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Having serious doubts about recording with the band


etcetra

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So I've been playing with this Latin band for ~5 years and while I do enough to fake the music and do ok job on it, I've never really considered myself a serious Latin player and it was never really my main focus of my life. The band has being going through some changes in the last couple of years, some of the members have left and the band doesn't hasn't performed regularly over the last year or so. The last latin gig we did was like 4 month ago, which was really short and the last real gig we did as a band was all the way back in December.

 

So it came as a surprise when I heard that from the band leader that we are doing a studio recording and CD release later this year. At first I didn't think much of it, but we played a gig last week which made me realize just how much of a trouble the band is in. I don't know where to start, but I personally feel out of shape to do with music. Playing with the band also made me realize that fundamental issue I have with bandleader's leadership style. He is way to ambitious and he is constantly comparing himself to standards of NY or LA session player, even though the band, including the leader himself is not at the level to perform at that level. The last gig I did, we ran 7 new tunes in one rehearsal and added another 8 on the 2nd rehearsal, and as expected the actual gig end up becoming very messy, and everyone including the band leader made mistakes on cues/hits etc that became a train wreck(there have been plenty of cases where the band leader was the main culprit for such train wreck). The new horn player couldn't really play the melody for most of the songs either.

 

I started to realize that the recording session won't be any different. The recording is in little over a month, 1st rehearsal is in less than 2 weeks and we finally got music for the 1st song, which we were told needs to be fixed, so it's not even the final version of the song. Aside form that 1 complete song and 2 other song I have no idea what I am going to be recording.

 

I guess I've started to realize just how messed up this is, because I've started working with another band recently that have very different mentality about being a band. The other band is really about being tight as band, and getting tight by rehearsing and gigging on the same repertoire over the period of months. I've heard stuido recording one of the band member did before he moved here and the band was super tight, and he said it took 3-4months of playing regular gig with the band to get the music really tight. And that made a whole lot more sense to me than trying to be a LA/NY session player who can do anything that is thrown at them at a moment's notice and failing at it.

 

After spending few days really thinking about this, I finally decided to tell the bandleader that I don't think I am capable of doing something that is adequate for the upcoming recording. I told him the last gig I did made me realize that and told him it would be in his best interest to find someone else who is more qualified. I received a response which is basically lecturing me about being professional and how the "NY session musicians" he worked with would have found ways to deal with the problem and made the music work even though they had only few days to prepare the music. He went on to told me how I should adopt more professional attitude and find ways to fix the problem rather than complaining, to which I responded that 1)I am not here to argue with him about professionalism, and 2)ultimately it's his decision as project leader to decide who the best personell is for the project and I am just letting him know and consider alternatives because I really can't guarantee that I can meet the expectation for this project.

Anyways I wanted to put this down and get opinion from people here. Was I right to mention this to the bandleader? I know I've agreed to the project but the reason I felt comfortable telling this is because 1)we didn't play for a very long time and I didn't realize how problematic this project is, 2)I was expecting to get music earlier and working on them much earlier, especially when you consider the fact that this is the 1st professional latin record for most of the band member 3)The rehearsal is still few weeks ago and we still didn't get music so I've not committed to the projected and they've not wasted any time working with me on the project yet.

 

EDIT:I forgot to mention that the bandleader does have concern about how tight/rhythmically accurate the band would be for the recording, and his perscription for the problem is to do a group practice where we play with a EXTREMELY slow click track(something like quarter note at 20bpm with the metronome clicking only on the 4th beat). He said it's something he learned from this workshop and frankly I don't really see how this is actually going to address the problem. It's really reminiscent of people who copy someone like vinnie colaiuta's practice routine without really understanding it. You may feel like bad ass working on stuff like that but whether or not it's something that is going to help you as a player, that's completely different issue

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Slow practice does work but for most players, playing slow has to be learned as a new skill and that won't happen overnight. If one does go through the program, there will be no guesswork about where all the subdivisions lie and playing will simply line up without the musician having to aim for the click. This is everything for pop music.

