Members Dr. T Posted November 26, 2005 Members Share Posted November 26, 2005 I'm currently in a 5 piece blues/jam/experimental band right now. We recently added a singer to our band, who has one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. The only problem is... he demands to play guitar. And well... he isn't that great. He claims he cannot sing unless he is doing something with his hands . We want to tell him to put the guitar away and focus on his singing... but we don't want him to quit. Also, the lead guitarist is starting to get on mine and the bassist's nerves. He's an amazing guitarist, but we want him to hold back sometimes. He has several chances to solo/demonstrate his talent, but there are times when soloing is unnecessary and doesn't sound good but he insists on doing it anyways. And also - how do you flat out tell the lead guitarist that his idea for a song sounds like a complete rip off of SRVs lenny and you don't want to do it? Help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members murderdoll666 Posted November 26, 2005 Members Share Posted November 26, 2005 okay, as for the vocalist, you have a few options. most of them involve having him do some lines underneath yourself and your lead player. You're and experimental group, wing it. if it doesn't sound good, claim you're embarking on a freeform jazz odyssey. or that you're covering sonic youth. as for the lead player, i don't think there's much you can do other than tell him that soloing constantly sounds like crap. you don't have to be confrontational, but the problem's not gonna get solved unless you talk to him. as for the srv thing, tell him it sounds like lenny, or get your lead singer to sing lenny overtop of it, for a joke . it'll probably embarrass him so much that he won't want to do the song anyway. yep, people are assholes. good luck sorting this out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted November 26, 2005 Members Share Posted November 26, 2005 Tell the singer to play acoustic...it'll give a nice sonic texture to the overall sound. Help him get better, too. Tell the SRV-wannabe that there's already plenty out there and they all sound like a poor imitation of Hendrix and you'd hate to have to take a baseball bat to his fingers...tell him "less is more"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jimi Ray Halen Posted November 26, 2005 Members Share Posted November 26, 2005 Giving the singer acoustic duties is good. But if he isn't that skilled at acoustic it could be harder than electric for him. Tell him to concentrate mostly on singing because he has a great voice and keep his playing to a minimum. He can always keep it on as a prop or security blanket. Tell the lead guy that you love his playing but part of being truly excellent is knowing when not to play, when to lay back, when to let it fly, etc. Dynamics. He shouldn't step on anybody. He'll get his solos. Tell the other guy that it's great that he is learning to write but that song sounds like Lenny. (an instrumental) That this happens to a lot of writers and it's part of learning to write. He'll realize that you're right sooner or later. Try to be positive and complimentary in pointing out their strengths first. Then the criticism (in the form of suggestions) is easier to take. Talk to them separately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members madjack Posted November 27, 2005 Members Share Posted November 27, 2005 Originally posted by Jimi Ray Halen Tell the other guy that it's great that he is learning to write but that song sounds like Lenny. (an instrumental) That this happens to a lot of writers and it's part of learning to write. He'll realize that you're right sooner or later. Remind him of Harrison's My Sweet Lord plagairizing He's So Fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HuskerDude Posted November 27, 2005 Members Share Posted November 27, 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dr. T Posted November 27, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 27, 2005 Thanks for the help guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members e-b-e Posted November 27, 2005 Members Share Posted November 27, 2005 Your singer obviously wants/needs to play guitar. You said he wasn't that good, maybe he can take some lessons? Maybe your lead guitarist who you said is very good can help him out? As per your lead guitarist... if a song/part of a song doesn't call for a solo, it shouldn't have one. You gotta play for the song! Sometimes less is more. Playing with others is different than noodling around by yourself. You are playing together to be heard as a group, not as 4 people playing a song and one other guy doing solos on top of it. If his song sounds like another song, tell him! If he insists it doesn't, maybe show the similiarities in notes/chords/structure/whatever to the other song. If it's a complete rip of another tune, maybe make some sound clips of each of them, and compare. A mp3 of one song panned hard in one channel and song #2 in the other channel would be kind of amusing if it would prove your point. A former bandmate had an 'original' song that (to me) sounded just like "Far Behind" by Candlebox. I referred to it as 'that Candlebox tune ya wrote' and would play the drum beat to Far Behind. To me it's what fit the song. Needless to say we didn't play the