Too Much to Ask?

DRafalske · #1 07-06-2009, 11:51 AM

Last week I auditioned with a blues/rock band and it went really well. They called me the next day and offered me the job. They emailed me a list with 23 songs on it saying "this is the material we'll go over next week at practice". I only knew a couple of them. So I look over the songs, worked out the basics to them, made some notes, and went to practice last night. I forgot to bring my notes (bummer). I had to ask the guitarist for the basic progression to a lot of the songs, mainly just to refresh my memory. All things considered I thought the practice went really well. They called me this morning and told me I was out. Whatever, no big deal, there will be other bands.
But really though, isn't it a bit much to ask someone to learn 20+ songs in less than a week's time? Especially when I have a day job (they knew that) and there was a holiday.

ChrisPbass · #2 07-06-2009, 11:58 AM

can you give more detail as to what happened?

DRafalske · #3 07-06-2009, 12:41 PM

Sunday a week ago was the audition. It went well.
The following day they offer me the job.
It was Tuesday before I saw their song list. 23 songs, of which I only knew four. I spent all my free time learning what I could but I guess I'm a slow learner and I have a famously bad memory. And this is a blues rock band, almost all the songs were basic 8 or 12 bar. Nothing difficult. I went over what I could and made notes.
Last night was practice, I forgot my notes. I told them when I showed up I didn't get to go over all the material and forgot my notes and they seemed fine. Told me to do my best, yadda yadda. I had the guitarist refresh my memory on several of the songs. The practice went well (I thought). Today they fired me for not knowing the material.
Admittedly, I was less than prepared. I just feel like expecting someone to learn 20 songs in less than a week is overly ambitious. Every other band I've played in we've worked on five, maybe ten songs a week.

D

BassMastern8 · #4 07-06-2009, 01:41 PM

Do they have an upcoming show in near future?

msiner · #5 07-06-2009, 01:46 PM

Did they say they fired you for not knowing the material, or could it be for some other reason?

denhou1974 · #6 07-06-2009, 03:02 PM

They probably found a bassist who already knew all of the songs (no discredit to you).

Jim Campbell · #7 07-06-2009, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRafalske

Sunday a week ago was the audition. It went well.
The following day they offer me the job.
It was Tuesday before I saw their song list. 23 songs, of which I only knew four. I spent all my free time learning what I could but I guess I'm a slow learner and I have a famously bad memory. And this is a blues rock band, almost all the songs were basic 8 or 12 bar. Nothing difficult. I went over what I could and made notes.
Last night was practice, I forgot my notes. I told them when I showed up I didn't get to go over all the material and forgot my notes and they seemed fine. Told me to do my best, yadda yadda. I had the guitarist refresh my memory on several of the songs. The practice went well (I thought). Today they fired me for not knowing the material.
Admittedly, I was less than prepared. I just feel like expecting someone to learn 20 songs in less than a week is overly ambitious. Every other band I've played in we've worked on five, maybe ten songs a week.

D

being less thas prepared?????? did'nt get to go over all the material???? ....forgot to bring your notes????? dude......they hired you based on a promising audition,and you blew it........sorry

where i work you would have been canned for any one of those

dmusic148 · #8 07-06-2009, 04:00 PM

Well, yeah, you did kind of F it up. But yeah, that was a bit much to ask for IMO. I could see maybe 10 songs. Unless of course they had charts- that's a whole different story.

BigOldHarry · #9 07-06-2009, 04:03 PM

Blues/Rock band...

23 songs... I'll be 20 of them were I IV V songs, yes? A few had breaks, most were very familiar...

If this is a paying gig and these guys have gigs booked, then learn the tunes like a pro - suck up the work early so you can get paid later.

Live and learn.

MNAirHead · #10 07-06-2009, 04:12 PM

For a blues gig why not lear 20.. unless they're doing very tricky turn arounds..

Sound like you may have sounded like a pain or unprepared..

Why not just kick back and hit the roots on the 1?

MNAirHead · #11 07-06-2009, 04:14 PM

Like they say.. you haven't hired a band or they haven't hired you until you're gigging.

DanRJBrasil · #12 07-06-2009, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by denhou1974

They probably found a bassist who already knew all of the songs (no discredit to you).

You should had learn about half of music well, and should make that clear, that they gave too much to learn in a week but basic blues is no brainer though.

irishryno · #13 07-06-2009, 04:29 PM

Look at this as an opportunity. learn the music they sent you. learn a couple of songs from each of the artist as well. make a check list and put it on your door, so you look at it before you leave. You have already done what you shouldnt do, so now you can relax for the next audition. learn as much material as you can now. and last but not least staple your notes to your crouch from here on out.

Stumbo · #14 07-06-2009, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRafalske

Especially when I have a day job (they knew that) and there was a holiday.

Should have taken a couple of sick days and combined with the holiday that would have give you over 50 hours of free time to cram that music into your "famously" bad memory.

Btw, how do plan on being in any band if you can't remember?

Especially since you forgot to remember to bring your notes to the rehearsal. Basically you wasted their time for that evening.

Do you forget things on your day job and in your non-band life as well?

If your memory is truly not that good, I suggest researching foods/supplements/vitamins that can help. Also, if your sleep it not that good, it will affect your memory as well. Certain medical conditions can also affect memory.

How's it going on your day job?

the yeti · #15 07-06-2009, 04:37 PM

there's not really such a thing as "too much to ask". you could've objected on the front end, maybe you did. if you didn't object then you agreed to it. at least as far as the asker's concerned.

totallyfrozen · #16 07-06-2009, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRafalske

...I went over what I could and made notes.
...I forgot my notes. I told them when I showed up I didn't get to go over all the material and forgot my notes...

You've answered your own question. I'm betting that partial quote right there is why they let you go. I would have let you go too. Sorry.

N.F.A. · #17 07-06-2009, 05:18 PM

+1. Live and learn from this. Gotta up your game a bit. Put yourself in their shoes. What would you have done?

steveksux · #18 07-06-2009, 10:22 PM

I can sympathize. For me, remembering country or blues songs is difficult, way more so than "normal" tunes. Top 40 or rock tunes are much more distinctive, easier to remember "oh yeah, that's how that tune goes" when someone mentions the name.

The blues tunes all using nearly only I, IV, V in different combinations. The problem is remembering which song is which... They're too similar, without some sort of written hints, hard to tell one from another. And especially hard to remember names of tunes and associating them with that particular pattern when you learn a bunch all at once. I end up playing them more by ear by listening to the guitar/keys rather than memory.

But that's the key, you have to be able to hear the changes and follow if you can't memorize them. If you can't, it'd be very hard to really memorize all of that in a short period, so they were probably worried if you could learn the tunes fast enough. Much easier to at least break them up into 7-8 per practice, rather than all 20 some at once. Focus on a smaller group, you remember more.

But they probably figured you would need to fake your way through some of the tunes by ear, if you did poorly at that at the first rehearsal, they probably got cold feet.

Randy