Hey guys a little back story I have been in my current band for about two and a half years. It is four piece originals rock band with me (bassist), two guitar players/singers and the drummer. We are all pretty good friends and get a long well outside "band business," however inside the band I find myself getting annoyed with a few things. First off because these two things happened again last night, I play a Fender MIJ Precision bass through a Peavey Tour 450 and Mesa PowerHouse 6x10 cab, plenty loud, however other than the drummer the guitarists can never seem to hear me. We practice in a small room and I have tried turning up and I also play pretty strong on the strings. I myself have no problem hearing me and neither does the drummer, but the guitarist seems to think I am just not playing or something.
What else ticks me off is when he makes it a point to walk over and then with his pick strum my bass above the pickups and tell me to play like that because he can hear it and it is louder. That is what I do, plus while he is doing this no one else is playing so of course it is louder. It just annoys me, I turn up too loud he tells me to turn down because it drowns him out, however they turn up all the time and screech constantly. I cannot seem to win there.
Another annoying thing is now that we are writing again it is both exciting yet frustrating. What is annoying about this process is the other guitarist becomes disgruntled and bitchy fast about songs and complains a lot because he cannot think of cool guitar parts to play and is constantly tell the rest of us to change our parts or our parts are bad because he cannot think of what to play. He is basically selfish when writing, he either needs to shine in the spotlight or we are not using that part or even song. Basically both guitarists who have been in the band the longest tell the drummer and I what to play and we don't always agree with it however never seem to be able to tell them how or what to play. I know guitards will be guitards.
These are the same guys who also sing and write lyrics, which they have been saying for almost the past month now that they are meeting up to write lyrics, however have yet to come up with one freaking line. They either don't meet up or do and makes you wonder what they do. Practices are another thing, on Sunday's for example we are suppose to show up and start practice at 5-5:30, last night one of the guitarists shows up at 6:30 and we don't start practicing until close to 7. Had I known I would not of made it a point to show up for early. This is not the first or last time I am sure this happens. When they do show up they smoke how many cigarettes and also they do smoke w*ed (I do not smoke either.) Just eats a lot of time.
The other guys want to act like big rock stars, but we are far from it. Our work ethic and drive/determination sucks and we are moving along very slow. I took us close to a year last time to put out three songs. I used to think the band really had something going and could become something, however recently I have actually been more and more worrying less about the bands future and started worrying about my own. I have been looking at possibly buying a house this year and also looking into the things I want to do. The band is kind of a side hobby now at this point. I enjoy doing it and love music, but it just seems to kind of suck a lot lately. It seems it is only a important when the other guys have nothing going on which is usually not much.
I have told myself I will continue to play bass, however if the band ever goes belly up I would not join another and just become a hobbyist or like a studio musician. I had dreams of becoming a well known act and touring the country, however reality has been setting in and I have more and more accepted it. At least I can say I did it though and it was a great experience and ride. I would actually love to pickup playing my guitar again too at this point as well.
Just ranting and venting, thanks for reading and please share your experiences if you have some or even all the same.
What else ticks me off is when he makes it a point to walk over and then with his pick strum my bass above the pickups and tell me to play like that because he can hear it and it is louder. That is what I do, plus while he is doing this no one else is playing so of course it is louder. It just annoys me, I turn up too loud he tells me to turn down because it drowns him out, however they turn up all the time and screech constantly. I cannot seem to win there.
Another annoying thing is now that we are writing again it is both exciting yet frustrating. What is annoying about this process is the other guitarist becomes disgruntled and bitchy fast about songs and complains a lot because he cannot think of cool guitar parts to play and is constantly tell the rest of us to change our parts or our parts are bad because he cannot think of what to play. He is basically selfish when writing, he either needs to shine in the spotlight or we are not using that part or even song. Basically both guitarists who have been in the band the longest tell the drummer and I what to play and we don't always agree with it however never seem to be able to tell them how or what to play. I know guitards will be guitards.
These are the same guys who also sing and write lyrics, which they have been saying for almost the past month now that they are meeting up to write lyrics, however have yet to come up with one freaking line. They either don't meet up or do and makes you wonder what they do. Practices are another thing, on Sunday's for example we are suppose to show up and start practice at 5-5:30, last night one of the guitarists shows up at 6:30 and we don't start practicing until close to 7. Had I known I would not of made it a point to show up for early. This is not the first or last time I am sure this happens. When they do show up they smoke how many cigarettes and also they do smoke w*ed (I do not smoke either.) Just eats a lot of time.
The other guys want to act like big rock stars, but we are far from it. Our work ethic and drive/determination sucks and we are moving along very slow. I took us close to a year last time to put out three songs. I used to think the band really had something going and could become something, however recently I have actually been more and more worrying less about the bands future and started worrying about my own. I have been looking at possibly buying a house this year and also looking into the things I want to do. The band is kind of a side hobby now at this point. I enjoy doing it and love music, but it just seems to kind of suck a lot lately. It seems it is only a important when the other guys have nothing going on which is usually not much.
I have told myself I will continue to play bass, however if the band ever goes belly up I would not join another and just become a hobbyist or like a studio musician. I had dreams of becoming a well known act and touring the country, however reality has been setting in and I have more and more accepted it. At least I can say I did it though and it was a great experience and ride. I would actually love to pickup playing my guitar again too at this point as well.
Just ranting and venting, thanks for reading and please share your experiences if you have some or even all the same.
He still smokes and drinks like a fish...
