When looking at new bandmembers are you more interested in chemistry or ability?

[squealie]

Originally posted by THX1138 Give me a team player over a hotshot anyday.

 

 

You're fired.

[THX1138]

Originally posted by squealie You're fired.

 

 

Piss off hotshot.

[Knottyhed]

Originally posted by FlogRock A lot of you seem to take 'basic competence' for granted... Don't you ever meet drummers that rush whenever they play live, bassists that play before the beat, sloppy lead guitarists, singers that do not always sing in tune...? I do. But I agree that once this basic competence is covered, you rarely need someone with insane chops.

Yeh - but I think that's what is meant by basic competence? Staying in key and staying in time... least that's what i took it to mean.

[uitar9]

We approach our amateur band and our sunday afternoon jam practice seriously, as serious as golf.

There have been folks coming and going over the past year but a core 4 have remained.

It appears we need someone who is willing to share tune selection, isn't a genre snob, has a baseline level of competance, learns the songs, shows up for practice and isn't an ashole.

The musc is sounding great and we get along, so far

Now to make some money and {censored} up the relationships

[SpacedCowboy]

Originally posted by squealie You're fired.

Originally posted by THX1138 Piss off hotshot.

Both of you quit riding my coat-tails.


Back On topic: A great athelete doesn't a great team player make.

[elsongs]

A band is A LOT like being in a relationship with someone. There's elements of things like communication, trust, etc. But overall it's about chemistry and compatibility.

You can be in a relationship with someone who is extrmely hot and loves to f*ck, but if they're not compatible with you it's not gonna work out.

[elsongs]

Back On topic: A great athelete doesn't a great team player make.

 

 

Great analogy. cough*KobeBryant*cough.

[THX1138]

Originally posted by elsongs Great analogy. cough*KobeBryant*cough.

 

 

Indeed. cough*TerrellOwens*cough

[ratthedd]

Originally posted by elsongs A band is A LOT like being in a relationship with someone. There's elements of things like communication, trust, etc. But overall it's about chemistry and compatibility. You can be in a relationship with someone who is extrmely hot and loves to f*ck, but if they're not compatible with you it's not gonna work out.

...and when you find a band member who's extremely hot and loves to f*ck, then you get some very interesting practice sessions.

YOU: Honey, I'm off to band practice, see you in a few hours...
YOUR HONEY: Again? That's the fourth time this week... ...and it's only Sunday...


:D

[URSavage]

I think it

[elsongs]

Originally posted by ratthedd ...and when you find a band member who's extremely hot and loves to f*ck, then you get some very interesting practice sessions. YOU: Honey, I'm off to band practice, see you in a few hours... YOUR HONEY: Again? That's the fourth time this week... ...and it's only Sunday... :D

Haha. Most of the time when that happens, it works REALLY WELL for a while, then it fizzles out, and the relationship ends horribly - see Ike & Tina, Sonny & Cher, etc.

Sometimes, the romance is gone but the working relationship continues - i.e. Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics.

But some people have been able to make it work - i.e. Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa, Pat Benatar and Neil Giuraldo, Tom Baily and Alannah Curie of the Thompson Twins, Ashford and Simpson...

[KeysBear]

Originally posted by ratthedd ...and when you find a band member who's extremely hot and loves to f*ck, then you get some very interesting practice sessions.

That ruined (from my perspective) a great band I was in when the guitarist started banging the girl singer. When they broke up (because he wouldn't leave his wife) she quit the band.

[HuskerDude]

Originally posted by Knottyhed I think you can get away with a mediocre bassist, rythmn guitarist or drummer more than you can a mediocre singer or perhaps to a lesser extent a mediocre lead guitarist

 

 

I tend to feel quite the opposite. I can do without flashy lead guitar as long as the rhythm section is tight and swinging. I feel a stong bassist and drummer are what take a band from being OK to great.

 

As far as the thread topic goes, I'd rather play with a bunch of guys I like than a bunch of "pros" who could care less about the band. It always seems like good bands are worth far more than the sum of their parts.

[SpacedCowboy]

Originally posted by KeysBear That ruined (from my perspective) a great band I was in when the guitarist started banging the girl singer. When they broke up (because he wouldn't leave his wife) she quit the band.

 

 

I can believe it...what's that old saying?