song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Knottyhed Posted November 27, 2005 Members Share Posted November 27, 2005 Originally posted by Dr. T I'm currently in a 5 piece blues/jam/experimental band right now. We recently added a singer to our band, who has one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. The only problem is... he demands to play guitar. And well... he isn't that great. He claims he cannot sing unless he is doing something with his hands . We want to tell him to put the guitar away and focus on his singing... but we don't want him to quit. Well if that's his argument - why not just turn his guitar down? he gets something to do with his hands and it wont sound crap... he probably feels awkward on stage without the guitar to hide behind at a guess. Originally posted by Dr. T Also, the lead guitarist is starting to get on mine and the bassist's nerves. He's an amazing guitarist, but we want him to hold back sometimes. He has several chances to solo/demonstrate his talent, but there are times when soloing is unnecessary and doesn't sound good but he insists on doing it anyways. And also - how do you flat out tell the lead guitarist that his idea for a song sounds like a complete rip off of SRVs lenny and you don't want to do it? Help? Just tell him - straight out, face to face that his song sounds like a rip off of something else and that at certain points in the song you don't think there should be a solo. You're a band - not a one man show and have gotta be able to communicate with one another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caveman Posted November 27, 2005 Members Share Posted November 27, 2005 There used to be a local country band that had a great singer with a guitar that he couldn't play at all. The guitar had never even been tuned since he bought it. All it was to him was a prop to make him look cool. The two real guitar players in the band stayed bent out of shape because he was pretending to do what they had spent years to "master". The fact that the guy was a great singer and front man didn't matter one whit. The final nail hit the coffin when the singer realized that he didn't have a "wire" hanging out of his guitar and plugged in. The best country band in the area broke up and everybody went back to selling cars and digging ditches. Perhaps your singer would use his guitar as a prop. It wouldn't be the first or last time it's been done. e-b-e is right on, " As per your lead guitarist... if a song/part of a song doesn't call for a solo, it shouldn't have one. You gotta play for the song! Sometimes less is more. Playing with others is different than noodling around by yourself. You are playing together to be heard as a group, not as 4 people playing a song and one other guy doing solos on top of it". As far as one song sounding like another goes: I haven't heard anything that you could dance to that was truly original since the early 80s. Everything is derived from your influences and you have to live with it. If something sounds to close then you do a little rewriting. Maybe a different drum part would do the trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HuskerDude Posted November 27, 2005 Members Share Posted November 27, 2005 If the guitarist isn't playing what he's supposed to, and can't hear that he's wanking unnecessarily, fire his ass. There are a million and one guitar players out there, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting somebody who can play rock solos. If he's getting on your nerves, a 14 hour trip between gigs in a small van is going to lead to his untimely death someday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Knottyhed Posted November 28, 2005 Members Share Posted November 28, 2005 Too true - as a lead guitarist I reckon good bassists and good drummers are much harder to find than good lead guitarists. Everyone and their dog wants to play lead guitar and there's alot of people that learnt to do it. Not many people seem prepared to put the time in for doing the less glamourous, but no easier task of playing really killer bass guitar and not many people's parents will buy them a drum kit when they're a kid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cyberponch Posted November 29, 2005 Members Share Posted November 29, 2005 Less is more.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted November 29, 2005 Moderators Share Posted November 29, 2005 For the singer, put an acoustic in his hands, plug him in and turn his amp down low....like on 1 He will hear the Acoustic response since it is in his hands, but no one else need be subjected to it. And spend some time teaching him how to improve his skillset. As for the non-stop wanking leadplayer...you should stop playing your guitar when he's wanking, so that it is real obvious to everyone what he is doing. Most wankers will suddenly realize that when they don't have a rhythm player to carry them that their {censored} sounds thin... I used to do that to our second guitarist...he was supposed to be the rhythm player...but he would wank away during vocal lines, other peoples solos, etc., and I was forced to play the rhythmparts, so I would just stop playing. Once all he heard was his wanking...he'd stop...of course, once we started gigging regularly, I finally did fire his ass.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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