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How many of you CURRENTLY play in a band?


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I'm in a band.


Regular gigs, recording, etc.


My rig: $160 SX bass, $300 head/cab

Guitarist: $200 MIM Fender w/emgs, $250 SS Crate halfstack

Keyboard: $600 (bought it new) Roland RX9, $150 keyboard amp/PA

Drummer: $400 4 piece no name kit might be a Tama, but I'm not sure. It's a piece, he really needs some new drums
:facepalm:

That's less than $2k for the whole band
and the sad fact is, even with "{censored}ty gear" we usually get more crowd response, more compliments and just have more fun than any other band on the bill
:thu:

Truth be told, I personally had a HUGE eye opener in Tampa about "Bands that have an imbalanced gear-to-talent ratio".


We played second on a bill of five bands (
:eek:
) so we started at about 10:30.


Two bands after us, this 3 piece metal band is on. All older guys 40s/50s. I REALLY HOPE THEY AREN'T HC MEMBERS AS I'M ABOUT TO SAY A FEW NOT SO NICE THINGS.


First of all, the bartender and sound guy both lambasted these guys to me before they even set up, so they weren't off to a good start.


The guitarist had


-an old Hiwatt Custom 50 with (from what I could tell) a '70s Hiwatt cabinet, probably with the original Fanes


-a vertical-input JCM800 with a 1960bv


-an original Roland Space Echo RE-201


-a rack that I didn't get a very close look at, but it definitely had a Sonic Maximizer, a Korg 1000 rack tuner and a multi fx....G major perhaps?


-A pedalboard with no less than 15 pedals. I barely looked at it, but it was a custom job and the only pedals I bothered noticing were a Mesa V1 and a Heil talkbox.


-An HSS Fender w/OFR (could have been any make, I didn't get a close look at it). And another custom guitar that was...well, there's nothing to be said about it. It was "monstrous".


The drummer had a HUGE kit, complete with the power rack and double kick


The bass player was playing through a 1x18/4x10 with a thousand-watt Hartke and three basses (epi Tbird, Fender knockoff...yamaha or something and a Fender Jazz--probably MIM)


Anyway, there was EASILY over $10k worth the gear on that stage and within the first five minutes there was nobody left in the "seating area".


There were still some people at the bar, but everybody cleared out from in front of the stage.



I'm conflicted by this.


1. If you're passionate about doing something and it makes you happy, you should do it, even if you're not very good at it. That being said, they were all good players, but their songs were terrible and they had no stage presence whatsoever.


2. People can spend their money however they want, I couldn't care less that this guy has all of that great stuff, but gear =/= tone and gear =/= talent.


3. I felt bad for the last band because no matter how good they were, nobody was going to sit through these guys to wait and see them, with VERY few exceptions. That's unfair to the last band.


4. Is it possible that these guys really don't know that they're not entertaining? And even so, at that point, do you relegate your playing to your house/garage and maybe the occasional friend's party in the interest of being pragmatic? But if playing out is your joy, isn't that then unfair to you?


5. How could you possibly tell someone, especially when they love to play, that they should keep their music to themselves? That's soul-crushing stuff.


Anyway, I don't know why I felt the need to even mention that, let alone create a numbered list of my thoughts, but that's that.


Oh, Saturday's gig in Tampa went very very well, btw
:D



I've played with more bands than I can count on 100 hands that should keep their music to themselves. I think it's a factor of whats wrong with music today. There are so many bad bands playing out that it discourages people from going out to see live music. Everyone and their grandmother has a band and each thinks they deserve to play regardless of how horrible they are.

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I've played with more bands than I can count on 100 hands that should keep their music to themselves. I think it's a factor of whats wrong with music today. There are so many bad bands playing out that it discourages people from going out to see live music. Everyone and their grandmother has a band and each thinks they deserve to play regardless of how horrible they are.

 

 

how asinine

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I've played with more bands than I can count on 100 hands that should keep their music to themselves. I think it's a factor of whats wrong with music today. There are so many bad bands playing out that it discourages people from going out to see live music. Everyone and their grandmother has a band and each thinks they deserve to play regardless of how horrible they are.

 

 

It might have something to do with that generational sense of entitlement that seems to be the norm in this country (I mean, everybody and their mother having a band)

 

But who are we to say that these people shouldn't be playing if it's what they love to do?

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spoonie g says

:lol:

 

Believe me man, I play a lot of shows. 200 shows last year and many more before that. I know there is the almighty subjective opinion, but there are so many bands that do not even fulfill the basic requirements of being good musicians such as playing on time (there are so many factors regarding this), in tune, respecting one another's sonic space and volume, etc., etc. I'm not trying to say I'm great and almighty but there are so many bands I've played with fall into that category and that's who I'm talking about.

