Help me: My guitarist is SO boring.

[StrudelBass]

Does anyone know what I mean when I say my guitarist has no defining characteristics with his playing? I find myself very bored with some of the ideas he comes up with but I don't want to be rude and just completely knock his ideas down. I just feel there could be so much more there but that he never delivers.

Is there anything I can do to not give him the wrong impression? Usually I try and go home after band practice and have my own go at songs and they sound better (to me at least) but at practice I feel like I can't get the point across to him.

[hartke20g]

maybe show him the song you wrote and have him work around that. have your bass be the lead instrument and him be rythym. (les claypool). my guitarist is the same; comes up with the most boring 4 powerchord progressions that have been done infinately many times before. mind you, he's a great guitarist- he can play anything you put in front of him if he tries, he's just not a great songwriter. i think he's too shy. if that's the case with you, i suggest you being the lead.

[clockworkwar]

If hes shy you could always give him a recording of your bass, and then let him work guitar riff's out a home??

Or as the above message says, you be the lead!

[CBBass123]

Originally Posted by StrudelBass

Does anyone know what I mean when I say my guitarist has no defining characteristics with his playing?

I think we are cruising on the same boat. Whats worse is when you hear from fans..."you guys rock man...but one thing...your guitarist...I don't know....But you guys rock"

[SOA_bassist]

hey man, my guitarist makes really cool* riffs with very little variation ( he may have two different ending trills or something but pretty much the same riff through out any given section of a song ) so i just take that as an opportunity to throw in some stuff. It makes everything so much more interesting.

let your guitarist be boring! it should make it more fun for you!

* = edit

[Lunardecay]

You can allways do as I do and make up the parts for your guitarist. Not only that, if your band breaks up, you own ALL the music and Lyrics, lol. (But Ive had experience with Guitar and music theory...I became a bassist out of neccessity(but now out of prefrence ))

[Anesthesia]

a guy i play with believes the guitar was made for power chords. you ask him to right a riff or something and its just a different power chord. im in the same situation as you man. we arent really a serious band but we are serious enough to practise almsot every week and right some songs. it just so happens that its me or our other guitarist who end up writing riffs/chords.

we only have a few songs that we kinda have finished and two of them were riffs i made up on the spot. the other was a riff and some chords our other guitarist came up with.

[scorpionldr]

take a lead bass position (primus idea), put in some interesting fills to add some flavor to otherwise boring songs, or get a new guitarist. something's gotta work. that or even try to motivate him to learn from BOOKS (THEY DO WORK)

[clanner]

let him evolve and become comfortabe and have mutual leading roles, my guitarist and I switch off alot, he can play alot of really good lead stuff, just not while he's singing (same with me). but when he goes into a solo or ending, launch I launch right along with him.

[chaosMK]

I would suggest making an alliance with your drummer (part of what makes Les able to do lead bass style). You can emphasize the rhythm aspect of existing songs that way- carry the extra load.

If his stuff is very simple, you can use tapping bass lines a lot easier.

My guitarist is kind of in the same boat as yours, at times. Poor guy... me and the singer always get all the complements after shows. When he comes up with material that isnt particularly sick, I add off the wall bass lines to give it some flavor.

Good luck!

[el_Kabong]

Originally Posted by StrudelBass

Does anyone know what I mean when I say my guitarist has no defining characteristics with his playing? I find myself very bored with some of the ideas he comes up with but I don't want to be rude and just completely knock his ideas down. I just feel there could be so much more there but that he never delivers.

Is there anything I can do to not give him the wrong impression? Usually I try and go home after band practice and have my own go at songs and they sound better (to me at least) but at practice I feel like I can't get the point across to him.

Oh dear you poor thing. I suggest you ask for his opinion of you.

[nofrets5]

The next time your band is planning to record, find someone whose opinion the band respects, and us this person for pre-production ideas. It always seems best for situations like these to be addressed by someone NOT in the band, even if this person tactfully says the same things you guys would say to him. Some guys will work with a musician and "help him" seriously re-write their parts to fit the song best, and it sounds like sadly, your man needs this, especially for a "guitar" band. Also have the band start suggesting a certain direction for his parts using his guitar influences/players as a sort of "try a this type of part or vibe" With any luck he may eventually get it himself, it's just sad that he hasn't noticed it when he listens to other bands/artists then thinks about HIS contributions to your tunes.

[MakiSupaStar]

Originally Posted by scorpionldr

take a lead bass position (primus idea), put in some interesting fills to add some flavor to otherwise boring songs, or get a new guitarist. something's gotta work. that or even try to motivate him to learn from BOOKS (THEY DO WORK)

There you go. I've always said that boredom is a personal problem. It's up to YOU to figure out how to make things interesting. That's the challenge.

[Count Bassie]

A band I used to go see in Miami had a rhythm guitarist and a sort of lead-bass player. He didn't do the Primus thing (they weren't out yet), but he had this great, raw angle on expanding the bass part, melodically and rhythmically- and he had a nice, Brit-Blues approach to it.

They did a lot of Who, Kinks, and Small Faces covers.

Step out front and tear it up- run some cool circles around his part. You might come up with a formula between the two of you. If he digs it, you're happy. If he gets mad, well there's another conversation!

[BuffaloMO]

Originally Posted by el_Kabong

Oh dear you poor thing. I suggest you ask for his opinion of you.

I agree. So many I have seen posting they don't like how someone plays in their band and can play that instrument better than them.

Why not worry about playing your own instrument the best you can and not worry about the other guy playing his?

[BrandonBass]

u can like write the guitarists' parts too, didnt nikki sixx like wrote most of the crue songs? lyrics and other stuff

I heard Paul Mccartney wrote some of the guitar stuff harrison played

[wschwark]

Sounds like your guitarist isn't improving his style much. Sounds like he just needs to spend more time a day playing.

[pretaanluxis]

Originally Posted by nofrets5

start suggesting a certain direction for his parts using his guitar influences/players as a sort of "try a this type of part or vibe"

that is a great idea.

Also get him to work on the songs at home.

If he's really boring, tell him to record the 10 best riffs he has ever written and burn them to a cd for you...he should quickly notice how bad he is and try harder.

good luck

[The Golden Boy]

So it's the guitarist's job to come up with everything?

Your ideas for songs are better, but you don't bring them up?

The key to a happy and successful band situation is communication- and YOU'RE the one who's not doing too good.

It's going to happen that someone is going to write something that sucks, or sounds just like Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street." Someone has to say something. Someone is going to come up with a better part or a better idea- that person needs to say something.

Keep in mind, a good band "plays together well." Take that for everything it can mean.

[FunkSlap89]

I always feel this way when my guitarist first writes a part. Once the drums, bass, and vocals are added though, it really comes together and it grows on me.