Members sventvkg Posted August 22, 2013 Members Share Posted August 22, 2013 We had one rehearsal with a group of guys trying to get an original thing together and 2 different cover project rehearsals. One of them 2Xs...Wow, is all I can say. The original band guys didn't know the material save the bass player who did learn my parts. The guitarist is a rock guy who got flustered and upset because he learned straight rhythm parts that I play as opposed to the obvious lead guitarist parts with fills, leads etc. Also, he couldn't play my style, with double stoppy bends and country flavor pentatonic stuff..all VERY simple...He is supposed to be a hot player.Next the Drummer who assembled these guys couldn't play a 4/4, 4 on the floor beat in time and didn't know my songs worth of {censored}e...The bass player is really a keyboardist/utility guy who did a decent job on my tunes. MUCH more prepared then the other guys...So my partner and I said the guitarist and drummer are out..The search continues.Next, I call the bassist from the original band to play in a cover project we were trying to get going with one weeend already booked. He is someone who has been playing on the road all over the country for over 30 years, so he says..We made a list of standards EVERY PRO knows..He comes over and doesn't know anything!! How are you a pro all your life and you can't play sweet home, hard to handle etc?? The drummer who is used to Nashville Pros was NOT happy!Last someone contacted me because he has lots of local gig connections etc. We get over there and he can't play simple songs very well and his singing is not that great. Said he was a lead singer can sing harmonies etc. Needless to say he's all over the place on BG vox and can't sing a part without singing bad, clashing notes. Basically Mark and I told him to shut up and we did the parts perfectly. We practiced again with him and his bass player after we had solidified a very simple list designed to get us out there in my area making a few bucks. It was the drummer who didn't have his parts down, couldn't play the drum part to Jack N Diane etc..and of course he was concerned and wants us to practice 2 times a week!!! LOLOL Mark and I nixed that and told them when they get their parts down perfectly we'll practice again a couple times for beginning and endings and book. These guys suck but have relationships and if we can get out there making a few bucks and connections, all the better while we put together our own VERY pro project... So, it was rough!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Potts Posted August 23, 2013 Members Share Posted August 23, 2013 Oh Geez... That sucks. I saw a young keyboard player in a club last winter playing all kinds of crazy Billy Joel and Elton stuff. I asked him if he wanted to play piano on some if my tracks. I gave him 3 tunes and 3 weeks and told him to have fun with it. He came into the studio and didnt have a clue. I let him stumble for about 40 minutes, lectured him on how important it is to be ready if he plans on doing anything with music and sent him on his way. The money didnt piss me off as much as the arrogance in not knowing his parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted August 23, 2013 Members Share Posted August 23, 2013 The insta band thing isn't an easy task. If I was a guy like sev I would start small with a duo with his buddy who nails the harmony and knows his stuff and get three hours worked up consisting of some of sevs songs and some popular low hanging fruit covers and go find an out of the way place and get a tue night gig or whatever. Then find the next piece you want to add and get him to sit in as his audition for a set. Hide the whole manuever of building a band live fire under ,, the title , your name and friends. The odds of just going out and doing an insta band and start at the top of the feeding chain is pretty slim. You have to build from the ground up , or join someone elses up and running band. Sev wants his own band so its gonna take some time. Dont take it too serious in a serious sort of way. People enjoy entertainers that are having a good time. Beware of the start up bands from hell and broken bands where the reason why the band is broken is still there. Have a nice flight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bierball Posted August 23, 2013 Members Share Posted August 23, 2013 The art of practising and being prepared seems like a lost cause. Unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Yer Blues Posted August 23, 2013 Members Share Posted August 23, 2013 Man I cannot believe that being that you are in Nashville and have a solid gigging rep. Seems like good musicians should be able to "fake" stuff pretty well unless you're playing some Mahavishnu Orchestra type stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted August 23, 2013 Members Share Posted August 23, 2013 Whose signature is it that says "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard"? If I was playing with you, I'd work my ass off at home because I'd be afraid of getting called out on my lack of talent at rehearsal. Maybe instead of great players you could try shopping for solid players instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted August 23, 2013 Members Share Posted August 23, 2013 I've had guys show up for auditions after I gave them my CDs for two weeks. Three different guys never cracked the CD until the way over to the audition to listen to it in the car. They were a bit shocked to find out my "blues band" didn't play standard blues but rather the songs I wrote had trick timing at bridges, breaks, solis, and generally were not predictable. Oops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Reino Tulonen Posted August 25, 2013 Members Share Posted August 25, 2013 4 rehearsals in a week is a lot. A friend of mine is studying at a conservatory and there she's playing in 6 bands... that's crazy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted August 26, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 26, 2013 Sad State of affairs around here. Got a new drummer coming over Tuesday for the original and Cover thing who is actually pretty solid. Meanwhile where are the bass players and guitarists?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted August 28, 2013 Members Share Posted August 28, 2013 It's a Catch-22: The good players only want to work with an established act with some guaranteed money; and you can't be an established act with some guaranteed money until you find good players.They are out there, though. I get at least one email a week from some guy who 'just moved into the area' with a resume a mile long looking for a "good band to play with". How good any of these guys actually are? I dunno because I don't follow up on the emails, but they all at least LOOK like decent pros. And no doubt if they are sending me an email, they are doing so with every other band they can find online who looks like they make some decent coin.There's always been more good players around than there are good bands. A good band is as much a management thing as it is a musical one. You can have the greatest players in the world, but if you can't make sure everyone gets along and get them some good gigs (priority #1 in making sure everyone gets along is good gigs. Funny how so much of the personal BS falls to the wayside when everyone is playing fun gigs and getting a nice paycheck...), you've got nothing. Hopefully you'll get lucky and find some good (enough) players who believe in your project and are willing to help put in the groundwork on getting it established. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members heath_eld Posted August 30, 2013 Members Share Posted August 30, 2013 What (instruments) do you and your mate (mark) play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted August 31, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 31, 2013 heath_eld wrote: What (instruments) do you and your mate (mark) play? I do all the guitars, bass and the majority of the lead vocals..I'll be laying alot of the backups. Mark will do the drums, percussion and all keyboards. He will be singing a few tunes a set as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted August 31, 2013 Author Members Share Posted August 31, 2013 Hey so heres an update: We completely pulled out of the situation with the drummer who couldn't play and sang horribly. Nice guy but ya know....We decided that we would just start on our corporate band thing but with a locally tailored list as we're working up the tracks and tunes. So we found another drummer that's into our original stuff and the cover project. He's a total pro and should work out nicely. Has other gigs here and there with a few other artists and bands around Nashville but wants to solidly play our original and the more cover things we book the better for him..Even though the pay around here sucks its paid rehearsal. That said, the bass player from the original project is going to play in our cover thing for now as well and we'll have a rehearsal next week to get started on both. Also, we set up a Spotify playlist of our first 50 tunes for everyone and shared it so we're all on the same page. Anyway, that's the update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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