Yet another band formation problem...

[Big Joe]

Here is the situation:
Started playing around with a vocalist/guitarist. Great guy, he truly is... I think he has great potential as vocalist from hearing what we did semi-acoustically at his house. Now that that has been said, he also doesn't really take the time to learn any of the songs' lyrics. He is also the worst guitarist on the face of the planet. Seriously, he can't even tune the darn thing or form even simple chords. He knows he is not good at guitar but is kind of trying to stick it out...

Two weeks after joining forces with this musical monstrosity, a drummer comes into the picture. Ironically, he lives a half a block away from the guitarist/singer so no, it's not the power lines or the water. Drummer is in my situation: has had former gigging bands that did their thing and eventually dissolved. There is some musical chemistry between us: A nice pocket forms everytime we jam.

Now to keep up with the drums, I have to turn up and the guitarist's unmic'ed vocals get lost. So at this point, he really isn't contributing anything at all to the music. The drummer is starting to think about going on, sans guitarist, because he knows of a guy who can do it and would like to bring me along (no accounting for taste I guess). I am trying to get him to give it just a little more time for the sake of being nice:
1. We can get a small PA for just vocals during practice. This way we can see what he really can do vocally.
2. My brother (who is actually very good but living an hour away) is willing to work with the guitarist and show him stuff on the geetar. I don't know how much this might help though... Old dog, new tricks kind of situation.
3. He just put up a flyer looking for a lead-style guitar player. I don't know if this means he is willing to give up guitar and just sing (which may work) or do rhythm and sing (which I don't think will work).

Now, I don't particulary want to dish out ANY money on a POS 100W PA. I also don't feel right asking the guitarist to dish it out either, knowing full well he might not be around for very long. (I don't think he is exactly well-off financially.) I don't feel particularly obligated to him but he's a nice guy and I don't want to hurt his feelings, especially since he would probabaly still see my car at the drummer's house just down the road.

What to do, what to do? Any advice?

[TxBass]

hmm....tough situation. do you think you could sit down with him and have a discussion about what his goals are with the music? like if he really expects to be playing guitar or just focusing on vocals? and that to be serious about playing it's gonna take some focus on learning lyrics, etc. I think after that you could decide if any additional expenses should be made.

This past year I went through a pretty brutal band "divorce"...complete with gear splitting and arguing about who "owned" what items and the rights to songs, etc. It's hard to make such a timely investment, not to mention the financial stuff that goes along with it, and then have it fizzle in a matter of days/hours. Best to know up front what everybody's intentions are....and of course those will change too---but at least they'll know YOU'RE serious about it.

good luck!

[erik_hammarlund]

headphones for everybody! that'll work for 1 or 2 gigs

but hey, why not pick up a used beater PA (a keyboard amp is a good bet); you can always resell it for $20 less. Plenty of those around in most areas.