I've never played in a cover band. So I pose this question. How can a band playing other people's material have a leader? Does this person decide what Skynyrd song to play after MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This?
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New Band Red Flag
- Thread starter SCS
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He books/promotes the gigs and organizes rehearsals. Finds a replacement for you when you veer from the root.
Indeed, and I can tell you that a band with booked gigs and organized rehearsals is a lot more enjoyable to work for. I play in such a band, not "covers" per se, but a 19 piece big-band playing from written charts. Yes we have a bandleader. There are certainly exceptions, but bands that try to manage themselves by consensus tend to stagnate.
Why does an orchestra need a conductor?
Not every band has a "leader" but many do. In those bands, someone needs to be the person who is paying attention to the sum of the parts, making final arrangement decisions where people disagree (and yes, there are disagreements on covers. Not everyone hears things the same, and not everyone learns their parts from the same recorded version (studio vs. live, etc.). And not every "cover" is an actual cover.
Back in the day a "cover" band was a bunch of guys who dressed up in uniforms and played corporate gigs for a lot of money. They made that work by sticking as close to the original versions as possible and they functioned, essentially, as a live jukebox for parties, weddings, and big events. That was a cover band.
Everyone else played whatever they wanted, whether it was their own original material or something someone else had written and people didn't really distinguish between the two very much. Some great musicians have made spectacular careers out of reinterpreting written music in their own styles. These days many people (errantly, IMO) will call those songs "covers" but they aren't covers. They are new arrangements. And if you're in one of those bands that's playing whatever it wants, you need someone to make decisions about arrangements.
Keep it Greasy is aimed at how record execs screw musicians. Yellow Snow is about indigenous rights and pro-endangered species.
The absurdities in lyrics are intentional and have artistic merit, and also, like goofy Phish songs I guess, serve as another entry point into the music. At least for those who aren’t put off by one or the other.
That said, it’s definitely a matter of taste and I don’t fault a single soul for not being into Zappa
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You wanna know the truth? I am a little scared to put myself out there as a bass player. Yes, I have been playing 4 solid years, tons of practice, 2 different bass teachers, one for complete theory and one for walking bass, and of course all 4 of those years on the Rocksmith, and that right there is what I feel will bring me down. I am 52, couple months older than you probably. I was a product of the 80's metal/hairband scene. Took drum lessons when I was 21, was playing in a cover band when I was 22, with 3 others. It was so easy back then, all you had to do was go to the rock club and every other guy in there wanted to be in a band as well. What do I do to find people now, put an add on the Craig's List and say, yeah, I been playing 4 years, but never with anyone, I really cant remember all 400 songs I can play because I need visual aids, and Im only interested in getting together once a week, no originals, no goals to take over the world, just play 80's metal and Duran Duran. I can play like 15 songs by Duran Duran without visual aids (Rocksmith) because I actually had to break those songs down part by part to learn what the hell John Taylor was doing, and I play with a pick! Yes, I can play RIO from memory, all the ghost notes with a pick. Can I play Queesnryche 'I dont believe in love"? Yeah, I have played it 100+ times, can I remember it all the way through without Rocksmith, probably not, and thats whats gonna kill me trying to find a band, and thats EXACTLY why I said, albeit jokingly, but not really, that Id love to play with a band that wanted me to stick to roots for a while. I have NO experience playing bass with anyone else and quite honestly, I am somewhat scared... But I know its time to get outta my little studio and find others to jam with.
i started playing bass in my late 30s, and when i got tired of playing with the same group of people i knew, i put an ad on CL looking for people to jam with rather than people to form a band with. i didn't feel the need to give people details on how long i had been playing or with whom. i let them know i had reliable transportation, good working gear and what kind of music i wanted to play. i played with a very nice drummer i didn't want to play with again - it was just a one-time jam, so no harm, no foul, no callback.
perhaps it would help you first to practice with an eye to memorizing the songs you like to play best. then you'll be able to jam those with authority when the time comes. don't work on 400 songs - work on memorizing maybe 25, several or all in the same genre. then you could advertise for people to jam with who play that style/those styles of music and even give them songs to practice in advance. playing roots will only help you if you can find the roots, and you could always look for intermediate players to play with - say so in the CL ad. or even others to play along with rocksmith with you.
The point of the video was, what's a bandleader's responsibly. FZ's views on unions don't negate that IMHO.
That video has been posted many times over the years here. This is the first time it's been perceived as political.
My understanding is that Zappa wrote out his pieces in standard notation and expected the musicians in the band to play them as written. Zappa viewed himself as a composer, not as the leader of a rock band in the traditional sense.
I saw Zappa several times. He was definitely the leader of the band, almost a conductor in fact. I would say he saw himself as composer as well as band leader, not instead of.
The bandleader stuff is fine.
He takes exception to unions and I take exception to his uninformed right wing take on it.
it’s perfectly understandable, his generation had a lot of experiential reasons to take such things for granted.
It’s a political video for sure. I politely but unequivocally reject his statements about unions.
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Did you ever hear of a guy named Art Blakey?
How about Chick Webb?
Louis Bellson?
Buddy Rich?
Steve Gadd?
Nope, no way a drummer can be a band leader.
Hey, thank you. I appreciate you making great suggestions as to how I should advertise myself, for more or less. Your right, I am looking for for just someone(s) to jam with, just to actually play with others, it doesn't have to be a permanent type thing like it was for me back in my drum days (well, at least it was until Nirvana appeared on Headbangers Ball, and that was that). Like, how hard would it be for the Guitar Center where I live to have like open Jam type thing..put your name on a list with the songs you know and see if others know them as well and you could get together at a common place.
It looks like your in Vegas, there should be enough sample size of people you can draw from that want to do the same things as you. Communication is always the key with CL, even then you get people who don't read or inderstand the ads even though they are articulate and clear. Good luck.
Guitar center staff might already be putting up with enough bad playing
That said, an impromptu jam did happen once. I was the only customer when i went in to decide between three used guitars they had. They told me to take my time, so i did. A bass player joined in and then a drummer by the time I made up my mind. Just jamming along, nothing in particular, but it was fun. Your idea might work for a small, less busy store like the one i was in, but most in nyc are crazy busy and I end up using headphones to hear the guitars I'm playing because of the racket.
