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Girlfriend in Band Part 2

PopaWoody

PopaWoody

The major rager
May 28, 2009
683
56
Tampa, FL
#1
Well guys, it's been over 6 mos since I posted on TB that Robin had joined my band. A lot has changed since then. We renamed the band, that caused so much friction that we ended up letting our guitarist and drummer go. Too much drama over the band name change and some other reasons forced us to find other musician's 3 weeks before a gig. No longer is this my band it is our band and our project. She has come a long way with over coming stage fright and is getting better at working a crowd. Although that last part still needs some work. She has started writing material, melody and words. Some of it is good, catchy phrases.

We've been networking in the local scene since we started this project. Robin and I go see other bands and meet club owners in person and that is working for us. Well we talked to a local full time guy we met at a gig, he recommends a drummer to us. Turns out he saw us at a gig back in Feb and he remembered and liked us.

We jam at a local open jam and we click, sounds tighter than our original guy. He calls a guitarist that is available, that first rehearsal we put together about 25 covers that we both already knew. Gig in 10 days. We cram a few songs they cram a few more. We plan on getting by with 32 or 33 for a full night.

Gig gets cancelled due to a double booking incident that another band put the club owner on the spot for. We moved our gig back 2 weeks to a date the drummer had booked already. Hooray for more prep time.

Anyway I just wanted to update all the cool people that encouraged us, we are stronger than ever, sound better than ever and are getting invited back to clubs we play at. We are getting gigs where a lot of other bands around here do not.

Robin and I are having fun, there is a lot of chemistry between the new guys and us when we are on and we click. Our new guitarist has amazing technique and feel. Is a fellow Jersey native and shares my birthday. He works as a product manager at Dean guitar's and has shared a stage with Michael Angelo Badio.

What a job, working with artist's like MAB and Dave Mustaine, although I hear DM is a total douche bag.

Some recent video's for those that suggested some songs to us 6 months ago. As of today we have gigged 6 times and rehearsed 3 or 4. Things are going well for us weekend warriors


Creep

Dead Eye Dick - New Age girl
Heartbreaker
Let er Rip
 
#2
Hey Poppa Woody, that's awesome! Thanks for the update. Talk about proving all those TB nay-sayers wrong, huh? Kudos to you both. Sounds like you've got the right lineup in the band now, which is half the battle.

As you may recall from when you first posted about Robin joining the band, my spouse and I are in a band, too, and we share your approach to working together as a couple. He's on bass, I'm on lead vocals. We're an original rock band, and after a year and a half of composing with our guitarist and developing our online presence (www.reverbnation.com/beyondthecage), we finally have our first gig... tomorrow night! Woo-hoo! I haven't performed in several years, so I've got a pretty good case of the butterflies happening right now. But really, I find that pre-show jitters never go away no matter how long you've been performing. In fact, I'm a bit superstitious about it. If you're too calm, you're not going to do your best work. So tell "Just a Goil" congratulations from me at keeping on keeping on. It only gets better! My best to you both!
 
#8
Three little worlds - in ear monitoring. Worth every single penny. You either improve as a singer in record time when you have it because it will show you exactly where you're getting it wrong (if you are, and if you're not you'll save your hearing and your voice anyway), or you'll listen to yourself in ear and not think anything is wrong at all. If isn't then joy. If it is... Then it's time for someone to gently tell you to give it up. IMHO.
 
#9
laCherry said:
Three little worlds - in ear monitoring. Worth every single penny. You either improve as a singer in record time when you have it because it will show you exactly where you're getting it wrong (if you are, and if you're not you'll save your hearing and your voice anyway), or you'll listen to yourself in ear and not think anything is wrong at all. If isn't then joy. If it is... Then it's time for someone to gently tell you to give it up. IMHO.
Click to expand...

Well, IEMs aren’t that simple for a lot of reasons I don’t want to discuss so as to not change the subject of the thread, but I’m gonna mention ear plugs again.

The right ones will only attenuate the stage volume slightly, and imo they even make that sound clearer, but they also have the effect of putting your finger in your ear to hear your voice better.

I hear the monitors and everything on stage, yet hear every nuance of my vocal, at a cost of less-than $20.

:)
 
#11
Marko5657 said:
Well, IEMs aren’t that simple for a lot of reasons I don’t want to discuss so as to not change the subject of the thread, but I’m gonna mention ear plugs again.

The right ones will only attenuate the stage volume slightly, and imo they even make that sound clearer, but they also have the effect of putting your finger in your ear to hear your voice better.

