Horrible Lead Guitarists

[tbirdsp]

Originally Posted by lavaxtris

and with that, here is another non-live recording we did 2 years ago with our old drummer:

https://soundcloud.com/joe-studer/th...k-again-stereo

Sorry - this is really bad. Everyone's timing is off. Actually -how was this recorded? It almost sounds like it was done a on a computer and there are latency issues.

[gurensan]

Originally Posted by Piggy8692

I had an experience once.

I played a few shows where we played with another band who's 'leads' were just vomit inducing, to be polite. It was a metal show so, maybe that was the idea. Guitardist just smashed his fingers around like a 3 year old not even plucking the strings he was playing. I just watched in amazement as their 'following' cheered and held their devil horns up. That was when I really understood that people that don't play music are completely clueless. Makes me mad more than anything.

What a band of idiots.

"FREEBIRD!!!" "Play sum SKYNARD!!!!"

... my friends and I used to yell this at the local bands that were GOOD. If we yelled this at you, we were impressed with you. One of those bands broke up; the bass player now plays with Lionel Ritchie and the singer fronts Dave Ellefson's new band. They were even metal. Somehow the quote made that come out. Not entirely sure it's related, but it must be on some level or it wouldn't have just popped in there.

We used to catch their shows and do our custom disco dances right in front of the stage. It's fun to make good musicians laugh so hard on stage that they screw up. Got us chicks, too, since they thought we were friends with the band. (not that they'd noticed that we WERE a band...)

But on topic.

Practice. Much. If you're uncomfortable, leave. If any of the members are hoping to keep near the better members, they'll make the effort. If not, it's no loss. It's not your job to practice for them; you can only do it for yourself.

Go shopping. Check out Craig's List and see if there are any musicians out there interested in jamming with you. If you do that and your band doesn't notice that your gear is gone, well, you've got your answer. They're in it for the future career in home construction or quickly-served cuisine and your desire to improve will just get in their way.

You can't force them to do what they don't want to do. You can try to impose structure to your practice but if they don't go for it, you'll just be spinning your wheels.

[Beej]

The guitar work is flawed on those recordings, but generally speaking all of the instruments need improvement. I personally think everyone could benefit by practicing with a metronome, and in fact if you can crank a click track up on the PA and have everyone play along with it, it could really help.

From my perspective, both guitarists are trying to play things beyond their ability, or have just not spent enough time getting things straight. The drummer has tempo issues in all of those recordings, and I also agree with whomever said there are volume consistency issues with the bass and the drums. The bass is arguably the best in these recordings, but the timing ebbs and flows as each song progresses - way more than would be acceptable in any band I've been in. Coupled with the volume consistency and it just adds to the lack of tightness overall.

When you guys record, why not record to a click track? I for one have never been in a studio where this was not a requirement, but then again I have not recorded thousands of tracks either. I also agree that the singer is weak at best. He doesn't sound like he's singing from his diaphragm and he's subtly pitchy here and there. If he was belting it out, you'd probably really hear the pitchiness in his vocals.

I know you only wanted feedback on the guitarists, but like most replies in this thread, the whole band needs some woodshed time to make things work. I don't think it's worth running away from, but work will be required by all of you if you're to bring it up to basic satisfactory performance level.

Just a question and I don't mean to insult, but how much weed is involved here?

[rmayer]

Originally Posted by Beej

The guitar work is flawed on those recordings, but generally speaking all of the instruments need improvement. I personally think everyone could benefit by practicing with a metronome, and in fact if you can crank a click track up on the PA and have everyone play along with it, it could really help.

From my perspective, both guitarists are trying to play things beyond their ability, or have just not spent enough time getting things straight. The drummer has tempo issues in all of those recordings, and I also agree with whomever said there are volume consistency issues with the bass and the drums. The bass is arguably the best in these recordings, but the timing ebbs and flows as each song progresses - way more than would be acceptable in any band I've been in. Coupled with the volume consistency and it just adds to the lack of tightness overall.

