Timewasters need not apply

[ToddB1963]

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.

Was this the 'kind and thoughtful' guy who pawned your equipment?

 

[Chickenwheels]

Another lol guitarist story. Incredible.

 

[retslock]

They're not ready. Keep looking.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

A musician joining a band won't need a week to "learn" 12 bar blues (I IV V).
They should show up 15 minutes earlier than requested, set up and tune up in 10 minutes...
Then..."let's play 12 bar blues in Bb".
/Audition. Maybe you play him 3 or your originals and cue him in to solo 8 bars on nod, telling him which key the solo is in.
Cold auditions are always best
Test his meddle™.

 

[themickster]

Was this the 'kind and thoughtful' guy who pawned your equipment?

Yes. You get extremes, with him flicking between thoughtful and thoughtless. Jeckel and Hyde.

 

[themickster]

I believe the term of art here is "ghosting." Popular among those who fear anything that might be interpreted as confrontational.

Could be he says nothing to me, out of not wanting to be in a band but not wanting to say so. Is that what you're saying?

 

[brianrost]

I had a drummer hit me up once about getting together to jam. He mentioned that he could play just like Neal Peart. This was at a county jamboree (a jam session) of all places. He also told me his mother was a hooker.

I was becoming deaf from all the alarms going off

 

[lark_z]

Reminds me of something a month ago....

New guitarist neighbor gets invited to neighborhood session. MONTHS in advance he's given a song list with songs in G and have nothing but I, IV, V, vi on them. Well, maybe a ii. (we do other keys, of course) And he's told "We'll play a number of these, if you learn these chords and can change at tempo, you'll be fine". He shows up and cannot even fret an open G without leaning the guitar back and watching himself place the fingers on the frets. Then he plays the G through most of the song ignoring the changes. He was told he wasn't welcome anymore unless he actually practices.

 

[themickster]

Reminds me of something a month ago....

New guitarist neighbor gets invited to neighborhood session. MONTHS in advance he's given a song list with songs in G and have nothing but I, IV, V, vi on them. Well, maybe a ii. (we do other keys, of course) And he's told "We'll play a number of these, if you learn these chords and can change at tempo, you'll be fine". He shows up and cannot even fret an open G without leaning the guitar back and watching himself place the fingers on the frets. Then he plays the G through most of the song ignoring the changes. He was told he wasn't welcome anymore unless he actually practices.

Your story beats mine.

Then there's the guitarist I had that left after I taught him three two-note chords and a simple scale shape. The chords were only a small variation on power chords. 'I don't want to learn open chords, and I can play so well by ear, I don't need to know what chords a song has'. I told him about one of his Instagrams, where his shredding didn't fit the song. 'What do you mean?' he asked. He's been told many times about the notes being wrong for the chords.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

Could be he says nothing to me, out of not wanting to be in a band but not wanting to say so. Is that what you're saying?

Yes, exactly.

 

[ChrisB2]

Funny though, sometimes the people who expect you to attempt a new piece will veto a song they don't already know.

Seriously. I've played with a guitarist who would call a song on a gig, out of the blue, that we've never played, holler some chords then apologize on the mic me and the drummer not knowing the song ... then just start playing. But, the same guy won't even learn a song others of us want to play because he "doesn't like it." Grrrr

 

[Bass Viking]

Seriously. I've played with a guitarist who would call a song on a gig, out of the blue, that we've never played, holler some chords then apologize on the mic me and the drummer not knowing the song ... then just start playing. But, the same guy won't even learn a song others of us want to play because he "doesn't like it." Grrrr

He committed several offences here:

Trying out new material without warning on a gig.
Not caring about trainwrecking on stage.
Acknowledging the train wreck to the audience.
Throwing you and the drummer under the bus as the cause of the train wreck.
Being a hypocrite.

 

[themickster]

Yes, exactly.

Thank you for saying about it. I learned that I've been ghosting someone; you've helped me put it right.

 

[jshinal]

He mentioned that he could play just like Neal Peart.

No bandmate should ever say it like that. He's either crazy or an ass, and I don't care which. Talk about studying someone's style of playing and then it gets interesting.

Trying out new material without warning on a gig.
Not caring about trainwrecking on stage.

I gigged with one dude that did that regularly. Way out of my comfort zone, but he was fun to play with. He was a runaway bulldozer with a guitar and sang the hell out of everything. Like is said about SRV, he doesn't play it the same way once, and the whole set is a surfboard ride.

But he P A I D and that cleans it all up.