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Ignorant Band-Mates Stories


Tullsterx

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Quote Originally Posted by summit111

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"BTW, my drummer is such a dumbass he doesn't even know what a 2nd line beat is, much less how to play one, and thinks that New Orleans music is stoopid"


Don't know what a second line beat is!?!?! Find a tree and hang him!!!!

 

Can't, summit- it's his birthday smile.gif. But as of late he is showing a little more curiousity about drum styles outside of classic rock and country, so he may yet avoid the hanging. In a way it's refreshing to be around someone who just says what he likes, instead of saying all the right things about stuff they actually don't care much about, due to cultural correctness. He also blows off Allman Bros as "hippie music" (gasp). eek.gif
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Quote Originally Posted by Funkwire

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I'm a Becker/Fagen fan, so I started telling him about what they call the 'Mu' chord....with the 4th in the bass. "No, no, nothing like that," he said. "This was really weird. A B minor with a G in the bass."

 

??????


There is no fourth in a mu major chord. It's just an Add2 with voicings that tend to move the 2nd away from the 1 to decrease dissonance. Or am I missing something?


http://www.hakwright.co.uk/steelydan/mu-major.html

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Quote Originally Posted by guitarman

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I played sax, guitar and did backup vocals for a worship band and the one of the singers complained that I wasn't contributing enough vocally on some songs. The songs that I played sax on.confused.gif

 

When I was just starting out as a bass player I played in a worship band where the lead guitar player had a Peavey 200 watt amp with two 4x12 cabinets. He always had way too much bass in his tone and it was quite annoying to me. A few times I asked him to turn down his bass but he liked his "full" sound.


Add to this the fact that there was a standing wave problem in the sanctuary. The bass was significantly louder at the mixer than anywhere else and it was annoying the sound man who was the husband of the keyboard player.


So the volume of my bass was a constant irritant to everyone. Finally I nipped it in the bud. One day they had had enough and they kept telling me to turn it down so I finally started apologizing all over the place and continued to turn down until I turned it OFF - but continued playing. A half minute later they stopped the music again and asked me to turn down. That was when it ended. I showed them the volume knob on my amp.


Sometimes you just have to prove your point.

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Quote Originally Posted by SeniorBlues

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I played with a drummer who thought the count off at the beginning of the song was purely for the purpose of getting us to start at the same time on the down beat - sort of like "ready, set , GO!" After a year of trying to work with him, he still didn't get the idea of counting during the song as a way of learning accents. He was well into his 50s and had been playing and singing in bands for quite some time.

 

I finally quit a country band over something similar. The 40 year old drummer had been playing "since he was three" and had a ludicrously expensive custom kit. He could not get the beginning of "I like it, I love it" down. One day he, the lead guitarist, and me (bass and lead vocals on that song) rehearsed together just to get it down. We did the beginning LITERALLY over 100 times and he NEVER got it. For me it was the last straw. I was already annoyed that he would regularly start out songs at gigs at 20-50% faster than they had been played at rehearsal. It was quantifiable and qualifiable at that point.
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Quote Originally Posted by Kramerguy

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every singer who when not singing inbetween songs or verses, that wraps their hand around the ball of the mic and then lowers it and holds it against their leg.. which is all but a guarantee that it will feedback.. and then while it's feeding back and creating a staggering loop, they are looking around at everyone else, wondering where all that feed back is coming from...


This is pretty much every singer I've ever played in a band with, or ever will.

 

I played in a band with an excellent, but aging, keyboard player with an amazing musical career story. Unfortunately he was also getting pretty deaf. Well, he was no singer but we used him on a song as lead singer to give it a comical feel. Anyway, I'm standing next to him and his keyboard at a gig and suddenly this gawdawfullly loud "full organ" sound comes out of the PA and just keeps on. He had leaned forward against the keyboard and his gut was pressing down twenty keys or so. I had to grab him by the shoulder to get him off his keyboard. Ie was oblivious to it.
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Quote Originally Posted by Hegmatronicon

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I haven't got the first clue when you guys start talking chords, modes etc etc - so i'm ignorant. But it doesn't really stand in my way of doing what i do.