When you guys record, why not record to a click track? I for one have never been in a studio where this was not a requirement, but then again I have not recorded thousands of tracks either. I also agree that the singer is weak at best. He doesn't sound like he's singing from his diaphragm and he's subtly pitchy here and there. If he was belting it out, you'd probably really hear the pitchiness in his vocals.

I know you only wanted feedback on the guitarists, but like most replies in this thread, the whole band needs some woodshed time to make things work. I don't think it's worth running away from, but work will be required by all of you if you're to bring it up to basic satisfactory performance level.

Just a question and I don't mean to insult, but how much weed is involved here?

I agree with most of what Beej has said here. Everyone needs some tempo practice, including the drummer. The bass seems to sound OK. As far as the question of how much weed is involved here? If the answer is none, maybe it's time to start?

[lavaxtris]

to clear things up, only the first two clips I linked were completed this year.

Luna and anything acoustic was played completely by me on guitar.

there and back again (without drums) was recorded the other day.

there and back again stereo (with drums) was recorded 2-3 years ago and recorded seperately to a click track. our old drummer had trouble soloing to the sound of the click

to the guy saying to try some easier cover songs like AC/DC....
there and back again is a 3 chord song! how simple can you get????? (our lead guitarist plays the Back in Black riff wrong all the time, leaving out a beat. can he even count to four?)

no pot or drinking was involved...

[1958Bassman]

Originally Posted by lavaxtris

my band's guitar players are absolutely horrible at playing guitar solos. I try again and again to give them tips about playing. one of them is thick headed and wont listen to a word say, the other listens but doesn't improve. Its getting to the point where I cant even listen to my own band anymore.

just listen to this garbage:
https://soundcloud.com/joe-studer/taba-take2

they don't even try to sit down and write solos, and i know the lead guitarist can do it since knows a ton about theory. it sounds like they have no control over their picks. its so sloppy.

I'm a better soloist and I haven't been playing as long. its really frustrating. I don't know what to do... cant find replacements and wouldn't really want to. we've been together for 4 years now. its like they are stuck at an intermediate level of skill and don't know how to improve.

help?

Do they listen to recordings and critique them or just listen and say "That was sooo cool!", only because they recorded themselves playing?

Four years in and no improvement? I would move on- it doesn't seem like it's going to improve and if they're not getting any better, they aren't trying.

[JPaulGeddy]

Agree with pretty much everything in the thread for criticism. On a positive note, your bass tone is pretty badass.

[Lunchbox4u_6]

I don't know what you're going to do if you don't want to replace them. It's not a good track, and if that's representative of your band as a whole, then it's not a good band. It didn't seem like anyone was playing with anyone else in the band, everyone is just playing their parts and not listening. It sounded like a train wreck to me. I don't just think it's your lead that has problems, you all need to spend some time in the woodshed.

[ibateur]

Originally Posted by Lunchbox4u_6

It didn't seem like anyone was playing with anyone else in the band, everyone is just playing their parts and not listening.

I think this is because of something he said earlier. Everyone recorded separately against a click-track. The drummer had problems playing along to the click. Personally I think everyone had problems playing to the click. It just doesn't sound like people are tapping feet.

When I was in the studio, we did bass and drums together (to a click-track if necessary). The guitars followed on top of that track (rhythm first, then lead). The vocals over that. Prior to all that, we rehearsed a lot.

[Chaddycakes]

Originally Posted by moret

Why not grind on cover songs until you(the whole band..) get tight? Easy stuff like ACDC or whatever. With no room for improv, just play the songs as they are. Straight forward.

Ever try to sing Ac/dc? Not easy.

[lavaxtris]

The rhythm guitarist and I have decided to move on without our lead singer. I even showed him all the comments on this post. He realizes his singing isnt that refined and he is going to work on it. We have had practices without our lead guitarist and even though the solos were missing we seemed a lot tighter.

on a second note I'm having a real hard time figuring out which track you guys criticizing anymore. it should be the first one or the video, the older one was put up for comparison. I can't agree with anyone that says "the whole band is out of time"- not only does that not make any sense....but the rhythm guitarist and I are keeping the beat and I have been recording to click tracks for years with no issues on my own recordings. we do, however, occasionally adjust to the drummer because he is the timekeeper.

