Perhaps I missed it, but is it only the guitarist that has taken a year to learn 29 songs or is it the whole band? If it's the former, it's time for a new six stringer. If it's the latter, it may be time to rethink the whole proposition.
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Guitarist asks for "hiatus."
- Thread starter Inverness
- Start date
'tis the latter, wherein the other four have taken their time, to put it gently, to learn the material.
But like I said, I've sat through some growing pains. Check that, a lot of growing pains.
But like I said, I've sat through some growing pains. Check that, a lot of growing pains.
I'd have gone nuts....By way of comparison, I flew down to hang out with my son and his new band a few weeks back. While there, they got together for a practice session which they can only manage about once every two or three weeks because of schedules. Since the last practice they'd written two songs by emailing bits and pieces to each other until they had a finished version and then they'd all practice on their own at home to the mp3s. When they got together to play it for the first time it sounded like they'd been playing the song for quite awhile.
You're only going to get out what you put in, and if this is all the others want to put in, you're not going to get much else back out.
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And Melrose Place!? Heather Locklear?! Way to date yourselves, you old fogies!Aren't the kids watching garbage like The Hills these days?
Old fogie? I resemble that remark!
I'm 43, so 48 is well within the acceptable range. Send her my way...
That sounds about right. Isn't Heather Locklear about 48 now?
Oooooh... Good call.
See, the issue at hand for the others is not really putting in the effort to learn the songs so much as it is basic fundamentals of instrument playing. Like I said, only the lead guitarist and I are the really seasoned ones, so I had to sit through the drummer's and the other guitarist's fundamental growing pains. I am very picky about the trueness of the music (well, most of it... except for some of the solos. Some of the solos, like in "Talk Dirty to Me," are melodic and more generally known while other solos, like in "Youth Gone Wild," are just there for the sake of being there and aren't terribly memorable to your casual bar patron), so I made the guitarist perfect picking patterns in "Paradise City," "18 & Life," and such. I took them out of their comfort zones, so seeing and hearing results, as I mentioned, is gratifying.
sounds like the guy went through some kinda mental crisis.
He also could have an alcohol problem that's fueling his behavioral problems/actions.
Getting kicked out of his Uncle's house probably was a real bummer and he got depressed (moping around). Sounds like he's coming around now. Since you haven't lost any gigs because of this, I would give him more time. Talk to the guy and let him know what's on the line and see how he reacts.
IMHO.
He also could have an alcohol problem that's fueling his behavioral problems/actions.
Getting kicked out of his Uncle's house probably was a real bummer and he got depressed (moping around). Sounds like he's coming around now. Since you haven't lost any gigs because of this, I would give him more time. Talk to the guy and let him know what's on the line and see how he reacts.
IMHO.
+1. No offense, and I'm sure you guys went through a lot together, but this guy sounds like a grade-A loser - most of it seemingly his fault. Evaluate your ties.
I can't believe some of the stories people post on here.
Ok as far as your guitarist's personal life, it's of no interest to me and it should be of no interest to you. When you are playing music to make money it's like any other job. If some guy doesn't show up for work because he is running about with his grandmother's best friend and drinking liquid heroine through a straw up his nose no-one cares whether he is nice or not. He's not at work so he is fired.
As far as the music side, which is all you should be thinking about to be honest. If he can't do the gigs, get someone who can. Tell him, "Sure take your hiatus, but I am going to have to get in someone else to replace you in the meantime and that means you risk losing the gig in the future".
Pretty simple. Really if you want to be serious about what you do leave the personal nonsense aside and don't tolerate it as an excuse for your guitarist's lack of organisation and commitment.
Ok as far as your guitarist's personal life, it's of no interest to me and it should be of no interest to you. When you are playing music to make money it's like any other job. If some guy doesn't show up for work because he is running about with his grandmother's best friend and drinking liquid heroine through a straw up his nose no-one cares whether he is nice or not. He's not at work so he is fired.
As far as the music side, which is all you should be thinking about to be honest. If he can't do the gigs, get someone who can. Tell him, "Sure take your hiatus, but I am going to have to get in someone else to replace you in the meantime and that means you risk losing the gig in the future".
Pretty simple. Really if you want to be serious about what you do leave the personal nonsense aside and don't tolerate it as an excuse for your guitarist's lack of organisation and commitment.
Even though I've never met you, this post shows how cool of a guy you are. If you're having as much fun practicing and growing the band as you would playing out, ride the storm out and play with your friends. It's nice to see an example of loyalty in this day and age.
