+1. While there is no "I" in "team," prepare all you can, so people won't say at the end of the night, "the bass player sucked."
Have fun!
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Band got a gig (but we are not ready!)
- Thread starter basicbass
- Start date
+1. While there is no "I" in "team," prepare all you can, so people won't say at the end of the night, "the bass player sucked."
Have fun!
Yes it's a party she throws for her work, so it's not the bar that booked us or anything.
Might turn out ok, it's only 4 songs and I might learn from the experience and with a bit of luck I end up with some awesome stage picture
Give your singer a tambourine and mute the chimes. Tell here to wail away during lyric breaks.
Get your crew,whoever is willing, to practice as often as possible. If it is just you and your drummer, or you and your guitarist, that's better than no one. If you all suck, then you all suck. However, at a minimum you and whoever was willing to practice with you will at least sound fair. .
Get your crew,whoever is willing, to practice as often as possible. If it is just you and your drummer, or you and your guitarist, that's better than no one. If you all suck, then you all suck. However, at a minimum you and whoever was willing to practice with you will at least sound fair. .
The singer seems to want to skip repetition (singing a chorus 2 or 3 times at the end of the song if thats what the original has) or instrumental parts (she thinks that it's boring and rather continue a verse or chorus) which makes our songs 1,5 minutes long :S
Bottomline:
I don't think we are gig ready by far, and i'm afraid the gig will be a total trainwreck
But on the other hand I don't want to let my band down by stepping out of the plan.
Your singer is an idiot run away as fast as you can.
Not if they took 2 1/2 months to learn four songs...
IMO, if the band actually intends to gig there should be actual weekly practices, everyone doing their homework, and minimum 2 new songs added each practice. Even if you're just weekend warriors, you should have 20 songs by now. If the band won't commit to that, then don't ever plan on playing in public. Still, I'm with those who say to play the gig before quitting.
Make sure they serve lots of booze before the gig.. Play songs everyone knows and will sing and dance to. It's a party have fun! Let them know it's your first gig ever. They will expect you to suck. Play the expectation game.
+1.
Learn a Allman Brothers Song and play the hell out of it for 15 minutes or so Give everybody in the band a solo.
Jam Out! Keep it to 3 chords in a cloud of dust, and just go off.
Give everybody in the band a solo.Jam Out! Keep it to 3 chords in a cloud of dust, and just go off.
This.
+1 on waiting until after the show. Put on your poker face. Don't let anyone know you have trepidation. The last thing you want is to be honest and forthcoming before the show...and then hand someone else a mic.
+100...
the BL (lead guitarist) of my previous band talked about playing gigs all the time but when the time came to play he would chicken out.. the first gig we played was without him, wasn't great but a good learning experience because I have extreme stage fright and this helped me a lot to confront it. BTW the band broke up after that one gig..but it was a great chance to learn.
In the end you gotta start somewhere..and if you start from the bottom there is nowhere else you can go but up.
So one of my bandmembers throws a party at a local music bar for about 80(!) people.
2,5 months back she asked us if we could play a few songs with the band at her party.
We were just started the band (some of us were still learning our instrument, and none of us had band experience)
But we thought we could get quite a few songs done in 2 months, so we agreed to play a few songs at the party.
But now we are 2 weeks from the party/gig and only played together about 4 times in total, and we got about 4 or 5 songs done.
With "done" I mean we can play them from start to finish with few mistakes of ****ups, but we don't sound "tight" at all
The singer seems to want to skip repetition (singing a chorus 2 or 3 times at the end of the song if thats what the original has) or instrumental parts (she thinks that it's boring and rather continue a verse or chorus) which makes our songs 1,5 minutes long :S
Bottomline:
I don't think we are gig ready by far, and i'm afraid the gig will be a total trainwreck
But on the other hand I don't want to let my band down by stepping out of the plan.
Some times the only way to force your self to get out to do it is to just book the show and do it. Then you have no choice but to succeed
Do the gig. Even if it's terrible, you might learn something even still. I'm not the world's greatest player, but part of what made me a good "band member" is having a few crappy gigs under my belt, and playing with a few crappy musicians when I was younger. Sounds crazy, but having those not-so-good experiences really taught me what gigging and being in a band was all about. Plus, I have some great horror stories to tell now that are always good for a laugh!
Agree with others who said that you should just learn the material and get it down perfectly. If the rest of the band want to screw up the arrangements and there's no way to change that, then all you can do is roll with it and play well. Then even if it does suck, at least people can say about you "... but that guy was spot on!" Then you might meet other musicians, or word about you might get around, and you can find a better band.
