50th class reunion gig. What to play?

[AJ6stringsting]

I'm one of those two hand / 8 fingered tapping, fretboard hand like Allan Holdsworth, picking hand like Yngwie Malmsteen, shredder's from the 1980's.

When I did sound checks at clubs and venues, I loved it when some musicians would show up and jam with me.

Many of them expanded my musical vocabulary jamming on Beatles, Stones and other styles of Rock from the 50's and 1960's.

That one guy, blew a gasket about some of the advice given to him .... Personally, I would not have taken it as an insult, I would have taken it as an opinion / advice to learn and grow from.

[AJ6stringsting]

Well, if you don't want people to key in on your vocals, you should probably be playing instrumentals. Vocals are always going to be the thing people pay the most attention to. People hum melodies and sing lyrics. Not the bass part.

 

I was in a band with mediocre vocalist, he was there when the band first formed.

He later got replaced with a great vocalist, very reminiscent of Joe Lynn Turner of Rainbow fame.

Next thing we knew, we started getting more gigs and respect.

Vocals will always make or break a band !!!! 👍

[daddymack]

Come down and visit!!

Fresno is like the Garden of Eden by comparison to LA...only 2 people there, and a snake

[daddymack]

and yet...not in your sig?

[Vito Corleone]

Ok fine.

[Vito Corleone]

I'm one of those two hand / 8 fingered tapping, fretboard hand like Allan Holdsworth, picking hand like Yngwie Malmsteen, shredder's from the 1980's.

When I did sound checks at clubs and venues, I loved it when some musicians would show up and jam with me.

Many of them expanded my musical vocabulary jamming on Beatles, Stones and other styles of Rock from the 50's and 1960's.

That one guy, blew a gasket about some of the advice given to him .... Personally, I would not have taken it as an insult, I would have taken it as an opinion / advice to learn and grow from.

 

 

being able to look at yourself objectively and take criticism is hard to do but so necessary if you're ever going to move forward.

 

Too many people seem to come to this forum looking for opinions and advice but then seem to really only want to be told "I don't see anything wrong with your video! You guys are great!" or they just want easy fixes: "just tell the bass player to wear some different shoes and turn up the guitar in the mix and the gigs will be flowing in!. Or just want their biases confirmed: "Yep. It's all the fault of the idiot clubowner!"

 

It's a lot harder to listen to the REAL stuff.

[daddymack]

fake news!

[sirfun]

Guido How do I find the link to the videe?

 

buck ?? )

 

[chord123]

This band is replacing us for the high school reunion dance. Goodbye $900 gig. Our singer manipulated me into revealing the contact person so he could give my gig to this band. How do they compare to the band that played the casino.? Better or worse? Don' worry I dpn't care if you are hard on them. Say what you say.They are not my band. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb...2PmNe5XXKXlr7g

[Vito Corleone]

How do they compare to the band that played the casino.? Better or worse? Don' worry I dpn't care if you are hard on them.

 

You're fine if people are too hard on someone else's band? Just don't be critical of yours?

 

Say what you say.They are not my band. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb...2PmNe5XXKXlr7g

 

 

Their singer can at least reasonably carry a tune and the drummer's meter is pretty solid. Singer has decent range doing the falsetto stuff on "Runaway" and such. They seem to know a fair amount of 60s songs which will be good for this gig. They aren't the most dynamic looking or sounding band, but the decent lead vocals and harmonies and solid-enough-beat-to-dance-to make them acceptable for what they are doing, IMO.

[Vito Corleone]

This band is replacing us for the high school reunion dance. Goodbye $900 gig.

 

​You guys aren't ready for a $900 gig. And that isn't even considering that you don't have enough of the right material for this gig and don't have the ability to learn the right material quickly enough. BY YOUR OWN ADMISSION.

 

You were in way over your head on this one. Consider it a blessing, not a loss.

 

 

Our singer manipulated me into revealing the contact person so he could give my gig to this band.

 

​He "manipulated" you into "revealing" the contact person? "YOUR gig"? What was your plan? To keep it secret so that either you guys get the gig or no one does at all? Making it as hard as possible for them to find another band? Or just making sure that THIS band didn't get the gig?

 

​If you guys can't do the gig (and you can't) the LEAST you can do is point the people nice enough to even consider hiring your band in the direction of finding another band.

 

It isn't YOUR gig. It belongs to the people hiring the band and writing the check.

 

​Vindictiveness and pettiness aren't good traits in any aspect of life. They certainly aren't going to work out well for you in this business. Especially if you're just starting out.

[modulusman]

The band that got the gig is way better. The singer is actually pretty good I think. I thought they did a reasonably good job on Loving touching squeezing and hold on loosely

 

[daddymack]

This band is replacing us for the high school reunion dance. Goodbye $900 gig. Our singer manipulated me into revealing the contact person so he could give my gig to this band. How do they compare to the band that played the casino.? Better or worse? Don' worry I dpn't care if you are hard on them. Say what you say.They are not my band. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb...2PmNe5XXKXlr7g

 

Interesting phrasing...'manipulated'...'my gig'? So Mike, the great guy, 'manipulated' you into letting 'your' gig go to a more qualified/appropriate band? So even Mike realizes what you don't?

