The search for a new guitarist

Hi

My band is going through the process of looking for a new guitarist. Given all the gui**** threads I thought I'd share the experience.

First, the guitarist that is leaving us gave us the summer for notice as we had/have a few gigs already booked. Very cool on his part.

Second, the 2 guitarists we have auditioned have both been good. Either would work well in our band. We have a third guitarist auditioning Monday. If he auditions well we'll have the pleasant problem of choosing between 3 good choices.

Given all of the threads of band problems, drama, etc, I figure I'd share our (so far positive) experience with the process. We're in it for the enjoyment, looking to play out a couple times a month, and will be happy if it turns into a self supporting hobby. The band is democratic with all members having veto power concerning material. I'll use this as a kind of blog to let people know the process we're going through.

 

Hi

Update

The 3rd guitarist didn't make it to the audition. he called about 2 hrs. before saying he was tied up out of town. When I called him back he gave no reason other then being tied up out of town. We tentatively set up an audition for tomorrow, if that gets canceled for any reason short of serious injury, being in the hospital. etc. We'll make a decision based on the first two. It's only that Chris is a friend and I like the way he plays and his approach to playing that we're trying again. But it does raise questions about his interest and commitment to this project. We'll see what, if anything happens tomorrow.

 

We finally got to audition guitarist #3. Played well, brought some nice things to the table, including not being too loud. We're going to make a decision by Friday. We seem to be leaning towards guitarist #2. Got a good vibe from him as a person. He seemed to be the most honest and up front of them and seems to be the most in line with our goals which is to play out 2-3X a month. Guitarist #3 may have too many irons in the fire and we just got the sense we wouldn't necessarily be #1 on his priority list. But we'll sleep on it for a couple of days and see what happens.

 

Yeah

We hear a lot about gui****s on this site and I think we sometimes miss that probably the vast majority are actually nice people willing to help.

 

Hi Guys

This is an e-mail I sent to the other band members. Any suggestions on the thought process appreciated

Hi Guys

In thinking things over I thought I'd put my thought process in writing over
the guitarist selection

First, the obvious, all 3 play well. All 3 also have both plusses and
minuses.

Bill probably has the widest song base and may be the most versatile player
of the 3. He is a type A personality and would probably be the most
insistent on doing what he wanted to do. Then there's the question of his
C.A.P. obligations. Of course with the e-mail about his old band reforming
it may be moot point anyway

Ted is a good player, seems to want to play the same type of material we do,
is comfortable with the amount we want to work and seems to be the same
temperament that we are. He may also have some ins with clubs he used to
play with his old band. And he seemed the most eager to join us. The fact
that he lives and works the furthest away from us may cause problems with
practice,

Chris is a very versatile player and probably the best rhythm player of the
3. We had the best dynamics with him, and he likes honky tonk style piano.
He was also the best vocalist of the 3 so besides another person to sing
some lead it opens the possibility for 3 or 4 part harmony. I don't know if
he'd be as comfortable doing some of the newer or crowd pleaser songs we are
considering. He comes from a jam background, so I don't know if he want to
would learn parts exactly like the record. Then there's the question of
commitment. Where he's looking at this as a source of income he may want to
work more then we would and there's the question of would he call out on a
gig on short notice to take a pick up gig at more $. Then there's the
question of rehearsals. Where we never got a good answer to why he couldn't
make the audition Monday and he comes from a jam background I wonder if he'd cancel
every time he was a bit tired or traffic from work was a bit slow. I need to
call him tonight to let him know that we're deciding and should have a
decision by Friday or Saturday. I'll see if I can get a better sense of his
interest in committing to the band, and to practice.

I still don't have one person that stands clearly ahead of the others and
would probably be OK with any of the 3.

 

Hi All

We ended up going with Ted as he seemed to bet the best fit personality wise and seems to be the most interested in playing with us. Wish us luck