Basic Rant re: keeping it simple.

[Bassman Spliff]

I have been in situations like this and it is super frustrating. I'm blessed to be playing with some gents currently who learn their stuff ahead of time and we can throw 3-5 new songs together in one rehearsal without issue; to be fair, we are playing the blues, so there's nothing too crazy going on. Heck we've even busted out something completely new live.

I currently am subbing for another local band with a Jazzy, Hip-Hop feel and you better bet your behind I learned those parts before rehearsal; you only get one chance to make a first impression. We were able to work through the 5 song set in 1.5 hours to get it right where we wanted it because we were all prepared. That's how it should be. Sounds like its time for greener pastures bud. Pitter patter.

 

[David Jayne]

buddy rich...clams everywhere....(LANGUAGE WARNING)

He was right. He was successful because he insisted on greatness. From himself, from everyone. I admire that.

 

[Kevorargh]

I have discovered that paying people doesn't necessarily bring the work ethic desired - sometimes it's the attitude of the player, sometimes it's the way a person learns. My drummer needs the repetition of live practicing even though he practices on his own. The lead guitar player I dismissed was only going to put so much effort into getting songs down and assumed his ability to fill in the gaps and his nice-guy attitude would carry him through.

 

[TheOxRocks]

Aside from laziness, I have often suspected that some musicians use this as a way to influence song selection. In other words, they drag their feet on learning a song everyone else wants to do, in the hopes that everyone gets frustrated and gives up on the song. I have seen some very good musicians drag their feet on learning some very simple songs, and you know that the main reason is they just don't want to do the song.

I’ll admit I did that in one band - dragging my feet in the hope that the rest of the group would abandon the song - on the song “Africa” by Toto. It wasn’t that I disliked the song - I had simply convinced myself I couldn’t learn it. I did try, multiple times, and just wasn’t getting it.

Then I went to see Ringo’s All Starr Band. Steve Lukather was part of the group, and naturally they played “Africa”. Now, I can’t read a note of music and usually learn a song either by playing along with the record or watching video. In this case, I had a good view of the bass player - it was Richard Page of Mr. Mister - and I focused intently on him. Halfway through the song, my wife was surprised to hear me slap my head and say “So THAT’S how they do it!” I had a light-bulb moment.

I then tried it at home and found it came easily. At the next band rehearsal a few days later, I surprised the rest of the band by saying “You guys want to give ‘Africa’ one more try?” and then blowing through it as if I’d been playing it all my life.

 

[GIBrat51]

Sorry, but this has nothing whatever to do with "K.I.S.S.". My response to that lame excuse would be "OK, you want simple? Then how about you "simply" get your organ cluster out of your ventral orifice, and "simply" come to practice/rehearsal with your S--t in a pile?" And I'd be prepared to "simply" walk if this crap continued...

 

[strat59]

You are not alone. This is the song of the lazy musician, along with, "let's just have fun".
You are obviously more dedicated and conscientious.
Another one that used to get me was "wanna move on " ? when a song was just starting to come together and needed a little more fine tuning.
You will probably find that "good enough" is the general approach these types have to everything.

lol, i was in a band once that that talked about taking the name "Good Enough"

 

[RustyAxe]

lol, i was in a band once that that talked about taking the name "Good Enough"

I was actually in a band called "Delusions of Adequacy".

 

[buldog5151bass]

A band I am in now, about once a month, meets with either just the guitars and bass, or just vocals, to tighten parts up. We start with the original arrangement, and then change things slightly, or do mashups/medleys of songs, so we work on getting specific things extra tight.

 

[sqlb3rn]

Am I alone? I'm getting annoyed with the level of excellence people are striving for. I can't seem to find a band where the unacceptable isnt allowed onstage. Thanks for letting me vent!

I experienced the same nonsense at a try-out last weekend. The singer sent me some recordings that were just awful, the tone of his voice is bad, sounds like an out of tune crash test dummies. And the riffs were just some lame ass moderate tempo 4/4 three power chord progression.

I went to the try-out because he said they would follow along with whatever I was doing and wanted to hear my stuff ( I was playing guitar) ... well they were terrible and couldn't follow along at all and watched me play like deer in headlights. Then the singer and bass player started spouting off all this "just keep it simple" bs... so I belted out some crappy riff they jammed on for about 5 minutes, then I packed up and left.

I have had a craigslist add up for a few weeks and keep getting hit up by people that either don't play my genre or can't play period. I feel like there was a lot more local talent in my area 15 years ago.