Ever go to an audition and the band doesn't know the songs?

[guitarman3001]

Ever go to an audition and the band doesn't know the songs they told you to learn?

 

Just got back from one. Nice guys, just getting the band off the ground, gave me a list of 7 or 8 tunes to learn, I had never played most of them before (I only knew one), learned them between yesterday and today, turns out I ended up knowing the songs better than they did.

 

It worked out ok though. They realized I'm looking for a band that's a little farther along so they said they wanted me to play with them but would get their stuff a little tighter then call me to come back once they were ready.

 

So, anyone here ever go to an audition or similar situation in which you were better prepared than the band that was auditioning you?

[Chairborne]

Yup. About 7-8 years ago I tried out with a group on bass and was told to learn four songs - can't remember them now but one was a Joan Jett number. The inviting dolts didn't know how to play them. And didn't seem the least bit embarrassed about it.

 

They were just getting going, obviously. They eventually got off the ground - sort of - with some different personnel.

[EthylOH]

I went to an audition the other day and I didn't know the songs

[guitarman3001]

I went to an audition the other day and I didn't know the songs

don't think I've ever done that. If they give me a list of say 10 songs, I'd feel alright going if I only managed to learn 7 or 8 of them but if I only knew 1 or 2, I'd probably cancel and try to reschedule rather than waste everyone's time and possibly rehearsal studio money.

[Crisco]

I get a live audition with a band I'm trying out for this weekend.
I mean live as in they are playing out that night and they want me to come sit in from the get go. So, I've got the 5 songs they want learned on Rhythm guitar so let's see if I can pull it off.
Wish me luck! Gonna need it I think

[V-man]

I do this all the time. Usually I come up with a setlist to show off versatility, like

Paganini's Caprice # 24
Herpes 2 (Mentors)
I think We're Alone now (Tiffany)
Bitches Aint {censored}... (Dr Dre)

Then I laugh my ass off that some douche has wasted his life taking music seriously, but we all feel sort of bad so we make an attempt to play along with him. It's a little awkward but we usually serve two flavors of Hi-C afterwards, and that puts a little good cheer into anyone's day.

[Oldskool Texas]

 

Then I laugh my ass off that some douche has wasted his life taking music seriously, but we all feel sort of bad so we make an attempt to play along with him. It's a little awkward but we usually serve two flavors of Hi-C afterwards, and that puts a little good cheer into anyone's day.

 

 

 

^^ Sig worthy if ever there was such a thing!

[EthylOH]

don't think I've ever done that. If they give me a list of say 10 songs, I'd feel alright going if I only managed to learn 7 or 8 of them but if I only knew 1 or 2, I'd probably cancel and try to reschedule rather than waste everyone's time and possibly rehearsal studio money.

I'm kidding.

I had 2 days notice (apparently they scheduled everyone for an afternoon).

I knew 2 songs cold, and was able to wing about 8 more.

[*BLEEP*]

Ever go to an audition and the band doesn't know the songs?

 

 

I've been to a number of auditions where there weren't "songs" per se, just freeform cosmic soundjams or uncontrolled doomjams or maniacal free-jazz.

[Spike Li]

I'm kidding. I had 2 days notice (apparently they scheduled everyone for an afternoon). I knew 2 songs cold, and was able to wing about 8 more.

Man, and I had trouble learning 3 songs over a week for an audition

[bengerm77]

I was filling in on drums for a chick band, and the girls didn't even know their own songs. They spent half of the first practice re-teaching the songs to each other.

[Acid Test]

I was filling in on drums for a chick band, and the girls didn't even know their own songs. I spent half of the first practice re-teaching the songs to each, orally.

 

 

Fixed

[Flogger59]

I have a three piece that I play with pretty regularly. Another guy sits in for a jam and shows us his songs. We knew them better than he did after one run through. "Don't worry about counting, just feel it!" was his response to his playing it 5 different ways on 5 takes.

[Faber]

I was filling in on drums for a chick band, and the girls didn't even know their own songs. They spent half of the first practice re-teaching the songs to each other.

 

 

This - That band also looked collectively bevildered when I asked whether a particular cord was major or minor.

 

I auditioned with more than one band where they obviously knew the sections of the songs, but weren't sure as to the form.

[Funkwire]

I've been to a number of auditions where there weren't "songs" per se, just freeform cosmic soundjams or uncontrolled doomjams or maniacal free-jazz.

We had a bass player fill in years back...he made it pretty clear he hated the cover material we played and was all about the money. After his last gig with us, he handed me a cassette, saying it was the "kind of stuff I'm into". He said it was a "free-form kind of thing with a guitarist and a drummer".

I said, "Oh you guys take a progression and just improv off of that?"

He goes, ".....No....that's a little too structured for our tastes."

I think I got through 15 seconds of listening to it before I gave up. I tossed it in a drawer and then eventually got rid of it in a housecleaning.