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Slow practice does work but for most players' date=' playing slow has to be learned as a new skill and that won't happen overnight. If one does go through the program, there will be no guesswork about where all the subdivisions lie and playing will simply line up without the musician having to aim for the click. This is everything for pop music.[/quote']

 

 

I understand the importance of playing slow and I've done my share of playing very slow practice, but the band leader is suggesting putting 1/4 note at 15-20bpm and having the metronome click only every 4th beat, and playing latin rhythmic patterns over that(so in other words the click is 1/4 of 20 bmp)

 

This is way slower than you would ever play in real life. The drummer(the only guy who has real pop session experience) didn't understand the point of doing the exercise either, since the tempo is so slow that you can not feel any groove and you won't have much context.

 

I can understand practicing at 1/4note and 100bmp and working yourself down to like 40bpm but 20bpm?

 

IMO that's something you do if you are already pretty solid in your time, not your first steps. I've met plenty of people who are doing these extreme rhythm exercise and end up getting nowhere. It's almost as if these extreme exercises are fashionable and people are doing them to feel like they are badasses, without really understanding whether it's actually helping them or not or whether this is what you really need.

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Like I said it's a new skill and like playing fast you'll never get it if you just dive in. Things must be done progressively. Benefits are considerable but require time and effort to reveal themselves..

 

 

I totally agree. There was one point in my life(6+months) where I spent hours practicing table of time (whole note up to 16th notes) starting at ~60bpm going 5bpm faster/slower every 5-10 minutes. I've also done exercises where I'd start playing at medium swing tempo and going all the way down to ~40bpm(or 20 bpm and metronome clicking on 2 and 4). All these exercises are stuff I worked up to over long period of time, slowly pushing the boundaries. I am pretty sure that no-one aside from the drummer have done exercises like that.

 

What the bandleader is suggesting even harder than all that, and it's skipping way too many steps I don't see the point of practicing that way as a group, and the fact that it's going to be a mandatory bi-weekly practice seems like more of an obstacle than help.

 

In fact, going to straight to something like that can even do more harm than good, because if it's so slow that you can't contexualize what you are doing, it's hard to tell if you are doing it right or not. It's going to cause a lot of frustration if you can't seem to get it right(which should be a sign that you should be doing something easier before you do this step). IMO a more effective practice would be to take a comfortable tempo and work your way down, like 5 bpm at a time. Once you are comfortable doing that you can start taking out more clicks and/or go for extremely slow tempo but that comes later and I think the band would benefit more taking doing the former at this point.

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A band must be in good physical and mental condition to perform or record well. In that regard, Its no different then a sports team. You may think you are in shape but without tough and rigorous physical training your body simply cannot respond to the brain quickly and effectively. Your old Rocky movies should tell you that a winner has the eye of the tiger and is a hungry to win.

 

Those who let it slip simply do not recognize just how out of shape they are actually in. The mind tricks you into thinking you still have those skills when in reality your physical skills quickly drop off within weeks of inactivity. You also loose touch mentally with the other players because you haven't influenced them and they haven't influenced them and we all move through time.

 

Studio musicians can be like all star players who are simply in top condition and have fast mental skill and can make things up on the spot as they ago. That requires allot of experience most musicians simply don't have because they don't do that work all the time.

 

You were dead right on telling the band leader the band hasn't got what it takes to pull off even a good quality demo. It takes 6 months of hard work practicing at least 3~5 days a week rehearsing to get a band tight to perform live or record well together. If he thinks a band can go 6 months without even playing together he's living out a pipe dream or simply trying to draw you in and put you on a leash.

 

My advice is tell him if and when he ever gets a real band together to give you a call. In the mean time move on and play with as many other musicians as you can. There are simply too many good bands out there to get bogged down in a dead end situation. I don't care if the guy works with major stars on a daily basis. It truly doesn't do you any good. Name droppers are a dime a dozen and unless you are invited to meet those people what good is it to you. Its simply another hook to try and keep you subservient to they're will. You need to focus on peoples musical skills first. If they perform well you can respect that. If they're a bag of wind, move on.

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A band must be in good physical and mental condition to perform or record well. In that regard, Its no different then a sports team. You may think you are in shape but without tough and rigorous physical training your body simply cannot respond to the brain quickly and effectively. Your old Rocky movies should tell you that a winner has the eye of the tiger and is a hungry to win.

 

Those who let it slip simply do not recognize just how out of shape they are actually in. The mind tricks you into thinking you still have those skills when in reality your physical skills quickly drop off within weeks of inactivity. You also loose touch mentally with the other players because you haven't influenced them and they haven't influenced them and we all move through time.

