Members Thunderbroom Posted July 22, 2005 Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 Is there a good way to do this? I went to see a friend's country band play their debut gig last night. I felt really badly for him. He's the best musician by far in the band and they had quite a few issues. He and I talked during breaks in between sets. I was honest with him as I knew he could handle it. He even pointed out a few things that I hadn't noticed initially. My bigger question is with the others in the band. I actually filled in with this band about 6 months ago on bass at a rehearsal at the request of my friend. The core of the band is the same. They were not prepared to play the songs that it was agreed upon that we'd do. I thought the singer had pitch problems and the drummer was not one of the better drummers that I had played with. After the rehearsal, I was asked to join the band (I wasn't auditioning). I politely declined. When I showed up at the gig, the singer acted as if I was her long lost friend. She's a really, really nice lady but is not much of a singer though I think she believes that she is. They were running her through a pitch corrector; it didn't help. In between sets, she asked me how she was doing. I smiled and was polite because I just didn't know what to do. I ended up asking her if she was having fun. When she said that she was, I said that she was doing fine and having fun is all that all that matters. I really wanted to be brutally honest (in a nice way) but just didn't know (still don't) how to do this. She gave me her email address so that I could contact her about my band's upcoming gig. I'm pretty certain when I contact her with the info that she'll ask what I thought about the gig. I want to be encouraging, but honest. I'm pretty certain that I won't have any contact with the guitarists (there were two in addition to my friend), but I could tell that they didn't know the songs. One of the guys was not even playing the same song on several occasions. It was pretty mind-boggling. It encourages me about my own country band. I hope that we can put on a nice, tight show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J the D Posted July 22, 2005 Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 Save your comments for your own band unless the other band specificlly asks you for your opinion. The other band doesn't want to hear it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted July 22, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 Originally posted by J the D Save your comments for your own band unless the other band specificlly asks you for your opinion. The other band doesn't want to hear it. If they do ask... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fretless Posted July 22, 2005 Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 you did the right thing , I would always be encouraging during a gig , but afterwards IF asked I would say what I thought , as respectfully as I could Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SA Rios Posted July 22, 2005 Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 I hate it when after a show I ask friends in the crownd how the show was and they saw "it was great, you rocked!" I would rather have them tell me what they really think think, like "what the hell was up with that second song, it sucked, never play that again!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassplayer7770 Posted July 22, 2005 Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 Originally posted by Thunderbroom They were running her through a pitch corrector; it didn't help. Sometimes I think pitch correctors HURT. In my experience, they haven't been very helpful. They've made a good singer sound awful... If somebody I didn't really know asked at a gig, I'd probably do what you did. If they ask afterward in an e-mail, I'll likely be more honest. I would certainly prefer honest feedback myself. The problem is most non-musicians in particular really don't hear mistakes unless they're obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fran da Man Posted July 22, 2005 Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 Ok TB, take yourself and your feelings out of the equation for a second...how did the crowd respond? as you watched the show unfold, did the place get emptier? was anyone dancing? did you overhear any comments made by other patrons? OK, now on to you...best thing to do (before crushing someones feelings) is to look for an overview "blanket" kind of way to say you didn't care for X as in..."well maybe you need to tweak the pitch corrector alittle bit for that one song" or stuff like "it looked like the guitarist lost his song list there for a minute" or "was this gig planned for in a rush?" or "you guys could have been alittle tighter on such and such song" Or you could be blunt and to the point as in..."what? did you guys first go over the songs on the spot?" or "for a female, you sure got some balls" or " how dare you call yourselves a band" or "well at least i was polite, i only giggled while everyone else was bent over with laugh cramps" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members basshunter Posted July 22, 2005 Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 The only constructive criticism I EVER give during a gig is sound related, as in "the vocals aren't loud enough" or "the 2nd guitar is drowning everyone out", things that can be fixed then and there. I never comment on anyone's playing/singing/etc., so I'd say you handled it right while you were there. As for handing out feedback beyond that, unless it is really close friends, I will not do it unless specifically asked. Even then, if I don't know the person well, I am unlikely to be too specific because I don't know how well a person might take it. In this case, I might say something like "Were you able to hear yourself alright in the monitors? It seemed you were slightly out of key at times" or something along those lines. Keeping it simple, not being discouraging in anyway, but planting a seed in the person's head that there is something that needs to be worked on. People you know well though, if you thinkn they can take it, be brutally honest. Often, you may find that they are already aware of the problem, they are looking for confirmation. I never had any problem with my old band when someone would come up and say "wow, you guys played really well tonight but John's voice was HORRIBLE!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mcantafi Posted July 22, 2005 Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 If you can't say anything nice . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sludgebass69 Posted July 22, 2005 Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 .....and you haven't even seen us play yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted July 22, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 Originally posted by sludgebass69 .....and you haven't even seen us play yet. My prediction is that you guys will be 10X better than the band I saw last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Random Posted July 22, 2005 Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 Originally posted by Thunderbroom My prediction is that you guys will be 10X better than the band I saw last night. Damning with faint praise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rikshaw Posted July 22, 2005 Members Share Posted July 22, 2005 my experience is that although they say that they want honestly most bands get offended when you are honest with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.