There are lots of nuggets of wisdom in the previous posts.

Sometimes, though, telling the group that you're going to do a slightly different version of a song can fall on deaf ears. "Follow the singer" goes right out the window!

I remember particularly one time, about three years ago, when I did the song "Windmills" at a local singaround and announced it would be in 3/4 time. Fine, except when the chorus came around, suddenly nearly everyone (except me) slowed the tempo down to that of a funeral dirge. When it happened a second time, I couldn't take any more and stopped playing. "What's wrong with you?!" I screamed, "It's a f*****g waltz!!"

There were no further problems.


Jay