Free tool for bands

    How many songs in a set?

    A 45-minute set holds about 10 songs, counting songs of 3:45 and half a minute between them, and two hours of playing about 28. Put in your own gig below, with its sets, breaks and the length of your songs, and the calculator counts the songs for each set.

    Your gig

    min (minutes)
    Sets
    min (minutes)

    Minutes and seconds, such as 3:45 or 3.45

    sec (seconds)

    Your gig holds about

    24 songs

    12 in each of 2 sets of 53 minutes, with 105 minutes of playing in all.

    Songs for common gig lengths

    These counts are for playing straight through with no break, with songs of 3:45 and half a minute between them. Take your breaks off the gig length first, or let the calculator do it.

    Songs that fit in common gig lengths
    Playing timeSongs
    30 minutesAbout 7
    45 minutesAbout 10
    1 hourAbout 14
    90 minutesAbout 21
    2 hoursAbout 28
    3 hoursAbout 42

    What changes the number

    The song length matters most. A punk set of two-minute songs fits twice as many as a set of long jams, so it's worth using the real average of the songs you play. Add up their lengths, divide by how many there are, and the answer is far closer than any rule of thumb.

    Then count the time between songs. Retuning, a sip of water, a word to the room and the count-in easily take half a minute, and a song you introduce with a story takes longer, while a medley saves the gaps.

    Questions about set length

    About 10, with songs of 3:45 and half a minute between them. Songs of 3:20 with 15 seconds between them make it 12, and five-minute songs with a minute of talk between them only 7.

    About 28 if they play straight through, with songs of 3:45 and half a minute between them. With a 15-minute break in the middle it's 24, so plan the break before you count songs.

    Three sets of 50 minutes with two 15-minute breaks hold about 33 songs, 11 in each set. Learn two or three more than that, so you have spares for requests and an encore.

    Many pop and rock songs run between three and four minutes, so 3:45 is a fair starting point for a covers set. Your own songs may differ: add up the lengths of the songs you actually play and divide by how many there are, and put that number in the calculator.

    Build the setlist itself

    In Stage Friend each set adds up the lengths of its own songs, so you see at a glance if the first set runs long.

    Make a setlist free

    See the setlist app for how it works.