gettin sick of my "musical" bandmates!

Yea, man, I feel ya. I play with my best friend (a guitarist) and there times when I really just don't want to play his stuff. It's not that it's bad, not at all. It's just boring some times and I don't know how to push him in some other directions, or even if he wants to go other places, ya know?
But I'm stuck, I don't want to outright say, "Dude, I don't want to play that anymore, I'm gone."
But I feel I'm not growing any either. I just recently purchased a fretless and I thought he was going to s*** when I told him. I know he was thinking I was going to want to do weird, soft, stuff -- I just want to broaden it all, and work on different styles and have different textures...oh well.

 

I've found myself in this predicament in the past, and have come up with a simple, effective solution:




QUIT.

 

Of course!!!

When you first get together there is a thrill of discovery and exploration.

Then you reach a period (hopefully) where the band is all on the same page with a common purpose.

After a while, one or more members may get itchy for something a bit different and that's to be expected.

It's really a matter of what you're willing to tolerate. If the band is playing well, gigging steadily, making $$$$ but you feel stale you might be less inclined to quit than if the band has been in the basement for 4 years, never landed a gig and you feel stale

I do a lot of free lancing which helps keep me from going nuts with my main band. It gives me other outlets to keep my juices flowing.

 

I do that for the same reason - the trick is to play in different bands and situations in different genres of music - jazz, blues, rock, punk, ska, dance etc. - it keeps you on your toes, and you don't get bored.

 

I've occasionally been frustrated enough to quit. When this happens I force myself, which is REALLY hard, to fight it out with them. I know your pain.