I can’t imagine play most any Motown tune and just hanging on the root. That suggests to to BL/drummer isn’t listening to the music.
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New Band Red Flag
- Thread starter SCS
- Start date
It's still impossible to say.
The only time I ever got told to bang roots was when I was brand new and out of my depth.
You sort of indicated that might apply to you then you sort of implied it didn't.
The trouble with long threads is a lot of people only read the OP and reply. After awhile it looks like a pile on.
I don't think it is likely your keys drummer rhythm guitar section has reworked Motown into something that generally works better with banging on roots. So we have to consider the possibility more likely you are so out of your depth that you lose time trying to get the twiddly bits out. But you seem more experienced than to be doing that.
Too much guessing going on.
Or just play for the money
lol... that would be a regular job, with a task (regurgitating someone else's lines) and a boss (the BL). I suspect most people here already have one or more of those. I sure do.
I mean, I've played covers before, when I play(ed) rock, but they were always in the context of an original band playing original tunes. They were never just note for note ripoffs.
There’s something wrong with that, Frank, but I can’t let you know because you’re dead.
I’m glad that I’m in a different kind of band.
So is the BL trying to play them in a different style, or what? If you're playing like the record and he doesn't like it, maybe he's never actually paid attention to those lines. Maybe try playing the recordings for him and telling him that's what you're trying to do, and asking him why he wants it changed from the original?
i'm sorry - i don't understand. "most are as original"? are these covers or not?
btw, in my opinion (i'm 63, been playing bass since 1994 and guitar since 1968), learning to underplay songs so you only play the roots may not make you a better bass player at all. it sure won't make the songs sound better. you'd become a better bass player practicing covers at home with a metronome and recordings faster than by playing just root notes that don't help the song.
Management vs Labor is an old struggle. Zappa just looked like a hippie, but he wasn't. Bragging about being anti-union is kinda smug. However one feels about unions you wouldn't have a 2 day weekend without them. He rationalized in the way same way as every crappy boss I've ever had.
Him complaining about unions is just as much an uninformed sour grapes comment as the former musicians in his band whining about Zappa.
High level experimental bands that are a going commercial concern are nothing like an orchestral union or actor’s equity or a municipal worker’s union.
He’s totally entitled to run his band in the way he wants. But I’m a union member who works so hard that I pass out when I get home. I literally can’t get off the couch right now and I’m a fit distance cyclist and three times weekly workout type.
I am not likely to have lasted in Frank’s band but Frank sure wouldn’t last doing what I do. Especially without a union.
I think you're right about that. I just hope that when OP is getting feedback that provides OP with helpful information about what they're getting feedback
on. If it were me in OP's shoes, I'd rather the BL just say what's on their mind directly.
Without reading everyone else's responses or specifically what songs you're being asked to simplify on...
It really comes down to how you feel. There are a million ways to be in a band. If I was playing with, you know, Sting or Elvis Costello, and they told me exactly what to play and they pushed me to rise to their level in all ways, I don't think I would mind. If it was Joe Schmo the plumber in his garage down the street, I would probably not last long.
Then again, after a while, I may feel like the Sting/Elvis gig was too much pressure and not fun, and I would burn out and leave. And maybe I would tell Joe Schmo that his ride is too dry and he should do some 32nd rolls on his hats from time to time, and would he mind if I asked my friend to come in and have a go at tuning that kick drum, because hoo boy, it's flabby and hard for me to lock onto. And then we would have a good laugh and play together happily for decades.
So who knows? Only your gut.
But this is why I'm not in bands. If I stay in the studio and play all the parts myself, my feelings never get hurt
It really comes down to how you feel. There are a million ways to be in a band. If I was playing with, you know, Sting or Elvis Costello, and they told me exactly what to play and they pushed me to rise to their level in all ways, I don't think I would mind. If it was Joe Schmo the plumber in his garage down the street, I would probably not last long.
Then again, after a while, I may feel like the Sting/Elvis gig was too much pressure and not fun, and I would burn out and leave. And maybe I would tell Joe Schmo that his ride is too dry and he should do some 32nd rolls on his hats from time to time, and would he mind if I asked my friend to come in and have a go at tuning that kick drum, because hoo boy, it's flabby and hard for me to lock onto. And then we would have a good laugh and play together happily for decades.
So who knows? Only your gut.
But this is why I'm not in bands. If I stay in the studio and play all the parts myself, my feelings never get hurt
In this entire thread the point that sticks out to me is the OP said the singer is “out of this world”. If the singer sounds amazing and can really work a room, then that is pure gold. We bassists (and drummers) are felt subconsciously most of the time and there are so many guitarists who shred that it’s not even that impressive (to me) any more. But a singer? Difference maker. So I’d stick with it and take liberties on the bass lines little by little. Good luck.
Unless he's teaching them to write songs, it's their level he'd do well to rise to.
Sting is the least talented player in every ensemble he's been part of since before the Police. I don't have any recordings of the Padovani-era Police, but Andy and Stewart are better, for sure. Daryl Jones? Omar Hakim? Branford Marsalis? David Sancious? Vinnie Colaiuta? Kenwood Dennard? Mark Egan? These guys are miiiiiiles ahead of anyplace Sting's playing alone could take him). He's a songwriter who's made enough money to dictate his tastes to his sidemen, that's all.
Joe Schmoe could very well be a better writer, just not popular. The charts don't tell any of the story.
So who knows? Only your gut.
But this is why I'm not in bands. If I stay in the studio and play all the parts myself, my feelings never get hurt
Prince made a go of that and it turned out just great for him.
I mean, I get it; a BL is supposed to hire the best guys he can get, and that's what Sting did. I'm a HUGE police fan from the late 70s early 80s, but I can't imagine Sting telling either of them to fulfill his vision to the last fermata, even tho he wrote most of the songs.
As for Costello... Gary Peacock let him know what time it is pretty fast. "I don't play backup for no rock star"
Highs and Lows 2003 - JazzTimes
Doesn't sound like Peacock got the better end of that deal. I mean, everyone knows who Elvis Costello is.
Peacock wouldn't have become any more famous playing three tunes with Costello. Besides, he knows his genre doesn't really sell well to non-players, and I'm pretty sure he made his peace with that a long time ago.