[sobie18]

Well, Christmas came and went. I would have gotten them some stocking stuffer How-To videos and maybe some Guitar Soloing for Dummies books.

[Beej]

Originally Posted by lavaxtris

The rhythm guitarist and I have decided to move on without our lead singer. I even showed him all the comments on this post. He realizes his singing isnt that refined and he is going to work on it. We have had practices without our lead guitarist and even though the solos were missing we seemed a lot tighter.

on a second note I'm having a real hard time figuring out which track you guys criticizing anymore. it should be the first one or the video, the older one was put up for comparison. I can't agree with anyone that says "the whole band is out of time"- not only does that not make any sense....but the rhythm guitarist and I are keeping the beat and I have been recording to click tracks for years with no issues on my own recordings. we do, however, occasionally adjust to the drummer because he is the timekeeper.

Not to beat up on you, but I was commenting on all of the tracks, except the one you did yourself. If you are really having a hard time buying that, try giving the recordings to someone you trust and not let them know who made it. Their initial reaction will probably tell you a lot. The drummer doesn't suck, but his timing ebbs and flows and he's a little lacking in chops. Not that I want to be picky, but I don't view the drummer as a timekeeper, I view that as the drummer/bassist job together. Your mileage my vary of course, and a factor could be that I'm a lot older than you and have grown more demanding of myself and those I play with over the years. To put it in perspective, I think you guys are all younger than my oldest boy. He also thinks his pitchy tempo-problem-laden band is not a problem and that I'm a cranky old buzzard who doesn't understand his music...

[ibateur]

I actually liked the singer.

[Lunchbox4u_6]

I have my headphones in right now and I'm listening to TABA take 2...that's the one you linked to, so I assume that's the one you're talking about. From the time the 2nd guitar and the bass drop in they are pushing the meter of the song and that leads to the feeling that the timing is out. The tiny fill you do at the end of every line is also not very solid in it's meter. At the 3:12 mark you enter the break down and it's a full on train wreck of terrible timing. I'm not even going to talk about the singer because I know you realize that is an issue.

Trust me, the whole band is off, it's not tight at all. I'm not saying any of that to be a jerk, but I assume you want everyone to be honest about what they hear right? It's all fixable, but you all need to work on your meter, and I think that as a bass player you should be rock solid on your meter because that's what we do. Along with the drummer we form the pocket, the foundation on which the groove is built. If you're not solid then there is no groove.

Practice, Practice, Practice.

[Darren Low]

Originally Posted by ibateur

I actually liked the singer.

Yeah I didn't think the singing was that bad.

[moret]

Originally Posted by Chaddycakes

Ever try to sing Ac/dc? Not easy.

acdc was just a sugestion. Play whatever really. What i was trying to tip about was maybe these guys should practise on easy, straight forward songs until they can play togheter as a band. You have to walk before you can run etc.
Instead of improvising into nowhere; play songs as they are...
Get tight, get better, get the sh1t togheter by playing covers or something. At least have some sort of frame to it all...

And yes, i've tried singing acdc. It is not pretty..
But again; as long as its not on a stage, who cares?

[MysticMichael]

Originally Posted by moret

And yes, i've tried singing acdc. It is not pretty...

Hey, it ain't pretty - even when Brian Johnson sings it!

MM

[klejst]

The guitar solo did kind of remind me a little bit of Queens of the Stone Age, but sadly just not as good

[lavaxtris]

Originally Posted by Beej

Not to beat up on you, but I was commenting on all of the tracks, except the one you did yourself.

thanks for clarifying. I want the criticism, I just got to know which one is being criticized thats all. The drummer we have now is the one in the video I posted in the forum. He's a little reserved in his playing but I think he does a good job (even admits that he gets thrown off by the timing of our lead player)
He doesn't play on any of the recorded tracks.

This sunday there will be more live recording with the new drummer present, and it will most likely be the last day with our lead guitarist.