Whats your biggest beef about your musical peers?

[AceOfBassFace]

I'm definitely not perfect, but these are my biggest beefs with musicians in general - from being in bands for the last 30 years:

1) being late to gigs/rehearsals
2) arriving at rehearsals with their dinner so they can waste the first 20 minutes eating
3) lack of effort on stage presence, personal appearance
4) booze/drugs - depends on the individual though, fine in moderation, not fine when they steal my gear and sell it so they can buy some smack
5) bandmates who run out the door right after the gig - at least stick around and shmooze the crowd for a bit, or help pack up
6) drummers who don't want to play a certain song because it's 'too boring'
7) those who can't play a bit quieter than 11 because it 'doesn't sound as good'
8) guitarists and keyboard players who crank the bottom end
9) girlfriends & wives at rehearsal/recording studio throwing in their 2¢
10) unwillingness to help promote the band – "we're so amazing people will just come to our gigs without us telling anyone"
11) I forgot to bring... (pick, cable, strings, drumsticks, etc)

I could go on....

 

[g-dude]

Nobody wants to play songs in Abb melodic minor.

 

[john_g]

Musicianship. So many I have encountered are not properly musically prepared. Many don't take the time to learn songs properly. I've also encountered folks trying to play music they have zero experience playing. It wears at you! I'm 62 and am really tired of dealing with these folks.

Not to mention loud guitar players and drummers.

Same for me. Learn the damn songs!

Similarly, one of my bandmates would constantly say stuff like..."we are a cover band not a tribute band, so we are going to do songs our way". Well, that so far has translated into alot of half-assed versions of songs. Alot of people hear that and think, oh, ok, cool, Ill just listen to it once or twice, get the basic gist of the song and then wing it. He started with the "our way" yesterday at practice as a matter of fact and I feel like Im always the one to throw cold water on them and say that you still need to learn the songs well. If you want to embellish a little here and there, fine but the structure and main details need to be there.

The other thing, like twofingers above said, are the setlist choices. We have a new singer and he was suggesting new songs he would like to add to the existing setlist. Only one of them was a big hit (Pour Some Sugar On Me) and even then, we dropped that song in my previous band because it sounds so empty without all the production. The others I have either never heard of or were minor hits years ago. But the other guys were all excited and I again had to stop them and say that we need better choices. Its a definite problem that the rest of them just want to add "a cool song Id like to do".

 

[Siggy]

Not being prepared for rehearsal and being impaired at a gig.

 

[GTx2]

Really just the noodling but I pick my battles, especially as the newest member. There are times where we try to say something and man...........

Other than that things are well. Musicianship is good, songs well written. Haven't gigged yet but I'm sure we'll be fine as we're all experienced and solid and prepared. I just try to lead by example and not noodle...ESPECIALLY when others are trying to communicate. It's simply not hard, but some are unaware.

 

[2F/2F]

Too "square" in terms of feel.

Bad taste in music.

Unfamiliarity with basic r-n-b rhythms.

Lack of raw technical ability.

Basically, most people my age grew up listening to too much rock-n-roll and not enough r-n-b...for me, anyhow.

And, on a personal level, too much of the "bro" vibe.

I just don't jive with men my age, musically or personally, is the bottom line. I either jive well with women, or with older men. In the most stable band I have ever been in (13 years and going strong), I am the youngest by a solid 20 years. What's likely going to break us up is the dudes getting into their '70s and/or passing away. In bands with people my age, they've been extremely short lived, and not very good.

 

[DirtDog]

Volume and dynamics.

I'm convinced that some have an innate understanding and some don't, no matter how much you try to drill it into them.

Honorable mention to sloppy endings.

 

[el murdoque]

Those that are good at improvising are terrible at remembering things and those that remember things are terrible at improvising. I'm in the middle. I can do both.

 

[eddododo]

Or, in your mind what are people doing wrong?

For me it's two things.

The first is too much of an emphasis on gigs and not enough emphasis on development as a group and refining song structures. It seems like everyone I am involved with musically is just far too focused on the performance aspect of things, to the point that many just don't even really rehearse, and just book gigs.

It really just tells me that people are far more interested in being seen playing music as opposed to actually playing music that sounds good. While a lot of these "live jam sessions" sound ok, they just lack a lot of subtleties that would really make them sound better.