 

I could be 'hard' [read: honest] on that band as well, but they are not here asking for advice or help, so I've got nothing to say about them except they are a better band than anything you posted of your band's casino or club material. They have a competent guitarist, a vocalist who stays on key and the beat, and a drummer who is capable of getting through an entire song without a hiccup. Definitely a much better choice for that reunion gig, hands down, not even close. If you can't tell the difference, you are deaf, in denial or both.

 

Chord, if you are the KB player, try and get in with these guys!!! Having a full time keys player [i see keys in front of the bassist, but didn't see them get used] would be a great option for that band...and an opportunity for you to play with better players!

[thatsbunk]

I don't mean to pile on here, but I just finished reading this thread & I found your band's clips tough to get through. Your vocalist cannot carry a tune & the rest of the band doesn't seem to have any cohesiveness. You definitely need to work on collective chops before considering asking for compensation for your efforts. I agree with what others have mentioned about vocals being the most important part of a band. I'm just an average musician, but we do ok because we have an above average vocalist.

 

The band that "replaced" you seems much tighter & more listenable than yours. Moreover, the audience in the clips appear to be enjoying the music. nobody's up in any of your clips which should tell you something.

I'm a bit surprised that you were offered the job in the first place. Didn't you have to audition?

[chord123]

Nobody is up in any of our clips. Oh yeah buddy Watch this. Taking Care of Buisness

I believe we were hired because of this video of Johnny B Goode I believe this,https://youtu.be/TM145UM4E-M

This is the other vocalist in the band, Is he better? "Tush"

[modulusman]

Nobody is up in any of our clips. Oh yeah buddy Watch this. Taking Care of Buisness

I believe we were hired because of this video of Johnny B Goode I believe this,https://youtu.be/TM145UM4E-M

This is the other vocalist in the band, Is he better? "Tush"

 

​ Wow a whole 5 people dancing. You guys slaughter the sh*t out of taking care of business. Turns into a total train wreck during the breakdown. If it any consolation I do like your choice of PA speakers

[daddymack]

Nobody is up in any of our clips. Oh yeah buddy Watch this. Taking Care of Buisness

I believe we were hired because of this video of Johnny B Goode I believe this,https://youtu.be/TM145UM4E-M

This is the other vocalist in the band, Is he better? "Tush"

 

I have to admit I was wrong...after seeing the Tush vid, your bassist should NOT be the lead vocalist. His backing vocals on JBG are so off it is crazy. I have to wonder how long it took your guitarist to almost get JBG...but he comes back in in the wrong key. He fares better on Carol, but still...

Plus, on Tush, both guitarists appear to start soloing at the same time...? The 'rhythm' guitarist seems to be clueless throughout most of the videos...watching his right hand, no rhythmic sense..and his bizarre solo on Sweet Home Alabama, which has such a sad ending...

 

I saw 3 people up in front of the stage in the TCoB vid, impressive compared to the club videos where no one dances. [h=1]I saw a guy in a red coat walk out of the club during 'Keep your Hands to Yourself', can't say as I blame him...[/h]

Chord, you are just digging a deeper hole here. Seriously, you guys are not ready to be out of the garage. Have fun, but don't inflict this level of playing on the public.

 

[Vito Corleone]

Nobody is up in any of our clips. Oh yeah buddy Watch this. Taking Care of Buisness

 

​Five people. Whom I feel pretty sorry for watching them trying to find the downbeat in order to try and dance along to the music.

 

And, just for the record, when you're counting people on the dance floor or even in attendance? Wives and close personal friends don't count.

 

This is the other vocalist in the band, Is he better? "Tush"

 

​Not on this track. This song is out of his range at the very least. He's probably ​a better singer than your other guy, but that's such a low bar that it's irrelevant. Neither guy should be the lead vocalist of any band that expects to be paid to perform.

 

​And, to be perfectly honest, the worst part of all might be that you feel you need to ask these questions of other people. If you are actually unable to listen to these videos and not hear the problems then you obviously don't have enough of a musical ear to be playing music and performing. Certainly not in public.

 

​I get that it is easy to be so personally involved with the music and the rehearsal process and the people involved that you can lose objectivity and believe it sounds better than it actually does. Everyone is probably guilty of that to some degree. Stepping back and hearing and seeing things objectively CAN be difficult sometimes.

 

​But in a case such as this? You've heard good singers sing these songs before. Your singers are not good. Honestly, they aren't even singers. Some of the very worst karaoke singers I've seen get up and babble into a mic are better. The ubiquitous drunken fool who jumps up on stage with us and starts screaming into an open mic before the sound guy can pull down the fader and we unceremoniously boot him off the stage is often better than the guys in your band.

 

​Am I being harsh? Yes. But anything less wouldn't be honest. Maybe the mistake here was so many people being nice and {censored}-footing around with the appraisals when they should have been more honest with you about it.

 

​If these guys are your friends and you want to have fun playing in a band together? Fine. Keep in at home though. Don't do this in public unless you are able and wiling to work quite hard at being significantly better.

[modulusman]

As Guido mentioned how can you not tell that your singer sucks by listening to a recording? If you can't hear the difference you might want to take up another hobby.