Agree with others who said that you should just learn the material and get it down perfectly. If the rest of the band want to screw up the arrangements and there's no way to change that, then all you can do is roll with it and play well. Then even if it does suck, at least people can say about you "... but that guy was spot on!" Then you might meet other musicians, or word about you might get around, and you can find a better band.
I see a lot of "Just play the gig anyway." responses. Bands that knowingly don't have their act together playing gigs and expecting pay is one of the main reasons club owners are such dicks these days.
Treat live performance like you'd treat any job. Train first.
Just my two cents.
Treat live performance like you'd treat any job. Train first.
Just my two cents.
This. I know it's nice to be able to go out there and just have fun, but the first thing that will send me home from a bar is a really horrible band that clearly does not rehearse.
Your first gig is always going to suck. Might as well get it out of the way. And as others have mentioned, why so few practices? If you got 2 weeks left then have 4 practices before the gig and have everyone practice daily on their own time. It can be done. It just takes ambition.
I recently had 1 month to learn 6 original songs I never heard before, to help some friends fulfill their gig requirements after an unfortunate departure with their previous bass player. I had to practice every single day solo and 5 times with the band. But it got done and we did pretty good. You just have to ask yourself if your really willing to put forth the kind of effort required to be a gigging band, or if you guys just plan to screw around on days off once in a while.
I recently had 1 month to learn 6 original songs I never heard before, to help some friends fulfill their gig requirements after an unfortunate departure with their previous bass player. I had to practice every single day solo and 5 times with the band. But it got done and we did pretty good. You just have to ask yourself if your really willing to put forth the kind of effort required to be a gigging band, or if you guys just plan to screw around on days off once in a while.
My band just went through this a couple days ago.
Unfortunately, it has resulted in disintegration over the last day or two.
Your story is amazingly familiar....
After a few months we had 13 songs we could do with varying degrees of proficiency. Most of them were garbage or not very good. In total, we had about 30 songs we'd practiced and could play, somewhat, in one form or another. We got a job at a small bar that gets crappy bands or mediocre acoustic solo acts and we just couldn't get it together in practice....with the dreaded date coming closer and closer.....
At the end of the night the bar owner asked us to come back and play again because the bar sales were so good. Don't know if we were good or people drank to ignore us, but the place stayed busy all night and the booze was flowing....the bartender and waitstaff loved us.....
Gawd we sucked. Our drummer dropped his sticks, I screwed up BAD in a couple songs, our vocals were horrible, and our rhythm guy snuck over to turn down the lead player's amp because he was drowning us out.
Here's what we did;
We stretched out songs. Yup. We did a (roughly) 7 or 8 minute version of "Tush" with our lead player and rhythm player trading impromptu solos and licks while I continued to pound out G, C, and D. Basic, but it worked. The dancers kept dancing, the booze kept being bought, and the music played on.
When our vocals were weak, we played to the audience to sing along. We did this during "Knockin' On Heaven's Door". Everyone knows that song. I kept pounding out G, D, A, G, D, C...while the crowd kept singing "Knock-Knock-Knockin' on heaven's door....". If you can get audience participation they love you.....they feel like they're part of the show.....but you need a good frontman/frontgal who encourages them.
We stretched out our intros. It made some extra work for me to come up with some interesting or funky bass lines. We took Hendrix's "Hey Joe" and made the intro last about 3 minutes with our lead player doing some early solos and ripping out some really weird stuff......us backup singers were singing "Oooh.....Oooh.....Where you goin' with that gun in your hand?" while the lead player did his funky thing. His wah wah got a huge workout on that one....
About half way through, we did something we'd never discussed before, except as a junk warmup in practice. We just played a complete 12 bar blues improv with no vocals. Yup. An instrumental. Since we all knew 12 bar, it was easy to do. Our lead player loves to solo and he's a good string bender and improv guy, so it went well. He also talked to the audience about things like how the economy sucked, who hated their boss, and what an awesome place this club was.
Each of us got a solo....the band introduction lasted for, what seemed like, forever. I have this funky slap-n-pop thing I built just for something like this, it's not hard but it sounds cool, I just kept it going for about 2 minutes. The crowd acted like I was some sort of deity, but I knew it was really just a filler and not very good.....
As the night dragged on, we repeated the songs that the crowd seemed to like the most. This meant we did "Hey Joe", "Red House", "Tush", "Sweet Home Alabama", and "Nutbush City Limits" again. Good thing they were ones we did at least reasonably well.
And in the end, we all hated it and this band disintegrated....after one show.
Good luck. For those of you that tell you to back out, it's a decision you have to make. I chose to do it, and I feel that I'm better for it. Yeah.....it was hard and it sucked.....but in the end it was worth it......
