First Audition Ever

[Matthew_84]

Thanks Fretless, yeah I kind of felt the same way. I had dinner and picked up the bass again and now some of the blanks are filling in. So I'll just leave it for the time being.

 

[Icey101]

if its serious...i take cheat notes and lay em on the floor

if its casual...i take a music stand and have them in front of me...


cant go wrong

 

[tommytutone]

My advice is to make sure you audition them as much as they audition you, you could potentially be spending a bunch of time with these guys, you don't want to be around people you don't care for, don't let the thrill of the first band get you, more will come if you don't like the first one.

Also, be advised 99.9% of Craigslist and kijiji bands go nowhere, and that statistic falls to about 88% for every other band, you probably won't get to your first show, but do not let that discourage you.

In regards to their songs, don't put anything down in stone, just try to get a loose idea of what is going on. One of the great things about playing with other musicians is the way you can feel and react from one another, this is a skill you cannot practice at home, and one of the most essential.

+1 Especially the part " don't let the thrill of the 1st band get you"...been there, done that"

 

[Matthew_84]

Hey everyone, so a bit of an update and another question:

I had the audition last friday and I thought it went really well. I was able to get the majority of the songs down before hand and they taught some of the trickier parts as we played, and we all seemed to get along really well. When I left the lead singer/guitarist told me that they'll e-mail me about when we're jamming next week. All was good and I left excited.

I woke up the next morning (last Saturday), and realized I forgot to mention something about my schedule, where I go on-call for work every 6 weeks, and rehearsals would not be an issue at all but I couldn't gig while I was on-call. But it was worked out before I met up with them, that we were just doing this for fun, weren't looking to make a career out of it, and would only gig occasionally. I said in the e-mail, that unless we're gigging every week, this shouldn't be an issue, but let me know if it is, and I hope it wasn't, I love the music and want to be a part of this... yadda yadda...

I haven't heard anything yet and now I'm assuming that they are auditioning other bassists. Now, I'm kind of stuck. I'm wondering whether or not I should continue to learn their music, or just move on. How long should I give them before looking elsewhere? Also, I don't even know if I want to be a part of the band anymore. Their music is great, and I had a good time with the guys, but when I went there I thought I wanted to be part of an original band, but now I think that I'd rather be in a brand new cover band, where we learn all the songs together at the same time, and write the occasional original to throw in the mix, but I'd like to be part of the process from the get-go. Plus, I'm not too fond of the lack of response in three days or whatever. Maybe I'm just too impatient, but I'd rather some sort of honest response like "The on-call thing isn't an issue. But we are in the process of auditioning two more bassists. We'll be done auditioning them by friday and will let you know afterwards." I'd rather be told the truth rather than being left out of the loop, for all I know they have moved on to someone else, and I may not even get another e-mail from them at all.

Just kind of rambling now... If anyone has any pointers please respond. Thanks.

 

[Russell L]

Articulation is everything. "Say" each note, not just play it. Let the music breathe, giving it punctuation, like commas, colons, dashes, and periods. Leave spaces, and it will help the other parts punch when needed. Often, the guy who can say it best will get hired before the guy who is more technical. Gotta feel the groove and make it come alive.

Relax.

 

[Kaa]

Just relax, keep looking at other opportunities, and send them an e-mail in a couple of days.

 

[bluewine]

But it was worked out before I met up with them, that we were just doing this for fun, weren't looking to make a career out of it, and would only gig occasionally.

Looks like a nice opportunity and it seems they are what you have been looking for.