Beautiful Tone

[Lizooki]

Sadly, my experience has been the opposite. I show up knowing the material cold. Turns out tue band does half @$$ versions of everything. So the proper bass line didn't even fit.

That's why I learn, but am ready to play by ear instantly.
Even with the people I regularly play with, they like to do "their take" on it.

 

[Durham52]

Is it just me, or do guitarists in general think "tone" is more important than, you know, music? Like learning parts, leaving space, playing with dynamics, group interplay, etc.

I think you're right, up to a point. Maybe it depends? Like if it's a local bar band scenario, or you're hiring for a major artist tour band.

While it's common to dump on guitar players and drummers here, like it's common to dump on bassists and drummers on guitar sites, etc. the reality is probably that there are more guitarists who are kidding themselves than bassists doing the same, because there are just more guitarists, full stop.

Yes, a lot of people take up the guitar dreaming they'll be the next Dime Bag Daryl, or Slash, or whoever and get caught up in trying to be a lead guitar shredder, before they've learned about the basics. Just like every would be singer thinks they should be the star, not the person in the back row doing the doo wops in the chorus. Like every would be actor/actress who goes to Hollywood, doesn't go to have a career as third spear carrier from the left, or red skivvy Star Trek crew person, without speaking part, dead by scene two.

Sure a lot of guitarists, regardless of their chops, are pretty obsessed with tone, but so are a lot of bassists, at least judging by posts around here. Daily there's posts about, how do you get so and so's tone from this record/show/clip. Or what pedal/amp/bass/pickups/strings, do I need to sound like (insert artist here). Or what's the best P or J bass pickup to recreate (name of artist here) bass tone. etcetera, etcetera.

But I think I was lucky, my time playing live in bands was in an originals band formed with friends from my art school days and we all developed together. One of them I worked songwriting with for most of my active years. So I never had to audition, or audition others. I can see that could be a totally different experience.

 

[Killing Floor]

@REV what amp was he playing through? Important detail.

 

[Verb the Noun]

the reality is probably that there are more guitarists who are kidding themselves than bassists doing the same, because there are just more guitarists, full stop.

Based on sheer numbers perhaps.

Yes, a lot of people take up the guitar dreaming they'll be the next Dime Bag Daryl, or Slash, or whoever and get caught up in trying to be a lead guitar shredder, before they've learned about the basics.

Thing is, a LARGE portion of bass players in any given music community are the above former aspiring guitarists. Some people realize how far it is to the top of that mountain and audible over to bass as an easier path to getting into a band and on stage. Sure, there are lots of great bass players who started on guitar... but the average level of dedication to improvement from a person who has already shifted to "easy mode" once is not hard to predict.

TLDR: I agree, based on volume alone, there are lots of unskilled/untalented/delusional guitarists out there. You are forgetting that a large % of bass players in any given musical community are the exact same guitarists.

 

[Chrisk-K]

Did your band use “Never gonna let you go” as the audition song?

 

[JRA]

But, the real purpose of this post is to say that one of these guys came in with a '55 Strat and his tone was so gorgeous. He said that the Strat belonged to his uncle but that he was letting him borrow it. This guitar sounded amazing.....

i love beautiful tones! of course, they sound better when properly applied to the task at hand --- sorry that you had to pass on the guy, but hearing a bit of what you liked just might help you 'indoctrinate' the next guy. good luck with your audition process!

 

[BillyRay]

I was the unprepared jerk once in my career, but I kind of had an excuse.

Back in the late 00 I was auditioning for a bunch of bands after my then current band had decided to not gig anymore and I had applied for an audition for something I didn't do : a trio fronted by an attractive female jazzy singer. I knew it was a long shot, but I thought it could be fun.

I had also applied for a gazillion rock/metal cover bands. I get an e-mail from one of the metal bands to show up at their practice space for the audition so I load up my stuff and show up... Only to realize I had mixed up the dates and I was at the jazzy singer's place in ratty jeans, smoking a cigarette (this was during the 10 minutes I had taken back up smoking, thank god I stopped) and with no one else but her to help me unload my 215. I had planned to borrow a small practice amp and show up in a suit for that specific audition. I also hadn't learned all the songs since I thought her audition was later.

