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My little experience

emal

emal

Dec 5, 2016
806
1,723
Quebec
#1
Just a short story I wanted to share
My 90s alt rock band split up this week.
Despite being amateur and far from pro we were asked to do gigs left and right
A lot of it had to do with our demeanor on gig night: on time, courteous, and easy to get along with

We decided to take a winter break to write 2-3 tunes as it's more fun than doing covers ( for us), so we took a break and started sharing riffs online
I told them we should jam these ideas out together with a few brews and see what happens
My singer was adamant that we need to share at least one complete song before doing so. I said ok but I'm not a fan of paying rent for an empty studio
Anyways, I shared a bass line that had a verse chorus verse and change, simple 4/4 and all that. Just to get things moving
He answers: where is the guitar and drums? lol
I told him we already had a drummer and guitarist. Well he said it wasn't complete I literally laughed out loud
He started calling us dreamers and we'd amount to nothing blah blah, totally left field.
I told him I'm not buying a guitar or drums neither learning a drum program for a hobby band.
So he said he quit…

Just sharing because I've read so many of your stories, can't believe it's happened to me!!!

Take care out there!
 
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#7
Yeah
He made it seem he was totally into it
But had no interest in jamming out ideas a few hours a week and try to come up with stuff based on riffs we'd bring, so that was a new part of his personality we didn't see before. But yeah you're right, open book policy right away is the best policy
 
#11
That's very strange. I always find it odd when people let their rigid ideas of How Things Should Be Done get in the way of just doing the thing.

Seems to me, watching the recent Beatles documentary, they rarely - if ever - walked into the studio with songs fully written. And yet they managed to do ok for quite a while.

Where people get their weird ideas about stuff I don't even know.
 
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#12
I just think some people can't compromise, which as we know is the basis of a band:
Respect and Compromise, sounds especially familia rif you are in a relationship ;)

which BTW he wasnt, connected? maybe..
 
#13
I do like it when folks come in with enough of the song written for the rest of the band to pick it up quickly. But i think this singer went to far with that concept. I don't expect people to write my bass line or note for note parts, but having a melody and chords plus a desired feel is great to have and allows others to plug in quickly.
 
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#14
Agreed. I wanted us to send each other riffs and Ideas to work on the days we weren't together, then share those ideas online and discuss them, then at the jam we try the ideas discussed etc. I am all for efficiency as well, and with technology now, it's so easy to bounce ideas off one another
 
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#15
Usually a set of chord changes and maybe some basic rhythmic stuff are enough to get the beginnings of a song in motion.

When I write, that's what I do. I hand over a demo with the changes and a chord chart to whomever is going to play the chording instrument- usually after I've written/programmed the drum part and figured out the basic arrangement of sections. Generally for my stuff that ends up being a keyboard player, but it could be a guitarist or someone else. They take my demo and turn into into a polished set of changes.

Then I figure out what other parts I want added by various instruments and either play them myself or hire additional session players. If I hire session players, I almost always give them carte blanche to play what they want, because they are good at what they do, and that's why I hire them.
 
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#16
I had a similar experience before the days of easily sharing tunes via the 'net. After a couple of unfruitful jams, our guitarist didn't want to get together until we had "songs" to work through. I can never get music out of my head, so I've always got riffs and guns to throw together. I put together four or five tunes, said so and we set up a practice. Once we got together, he was miffed that I hadn't written out what the guitar would play. o_O I said I would for the next practice and I brought a four-track with my guitar parts and was prepared to show him, but he complained they were too hard.

Him: "Since when can you play guitar like that?"
Me: "Uhh... for years, but I prefer to play bass."
Him: "I can't be in a band where the bassist outplays me on guitar."
Drummer: :jawdrop: "what?"
Me: :speechless:

And that was the end. And no, I'm not a great guitarist, just able, and he could easily have learned my licks. :facepalm:
 
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#18
There are a lot of strange people out there.

If I learnt one thing early on it was some people do it and others talk about it, but don't.

You need to go through and beyond these people asap. Leading on from that, you get into a full on gigging situation where you have to learn how things need to work. You can always get better but you need sound building blocks early on.
Ever wondered why people have been playing for ages but you never came across them gigging a working band..?
 
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