 

Studio musicians can be like all star players who are simply in top condition and have fast mental skill and can make things up on the spot as they ago. That requires allot of experience most musicians simply don't have because they don't do that work all the time.

 

You were dead right on telling the band leader the band hasn't got what it takes to pull off even a good quality demo. It takes 6 months of hard work practicing at least 3~5 days a week rehearsing to get a band tight to perform live or record well together. If he thinks a band can go 6 months without even playing together he's living out a pipe dream or simply trying to draw you in and put you on a leash.

 

My advice is tell him if and when he ever gets a real band together to give you a call. In the mean time move on and play with as many other musicians as you can. There are simply too many good bands out there to get bogged down in a dead end situation. I don't care if the guy works with major stars on a daily basis. It truly doesn't do you any good. Name droppers are a dime a dozen and unless you are invited to meet those people what good is it to you. Its simply another hook to try and keep you subservient to they're will. You need to focus on peoples musical skills first. If they perform well you can respect that. If they're a bag of wind, move on.

 

Thanks for your comment and I think your sports team analogy is an excellent one. I've come to realize that the most of the working musicians around me has this "studio musician" mentality, even though they really don't have the chops to pull it off. I also had fortune to work with this band, which made me re-evaluate that mentality. I wasn't doing anything that difficult with the band, but it took me a while to memorize the music and get to the point where I can play 2 sets of music without thinking about it. My friend told me that's when bands start to get really tight, and we shared grievances about how most gigs in the area you are just going from one project to another without ever getting tight with the music.

 

As far as the bandleaer is concerned.. i guess he does a lot of hustling and legwork to record with serious people but he is definitely not at that level and frankly I think he has serious misunderstanding about the whole thing. I've already had lengthy discussion about how much time/work it takes to be tight as a band, and the fact that most touring bands and band that we look up to have spend extended periods time playing the same material over and over again, and/or they've done that in their lives before they became session guy, but I guess he believes that it's a cop out/settling for mediocrity not to hold himself/band to the standard of a session player.

 

Anyways, I think it's kind of too late to do anything now.. there really isn't that many people that even play this style of music, and replacing me would require a lot of paperwork, as he got the budget for this recording project through a government grant and he had to write a lengthy proposal for the band. But then again, I was never made aware about this now, and I was never part of the whole process of crating a proposal. In other words I really don't how much of me is in that proposal. I guess the proposal probably required him write out info like studio time, who would be present at the studio to record, and possibly info about the band, and my bio..and now that I think about it, this is all kind of weird, because I never consented to be part of the proposal and the only thing I actually agreed to was being part of the recording session.

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Sounds to me like your bandleader is pretty full of himself' date=' but doesn't have a clue what session players are really about.[/quote']

 

Or any idea about how pre-production works.

 

He actually expects you to be at that caliber...does he pay you what session players get?

 

Good question.

 

But then again, from the sound of it, this guy isn't exactly a NYC or LA caliber studio cat either.

 

 

My advice to the OP:

 

Forget the old band. The guy's obviously unreasonable and clueless, and things are only going to go downhill from there. Instead, focus on your new band. They seem to have a much better idea of what's up. :wave:

 

 

 

P.S. Whatever you do, quit before you pay one thin dime towards the cost of the upcoming recording sessions. They're destined to be a first class train wreck, and you really want no part of it. You did the right thing by expressing your reservations to the bandleader - now follow through, and extract yourself from that mess!

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Sounds to me like your bandleader is pretty full of himself, but doesn't have a clue what session players are really about.

He actually expects you to be at that caliber...does he pay you what session players get?

 

 

I guess it's not so much that he expects the band to be at that level, but that he wants the band to strive for that. It sounds all great on paper, but what I see is someone who is insulated from real-life demands of musician having a very one-sided view of what being a professional is about. The audience is not there to listen to a band trying or challenging themselves, they are there to listen to a tight band with solid final product. I also find his talk about being a pro rather empty, when he is glued to the sheet music playing standards.. one of the benchmark of elite jazz musician is being able to play 100s of standards in any key, and a pro has no business reading charts/chords changes on a song that is considered Jazz 101 repertoire.

 

 

 

P.S. Whatever you do, quit before you pay one thin dime towards the cost of the upcoming recording sessions. They're destined to be a first class train wreck, and you really want no part of it. You did the right thing by expressing your reservations to the bandleader - now follow through, and extract yourself from that mess!

