Exceedingly novice-to-mediocre bassist here with 3 years experience in a regularly gigging reggae band. In February, I began to recruit some work friends and family friends to form a jam band with loooong term aspirations to gig the local bar scene. I knowingly invited freshly minted musicians (vox, keys, drums) along with two guitarists that have played for several years, but never in a band situation. We set a short-term goal of playing a party one of the band mates is having in late June.
We have practiced every Monday since that time, each week attempting to add an additional song. We had guitar/keys volume wars from the first note. Efforts to tame this were discussed, but eventually knobs got turned up. Without fail. I may have neglected to mention that in a 12x20 room, all three guitarists are playing 1 100W Marshall Stack, 1 100W Marshall Half Stack, and 1 2x10 Marshall triple rectifier with a 2x10 (edit) extension.
During the early weeks, one of the guitarists (party thrower) added a third guitarist as a fill-in during his host duties. This eventually led to him being a full-time lead guitarist despite discussions to the contrary.
Anyways, the song list went from punk-y, alternative-y music to pure metal music which the guitarists are intimately familiar with, which I do not enjoy playing (3 guitarists outvoting me, the others are novice and don't want to voice any dissent). I voiced my displeasure during each practice but sucked it up and learned the songs. We now had a setlist of 18 mediocre songs, of which 3 I enjoyed playing.
Last practice, they added 4 new metal songs, simple, but creating further frustration as this was not the musical genre I envisioned when starting the band. After much thought and reflection I resigned with a candid explanation as to why. This comes 5 weeks before the party.
Dick Move? I kinda think so, but also feel that I should not have to subject myself to negativity and frustration, i.e.: grudgingly learn songs creating unhappiness. I also did not want to subject myself to a large group of co workers and strangers with a mediocre performance rushed to accommodate a party.
What say you?
We have practiced every Monday since that time, each week attempting to add an additional song. We had guitar/keys volume wars from the first note. Efforts to tame this were discussed, but eventually knobs got turned up. Without fail. I may have neglected to mention that in a 12x20 room, all three guitarists are playing 1 100W Marshall Stack, 1 100W Marshall Half Stack, and 1 2x10 Marshall triple rectifier with a 2x10 (edit) extension.
During the early weeks, one of the guitarists (party thrower) added a third guitarist as a fill-in during his host duties. This eventually led to him being a full-time lead guitarist despite discussions to the contrary.
Anyways, the song list went from punk-y, alternative-y music to pure metal music which the guitarists are intimately familiar with, which I do not enjoy playing (3 guitarists outvoting me, the others are novice and don't want to voice any dissent). I voiced my displeasure during each practice but sucked it up and learned the songs. We now had a setlist of 18 mediocre songs, of which 3 I enjoyed playing.
Last practice, they added 4 new metal songs, simple, but creating further frustration as this was not the musical genre I envisioned when starting the band. After much thought and reflection I resigned with a candid explanation as to why. This comes 5 weeks before the party.
Dick Move? I kinda think so, but also feel that I should not have to subject myself to negativity and frustration, i.e.: grudgingly learn songs creating unhappiness. I also did not want to subject myself to a large group of co workers and strangers with a mediocre performance rushed to accommodate a party.
What say you?
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. I tried to inject logic, but majority vote seemingly ruled based on proximity to other bandmate's homes. No biggie. I guess there are some interpersonal and work dynamics in play as well (no direct supervisors, but varying levels of career progression).
