Songs to play in social situations

Sweden
July 26, 2009 6:34pm CST
Hello fellow MyLotter musicians. When at a party where there is an instrument (piano, guitar usually) I always get asked to play something for the other participants. I usually try to avoid it, as I find to be as much amusing as being a designated driver not because I lack the skill to play something beatiful. The thing is that I play music which no one else listens to, or I usually get requests to play songs I've never heard but appearantly are popular, and when I don't know them and therefore can't play them it gets awkward.. Anyone else have experiences of this phenomenon?
2 responses
oldmanhorrorfan
@oldmanhorrorfan (497)
• United States
27 Jul 09
Yeah, you know how to play so people automatically think you're sometype of human jukebox. Sometimes I'll just guess my way through a song, most popular songs are pretty simple to figure out. And I have run across a few musicians who refused to play other people's songs. Said that they only play their own. Maybe you should do that next time you play. That way the people will just sit back and listen to what you got, your talent.
krodrigues
@krodrigues (76)
• Canada
26 Jul 09
Yep. Happens all the time. I've been playing the piano for a bit over 10 years now. I can play in front of teachers, parents, examiners...but never for friends. I avoid it as much as I can. If I do play for them, however, I like to make sure that it's a song that everyone knows. This can be quite a task for a classically trained pianist like myself. I totally know what you mean when you say things get awkward.