YOUR tryout from hell

disasterline · #1 11-29-2011, 07:44 PM

I saw a thread a few days ago about tryouts where the band was terrible, so lets try and get a version the other way around, ill start.

A few months ago, I posted an ad on craigslist. I said I like blink 182, green day, no doubt, catch 22. I list my skill level as mediocre. I got an email saying the band was practicing in a few days and I should stop by. They say they play music that I would like. I barely get off work with enough time to take my uniform off and then grab my gear. I am late by at least 30 mins, and call several times for directions (most of the calls where made right in front of the house, stupid me just could not find it)

I finally get set up, and at this point I am very tired from work, and very nervous as it has been close to TWO years since my last band. In my rush to get there I forgot my tuner, which normally would not be a big deal but I was so nervous I had to have help tuning by ear!

Then they start playing and tell me to join in. This is not anything like I would ever listen to. I can only describe it as a techno, "droning", synth. I have no clue whats going on and look like a complete idiot for over an hour and a half. I think I start to find the groove and then it changes. Then 2 of the guys leave to get more beer, and I tell the other 2 guys that I have to go.

I know getting nervous is just part of the game, but I was really eager to start playing with people again, and I come out looking like a complete idiot. I have since gotten over it, but I still am horrified by the thought of my performance.

niels125 · #2 11-30-2011, 08:16 AM

A coworker once asked me if I wanted to play in a heavy rock band. (he used to be their bassist but quit).
I was still quite green back then and thought, why not!

So I had a few mails with the bandleader, he told me they used to be a death metal band but they wanted something more experimental.

So I learned about syncopation and went to the band with my 4 string normal tuned bass

When I arived there I found out they were 2 guitar players with 10+ years of band experience and played in drop C

So they told me i couldnt play on my 4 string and the BL got their ex bassists 5 string BC Rich from a coffin shaped case

There was no drummer and both guitarists started playing speed/power/trash metal riffs at lighting speed and I just sat there with a pointy 5 string bass in a for me at that time unknown tuning with no idea what to do

Was a very akward first audition so to say

basscooker · #3 11-30-2011, 01:51 PM

a band i was in auditioned singers once where half of them showed up and didnt know any material we asked them (in advance) to perform, the other half were way out of our league. so we tried to correct it by changing the wording of our ad. then we tapped into (apparently) the stoner crowd and three in a row showed up smelling so strong we thought somebody hit a skunk in front of the house or something. as far as my own auditions go i broke a string tuning for one once, of course no backup, but being a metal band, i figured hey no g no problem.i then broke the a during the first song. wow. i wasn't offered the gig.

nun lover · #4 12-01-2011, 05:54 AM

about 6 years ago i was going through a dry spell band-wise, and had started taking lessons again to improve my theory. was in the habit of checking craigslist daily for band ads, and typically there's nothing that interests me..until one day i saw a band that i really liked that needed a bass player. this band was an original band, had a good following in our city. i even had mutual friends with some of the members. i was sooo excited. i immediately emailed and set up a try out. in the mean time, i started googling and found all their music that was online and learned it all in 2 nights. i felt ready, confident, and elated. so i go out to their practice space which was a storage unit. it was also winter and it wasn't climate controlled. inside the little storage unit they had a single string of blue christmas lights for lighting. it was cold, cramped, and dark. the singer asked me if i had heard their music before, and i told her i have and i learned a bunch of their songs already. she then said that they were only going to let me play a new song with them that i haven't heard before. the drummer protested, saying to let me give them a shot but she said no. i started tuning my bass and they started playing the song while i was tuning. the drummer stopped and told them i was tuning but i waved him off, saying it's ok. i let them play the song once and listened to it, and i recognized the key they were playing in and mentally planned out a bassline on my fretboard without playing anything yet. only problem is the singer also plays keys, and she was basically playing a bassline on the keyboard, invading the sonic territory of the bass guitar. i figured this was just a test so the second time i played some higher octave stuff and right from the start it just fit the song perfect, imo. i also decided to play it with a pick instead of fingers, for a more trebly attack. after the song was over the guitarist says "...it's in b-minor, but i guess you know that", and i just nodded. at that point the singer thanked me for coming and they all went outside to smoke, one of them carrying my amp outside. i took that as my cue to leave. although awkward and cut short, i still felt like i made the best possible impression with the band and felt good about it. i emailed her a couple times with no replies. i saw later that they got some hipster chick to play bass for awhile, then they broke up. it still pisses me off, how that went down. they have no idea how dedicated i am to whatever band i'm involved with. especially that band, since i liked the music so much. i would've bent over backwards to make it work.

DanSRX · #5 12-01-2011, 07:33 AM

It was probably about 8 years ago, my school buddies played guitar and drums and on the way home were talking about jamming at lunch time. I rememberd my brother had an old bass he never used anymore and i dont know why but i said i played bass. Id never really touched one before and didnt know what the hell i was doing but thought it couldnt be that hard (no offence).
So i turn up, Bass on my back and started getting nervous, a few others around the school had latched on on what we were doing so now a few people were watching.
The guitarist started the usual 'sweet child of mine' and I just sat there, then he played all of his other tracks he learnt and I just looked at my feet. But it was after that and people making a few jokes that I stuck with it. It was kind of my fault I suppose but ive had a blast playing for around 7 years and 3 bands and stuff.
Also there was one more, sorry to go on, but I went for a prog band. All the band were pretty cool apart from the keyboard/singer.
It was the 1st practice and he seemed a bit wierd. After every time we stopped playing he seemed frustrated and one by one called everyone out the room to chat except me. So I never went back.

chaosMK · #6 12-01-2011, 10:30 AM

^ I think you forgot to finish your story.

floridagatorfan · #7 12-04-2011, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaosMK

^ I think you forgot to finish your story.

i think so too. lol

Graham Monette · #8 12-05-2011, 07:21 PM

On this local automotive forum, we had this thread on guitars (in a sub-section of the forum), so as it turns out we had all the elements needed to form a band, I played bass, two guitarists, a drummer (etc etc). So we all got together and met at the owner of the forum's house, since he played guitar and had a big basement.

