Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Great, another band dilemma
- Thread starter Qvist
- Start date
Dude, he is good. Dont get rid of him. let him develop, singers develop slower, but when they get there they are well worth the patience that you had with him. You guys are pretyy tight too. My band did the same thing as you did and our singer started out when we started, and now he is doing really well. Link Removed
Couple of suggestions:
1) Be specific when giving him feedback. Saying "Put more feeling into it" is really subjective and he could already think he's putting a lot of feeling into it. And don't make it negative. Point out what his strengths are so he can build on those instead of saying "Your range sucks....sing higher!"
2) Speaking of range.....his range is clearly not developed yet. That being said, why would you try to pull off something as vocally challenging as Sweet Child O'Mine??? If you want to build his confidence, find some songs within his range (Green Day, Cake, etc as others mentioned). Let him develop his voice and build his confidence before trying something by bands with dynamic vocalists. You wouldn't try playing complex Led Zeppelin bass lines when you're just starting out, so why should you expect him to pull off difficult vocal lines from the get go? Take it slow and gradually build up to more challenging material.
3) Encourage him to take vocal lessons (if he's not in the high school choir, encourage him to join. They'll teach him the fundamentals and probably be able to refer him to any good private instructors). Sometimes people think lessons are just for beginners or because they 'suck'....that couldn't be further from the truth. I'm 29 years old and considered "advanced" by my teacher, but I still take bass lessons to improve my playing and become an already better musician
Hope this all helps and good luck!
1) Be specific when giving him feedback. Saying "Put more feeling into it" is really subjective and he could already think he's putting a lot of feeling into it. And don't make it negative. Point out what his strengths are so he can build on those instead of saying "Your range sucks....sing higher!"
2) Speaking of range.....his range is clearly not developed yet. That being said, why would you try to pull off something as vocally challenging as Sweet Child O'Mine??? If you want to build his confidence, find some songs within his range (Green Day, Cake, etc as others mentioned). Let him develop his voice and build his confidence before trying something by bands with dynamic vocalists. You wouldn't try playing complex Led Zeppelin bass lines when you're just starting out, so why should you expect him to pull off difficult vocal lines from the get go? Take it slow and gradually build up to more challenging material.
3) Encourage him to take vocal lessons (if he's not in the high school choir, encourage him to join. They'll teach him the fundamentals and probably be able to refer him to any good private instructors). Sometimes people think lessons are just for beginners or because they 'suck'....that couldn't be further from the truth. I'm 29 years old and considered "advanced" by my teacher, but I still take bass lessons to improve my playing and become an already better musician
Hope this all helps and good luck!
A little update on our situation, for those interested.
We had another gig, and it didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. Our lead guitarist got drunk and our singer got nervous. People left during the show because they thought he, the singer, was so terrible. After this we convinced him to really take some lessons (and we got an alcohol policy aswell hehe), so right now we're waiting to see improvement. I'm just afraid of having a gig like this again, it was torture standing up there seeing people leave one by one, because of some else fault. (this we were told).
How long should we wait for this improvement to happen? 'cause honestly, right now I can't see any light of the end of the tunnel when it comes to our live-performances.
And again, thanks for all the previous advices you all have given!
We had another gig, and it didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. Our lead guitarist got drunk and our singer got nervous. People left during the show because they thought he, the singer, was so terrible. After this we convinced him to really take some lessons (and we got an alcohol policy aswell hehe), so right now we're waiting to see improvement. I'm just afraid of having a gig like this again, it was torture standing up there seeing people leave one by one, because of some else fault. (this we were told).
How long should we wait for this improvement to happen? 'cause honestly, right now I can't see any light of the end of the tunnel when it comes to our live-performances.
And again, thanks for all the previous advices you all have given!
Hey again everyone, I know it's been quite a while but we in the band finally decided to tell him that we just weren't happy with his voice for our style of music (since the cover on the first page, which has unfortunately been deleted by the guitarist of our band). We have hired a new guy, he has more attitude and overall a more rock-suited voice.
He took it pretty calm, like he probably knew it was coming. It was tough, but I'm happy it's been said now. We're still friends, so it couldn't be better
This is the first band I've ever been in, as a serious band, and I need some new advice with the new singer. Our old singer sung all our old songs on his own manner, and we, the rest of the band, know how it should be singed. Now, should we tell the new singer to sing it that way or would it be stupid of us not to check him out and see how he would do it his own way? I know it might be a silly question, but I really wanna do it right this time, we really need to get this train moving!
He took it pretty calm, like he probably knew it was coming. It was tough, but I'm happy it's been said now. We're still friends, so it couldn't be better
This is the first band I've ever been in, as a serious band, and I need some new advice with the new singer. Our old singer sung all our old songs on his own manner, and we, the rest of the band, know how it should be singed. Now, should we tell the new singer to sing it that way or would it be stupid of us not to check him out and see how he would do it his own way? I know it might be a silly question, but I really wanna do it right this time, we really need to get this train moving!
This is very subjective in my opinion, I believe that you (any singer/musician) should do your own thing your own way. This of course means some will not like it. If those people are in your own band, then someone is in the wrong band. Find the art in what he does or find another singer, do not force compliance, no one will be happy then.