I flatly told her I had my audition dates mixed up, wasn't prepared and didn't even unload my stuff. The look she gave me when I got out with the ass end of my humongous cab almost sticking out of the car was enough to tell me that even if I had been Jaco there was 100% no chance that I would've been hired anyway.

 

[hennessybass]

The most common band that is never covered correctly is Skynard. If you hate playing Skynard music, it's because you never learned how to play it right. On every instrument there is a TON going on in their music.

I've had that experience with a Skynard song.
Learned & charted out the whole thing... things go totally sideways while playing it... the band = "oh, we just usually play the verse and chorus."

 

[REV]

@REV what amp was he playing through? Important detail.

He played through a silver face Deluxe Reverb.

 

[Pings Bass]

Sure a lot of guitarists, regardless of their chops, are pretty obsessed with tone, but so are a lot of bassists, at least judging by posts around here.

It's a rock thing. The genre favors pushing emotion through sonic texture and volume as opposed to musical complexity. If you start fancying up the rhythmic and harmonic structure, or getting too melodic, it stops being perceived as rock. So you add to the signal chain and turn knobs to differentiate one four-chord 4/4 song from the next.

 

[Mike Marshall]

Our band is auditioning guitar players. It is a painful process. We've auditioned six so far and first of all, none of them learned the songs we asked them to learn for the audition.
It seems like they all thought they could bluff their way through or something. But, the real purpose of this post is to say that one of these guys came in with a '55 Strat and his tone was so gorgeous. He said that the Strat belonged to his uncle but that he was letting him borrow it. This guitar sounded amazing but still the guy had not learned the tunes. Next.

They don't take it seriously period. I along with a number of guitarists auditioned for a band that did 6 albums in the late 70's and early 80"s they were reforming and had high profile gigs mostly opening for national touring acts. Everyone who showed up played great and had their sound dialed in.The band actually had a hard time deciding who to hire, you couldn't have lost picking any one of them. It was a real eye opener for me, luckily they wanted me from past experience but I have never forgotten that preparation is the key performing. If you lose out with you're best effort its better than not giving yourself a chance that goes for everything in life.

 

[HardNHeavy]

Six guitarists wow........The boy scout motto "be prepared"

 

[iiipopes]

Yup I never could understand "the show up to an audition not knowing the 4 songs requested" mentality. I mean 4 songs, is it that challenging to memorize 4 songs?

Or at least sketch out a road map so you can get the main items in the songs to polish beginnings, endings, transitions and turnarounds at rehearsal?

 

[stretch80]

While they may not need to know the progressions, the do need to know the correct rhythm pockets, song form, where fills are required (more importantly where fills are NOT supposed to be), dynamics, as well as the correct feel. I’ve worked with one drummer in 50 years that understood this concept. The one I’m playing with now. Scotty has been a God send!

When he auditioned he was one of two. We sent them CDs of a recent gig to prepare. The competition went first, set up his impeccable drum kit, a phenomenal sounding set of cymbals, clicks off our 2nd set starter The DooWhoop Standard, Tonight Could Be The Night, and proceeds to play it with a jazz feel.

Scotty showed up with his well loved Rodgers Kit 1 small ride, a Hi-Hat had our whole show down, 100 times better that what was on the recordings. Totally blew us away.

Plus he’s a great guy, very reserved but with a good sense of humor. A good hang.

A great drummer is one of the big blessings one can get in life!

 

[slagheap]

uncle loaned him a $25K guitar? wowee...

 

[TNCreature]

My band writes and plays original music, and my guitar player still won't learn the chords. He always wants to "vibe it".
Drives me nuts...

 

[Jimmy4string]

I got a audition coming up next Thursday and i think it is a put together band from Craigslist.
I am practicing my vocal parts daily. I am hoping for greatness but I bet im going to be disappointed.
If i show up and noone is prepared im going to kick a ceramic zebra!