I said I wouldn't get involved with running a band again. However, I thought I'd help a new guy to the area who wanted to get a band together. All sounded good and thought I'd help him find a location that is cheap to hire for a jam and to also be his possible guitarist
That was going to be tomorrow night. Got an email from the so called band leader today to say if the venue supplied drum kit and amps etc. I said no as it's not an official rehearsal studio - a pub with a room to be precise (It just had a PA and mics). To which he said then we have a problem then dude 'cos my drummer doesn't have a drum kit and won't have until March at least. WTF. Why do I always seem to pick up these friggin' people. What a cock. I've wasted sooo much time with this. Never again
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I want to start a band again, but this (as well as time pressures due to a 1 year old) massively puts me off. I just don't have the energy required to try and run anything, or sort out the basics for these people. I think I'm like you, in that now, I'd just like to turn up and play.
One kicked off pretty badly when we told him we weren't prepared to wait for him to buy a kit or pick him up for rehearsals and gigs.
I see this as a bit of a silver lining though. Because what's needed for a band to work is some equation which involves its members having musical ability + professional attitude. The latter is an important commodity and lack of it in "them" drives "us" nuts.
It basically means that if your musical ability is good enough, and maybe in addition you can hold a note doing BVs, you can still get the gig. Because while there is always going to be someone who's better than you musically you can score great on being easy-going, reliable, having pro-gear (aka, it works and you've got spares), and transport. It sounds pretty straight forward -- but so many good musicians are flakes.
Don't talk politics and don't throw stones. Your royal highnesses.
Wondering if I've hit the point where I just have to admit that I am actually shit and should just sit down and stay quiet while the big boys get on with doing it properly.
Are these the "right" bands for you?
-- When you look at other bands can you realistically see yourself doing what their rhythm player does? Can you do that job? For example, there are bands where I know I couldn't do that job. But there are plenty where I could.
Are there lead lines you can play where you don't f*ck it up? There must be. But it might take a re-think about what you're trying to do. It's the same as the rhythm: if you can't play like "player x" then play like "player y".
@Grunfeld - I'm trying to find the 'right' band for me, but it's clearly harder than I thought it would be. All I'm trying to do is find somewhere where I can play the rhythm bit like the chap in @Danny1969's post. That's the guy I know I can be (and no, I don't take loads of time and rehearsal-consuming money in learning my parts, I work on them at home before I go and between rehearsals and gigs). I only apply for bands that look like they're playing stuff I have some hope of achieving reliability in, I'm not trying to get a job as a shredder.
Having said that, I can change key, and work out what I should be playing instead, but I need more than a moment's notice. The only time I've done it on the hoof is when I auditioned for a part as a bassist, and I'd learned the bass lines to Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out, and I had to change key from E to G. That was a doddle, once I'd got over my brain fart of thinking that starting the riff on the G string doesn't make it in G. Sigh. I do know that's not true, but in my nervousness, it's what I believed for long enough to put them off giving me the job. :-S
And I do also know that the others are probably thinking "Eesh, if he's this nervous here, he'll be worse in front of a an audience..." I won't actually, I've already played gigs in front of over 100 people without messing up, but I can't blame them for not believing me.
This is pretty much me to a T. I do have to play three solos each night, but I'm far more interested in making the singers sound good, and years of experience has made me adaptable rather than a hotshot.
With my band I know it's a limited operation but there's basically a sliding scale between talent and doing the other stuff. So our skilfull keyboardist pretty much turns up and the other end I do most of the organisational stuff.
Guitarists often tend to be stylistically too limited. I'm a blues guitarist, I'm an indie guitarist, I'm a metal guitarist, etc. With singers that's more excusable but as long as something is technically within your grasp then what you like to listen to and what you like to play don't have to be the same. Got a clear vision of the music you wanna make? Excellent, do that. Wanna be in a band? Answer that Lady Gaga tribute ad.
[disclaimer :all advice offered has not necessarily been strictly applied to myself B-) )