[55gibby]

The worst (well, maybe not the worst) That ever happened to me was several years ago. The band I was in at the time was on hiatus (the drummer was in rehab and the bassist was out of town for several months). I went to this audition for a cover band and was given a set list (like 4 or 5 songs) to learn and they wanted to hear one that I usually played (a show off piece). I show up and only the bassist had any gear, the other guitarist was borrowing some crap gear and the drummer didn't even own a kit. I didn't even waste my time setting up. They had no PA, no singer, no drums, no mics, crap gear, pitiful set list (the songs they sent me were all the knew), and talked of someday getting a gig.

[Bro Blue]

When I was about 20 I went to sit in with a group of guys that, I was told, were awesome musicians and needed a guitar player that could do both rhythm and lead work, including slide, a la Allman Bros. I spoke to the other guitar player and he said they were getting ready to gig in a few weeks.

 

I get there and there's no PA, the drummer is playing a toy set. We try to stumble through In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed and the keyboard player has no idea what he's doing. The other guitar player is nowhere near in tune. Some skanky chick was making mushroom tea on the stove. Some other chick was strung out in the corner.

 

Just when I had made my mind up to leave the other guitar player looks at me (keep in mind we had been attempting to play for about 30 minutes already) and finally notices I have a Strat. He tells me, "You'll have to get rid of that thing, man. You can't play our kind of music on a Strat."

 

I shook my head, took off my guitar, and proceeded to pack up and leave. The drummer asked where I was going and if I wanted to stay around and get high with them. I told them I had to go take a {censored} and left.

[nuke_diver]

Did my drummer invite you over???

[k4df4l]

Yes....and no BS, the response was they expected me to teach them the songs in question:facepalm:

[jbviper4]

Yep. I felt sorry for them and left them the chord charts I had written up for myself.

[GibsonQC]

 

Ever go to an audition and the band doesn't know the songs they told you to learn? So, anyone here ever go to an audition or similar situation in which you were better prepared than the band that was auditioning you?

 

 

I had one of these experiences off Craigslist. The "whole band" was there for a rock/cover band audition, and my friend & I showed up to play guitar 1 & 2. We were the only ones who knew the songs. The drummer couldn't keep a beat, and the keyboard player kept asking if we knew some obscure polka from the 50's (apparently, the only song he knew and not on the set list they gave us).

 

The worst was an audition for a band that was "to start gigging soon." They had some good tunes picked out. I learned the songs, went to the 1st practice, set up my stuff, and when we started out things sounded pretty good. Then, the drummer's wife (aka, the "singer") started crooning. She was awful, which was too bad b/c the rest of us sounded pretty good together.

 

In confidence a few days after that practice, he told me that he really wanted to gig and asked me what I thought. I delicately told him that his wife couldn't sing (well, as delicately as I could put it) and that there was no possibility of them ever getting out of the basement with her on vox. Well, it was his basement, his PA, so needless to say that went the way of Yoko Ono.

[Riggins]

Happened to me a few times. Can't really recall the most recent. only happens on blind auditions though. That's why I only play within the working musicians circle in my area anymore unless someone I know refers me.

 

Usually when I get an audition, if it's covers someone sends over the entire bands repertoire and I pick what I already know. usually 20-30 tunes (around here anyway). Then I bring my full list of 230-something covers that I know and there's always stuff on there that people end up knowing.

 

Been playing in rock cover bands so long in my area that I know all the "standards" for around here.

[newmaxnew]

Damn, I have been lucky I guess. I have not auditioned for a band before. I am the one that has put together every band I have been in. Either that or they were the band that just sort of formed froma jam session.

Max

[slvrsrpnt]

Herpes 2 (Mentors)

 

great tune! ( I don't want them either) they says lightly in the back ground

 

[YOUTUBE]7KJU2O4lYtI[/YOUTUBE]

 

HA! I haven't listened to this record in years, thank you for bringing up El Duce and the gang for a little perverted indulgence. (This is one of the bands the PMRC was all pissy about back in the day.....and the song was Golden Shower...pissy...get it?? yeah, I'm done!)

[guitarman3001]

Happened to me a few times. Can't really recall the most recent. only happens on blind auditions though. That's why I only play within the working musicians circle in my area anymore unless someone I know refers me. Usually when I get an audition, if it's covers someone sends over the entire bands repertoire and I pick what I already know. usually 20-30 tunes (around here anyway). Then I bring my full list of 230-something covers that I know and there's always stuff on there that people end up knowing. Been playing in rock cover bands so long in my area that I know all the "standards" for around here.

 

 

yeah, mine was a blind audition. They also happened to be auditioning singers at the same time. Told me they had 5 singers lined up. Only 1 showed up and didn't know a single song out of the list the band sent out.

 

Between the singer not knowing any of the songs, the band knowing one or two of them, well...you can imagine. I actually ended up singing more than the singer.

 

I actually didn't mind the fact that they told me to learn songs I didn't know. Makes it a little more challenging and forces me to stretch my wings a little bit. It just really surprised me that they didn't know the songs they told me to learn. And the singer not knowing a single song... (actually, minor correction...the singer knew one song out of the list...unfortunately the band didn't know it at all and I ended up doing it as a duet with her with just me playing and her singing), like I said earlier, if someone gives me a list of songs to learn for an audition and come audition time I only know one, I don't think I'd even bother to show up. Waste of everyone's time and money.