 

Just to be clear, I am not paying anything for the recording. The bandleader got some kind of government grant which gave him budet for recording as well as budget to pay for gigs/studio time for the musicians.

 

I've talked to the bandleader and he said that he will have another piano player(the only piano player in town who is from Latin America and actually played that music professionally) to play on some of the tracks. I'd prefer to be out of the project completely, but then again I don't know if I really want to burn bridges like that, especially since I've known him for this long and he has done all the the legwork for booking shows for the band in the past. I am one of the original member of the band and for him, it's important for the remaining members to be part of the project.(even though none of the horn players are part of the band and band has been essentially inactive for so long)

 

But at this point, I am considering resigning from this band once the project is over. I can just cite personal differences and that I am too busy to commit to the band.. that way I can at least try to leave on a neutral term.

 

 

Lastly, all this has made me really question the whole session player mentality and whether that's actually a reasonable goal. It's a bit of fresh air to work with the guys from the new band. They are not the best musicians in the world, but they know their limitations and they are really good at the things they do. They don't try to do everything people throw at them and the guitar played simply refused to play a song he wasn't familiar with during one of the pickup gig. The singer actually tries to make things easier for the band and told me not to bend over backwards trying to meet every demand singer/bandleader gives you, because that's just going to make you sound bad. To me striving for that makes much more sense than trying to be a session guy.

 

 

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I'm just kind of scratching my head that you have stayed, for whatever reasons, with a band where the leader is really not capable of leading for five years.

I'm in the process [we have gig commitments, and it would not be fair to the other members to just walk out] of leaving a band after a year and a half, as the 'leader' has demonstrated no leadership except trying to dictate everything...and I did not sign up to be a lackey.

 

Phil also made a great point about pre-production...the guy gives you incorrect charts? Why bother?

If you are going into the studio to record, the material should be locked down, one take ready, and anything that needed to be corrected should have been dealt with before you walked into the studio

 

Honestly, there is nothing wrong with aspiring to be at the level of professional session players, sidemen, etc.

There is something wrong with a bandleader who professes to be at that level and isn't. It sends a very weak message and you should indeed question his understanding of what session players are capable.

 

Take the experiences you've gained with the latin band and move on.

 

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I'm just kind of scratching my head that you have stayed, for whatever reasons, with a band where the leader is really not capable of leading for five years.

I'm in the process [we have gig commitments, and it would not be fair to the other members to just walk out] of leaving a band after a year and a half, as the 'leader' has demonstrated no leadership except trying to dictate everything...and I did not sign up to be a lackey.

 

Phil also made a great point about pre-production...the guy gives you incorrect charts? Why bother?

If you are going into the studio to record, the material should be locked down, one take ready, and anything that needed to be corrected should have been dealt with before you walked into the studio

 

Honestly, there is nothing wrong with aspiring to be at the level of professional session players, sidemen, etc.

There is something wrong with a bandleader who professes to be at that level and isn't. It sends a very weak message and you should indeed question his understanding of what session players are capable.

 

Take the experiences you've gained with the latin band and move on.

 

 

Well, like i said earlier the bandleader willing to do the leg work and hustle and get lurcrative gigs, and from gigging point of view it's actually pretty impressive considering that I live in a town where there is little to no demand for gigs for this type of music. It's also one of the few outlet to play latin jazz, and as bad as this band is, it's still way better than any other band doing this type of music in town. I really didn't see it as a problem first because we didn't start out playing difficult music, as none of the band member played this type of music before(except the bandleader), but it gradually became a problem as the bandleader became more ambitious, doing more originals and new materials all the time... and even that didn't became a real issue for me as the band has stopped performing regularly and didn't require much time commitment. In that respect this recording project did bring all the worst out of the band.

 

 

As far as the project is concerned, I made it very clear that I want out the project but it's apparent that he actually need me to be part of it. The other latin guy he hired can't make it for all the recording dates or the gigs that has already been booked in the next two months, and there really isn't any suitable replacement in town who can actually play the music. Leaving now will be devastating for the project will completely burn bridges with this guy, where as leaving later will allow me to leave the band in more neutral terms. Also regardless of what I(or any serious musicians) about his ability or leadership, he has a reputation in the scene as an established artist. Me walking out like this is not going to sit well within the people in the scene, even if they understand that I am leaving for the right reasons.