Obviously it would in certain situations.


I watched an interview with James Hetfield (of metallica for those who dont know) where he laughed and said when they were doing the string sections of "nothing else matters" and he was going to have to teach them the song - he was freaking out because he had no idea of the notes on the fretboard without really having to think about it.

 

I'm that way with bass. I played trombone for decades before picking up the bass. I can look at any note on sheet music and tell you what note it is. Obviously bass cleff is easier. I can also tell you what note every fret on my bass is. But I can't play bass by "reading" music. I swor I'd train myself. It's easy enough and just takes some time. However, I've yet to find myself in a situation where I need to.
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Quote Originally Posted by testuser

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But I can't play bass by "reading" music. I swor I'd train myself. It's easy enough and just takes some time. However, I've yet to find myself in a situation where I need to.

 

See if you can get a seat in Big Band. You won't play what's on the sheet a lot of the time, but you'll definitely want to be able to read it.
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Quote Originally Posted by wesg

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See if you can get a seat in Big Band. You won't play what's on the sheet a lot of the time, but you'll definitely want to be able to read it.

 

Funny you mention that. An opportunity to play bass for a big band actually happened after I had been playing for a couple of years. It is what sparked the interest in reading sheet music. I was thinking about it when I posted.


I played trombone in stage band in high school and college, and even the Boeing stage band when I worked there. But I discovered I'm really not interested in playing bass in a big band, though I did play bass in a small band with a horn section. We did old standards quite a bit, but I got to play my own part. The rigidity of the bass part in big band music is what turns me off. But it is just a personal preference. When I listen to big band stuff, I notice I'm focused on the horns, not the bass. With rock, country and pop, I have always focused on the bass the most. It's why that is where I love playing the bass.


And the reason I don't play upright is I'm too old to learn it at a proficient level and I don't want the commitment of playing something so danged large. The older I get, the more economical I become with my "free" time. It's like money. It is limited and must be budgeted. I "spend" it where it will get the most bang.

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Quote Originally Posted by testuser

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I'm that way with bass. I played trombone for decades before picking up the bass. I can look at any note on sheet music and tell you what note it is. Obviously bass cleff is easier. I can also tell you what note every fret on my bass is. But I can't play bass by "reading" music. I swor I'd train myself. It's easy enough and just takes some time. However, I've yet to find myself in a situation where I need to.

 

Kinda similar deal here, except I played piano and trumpet.


I can barely read bass clef now, but at times over the years I've sat down with sheet music and it does start coming back.

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I dont ever discuss "key signatures" anymore. Or chord names for that matter. Too contentious. I'll ask for the first chord and then play it by numbers in the key sig I prefer to see it in. Same with chords: too many ways to label a chord and get in pissing matches. As long as the chord tones are there I'm cool.


Music theory is meant to enhance communication but labeling conventions can differ so widely, and some use it as a bludgeon to "win" some kind of argument. I'm not down with that.

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Quote Originally Posted by Actionsquid

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Drummer problems aside, that's not a bad description of "one drop" reggae rhythms.

 

I confess that, as a bass player, I am very challenged by the bass lines in reggae. Basically, I tend to play too many notes. But since I'm not really a big fan of reggae, it's not really an issue. And if I was a big fan, it would probably not be an issue, for the opposite reason.
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Quote Originally Posted by wades_keys

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I dont ever discuss "key signatures" anymore. Or chord names for that matter. Too contentious. I'll ask for the first chord and then play it by numbers in the key sig I prefer to see it in. Same with chords: too many ways to label a chord and get in pissing matches. As long as the chord tones are there I'm cool.


Music theory is meant to enhance communication but labeling conventions can differ so widely, and some use it as a bludgeon to "win" some kind of argument. I'm not down with that.

 

HA! As the bass player I probably know more about music theory than the rest of most of the members of bands I've been in, simply because I'm a curious guy. But I've played with some amazing musicians and they get along just fine with what they do know. If I need to know all the terminology about what I'm doing, I can get that at my day job in IT. Music is supposed to be fun.


