Actually, it may be my first real audition *ever*; all the bands I've been in have evolved out of informal jam sessions, except for one case where we all knew each other well and I was invited in when the bass player left.
Anyway, the last time I was in a band of any kind was something north of ten years ago; since then I've been woodshedding, recording at home, occasionally playing acoustic with friends, and so on. But I'm trying to get back on the horse and play out again, and I've been asked to try out for a friend's cover band. They're doing rather well locally, with regular headline gigs at a couple of local joints and the occasional opening spot for a national touring act, and their bassist is about to move out of town.
They're basically a hard-rock/hair-metal cover band, with some reinterpreted pop; some G-n-R material, Journey, Bon Jovi, stuff like that. It's well outside the stuff I'd usually play, but it fills up dance floors and can be good shameless fun to play. It helps that my friend is a badass lead guitarist.
That stuff isn't particularly hard material technically, but I've always been an ear player and improviser, and while they aren't a note-for-note band, they follow original arrangements pretty closely, and I guess I'm a little intimidated about not being able to rely on spontaneity.
The actual audition seems accessible---I've had most of the band's book on my iPod for a few months already, and they asked me to "pick any 10" of the songs. I went through the list and felt like I could hold together respectably on about 20-30 of the songs, with a little bit of spit-and-polish to get down the bits and pieces that I've been fudging in solo practice. So I guess I'm actually starting from a decent bassline.
But still, it's a little nervewracking to contemplate putting myself forward where other people will have the chance to say "nope, not good enough". Anyone wanna give me a pep talk?
-NT
Anyway, the last time I was in a band of any kind was something north of ten years ago; since then I've been woodshedding, recording at home, occasionally playing acoustic with friends, and so on. But I'm trying to get back on the horse and play out again, and I've been asked to try out for a friend's cover band. They're doing rather well locally, with regular headline gigs at a couple of local joints and the occasional opening spot for a national touring act, and their bassist is about to move out of town.
They're basically a hard-rock/hair-metal cover band, with some reinterpreted pop; some G-n-R material, Journey, Bon Jovi, stuff like that. It's well outside the stuff I'd usually play, but it fills up dance floors and can be good shameless fun to play. It helps that my friend is a badass lead guitarist.
That stuff isn't particularly hard material technically, but I've always been an ear player and improviser, and while they aren't a note-for-note band, they follow original arrangements pretty closely, and I guess I'm a little intimidated about not being able to rely on spontaneity.
The actual audition seems accessible---I've had most of the band's book on my iPod for a few months already, and they asked me to "pick any 10" of the songs. I went through the list and felt like I could hold together respectably on about 20-30 of the songs, with a little bit of spit-and-polish to get down the bits and pieces that I've been fudging in solo practice. So I guess I'm actually starting from a decent bassline.
But still, it's a little nervewracking to contemplate putting myself forward where other people will have the chance to say "nope, not good enough". Anyone wanna give me a pep talk?
-NT