Well, they love the classic rock, I hated it. (Cant stand the old stuff like War pigs or other really old songs of that nature). Problem is; thats all they wanted to play.
Already from the getgo, things were not working out since I'd rather pull my own teeth then learn war pigs... and it showed too since after the 2nd week I still haven't learned the song overly well.

Really sucked, as one of the guitarists had a fair bit of success in other groups and sounded WICKED in his demo tracks (radio quality rock... easily).
SUPER cool guys too, I loved hanging out with them, but from a band standpoint I think it was clear that this was never meant to be.
Kind of sucks but...

Vakmere · #9 12-07-2011, 08:16 AM

I wanted to go out as a solo act and had to audition myself. I'm still waiting to hear back from me........

Waffles and Scotch · #10 12-07-2011, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vakmere

I wanted to go out as a solo act and had to audition myself. I'm still waiting to hear back from me........

Did you at least show up on time?

Vakmere · #11 12-07-2011, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waffles and Scotch

Did you at least show up on time?

This time I was actually early.

Waffles and Scotch · #12 12-07-2011, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vakmere

This time I was actually early.

Maybe you looked too eager, causing yourself to think you're desperate?

If it were me, I'd email myself to find out. You might've chosen someone else already, but it's worth following up on. Solo gigs are tough to come by.

bassnj · #13 12-07-2011, 08:36 AM

I think a lot of bad audtions/tryouts are due to poorly written ads and bad communication.

From my experience, when a band says that their music is a cross between two completely different genres, or a combination of ten different popular bands, it means one of two things: 1) They suck, or 2) They really don't know what they sound like, and they suck.

Never makes for a good audition.

kcole4001 · #14 12-07-2011, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassnj

I think a lot of bad audtions/tryouts are due to poorly written ads and bad communication.

......

Unfortunately, from my experience musician = poor communication.
Even the guys who are great to be in a band with are not the best at communicating.

bassnj · #15 12-07-2011, 08:54 AM

Add to this the truncated form of communication most people practice via technology.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcole4001

Unfortunately, from my experience musician = poor communication.
Even the guys who are great to be in a band with are not the best at communicating.

Morkolo · #16 12-07-2011, 09:58 AM

For me it wasn't a tryout it was mine if I wanted it, I was friends with the guitar player and drummer for years and they wanted me to be part of the band. The bad part.... I was full on into metal at the time and I didn't know they were into emo stuff that is nice and all if you're into it but I never have been. It wasn't exactly a tryout from hell as much as it was the most boring time I've ever strapped on my bass. They took it as a huge insult when I said I didn't want to play with them and were bitter with me for years. Oh well haha.

lousybassplayer · #17 12-08-2011, 12:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassnj

From my experience, when a band says that their music is a cross between two completely different genres, or a combination of ten different popular bands, it means one of two things: 1) They suck, or 2) They really don't know what they sound like, and they suck.

Never makes for a good audition.

I'll definetly second this. I have to wonder how you think your racket sounds like a mix between Hed P.E., Sheryl Crow and ZZ Top, or how if this were true it would be a good idea.

klejst · #18 12-08-2011, 12:30 PM

I personally never had a bad tryout or audtion. However a buddy of mine who also plays bass tried out for a cover band this one time. About an hour into the night and his tryout the three orginal members got into a huge fight and the band broke up. Needless to say my buddy did not get the job after that

bassnj · #19 12-08-2011, 12:34 PM

Oh man, that is rough!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by klejst

I personally never had a bad tryout or audtion. However a buddy of mine who also plays bass tried out for a cover band this one time. About an hour into the night and his tryout the three orginal members got into a huge fight and the band broke up. Needless to say my buddy did not get the job after that

jpTron · #20 12-08-2011, 01:17 PM

Found this dude on CL that listed some bands I liked. So we're going back and forth through a couple of emails trying to set something up. I asked him if he had anything written and he said he did. I asked if he could send me some samples or anything he had written so I could start learning it before we met up to jam. He didn't have a way to record, blah blah blah. So I sent him a clip of me playing Baby's First Coffin by Dillinger Escape Plan just so he could hear a head of time if I was worth him time. He responds how sick that was and how he thinks we'll be great together. This excites me.

Finally he gets a drummer and another guitarist and we meet up. The guitarist that I was in touch with was this half retarded, special needs dude. Came to the studio holding his guitar in his hand, no case or gig bag, and a 5 foot chord. He had to stand so close to the amp that it was feeding back the whole time. The drummer was some sort of autistic/aspbergers type dude. Played the same beat at the same tempo the entire time... slow tempo, no fills, and he looked like he was struggling to keep up. The two guitarists were just wanking these horrible "solos". It sounded like a jam band, but where everyone was jamming on a different song. I was following the guitarists' riffs to learn the "changes". Then I'm like hold up, I'm supposed to lock in with the drummer. So I start matching the drummer but realized no one was playing at the same tempo.

None of them had jobs. The guitarist I was in touch with was twenty something got dropped off and picked up by his mom and then didn't have enough money to pay for his part of the session (luckily the drummer spotted him). I was hoping the other guitarist he brought in wrote better riffs because he was actually normal and maybe I could have salvaged something.

If anyone from NJ has ever responded to CL ads by a guy named Francisco from South Brunswick, then.... Well, hopefully you had a better time.