IOW, I completely agree.

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re Big Band rigity - I think you'd be surprised. Big Band rhythm sections are generally expected by the arranger to do their own thing much of the time; strict adherence to charts IME is for high school stuff. That's certainly the case for the piano parts!


re upright - one of the guys I play with has an upright electric with no body and a scale about the size of a cello neck. And it sounds amazing through his little class D bass amp.


re chord names - I've figured out to avoid this one for the most part... C6? Am7? Who gives a {censored} what the piano and guitars are playing, the bass gets to decide what it is, we just get to decorate it. And I'm totally okay with that, bass player wins the "what is the bass note" argument hands down every time.

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Quote Originally Posted by cephus

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How many times have you played with a bass player who you had to translate the key to "what fret"?


I had a guy who counted so badly, that I had to tell him "what dot".

 

2nd fret=G undotted

4thfret=A undotted

6thfret=B undotted


dont ask

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After last night's rehearsals, I've got a couple dozen, but I'm not going into them in order to try and keep my blood pressure down today.


One had to do with the frontman confirming that I was able to cover the backups on a certain song, and then not 15 minutes later, during a heated debate around learning/remembering material (one song) we had all committed to for last night, he basically implied that because I'm the drummer, I don't need to worry about being in key, knowing melodies, etc.

All I have to do is keep time.


I told him I'd start playing polka beats and see how that works out.


Never mind the fact that the song we had committed to, which he was unprepared for, was decided on more than two months ago...

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Quote Originally Posted by kmart

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All I have to do is keep time.

 

Ha been there done that. Yup one two three four all drummers need to know right?


and I love it when they insist on showing me the beat or when they "speak" the beat.


Sometimes you can do the exact beat and guitar player will say it's wrong.


Next time I'd do that polka beat and say well you just said keep time, didn't say anything about the right beat.

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Not going to happen.


We gig our big annual holiday charity gig tomorrow night. After that, nothing on the books. This is a side project which typically plays half a dozen gigs a year tops. I also play in some side projects of the side project with the same guy, and that counts for another 6-10 gigs of varying quality, but everything that happened last night was the norm for playing with him. It just happened to come to a head because after 3-4 years of playing with him on and off...it was time for it to come to a head. Sometimes, it just is what it is.


Out of about 20 things he said/argued, only one of them made a lick of actual sense AND was relevant: this is supposed to be fun.

He's right, and it ain't, no has it been for a while.


After Saturday, I'm done with him, and if that means all the other side gigs dry up, so be it.

I've been playing with my main band for close to three full years, and it's way more satisfying.

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Quote Originally Posted by nchangin

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and I love it when they insist on showing me the beat or when they "speak" the beat.

 

I only do that when I see the "huh?" look on their face when I talk about a song on the list we've been playing...well, for months now...and I have to describe the intro. Sometimes my drummer will actually play the wrong song for the right band, so then I'll have to switch songs right away. facepalm.gif


I do admit that I find it irritating when drummers turn the tables and try to go "na na na-nuh nah" when they are describing how the guitar part is supposed to go for me. icon_lol.gif

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Quote Originally Posted by kmart

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Out of about 20 things he said/argued, only one of them made a lick of actual sense AND was relevant: this is supposed to be fun.

He's right, and it ain't, no has it been for a while.


After Saturday, I'm done with him, and if that means all the other side gigs dry up, so be it.

I've been playing with my main band for close to three full years, and it's way more satisfying.

 

This is the right attitude. No reason to keep yourself in a miserable situation if you have exhausted all other options of trying to communicate with him. Sometimes, it's just an ill fit. No biggie in the end.
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Writing a new song in my band, just a few runs into it as we've developed the music and arrangement, and the singer is now writing melody and lyrics.


I like it when, during the second time we go through it with her singing, she goes "so the part where I go ______"...


...we kind of looked at her for a second before saying "I have no idea where that is nor why you'd think I know that." biggrin.gif


As always, it's all about communication, though. She's a total rookie.

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