Even the jazz combo I put together some months back is starting to talk about gigs. Its all amateurs, and the goal for me with this was to just bring people together to work on their jazz skills but at least one of the people involved is talking about trying to book gigs with it and mentions it at almost every opportunity. Its fine I suppose, but playing out with this group isn't something I had on my mind, it was really just put together to work on chops.

Second for me is lack of consistency and continuity in most projects. Perfect example is one set of guys thats focused solely on putting sessions together where they pay musicians to come in and play with the intent of having "awesome jams". I get it, but generally these don't work out or sound as great as the expectations are. I keep making the argument to the person putting them together that it makes far more sense to just find musicians, (even if they are at a lower skill level), that are dedicated to playing on a regular basis and improving. personally I see more benefit in regular playing sessions with a core group of people than I do in sessions with random people even if they have a better skillset.

I get the reasons for a lot of this, people are busy with their lives and just want to get to the glory aspect of things.

I don't know if I have the emotional energy to figure out my own answer to the question posed, but I DO want to comment how it's an absolutely essential, but lost, art to get together and shed. Lots of guys practice, and lots of guys jam, but REALLY getting together to REALLY work out together is so incredibly important and helpful, and you just don't see it that much anymore

 

[Swerve]

Yeah the band I'm in (we play prob 75% originals, 25% covers) jumped into gigs way quicker than I was expecting. Two of the guys are/were single so they love the picking up random chicks aspect of it, and the other likes to promote his business at our gigs. We're doing fine now, but those first several shows were rough due to lack of preparation.

I'm also amazed at the amount of people I meet that like the idea of being a musician and being seen as one, but not actually putting any time into it. Not talking about being amazing at the instrument either, just not being able to play basic songs. I know a guy that has a "look" and "personality" where people want him to play bass in their bands, and he tells folks he is a bassist, but he can't keep up even with even a simple 3 chord rock song during an audition. But he bought a bass, takes pictures with it, and he gets the social media cred he craves, so for him that is all that matters.

 

[RichardW]

Let those among us without sin cast the first stone...

 

[3bc]

In originals groups, guitar players who want the guitar to replicate an entire song, leaving no room for literally anything else. Guitar soaks up so much space there's no room to breathe, no room for vocal, bass, drum, etc.

 

[MichelD]

There is this one guy I jam with occasionally and even play a few senior's homes gigs that has this awful drum machine that isn't much more than an electric metronome he insists on using all the time.

For $200 he could get something 10 times better.

 

[LBS-bass]

Motivation and defining what's fun for everyone. There's often a wide chasm between what they think is fun and what I think is fun.

What isn't fun for me:

• Spending all the rehearsal time playing the same three songs repeatedly, in order to refine things you could have learned at home.
• Players showing up, drinking too much, and picking arguments with each other.
• Lack of focus that leaves me wondering when we're ever going to get around to playing those five new songs I spent a week learning.
• Meandering three-chord jams.

What is fun for me:

• Playing the songs I learned and finding out that we've seamlessly melded all the parts together the first time through, because we all practiced at home.
• Taking that and making it even better.
• Playing challenging music and the experience of everyone making it sound good.

What I've learned is that a lot of people play for an outlet and to have fun, but not everyone has fun in the same way. With most bands I hit a wall after about an hour and I'm comatose after about two. There's a rare group that I want to play with all night long. But not everyone can be that way. So I try to meet all these bands somewhere in the middle and make suggestions where it makes sense, with the understanding that my voice counts for very little.

And then there's this:

historically = they die.
presently = they move to another state.

i try not to take any of it personally...but, TBH, it hurts.

Yes, we had a major loss here this past week. It completely sucks.

 

[5StringBlues]

They all died.

 

[Ketbass]

Or, in your mind what are people doing wrong?

For me it's two things.

The first is too much of an emphasis on gigs and not enough emphasis on development as a group and refining song structures. It seems like everyone I am involved with musically is just far too focused on the performance aspect of things, to the point that many just don't even really rehearse, and just book gigs.

It really just tells me that people are far more interested in being seen playing music as opposed to actually playing music that sounds good. While a lot of these "live jam sessions" sound ok, they just lack a lot of subtleties that would really make them sound better.

Even the jazz combo I put together some months back is starting to talk about gigs. Its all amateurs, and the goal for me with this was to just bring people together to work on their jazz skills but at least one of the people involved is talking about trying to book gigs with it and mentions it at almost every opportunity. