Members JacieFB Posted October 27, 2005 Members Share Posted October 27, 2005 So, I'm hard at work today tabbing out some of my bands songs for a potential new guitarist. This is complicated by the fact that I'm doing it mostly by memory(I have a guitar at work, but I don't dare pick it up for more than a couple of minutes at a time so as to not look like I'm screwing around too badly)...oh, and I'm the bassist!!!!! So what do you all think? Is this a fruitless exercise? Should a potential guitarist be able to do this for him/herself? The perks are that I didn't write all of the guitar parts and I'm learning a bit about the stuff as I do it. More importantly, this guy is young and very excited about the same goals that we have as a band: touring. I'm hoping that this also means he's moldable. But he's definately not up to the same level of musicanship as the drummer and me. I've always struggled with wanting to have a guitarist that is a better guitarist than I am, but at the same time, still wants to work with my ideas primarily. Often a tough fence to sit on. Related: how do you tell someone that their guitar tone really sucks and won't cut it in a "pro" gigging environment? It's a strange one...a nice Strat (60's reissued), but it's been bastardized with the Kirk Hammet(sp?) EMG's. He didn't bring his amp the first night and he tried that thing thru my JCM 900...good Gawd...my Marshall about shat itself with grainy, gritty treble and feedback. Had him plug into my Trem-O-Verb combo and it didn't sound too bad...until he plugged in his Digitech Multi-Effects pedal and Wah-Wah. Am I the only one that feels like putting a $100 computer chip in front of a Boogie or a nice Marshall is just an abomination? How do I tell someone this? And how the hell do I EQ to make that EMG sound good? So this turned out longer than I expected...but please weigh in on all topics... Thanks! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caveman Posted October 27, 2005 Members Share Posted October 27, 2005 Give him a recording of what he needs to learn and show him or give him tab on anything he gets stuck on. I would be very cautious of anyone that I had to write it all out for. I want people that can pull thier own weight and I don't have to carry. Just tell him that his tone doesn't fit in with what the band is trying to do and ask him if he still has the orignal pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted October 27, 2005 Moderators Share Posted October 27, 2005 Originally posted by caveman Give him a recording of what he needs to learn and show him or give him tab on anything he gets stuck on. I would be very cautious of anyone that I had to write it all out for. I want people that can pull thier own weight and I don't have to carry.Just tell him that his tone doesn't fit in with what the band is trying to do and ask him if he still has the orignal pickups. pretty much right on...give him the recording, tell him the key and the changes, and let him prove he can do his job! Since he is 'young', he is still following his 'heroes'. Be honest with him about his tone. Even if does not work out, you will have helped him for the future. Depending on the type of music, and the player, I would agree that putting anything between a quality guitar and a quality amp except for a quality patchcord would be very wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FlogRock Posted October 28, 2005 Members Share Posted October 28, 2005 Can't you just get a better guitarist? You should just give him a recording with only the guitar parts/where the guitar parts are very clear. If you use complicated jazz chords, you can give those, and if you use very fast licks you can play those slower. Any half decent guitarist should be able to take it from there. About the tone: I know exactly what you mean! Those {censored}ty Digitech/Zoom pedals... If he agrees that the tone is not ideal, then you can wait for him to buy better stuff. If he thinks he currently has godly tone, he probably isn't very musical... Draw your own conclusion... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JacieFB Posted October 28, 2005 Author Members Share Posted October 28, 2005 Yeah, all of your feedback has been playing through my head as I tabbed and typed. Luckily, we have at least put a time limit on all of this. I agree and appreciate it all. We're going to decide within 2 weeks. That way we're not stringing anyone along. I haven't talked to the drummer yet about his our last audition with the guy. I'll be interested to hear what he thinks. We're going to have to be very upfront about the guitar tone. He's definitely improving quickly, but enough? Well, we still have another week or so to figure out how driven he is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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