Timewasters need not apply

[Cheez]

I'm a singing bassplayer in a band of two. We lost our lead guitarist a few weeks ago. By 'lead guitarist', I mean he's childish, irresponsible, self-absorbed drama queen. Yes, I got his pronoun right.

A friend put me onto another guitarist. We met him at our next gig. He agreed to learn a 12 bar as his first song, and we'd see how well he'd fit in. Three weeks on, and there's no sign of him learning it. He only says anything about it if I ask first. It took days for him to tell me he couldn't hear the chord changes on his phone. I sent him the song with dry guitar. I gave him a few days with it. This time he'd broken two strings and had given it to a friend to restring the locking tuners. I gave him from late week to Tuesday. He'd got the guitar back at the weekend, but he said nothing about learning the song. That was four days ago and still nothing. I'm not waiting for him any longer.

SuperFlake, SuperFlake....He's SuperFlakey....

 

[micguy]

I've thought that, and we're not big enough for staff.

Yep - to get to the point where you can afford to pay someone to change your strings, you have to do a lot of things, including learning how to change your own strings.

 

[Zooberwerx]

My favorite way to weed out problem musicians during auditions is to give them our catalog and let them to pick the songs they'll play.

• If they pick many songs, it may be that they don't care about details.
• If they pick just a few songs, they may care too much about details.
• If they pick lots of songs or only complex songs and care way too much about details, they may have a habit of over-promising, and this may lead to trouble meeting deadlines.
• If they pick just a few songs and don't play them well, they're probably slackers. Especially if they only pick easy songs.
• If they pick a ton of songs and play them all very well, they're probably a boss.

This method also tells me about the music they're interested and not interested in and some other things.

If auditioning, here's what I'd be looking for:

*Give me 8-10 tunes. Could be band favorites, new material in the pipeline, etc. Try to stump me, I dare ya.
*I'm not flippin' Kreskin the mind-reader...don't expect me to second-guess what you find desirable.
*It's an audition...I'm not gonna learn your your whole catalogue. If we're successful slogging thru the assigned charts, let's move on to other territory including sight-reading unknowns.
*Are you capable of learning new material I bring to the table?

Riis

 

[Killing Floor]

12 bars is a lot. We went to 4 bars last Saturday and I was pretty spent.

 

[TheReceder]

I'm wary of anybody who says "...I'll have to work on it when I get home" and this falls along the same lines. It ain't gonna happen...cut your losses and bail. I'm a fan of those who'll dive into a new piece on-the-spot even if they screw it up royally.

Riis

I auditioned for a band once, they played through a bunch of country tunes. Pretty simple stuff. Then they asked about a song that took a little more thought to pick up. I told them I didn't really want to waste the bands time picking it up at the practice and I'd have it down if they wanted me to get together again. They said, no, go ahead and give it a shot. We have the time. So I hacked away for about ten minutes and we went through the tune. They later told me that the previous bassist took 2 days to get it no where near where I was in ten minutes. I hate having people watch me try to learn a song on the spot but it kind of backs your point about being a fan of people that can dive into a tune on the spot.

 

[Zooberwerx]

I auditioned for a band once, they played through a bunch of country tunes. Pretty simple stuff. Then they asked about a song that took a little more thought to pick up. I told them I didn't really want to waste the bands time picking it up at the practice and I'd have it down if they wanted me to get together again. They said, no, go ahead and give it a shot. We have the time. So I hacked away for about ten minutes and we went through the tune. They later told me that the previous bassist took 2 days to get it no where near where I was in ten minutes. I hate having people watch me try to learn a song on the spot but it kind of backs your point about being a fan of people that can dive into a tune on the spot.

"Damn the torpedoes...full-speed ahead". That was 10" well-spent and a great bunch of guys as they appeared to be supportive of the cause.

Riis

 

[skygzr]

“I mean he's childish, irresponsible, self-absorbed drama queen. Yes, I got his pronoun right”

Don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel.

 

[themickster]

“I mean he's childish, irresponsible, self-absorbed drama queen. Yes, I got his pronoun right”

Don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel.

It's OK; I got the feeling out already.

 

[Bass Viking]

*Are you capable of learning new material I bring to the table?

Riis

Hah, that’s if they even let you bring new material!

