Ending cover songs that fade out

Look around when it feels right, make eye contact and either do a 1 bar ral (slow down) or a longish fill that other band members acknowledge is an ending. I also like to like to repeat patterns/motifs in the music which might mean stopping somewhere other than on the 1, if the other muso's are on the ball they can usually fluke it.
 
We were just working on endings. I feel like I should make a check list of all these great ideas and bring it to the next rehearsal. Hopefully we don't crash and burn at the next open mic 🤣🤣
 
Goats.

When you get to the fade out portion do what we did:

The lead singer would give a little nod offstage right. This was the cue for our Goat Wrangler to leap into action. He would wave his arms and stamp his feet causing a herd of 5 to 17 Goats to stampede across the stage from right to left.

The clomping of hooves Would distract the audience while we looked at each other, shrugging our shoulders and mouthing, "What do we do next?" If we couldn't think of anything the singer would nod offstage left where our Assistant Wrangler would repeat the whole concern but in reverse.

Sometimes this would go on for tens of minutes until someone with a mic would yell, "Stop! Stop playing everybody!"

You might have to help, wrangle, a few recalcitrant Goats offstage but that's no big deal. Usually.

Maybe give it a whirl?
 
WOINA said:
Goats.

When you get to the fade out portion do what we did:

The lead singer would give a little nod offstage right. This was the cue for our Goat Wrangler to leap into action. He would wave his arms and stamp his feet causing a herd of 5 to 17 Goats to stampede across the stage from right to left.

The clomping of hooves Would distract the audience while we looked at each other, shrugging our shoulders and mouthing, "What do we do next?" If we couldn't think of anything the singer would nod offstage left where our Assistant Wrangler would repeat the whole concern but in reverse.

Sometimes this would go on for tens of minutes until someone with a mic would yell, "Stop! Stop playing everybody!"

You might have to help, wrangle, a few recalcitrant Goats offstage but that's no big deal. Usually.

Maybe give it a whirl?
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There was a Spanish song about a slutty goat. The club owner decided to get a real goat, then when the band was playing a fast song (purposely chosen for this), he would release the goat and all the club lights would be turned off save from a very small strove light behind the drum kit. Whoever catched the goat would win some money. It was crazy and in Mexico of course. Americans would freak out and call animal abuse. By the way the goat was well taken care of and loved by all of us.
 
Chris Whitten said:
As a listener you are left wondering what happened next. Nothing better than a fade out with the band on fire. Narada Michael Walden had a thing of playing his most outrageous two bar drum fill right as the music was disappearing to silence.
Statistically, fades are extremely rare in modern music. I think it's something to do with streaming and maybe DJ culture too. But hardly any contemporary music has a fade at the end these days.
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yeah...fade outs definitely remind me of the 70's and 80's
 
Neilage said:
Greatly appreciate everyone's feedback.

To clarify, I am not looking for a way to fade out our songs when performing live. Rather, I was curious if there were any simple, go to tricks of the trade for endng cover tunes that fade. I have been gradually slowing down to end the songs, but that seems weak.

I will definitely check out live versions on YouTube for ideas.
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Gradually slowing down a song is a great ending once a night. Don’t overuse it. The 3-5 second drum solo with a chord at the end is fun for drummers. And of course the Hollywood ending is great for the last song of the set.

Try using your creative muscles, but don’t always feel the need to make it elaborate.
 
A local girl front person ends every song with, Wooooo!
Lol, every song. It's cute. I hope she doesn't stop doing it.
 
At the right place , hit your favourite cymbal, put your sticks on the floor tom , leave the stage and grab yourself a beer . I used to wear a referee whistle around my neck and pretend it was a Santana thing .
 
Neilage said:
Greatly appreciate everyone's feedback.

To clarify, I am not looking for a way to fade out our songs when performing live. Rather, I was curious if there were any simple, go to tricks of the trade for endng cover tunes that fade. I have been gradually slowing down to end the songs, but that seems weak.

I will definitely check out live versions on YouTube for ideas.
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Give us a song that you're having an issue with, and I'm sure you'll get several different replies with possible ways to end it.
 
It's Just a case of being creative. You can discuss It with the band and try out different options (big stadium ending, abrubt stop with a choke, final bar in half-time, final bar without drums etc).

If you don't have that option and you're subbing/jamming, just slow the last bar down slightly, hitting the snare on every quarter note and the rest of the band will get the message.
 
Chris Whitten said:
As a listener you are left wondering what happened next. Nothing better than a fade out with the band on fire. Narada Michael Walden had a thing of playing his most outrageous two bar drum fill right as the music was disappearing to silence.
Statistically, fades are extremely rare in modern music. I think it's something to do with streaming and maybe DJ culture too. But hardly any contemporary music has a fade at the end these days.
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I would imagine catering to streaming and DJ's could very likely have something to do with it. I guess not so much catering - but just trying to place your recording in its best light on the platforms most important to you.

I think it's a lot about avoided sucking energy out of the room - which curated aspect of radio with a live disk jockey could make work. But streaming - Spotify - just runs by itself. So I can see that "fade to black" at the end of each song would be unsatisfying. And of course, club DJ's just despise records with fades - as they never want to get "caught in a fade". I believe all about creating transitions that keeps the energy constantly "up" on the dance floor.
 
Bo Eder said:
Sting did a fade out ending of one song during a concert I saw in the late 80s. With the stage going dark at the same time it was kinda cool.
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Again nothing wrong with using that device for a musical effect IMO.

I just feel doing it "because the record does" is ever a valid musical reason for doing it. Again talking records that continue at full intensity throughout the fade.... sometimes as Chris referred to one's that even keep ramping things up as that fader comes down.
 
A fade out can be:
- where the band jams in live performances
- more programming of sequencers and drum machines than is worth the trouble
- a songwriter not being bothered thinking of an ending
- an effect that helps convey the song's message or vibe.

Songs with endings tend to finish up at the progression's turnaround. So, it's usually pretty easy to work out how a fade-out song might otherwise finish. My last band sometimes played the fade out, which is so goofy that it tends to amuse audiences. We were a goofy band so that was ok.
 
We cover "Go your own way" by Fleetwood Mac. Hard to end in a satisfactory way. FM themselves do a cadenza thing tagged on to end it...
 
We had trouble ending a song so we ended up segueing into another that had the same tempo, groove… and that song has a distinct ending.
 
Yesterday I told the bass player to make do a bass solo at the end and we just kept jamming. It worked that time.
 
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