Unfortunately, it has resulted in disintegration over the last day or two.
Your story is amazingly familiar....
After a few months we had 13 songs we could do with varying degrees of proficiency. Most of them were garbage or not very good. In total, we had about 30 songs we'd practiced and could play, somewhat, in one form or another. We got a job at a small bar that gets crappy bands or mediocre acoustic solo acts and we just couldn't get it together in practice....with the dreaded date coming closer and closer.....
At the end of the night the bar owner asked us to come back and play again because the bar sales were so good. Don't know if we were good or people drank to ignore us, but the place stayed busy all night and the booze was flowing....the bartender and waitstaff loved us.....
Gawd we sucked. Our drummer dropped his sticks, I screwed up BAD in a couple songs, our vocals were horrible, and our rhythm guy snuck over to turn down the lead player's amp because he was drowning us out.
Here's what we did;
We stretched out songs. Yup. We did a (roughly) 7 or 8 minute version of "Tush" with our lead player and rhythm player trading impromptu solos and licks while I continued to pound out G, C, and D. Basic, but it worked. The dancers kept dancing, the booze kept being bought, and the music played on.
When our vocals were weak, we played to the audience to sing along. We did this during "Knockin' On Heaven's Door". Everyone knows that song. I kept pounding out G, D, A, G, D, C...while the crowd kept singing "Knock-Knock-Knockin' on heaven's door....". If you can get audience participation they love you.....they feel like they're part of the show.....but you need a good frontman/frontgal who encourages them.
We stretched out our intros. It made some extra work for me to come up with some interesting or funky bass lines. We took Hendrix's "Hey Joe" and made the intro last about 3 minutes with our lead player doing some early solos and ripping out some really weird stuff......us backup singers were singing "Oooh.....Oooh.....Where you goin' with that gun in your hand?" while the lead player did his funky thing. His wah wah got a huge workout on that one....
About half way through, we did something we'd never discussed before, except as a junk warmup in practice. We just played a complete 12 bar blues improv with no vocals. Yup. An instrumental. Since we all knew 12 bar, it was easy to do. Our lead player loves to solo and he's a good string bender and improv guy, so it went well. He also talked to the audience about things like how the economy sucked, who hated their boss, and what an awesome place this club was.
Each of us got a solo....the band introduction lasted for, what seemed like, forever. I have this funky slap-n-pop thing I built just for something like this, it's not hard but it sounds cool, I just kept it going for about 2 minutes. The crowd acted like I was some sort of deity, but I knew it was really just a filler and not very good.....
As the night dragged on, we repeated the songs that the crowd seemed to like the most. This meant we did "Hey Joe", "Red House", "Tush", "Sweet Home Alabama", and "Nutbush City Limits" again. Good thing they were ones we did at least reasonably well.
And in the end, we all hated it and this band disintegrated....after one show.
Good luck. For those of you that tell you to back out, it's a decision you have to make. I chose to do it, and I feel that I'm better for it. Yeah.....it was hard and it sucked.....but in the end it was worth it......
Don't forget to practice your bass solo. Might sound crazy enough, but you'd be the cool bass player who did the cool bass solo even if the band kinda flopped. Generally, at a party, most people aren't musicians, so even what you might feel isn't very good can bring life to a party. We did things like that all the time when I was young and it was nothing but good experience and paying my dues, so to speak.
do the show (it's not really a gig unless it's paying and more professional, this is making noise at your friend's party), ignore the singer and learn the songs the right way, expect parts to suck and parts to be good, have fun and don't worry about it.
I was in a band with a singer songwriter. He was really quite good at what he did. He had good energy, a good voice, and was a fair songwriter. As a singer and guitar player, he new how to be onstage.
After our band quit, he started working with some guys as a lead singer (no guitar). He had great energy when he was singing, but he clearly had no idea what to do with himself during intros, instrumental breaks, etc. Wandered around on stage with an emotionless look on his face until it was his time to sing and then - BAM - energy!
I suspect this is what your singer finds boring. She doesn't know what the hell to do with herself feeling all useless so she wants to get rid of those parts.
Play the show. Deal with the aftermath.
After our band quit, he started working with some guys as a lead singer (no guitar). He had great energy when he was singing, but he clearly had no idea what to do with himself during intros, instrumental breaks, etc. Wandered around on stage with an emotionless look on his face until it was his time to sing and then - BAM - energy!
I suspect this is what your singer finds boring. She doesn't know what the hell to do with herself feeling all useless so she wants to get rid of those parts.
Play the show. Deal with the aftermath.