 

[Bass Viking]

"This time he'd broken two strings and had given it to a friend to restring the locking tuners."

ok, mind is boggled IMHO there are no easier guitars to string than those with locking tuners - I put locking tuners on ALL my guitars (even those with locking nuts!), simply because I am that lazy...

Locking tuners are idiot proof. That’s why I use them.

 

[JRA]

i breezed through some of your soundcloud stuff, @themickster --- you're really rockin' it! solid tunes, too.

is this 'avoidant' youngster supposed to play the music i heard on soundcloud? TIA

 

[Matt O]

@themickster I checked you out on YouTube and I gotta say it takes some stones to get up and do a full set solo over a backing track like you did. Props.

Fave line: “I thought I might do a Motörhead tune tonight, but then I thought why bother Lemmy never did any of my tunes” LOL!

 

[themickster]

i breezed through some of your soundcloud stuff, @themickster --- you're really rockin' it! solid tunes, too.

is this 'avoidant' youngster supposed to play the music i heard on soundcloud? TIA

Well done on finding us. That's him on guitar.

@themickster I checked you out on YouTube and I gotta say it takes some stones to get up and do a full set solo over a backing track like you did. Props.

Fave line: “I thought I might do a Motörhead tune tonight, but then I thought why bother Lemmy never did any of my tunes” LOL!

Thank you. It's not my line but I said 'never does any of mine'. It's not as scary as it was back then. I was new to the town. The awesome welcome I got settled the fear. I played tonight at open mic. The first song by myself and two friends guesting on the other.

 

[Dincrest]

I'm wary of anybody who says "...I'll have to work on it when I get home"

Riddle me this then. See, it takes me time to process information (I don't "get" things right away) so when I'm rehearsing with a new band, I need to take notes, record with my phone, work on it at home, and then come back next practice with something.

So I am 100% someone who "has to work on it at home."

And most bands I've been in appreciate that because it shows them I have a good work ethic and want to learn the songs (because I take notes, record stuff on my phone, and work on it at home).

 

[Grinderman]

I can see this is yet another story without a happy ending, a drummer doesn't get fired. There's been a lot of this here lately.

 

[themickster]

I can see this is yet another story without a happy ending, a drummer doesn't get fired. There's been a lot of this here lately.

I fired a drummer months ago. Will that do you?

 

[Grinderman]

I fired a drummer months ago. Will that do you?

This like is kind of like the original Star Wars trilogy. The best one was the first one.

 

[Zooberwerx]

Riddle me this then. See, it takes me time to process information (I don't "get" things right away) so when I'm rehearsing with a new band, I need to take notes, record with my phone, work on it at home, and then come back next practice with something.

So I am 100% someone who "has to work on it at home."

And most bands I've been in appreciate that because it shows them I have a good work ethic and want to learn the songs (because I take notes, record stuff on my phone, and work on it at home).

I can live with that...provided you return prepared and ready-to-skate. IME, you're in the slim minority and wouldn't survive long in our project as we frequently pull stuff from thin air. We'll get a quick playback via Alexa, makes notes on a steno pad, and off we go. The more sophisticated of us use smart devices (mounted on mic stands) to source material. In all fairness, we make every attempt to provide arrangements / charts well-ahead of time but, once together, we have the attention span of a swarm of gnats.

Riis

 

[Leigh Semmens]

Only once have I ever stuffed an audition, they asked me to sing AND play, I tried it. I DON'T sing! Later on I tried with the same band (different band leader) and we had a good afternoon of jamming and all I did was follow him, no singing! Still with that band. I play bass, though my audition was on a skinny string and that is what I was auditioning for!

 

[bobalu]

"This time he'd broken two strings and had given it to a friend to restring the locking tuners."

ok, mind is boggled IMHO there are no easier guitars to string than those with locking tuners - I put locking tuners on ALL my guitars (even those with locking nuts!), simply because I am that lazy...

Agree here^^ Now I know that many musicians are not mechanically inclined when it comes to their instrument, and that can be understandable with some more technical issues (electronics, intonation, even set-ups). But a guitarist who cannot change his own broken string (with a locking tuner to boot) is a bit on the pathetic side - there, I said it! I liken it to not knowing how to plug your instrument cable in.