 

"Don't {censored} where you eat!":mad:

[jahozer]

Originally posted by Lee Flier I don't agree about the drummer. I've long held that no matter how good everybody else is, a band is really only as good as its drummer. And a great drummer can cover a multitude of a band's sins. Now that said, a "great drummer" does not mean necessarily "a flashy drummer" (depending on your musical style of course). But you could line up 10 different drummers and have them even just play a straight backbeat and it will sound different between the 10 of them. A great drummer's ability is not always obvious until you play with a lesser drummer and realize how un-enjoyable the whole experience of playing is by comparison.

 

COmpletely agree. I just had to let my drummer go tonight. Nice guy, and we ain't in it for the money, but when the drummer is "off" people subconciously know. They can't put their finger on it, but internally know what a steady beat is. They just come away thinking, "something was wrong with that band". I feel bad, but I also feel as though a great weight has been lifted.

[MrKnobs]

If you don't have a good rhythm section, great songs, and a good singer, you have nothing. I'm a guitarist, but I'd be the first to say that virtuouso guitar is unnecessary to a successful pop band. Competence is all that's required.

So it's not so simple as chemistry vs. ability. A person that you like but can't play is better kept as a friend than as a bandmate. But it's equally true that someone that constantly causes trouble cancels out whatever ability they might have.

In music, as in any job, it's all about the three "A"s:

Attendance: Nothing else matters if you don't show up,

Attitude: Doesn't matter how good you are if no one wants to work with you,

Ability: You have to be able to play at a sufficient level of proficiency or you're wasting everyone's time including your own.

This is why I don't do democracy bands anymore. It removes the interpersonal conflict element and focuses on getting the job done, which is always a great song sung well backed up by sufficient musicianship to get the song across.

Terry D.

[Knottyhed]

Originally posted by Lee Flier I don't agree about the drummer. I've long held that no matter how good everybody else is, a band is really only as good as its drummer. And a great drummer can cover a multitude of a band's sins. Now that said, a "great drummer" does not mean necessarily "a flashy drummer" (depending on your musical style of course). But you could line up 10 different drummers and have them even just play a straight backbeat and it will sound different between the 10 of them. A great drummer's ability is not always obvious until you play with a lesser drummer and realize how un-enjoyable the whole experience of playing is by comparison.

 

 

I must admit, i'm no expert on the drums - so i can only recognise a great drummer when he's being flashy. Alot of people slate Ringo Starr's drumming - he wasn't flash, but what he did always fitted right. Maybe you're right and this isn't just basic competence. Sounds like we need to define what makes a great player as well as "basic competence" - lol.

[KeysBear]

On the subject of drummers -
From time to time we have guest drummers sit in with the band and three out of four will play so loudly that you can't hear anything else on stage. I turned to the last one that did this and gave him some hand signals to ease off. He totally ignored me so when the song was over I went back and escorted him off the stage. Soooo, I say a good drummer not only keeps steady time but pays attention to dynamics.
BTW, a decent drummer can be helped along a bit by a great bassist. If your drummer and your bassist are both a little lame I can't imagine that you'd have a decent sound.
Think of the sound the Police got on stage with Stewart Copeland playing drums. It was a very full sound even when the bass and guitar lines were sparse and simple. Good drummers make it happen.

[Knottyhed]

Originally posted by KeysBear On the subject of drummers - From time to time we have guest drummers sit in with the band and three out of four will play so loudly that you can't hear anything else on stage. I turned to the last one that did this and gave him some hand signals to ease off. He totally ignored me so when the song was over I went back and escorted him off the stage. Soooo, I say a good drummer not only keeps steady time but pays attention to dynamics. BTW, a decent drummer can be helped along a bit by a great bassist. If your drummer and your bassist are both a little lame I can't imagine that you'd have a decent sound. Think of the sound the Police got on stage with Stewart Copeland playing drums. It was a very full sound even when the bass and guitar lines were sparse and simple. Good drummers make it happen.

Funny - it's usually the guitarist that gets accused of drowning everybody out .

[SpacedCowboy]

Originally posted by Lee Flier I don't agree about the drummer. I've long held that no matter how good everybody else is, a band is really only as good as its drummer. And a great drummer can cover a multitude of a band's sins.

OK, I'm depressed now...

[srsfallriver]

chemistry = 60%, ability = 40%