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Believe me man, I play a lot of shows. 200 shows last year and many more before that. I know there is the almighty subjective opinion, but there are so many bands that do not even fulfill the basic requirements of being good musicians such as playing on time (there are so many factors regarding this), in tune, respecting one another's sonic space and volume, etc., etc. I'm not trying to say I'm great and almighty but there are so many bands I've played with fall into that category and that's who I'm talking about.



:lol:

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On getting paid to play at church...

You people who think it's wrong to accept any money for playing in church or church-related things, I've got news for you: Your church history SUCKS. In the Old Testament, priests and worship leaders were paid HEALTHILY for their services - a far cry from today; trust me... I play often, and while I'm not the best songwriter or vocalist, I'm a darn good player. And the mentality I hear so much is "You're playing for God, you shouldn't need to be paid." That's such a selfish and manipulative thought. Usually it's just an excuse for the church to not pay you, but some of them actually believe that. It's not about charging or OVER-charging, but you need to know that God has no problem with church musicians/worship leaders getting paid. And honestly, I RARELY get paid. Do I have a set rate? Of course not. Most of the time when I travel to play at a place or take my band, we do it out of faith that God will provide for us to get there and get back and in the end we'll be able to pay our bills and buy groceries. We never tell anyone, "We charge X amount of dollars." We usually just ask that they cover our expenses - gas and food - and anything else on top of that is...well... accepted, but not required nor encouraged. In fact, the only time I've EVER been able to take anything home with me, apart from our travel expenses, was $100. They paid us $500 on top of paying for our expenses. It was definitely unexpected, but I was able to put a couple new tires on my car that month.

Again, and I know this isn't a very popular belief around here, but it's all about faith. And no, there's nothing wrong with a Christian band charging to play somewhere; it's their livelihood as well as their ministry. What gives you the right to say they can't make a living doing what they love? And I guarantee you, bands like Third Day and others are constantly giving back. It's not about not making money, it's about being selfless with what's given to you.

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I've played with more bands than I can count on 100 hands that should keep their music to themselves. I think it's a factor of whats wrong with music today. There are so many bad bands playing out that it discourages people from going out to see live music. Everyone and their grandmother has a band and each thinks they deserve to play regardless of how horrible they are.

 

 

+1,000.

 

One really telling metric is how many songs a band decides NOT to do in public after they have learned them. If you can't tell which ones have it and which ones don't, then you're probably playing a bunch that don't. [if you really don't know which tunes you need to drop, a good soundman can tell you....]

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On getting paid to play at church...


You people who think it's wrong to accept any money for playing in church or church-related things, I've got news for you: Your church history SUCKS.

 

 

Whoa, there - I stated that I had never accepted pay for playing a Christian gig. I never said anything about it being wrong to do so. Fact is, I don't need extra money (at least not in my current situation), so I'd rather people give it to someone else. I didn't intend to project my current path onto anyone else - sorry if you got that impression.

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I have 2 bands going - a straight rock thing and a Doom/Jam/Noise band. Trying to get another one started so i can play jazz and use my stereo setup again. (JC 120 & Bandmaster)

Rock (mostly strat->Classic 30) -
brd_rock_8-09.jpg


and noise (Jazzmaster or PRS Hollowbody -> 65 Bandmaster/2 x 12)

brd_nz_8-09.jpg

most of the time this is next to the amp with an A/B on the floor

noizes.jpg

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Whoa, there - I stated that I had never accepted pay for playing a Christian gig. I never said anything about it being wrong to do so. Fact is, I don't need extra money (at least not in my current situation), so I'd rather people give it to someone else. I didn't intend to project my current path onto anyone else - sorry if you got that impression.

 

 

I wasn't necessarily referring to your post... there were a few others on here that seem to have a problem with it (i.e. rushfan, etc.)

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I probably deserve it but it wasn't because I wasn't playing the stuff I was supposed to. Other "social" reasons.



Were you late all the time? Cuz that's definitely a good reason to kick someone out. Nothing pisses me off more.

It's okay, Parah... we still love you on HCFX. You can show up late here anytime you want. :wave:

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Were you late all the time? Cuz that's definitely a good reason to kick someone out. Nothing pisses me off more.


It's okay, Parah... we still love you on HCFX. You can show up late here anytime you want.
:wave:



No, I'm actually a very punctual person by nature.

Let's just say it involves girls and alcohol. No need to get into details.

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I'm in two bands. One (the one I play guiter in) is definately more active than the other (where I play drums), but the active one lets me justify my GAS and all the time spent on forums inducing more GAS. We play out about every six weeks.

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