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Noodling/Showing-off between songs

#81
B4snrise said:
One of the guitards frequently starts noodling a song we didn't play as a band, sometimes the drummer starts in too. Someone in the audience would recognize the riff, get amped up thinking we were about to play their favourite song and request it after they finally stopped. The guitard would look at the rest of us for support knowing we never worked on the song thinking we may just once want to save his hide. With an embarrassed look he would have to admit over the PA he didn't know the rest or the band as a whole hadn't practiced it.

Funny bit is he never learned and after maybe 100 times still does this. :mad:
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It is sort of comforting to know that other people have to put up with this s*** as well... :rollno:
 
#82
I never do this when I'm manning the guitar for the night. EVER. Anything I've ever done that qualifies as "noodling" on stage for a gig is ALWAYS planned out ahead of time with the other members for a specific purpose.

As a bassist, I've tried to apply the same philosophy. Thankfully, the two guitarists I play with are both quite talented, and only showboat when it's their turn within the structure of the song or of the particular riff is a little on the complex side.

The closest thing I do to noodling on bass at a show is a few bars of a drum n' bass riff me and my drummer came up with at practice while the guitarists were trying to fix an amp issue. I later transposed it to the key of one of our originals to serve as either an intro or outro - since our originals don't include any bass or drum solos, it's our little "we, the rhythm section, can rock just fine without the guitars, thank you very much" moment.
 
#83
#84
gregoire1 said:
It does make you look more proffessional and disiplined.
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It's wise to practice it so when you are in a pro scenario, you don't slip up and accidentally widdly-woo! (I don't know of any pros who noodle, but that's because the ones that do get fired)

Even if you're playing at a party or something, you're the entertainment and it's all about the audience--noodling just undermines the whole vibe.
 
#87
easyvision said:
Haha fantastic.

I was guilty of noodling at last practise. I spent the entire day before jammin along to some vids of Larry Graham on Youtube and was still feeling funky at practise...I couldn't help myself...:hiding:
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Well...it *is* Larry Graham, after all.

That happens to me every time I listen to Robin Trower. Or, rather, James Dewar with Trower on guitar. :ninja: :D ;) :bassist:

So, I must mute myself, or be subject to possible impalement by a flying drumstick. LOL!

Cherie ;) :bassist:
 
#88
Slightly off-topic. I work in a 4 piece where the guitarist and keyboard player are the vocalists. Noodling isn't the problem, what is the problem is that, at rehearsal, both of them have taken to discussing song arrangements and other changes through their microphones!

If I or the drummer want to join in we have to shout to make ourselves heard. I'll have to start muting the PA when it's not actually used for singing I guess.
 
#89
Noodling at rehearsals is the only way my main band writes songs, it seems.

I've seen the "noodle" work between songs before. My guitarist blew a fuse in his amp once and our ever-twitchy drummer started tapping the bell of his ride cymbal and then me and him broke into "YYZ" while the guitarist switched amps. People thought it was pretty funny and it filled the hole of silence.
 
#90
txbasschik said:
Well...it *is* Larry Graham, after all.

That happens to me every time I listen to Robin Trower. Or, rather, James Dewar with Trower on guitar. :ninja: :D ;) :bassist:

So, I must mute myself, or be subject to possible impalement by a flying drumstick. LOL!

Cherie ;) :bassist:
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:eek:The fact that you know of Robin Trower instantly makes you awesome:D Yeah Dewar is a great player. And he's from my neck of the woods so there's hope for me yet! I had the opportunity to go see them in May but I didn't go. Can't remember why exactly but I'm kicking myself now:(

Yeah true...Mr Graham is infectious. No-one seemed to care that I was noodling. My drummer just looked at me n said 'someone's been practising eh?' I just smiled and kept thumpin that funk:D

Haha and I've been threatened with the flying drumstick! Not for noodling though. I dared touch my drummer's cymbals and left a fingerprint on it. Oops:hiding:
 
#91
The last band I was in that's all the drummer did. He never once played a song the same way twice. Can you imagine how frustrating it is to try to get in the pocket with a guy that never plays the same beat? Even if we had material recorded, never the same beat. I HATE NOODLING!
 
#95
derrico1 said:
One of the benefits of having a tight set list is that there isn't space between every song for players to noodle.
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The most annoying things I have ever seen with a live band are:

1. Not having a tight setlist and screwing around for five minutes between songs while everyone is having a "what do you wanna play" discussion. This is especially bad when you have people dancing and they want to keep dancing, but finally get tired of the band screwing around and go sit back down. It kills the momentum you had going with the crowd.

2. Noodling and playing stuff that has nothing to do with the songs you are playing.

A band has to be tight and work as a team. A band with great musicians can look totally unprofessional because you give the audience the perception that you are unfocused and disorganized.
 
#96
Our Jazz band guitarist had a way of noodling between tunes. It was all I could do to resist turning around and shouting "Shut up, Will!"

Also, a drummer, a guitarist, 4 trumpets who like to kick almost every note they play up an octave (Though not always accurately.), 3 trombones, a euphonium (Substitute trombone), and 4 saxes, can make for some very loud set-up time.
 
#97
Sometimes if I'm switching from a song using bridge pickup fingerstyle to a song that requires slap, I'll turn on the neck pickup, adjust the tone controls, and do a quick test to make sure the tone is right.

But I make sure its only 5 or 6 minutes of my best Guitar Center slap licks...

Randy
 
#99
B4snrise said:
One of the guitards frequently starts noodling a song we didn't play as a band, sometimes the drummer starts in too. Someone in the audience would recognize the riff, get amped up thinking we were about to play their favourite song and request it after they finally stopped. The guitard would look at the rest of us for support knowing we never worked on the song thinking we may just once want to save his hide. With an embarrassed look he would have to admit over the PA he didn't know the rest or the band as a whole hadn't practiced it.

Funny bit is he never learned and after maybe 100 times still does this. :mad:
Click to expand...

That's worse than annoying as sh*t man. He makes you look bad, because you don't know the song. I wouldn't put up with this bovine excrement if I were you.
 
#100
Even more annoying than a band-mate noodling is when you're playing outside and another dude down the way is noodling...

I did a gig in Santa Fe (New Mexico) last night on a balcony overlooking the Santa Fe plaza (like a town square - a tradition in old Spanish towns around NM). The plaza was hosting a car show and had a live band with a huge PA pointed toward us. We started before them and were doing our acoustic guitar/fretless bass folk duo thing when the bassist on the plaza decided to get up there and use all his Guitar Center licks for 15 minutes.

Fortunately, it was raining, so they played for about 45 minutes and we used about 20 of that for our set break, then got back to it...
 

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