Even though I've never met you, this post shows how cool of a guy you are. If you're having as much fun practicing and growing the band as you would playing out, ride the storm out and play with your friends. It's nice to see an example of loyalty in this day and age.
I think that is a nice sentiment. It really depends on what your goals are. If being friends is the most important thing, then know it will be at the expense of how serious you can be about what you do. I think as far as personal problems with a band they are only things you can solve personally.
Asking for advice in a band management forum, to me can only have one result and that is that professionally, you need to put personal problems aside and act in the interests of your band and yourself. Taking time out for him means you are in limbo until he is ready. If that's ok with you then so be it. On the other hand if you don't want to wait about doing nothing in the mean time you have to realise that being nice won't get you anywhere in that regard.
Originally Posted by Inverness View Post
Haha. Unfortunately, no. She's quite pretty for a 48-year old woman, too (I'm 25, to put that into perspective). Our drummer has her phone number. When you call her voicemail, you get, "This line is for rockers only!"
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Sounds like you guys need to grab a bag of blow and a case of wine and shag this painter rotten. Call the guitard about a half hour into it, too.
Haha. Unfortunately, no. She's quite pretty for a 48-year old woman, too (I'm 25, to put that into perspective). Our drummer has her phone number. When you call her voicemail, you get, "This line is for rockers only!"
...
Sounds like you guys need to grab a bag of blow and a case of wine and shag this painter rotten. Call the guitard about a half hour into it, too.
"Like any other job", people have personal issues. Let's say you have a "star" computer programmer working on your latest game product. Let's say he wants time off to care for his sick wife or go into rehab for a couple of months.Or he wants to stay home with his newborn kid for awhile.
All of those (and a bunch more) are covered under Federal law and you can't fire him.
So if you want to work with the guitard and see if he can get it together since he's not been holding the band back musically, that's up to you and him to work things out. Otherwise, yeah, find someone else, "just like any other job".
Even though I've never met you, this post shows how cool of a guy you are. If you're having as much fun practicing and growing the band as you would playing out, ride the storm out and play with your friends. It's nice to see an example of loyalty in this day and age.
It has been a bit tough - I don't deny that. I suppose it's karma. My first band can be heard Link Removed. (Beware if you don't like metal, but it's probably not what you would expect) I was definitely the greenest member of the band - the drummer/singer had been drumming (and I guess singing) for over 20 years, the rhythm guitarist/programmer had been doing his thing for 10 years, and the other guitarist/keyboardist had been playing piano for like 15 years and had been playing guitar for 5 years (he also had perfect pitch, 'cause he's a jerk like that!). When I joined, I had been playing bass for maybe a year. But they stuck by me, and I became rather good. We had a great time playing together. Now granted, the difficulty level between those old songs and the current crop of covers we're doing is obvious, but the guitarist/programmer guy had a definite sense of mechanical precision, and he pushed me to become that. I suppose that I've inherited that trait and have instilled it upon the others, so the fact that the guys in the band have put up with me for this long is also a fact that cannot be neglected!
have you got the number of the independently wealthy artist lady???
+1 Best response yet. I'm just pissed cause I didn't think of it!
butchblack
Life is short. Do good. Find and do what you love.
Where you don't have any pending gigs you're afforded more time then if you're losing gigs. Once, or if, he come back, it seems a band meeting is in order to see if you can get everyone up to speed on learning material. When I joined my current band they were replacing both the bass and the guitar. We had 6 weeks to do a 2 set 24 song gig with a full 35 song set 3 weeks later, and we pulled it off, but we worked our ***** off at home learning the tunes.
With your friend, if he shows a pattern for getting himself in those kinds of messes you may want to keep him on a short leash. You have a right to expect behavior that doesn't negatively affect the band. Again more important the more you start playing out.
Did he ever show up for rehearsal BTW
My 2¢
With your friend, if he shows a pattern for getting himself in those kinds of messes you may want to keep him on a short leash. You have a right to expect behavior that doesn't negatively affect the band. Again more important the more you start playing out.
Did he ever show up for rehearsal BTW
My 2¢
If we played dance venues, we used to extend the shortest songs out to at least 5 minutes to keep the crowd dancing.
Our basic formula was:
9 songs x 5 min. = 45 min. per set
Some songs were longer so we sometimes played 8 songs per set. With short breaks between the songs, we played 4 hour gigs with around 35-40 songs.