 

I do agree that this is a huge mess, and the fact that he needs to consult the guest artist so that he can get the music fixed speaks volume about his ability as writer/arranger. The drummer, who is actually experienced in doing session work, agrees that it's messed up, but he is not the original band member and consider himself a hired gun so he is basically keeping his opinion to himself.

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Well, like i said earlier the bandleader willing to do the leg work and hustle and get lurcrative gigs, and from gigging point of view it's actually pretty impressive considering that I live in a town where there is little to no demand for gigs for this type of music. It's also one of the few outlet to play latin jazz, and as bad as this band is, it's still way better than any other band doing this type of music in town. I really didn't see it as a problem first because we didn't start out playing difficult music, as none of the band member played this type of music before(except the bandleader), but it gradually became a problem as the bandleader became more ambitious, doing more originals and new materials all the time... and even that didn't became a real issue for me as the band has stopped performing regularly and didn't require much time commitment. In that respect this recording project did bring all the worst out of the band.

 

 

As far as the project is concerned, I made it very clear that I want out the project but it's apparent that he actually need me to be part of it. The other latin guy he hired can't make it for all the recording dates or the gigs that has already been booked in the next two months, and there really isn't any suitable replacement in town who can actually play the music. Leaving now will be devastating for the project will completely burn bridges with this guy, where as leaving later will allow me to leave the band in more neutral terms. Also regardless of what I(or any serious musicians) about his ability or leadership, he has a reputation in the scene as an established artist. Me walking out like this is not going to sit well within the people in the scene, even if they understand that I am leaving for the right reasons.

 

I totally get that you feel committed to serving out your sentence on the gigs, that is exactly what I'm doing with the band I'm leaving next month. I try to never burn bridges unless I'm sure my road will never lead me back there [i've only burned two in forty+ years].

But the recording, as Phil even suggested, sounds like a trainwreck in the making if someone doesn't get the charts and rehearsals under control. Maybe you should step up and suggest to the leader that you can pitch in and handle that, in an effort to salvage the session.

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I totally get that you feel committed to serving out your sentence on the gigs, that is exactly what I'm doing with the band I'm leaving next month. I try to never burn bridges unless I'm sure my road will never lead me back there [i've only burned two in forty+ years].

 

But the recording, as Phil even suggested, sounds like a trainwreck in the making if someone doesn't get the charts and rehearsals under control. Maybe you should step up and suggest to the leader that you can pitch in and handle that, in an effort to salvage the session.

 

thanks for understanding my point and why I am sticking to it. Even if I don't do the band I am sure I'll be working with the bandleader in different capacities, considering that it's a very small scene and there are very few people who play this kind of music.

 

I'd love to be able to help with the chart really don't know what I can do, because there are some fundamental issues that is beyond just wrong notes on the page. It really comes down to writing something that is way beyond your ability. Not only is the music difficult to play, it doesn't make much sense and it doesn't sound right even when it's played correctly. An example of that is tune that features a feel/groove change every 4 bars. I know there are people who can write music like that and make it work, but what he writes doesn't work, and it's going to be nightmare for people soloing over them.

 

When I listened to the album he did with the NY session guys, it's their interpretation of the material that made it work, meaning that they were ignoring the charts and playing chords and stuff that are different than what's written in order to make the music work... and they have the chops to make the music work even when it's not really right. So in that respect a lot of it comes down the interpretation and it's too much to ask to people he hired in this project.

 

I've addressed this issue before, but the bottom line is, if the bandleader doesn't have the ears to realize that things aren't right, it's not goning to get fixed. When I first mentioned that I want out, I did mention that one of the charts had bass and kb part that didn't line up harmonically(again he was trying to be clever and wanted like 3 bar bass pattern while piano is playing 4 bar pattern).. the answer I got was "I will find a way to fix it and make it work so don't worry". He said he is going to have the guest artist(who is serious latin player) look at the chart, but then gain, the guest is not really in a position to tear music apart and fix it, which IMO is what's really needed at this point.

 

So with regards to rehearsal/charts or music selection, it really comes down to being too ambitious with too little time to prepare for the music, especially when you consider the musicians involved. Like every big gig with the band, the most you can hope for is just getting through it.

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session players ignoring the charts? :eek:

;)

Your fearless leader seems to expect a lot from his crew, yet he is that clueless of his shortcomings that he writes essentially unplayable charts? :facepalm:

You have my sympathy...

