’s not just the vocalist’s job to know the lyrics, so does the bass player.

To paraphrase my friend Mr. Mullin,

You never want to be the cat that the band defers to because you don’t know tunes.”

Learn tunes specific to your instrument. Begin learning the core songs from the major genres. Learn the specific tunes for your gig. Stay in the mode of learning new tunes and you will get better at learning tunes fast.

Take responsibility for, not only being an expert on your instrument, but knowing the right tunes.

This is what it takes to be a first call working musician.

If it’s gonna happen, you’re gonna make it happen.

Further Reading

5 Essential Things You Absolutely Need to be a Successful Working Musician

Every Gig Is an Audition for Another Gig

If you like this article, I invite you to leave a comment below and spread the word by clicking the buttons below to share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, or any of your other favorite social media sites.