| Yet another what would you do thread....
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The situation in this case:
I'm playing with an originals project - kind of a power trio thing. Both guys are limited in one way or another - drummer lacks some confidence, doesn't always understand odd meters, and doesn't have monster chops. Guitarist/singer is solid within his chosen 'fortes', being mainly straight ahead rock type stuff, but also doesn't do well with odd meters, has 'interesting' preferences in gear, and seems a bit unwilling to approach totally new feels.
The drummer has really solid time within meters he 'gets' (common 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 stuff, mainly), and since I joined has started taking jazz lessons and listening to a lot more off meter stuff - in other words, he's making great efforts to 'catch up' and be able to keep up with me.
The guitarist uses a line 6 rig, pure 'emulation'. It worked fine when I was using my little hartke head and a 1x15, but my sound was a bit thin, or gutless. Since I've switched to a mesa 400+ and a 210,115, he has noticed that he isn't cutting like he was (imagine that - emu rig can't keep up with decent pure tube rig). He also often pulls the 'not feeling it' card - whenever I launch into one of my more technical pieces, stuff I'd like to be able to play with them, he diddles around for a bit and finally claims he 'isn't feeling it' and drops out. Last practice he went as far as to say that maybe one of them should just be a bass solo (heck no - it is supposed to be a band piece!).
The rote response at this point may be 'move on - there are lots of other bands out there'. I want to temper it by saying - these guys live a good 25-45 minutes closer to me than most any other band I've been interested in. Secondarily, I'd feel bad about moving on because the drummer is really trying hard to catch up - and I can definitely hear the improvements in his skill and confidence. Lastly, kicking the guitarist - I'd consider that, but he and the drummer are long term friends, and I don't think that the drummer would be willing to go on without him. Secondary to that, guitarist does *seem* to be slowly trying - he's willing to at least learn to play some of the really twisty stuff unison, and I can tell he's re-evaluating his rig.
I have tried *carefully* talking to them about it. I've mentioned in as subtle a way as possible that the sound from the line 6 rig just isn't going to match with the mesa rig. I've mentioned and stood firm on the fact that I love to play odd meter stuff - I'm willing to compromise, and play quite a bit of straight ahead stuff too, but I feel time and groove in compound meters, and that kind of thing really lets me stretch out. In a collaborative originals project, ideas come to the table from all of us, and that means that some of the things that come in from my side of the table are going to twist their brains a little.
So ... what would you do? Keep being patient? There has been some progress in the on and off times we've played together, and they are both finally willing to commit to a slightly more rigorous practice schedule. Or move on - I'm not sure if the guitarist is a lost cause or not, and the drummer is definitely putting forth massive efforts, but they're a package deal as far as I can tell. | 
