fed up with my band

thomasross20

Cheers guys - that's life, eh! 

Lol - I need a van and a PA!! 

@midlifecrisis - that sucks!!

EricTheWeary

"...there are a million guitar players out there. If you don't sing you better have a van because that's the only way you're going to get a gig! " Jimmie Vaughan 2010. Although, TBH, based on Jimmie's singing it's not that big a thing.

Danny1969

Lol I can remember being in a band in my early twenties and I certainly didn't feel the strongest member but I could keep the van on the road with welding, electrical and mechanical skills and I could keep the old HH PA Going gig after gig. Back then we gig'ed 5 nights a week so the gear took a real pounding 

PolarityMan

John_P said:

thomasross20 said:

Just got some feedback:

- they were looking for a mainly rhythm guitarist and from the videos I sent and the way I worded my message, there was no hint of strong rhythmic capabilities, I'm more suited to lead,  and they didn't have time to ask about the rhythm side of things in my playing. Oh well - at least I got some feedback.

Their loss -  from the videos I've seen you're playing is very good and if they see you shredding and decide you might not be a good rhythm player then they have made a mistake and should have asked you.    

I wouldn't beat yourself up over it,  that's the kind of line I use when I want to let someone down and it's more likely the guy they chose has something else to offer - a van, a pa or is mates with someone in the band.

I'm not sure I agree. Being into that shreddy style of music makes it far less likely that @thomassross would be a good contributor to the style of music I write for example. It's not a slight on his playing by any means but in the hypothetical situation that he was replying to an ad I placed I think from an artistic perspective we'd both be wasting our time.

thomasross20

I just want to clear something up.... I don't only play shred... I've played classical, blues and general pop. In fact I play a lot of girl pop in the band and I have to adapt a lot of keyboard parts for guitar so I do actually play a lot of good rhythm guitar. Saying that, @PolarityMan is likely right in the sense that our styles are different, and I probably wouldn't be over the moon at only playing rhythm (unless maybe I was ok at singing and doing a bit of that, too). 

thomasross20

Yeeesss.... potential new singer for another project has played at big venues, been on DVD and does weddings... this could be promising. She sounds keen - just need to get other band members... 

PolarityMan

It might be different for covers bands but just to give a bit of perspective from someone who only does originals bands I would prefer a competent player who is a good artistic / stylistic fit that an incredible player who doesn't match as well.  

I think that's a valid stance and could be the reason for some people turning you down despite the fact that you clearly have the chops. 

guitarfishbay

Being a good fit absolutely is more important than being the best musician IMO.  There are of course necessary minimum skill levels.

IMO if you want to send audition recordings for a specific band then the best thing is to do fresh ones that suit what they're looking for.  A quick, non distorted recording (as in the recording is clear, you can use distortion on the amp if applicable) on a mobile phone is really all that is needed, a few minutes tops.  Studio recordings are easy to cheat with multi tracking/editing etc, a simple clip of what you're able to do gets the point across.

If you want to form your own band then you can do whatever you want to represent yourself.

thomasross20

Agree about the good fit thing!!

Cabicular

Don't want to be doom and gloom but bear in mind if she is in a wedding band you won't do much gigging in the summer..
I've had that conflict loads and the wedding money usually wins

thomasross20

Well she's doing a wedding this weekend but I'm not sure what that means, if she's in a band or just taking somebody's place - have asked. She seems keen !