I hear the monitors and everything on stage, yet hear every nuance of my vocal, at a cost of less-than $20.

:)
Click to expand...

IEMs have been pretty simple for everyone I know who has tried them and set them up right, but as ever YMMV. Ear plugs - well, you could just go for the folk singer vibe and stick your finger in your lughole for free. ;)
 
#13
I think she has a good instrument with a lot of potential, she just needs to learn some technique. Pitching problems are caused by tension in the throat, insufficient breath control, and pushing too much air across the vocal chords. Volume comes from resonance, not pushing. To sing well, you really need to exercise the vocal chords every day. There are numerous effective warm-up exercises that relax the throat and strengthen the vocal muscles. Even 15 minutes a day makes an enormous difference. I suggest looking up Eric Arsenaux's warm up exercises on youtube. They are excellent, easy, and if done every day, will make a big difference for her (and there's tons of other great instruction on singing out there, too). She should make sure she is fully warmed up before singing, especially before performance. Pre-show nerves tend to make you want to push and the more warmed up she is, the more she will be able to resist that temptation.

Regular rehearsal with the full band is very important, too. Singing on your own is a very different experience from singing with the band. Do you record your practices? If not, I suggest doing so. She needs to hear herself clearly during practice (which means everyone else has to get their levels right), and be able to listen to herself afterward (we bought a Tascam DR7 for recording and it's brilliant). Then she'll be able to hear where she's off so she can work on those parts between practices. Over time, she'll learn exactly what position her throat needs to be in for each part of a song, which will make it easier for her during those shows where the sound isn't so great and she can't hear herself so well. Muscle memory is essential.

I'm not saying in-ear monitors are a bad idea. By all means, get them if she wants. I don't use them, myself. I don't even use ear plugs anymore. I rely on my daily practice, warm-up exercises, and regular full band rehearsal. We were blessed with great sound at our gig last night, but even then there were moments when I couldn't hear myself and it didn't phase me in the slightest. I knew exactly where my voice needed to be and it went there easily, naturally and without strain. It took a hell of a lot of practice and learning to get to this point, but it has paid off. I have no doubt it will pay off for her, too! Keep on rockin' guys!
 
#15
There's potental. But i would get her some lessons. And learn how to chain songs together. I watched 3 songs, all of which had long talk time, etc before the song started. That is a dance floor killer. Something I have to hammer into my band's heads too.
 
#16
Musically, the band sounds pretty tight.

As far as your GF on vocals goes - It's easier to judge a singer with popular songs that a lot of cover bands play and we've all heard a million times...maybe try writing some original tunes with her and she can really find her voice that way. Or maybe just pick songs where she can tone it down a bit and/or not have to stretch as much.

There's DEFINITELY a good voice in her, she's just falling a bit short on some of the tricky parts on these particular covers. I'm thinking some of these song choices fall into the fine line between karaoke and a legit cover song.
 
#17
Thanks for the updates folks. We do have some issues with monitoring and stage volume. When she gets cranked up, or when the drums are hitting hard. We just picked up a wireless mic for her too so she can get off the stage.
 
#19
Staccato said:
Great post, thanks for sharing.

You never mentioned voice training or voice lessons in her past experience?
Click to expand...

I don't really know much about her past training, All I know is she did some choir and musical theatre in High school. Over 20 years ago. We have been discussing getting her with a Vocal coach for some training.

It's kind of funny, we get a lot of WOW, she has a great voice from the audience members that approach her. yet this thread has given her some frustration. I feel that it mostly boils down to monitoring and some of it is technique.

I'll keep ya posted TB, At least we are getting re-booked so it can't be too awful. :)
 
#20
PopaWoody said:
It's kind of funny, we get a lot of WOW, she has a great voice from the audience members that approach her. yet this thread has given her some frustration. I feel that it mostly boils down to monitoring and some of it is technique.
Click to expand...

No judgement from me on the vocals here, but feel the need to mention that audience members lie. All the time. And many of them are drunk too. I can't tell you how many really crappy cover gigs I played, with really crappy bands that I KNEW were really bad, where people told me, "You guys are the best band I ever heard!!!!" Guitarist in my old band had an issue with people being dishonest about that kind of thing, and I caught HIM countless times doing exactly what irked him - to other bands we played with. "Great singing!" "Great songs!" "Great band!" and none of it was true. I've caught myself at it from time to time also. I usually try to keep my mouth shut if I dont' like what I heard.

I found I need to trust myself, and the very few friends I have who's judgement I trust and who I know will give it to me straight.
 

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