 

Haha thanks. I guess example of what I am talking about is stuff like seeing a major chord in a chart when the melody is sitting on 4th. Unless you specifically want that sound, that's a pretty amateur mistake, and the session players from the recording actually played a form of sus chord on that part(V7b9/I, if you want to be precise). If they s weren't so astute about harmony and chords, they'd play regular major chord and it would have sounded awful.

 

That's one of the easier ones but it gets a lot more tricky when you have chords that are noted with multiple extensions and it really doesn't make much sense. I remember one time during rehearsal where the horn player specifically asked if he was playing the right note... it was something like major 7th on a V7 chord.. again someone people have the harmonic knowledge to pull of something like that, but in the context it just sounds wrong.. the bandleader insisted it was right, and horn player continued playing that note, much to his bewilderment.

 

Now take that problem and apply that to rhythm, and you get the whole picture of what I am talking about :)

 

And to come to think of it the whole "I am coordinating with the guest artist to improve the chart" and the fact that we basically got a draft which may be seeing further revision.. yea that doesn't sound professional either. If he was having trouble writing the charts, he should have gotten composition/arrangement lesson (let's face it this is a lesson, not some kind of collaboration) few months ago so that he'd be ready to send out the final version of the chart by now.

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Haha thanks. I guess example of what I am talking about is stuff like seeing a major chord in a chart when the melody is sitting on 4th. Unless you specifically want that sound, that's a pretty amateur mistake, and the session players from the recording actually played a form of sus chord on that part(V7b9/I, if you want to be precise). If they s weren't so astute about harmony and chords, they'd play regular major chord and it would have sounded awful.

 

That's one of the easier ones but it gets a lot more tricky when you have chords that are noted with multiple extensions and it really doesn't make much sense. I remember one time during rehearsal where the horn player specifically asked if he was playing the right note... it was something like major 7th on a V7 chord.. again someone people have the harmonic knowledge to pull of something like that, but in the context it just sounds wrong.. the bandleader insisted it was right, and horn player continued playing that note, much to his bewilderment.

 

Now take that problem and apply that to rhythm, and you get the whole picture of what I am talking about :)

 

And to come to think of it the whole "I am coordinating with the guest artist to improve the chart" and the fact that we basically got a draft which may be seeing further revision.. yea that doesn't sound professional either. If he was having trouble writing the charts, he should have gotten composition/arrangement lesson (let's face it this is a lesson, not some kind of collaboration) few months ago so that he'd be ready to send out the final version of the chart by now.

 

Back in the 90s, I did a lot of low-end session work, and many times the charts were either so bare bones as to be almost useless, or so poorly thought out that they were unusable. More often than not, either I or some other hapless session player would spend the time to go over the melody line and form up a chord chart that made some sense, and could be expanded on as needed. LA is a great music town full of great musicians, and too many wannabe producers...who have money, but no clue...sound familiar?

 

On a side note, one of the reasons I am bailing out on the band is that the leader, who claims to be classically trained, etc., will call sharp chords in flat keys. and vice versa...to me, that is fingernails on a chalk board. I work with horn players all the time, and nothing irritates them more than people who will flip #/b as if it didn't matter. As one producer I worked with said 'Gee, you really understand that sheet music stuff, huh?'

I told him, 'yeah, that's why you pay me $50 an hour with a 4 hour minimum...'

To be honest, I can't sight read/play any more due to having 'floaters' [dotted notes are a major problem], but I can still follow a chart, pretty well...I mean, if you can count to 8, the rest is pretty basic ;)

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On a side note, one of the reasons I am bailing out on the band is that the leader, who claims to be classically trained, etc., will call sharp chords in flat keys. and vice versa...to me, that is fingernails on a chalk board.

 

Haha I can relate to that. My teacher would smack me if I put down chords in key of A# instead of Bb. I'd still prefer filling in the blank on an incomplete chart than a complete chart that has nonsense chords like Abmajor7b9#9 and bandleader insisting that's what he want there. Again, it really comes down to band leader not having any sort of reality check to realize that he isn't musically advanced enough to write something like that. I mean the guy can't tell the difference between Cminor 7th chord and C7#9, and it's hard to take his musical decisions about harmony seriously when his ear isn't really quite there.

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