Instruments for band members - for better setlists

Sometimes it is good to know who is playing which instrument in which song.

• For a varied setlist: Who of the two lead singers sings the songs - so that 5 songs in a row are not sung by just one person?
• For a stress-free setlist with fewer instrument changes: Which instrument of a band member with several instruments (e.g. several saxophones or electric and acoustic guitars) is played in the respective song?

To solve these and other problems, you can

• specify instruments for each band member
• assign these instruments to the songs for each band member
• show the instruments in setlists and use them to optimize the setlist

Below, we'll show you how it works:

¹Select instruments for band members

To make it easier to assign instruments to songs later on, the first step is to assign all instruments played by one band member to that band member.

This can either be done by an admin of the band by clicking on the “Edit” button in the bandmates overview:

It can also be done by every band member themselves via the following navigation entry:

As admin or band member you will be taken to the screen where you can select

• the instrument group and
• the instruments

By simply clicking on a group and/or the instruments, you can mark them as selected and save them using the “Save” button at the bottom of the page.

Instrument groups

Each bandmates' instrument group is displayed in various places where it is not the actual instrument that may be of interest, but rather the instrument type.

Only the instrument group of the main instrument should be specified here (if there are several main instruments, of course, you may select several groups).

Important:
‍
In setlists only the instruments, not the instrument groups, can be displayed for optimization!

For the display of lead vocals in setlists the instrument “Lead Vocals” must be selected, not the instrument group.

Instruments

The instruments are displayed grouped by instrument groups.

If an instrument is missing, feel free to send us an e-mail!

²Assigning instruments to songs

In the second step, you can assign the selected instruments to the songs for each band member.

This can be done by an admin using the corresponding button in the band member overview:

Or as well by each band member themselves:

After clicking on the button or navigation entry, you will be taken to the screen where you can assign instruments to the songs.

Only instruments assigned to the respective band member are shown here.

You can “activate” and deactivate the instruments for this song with just a click.

And here too, of course, please click the “Save” button at the very end so that the assignments are actually saved. :)

By the way

You will also see the instruments for a song in the song itself and can jump from there to the according instrument assignment of that bandmate.

³Optimize setlist

In the setlist view, you can now display the band members' instruments and use them for optimization:

1. The “rearrange” button takes you to the view where you can change the order of songs in the list (the instruments can also be displayed in the regular setlist view, however)
2. The “Show bandmates' instruments” button will show...
3. ...the filter area for bandmates as well as the
4. ...instruments in each song

In the filter area, you can turn on/off individual bandmates' instruments to be able to better focus on specific instruments.

Band members who either did not specify any instruments or have assigned the same instruments throughout the setlist are not displayed in the instrument list and cannot be filtered.

Special instrument "Lead Vocals"

If 'Lead Vocals' is selected as instrument for a band member in a song, this information will be displayed in the setlist view and also in the setlist download as additional information/column:

Concluding notes

There is no need to select an instrument or an instrument group for each and every band member, nor does an instrument assignment have to be made for songs. This only may be helpful for bandmates with lots of changing instruments.

In a future version of BANDZONE, it will also be possible to assign instruments directly in the song. If you want to be informed about such changes, feel free to subscribe to our newsletter.

If you have any feedback or suggestions, please send an email to support@band.zone.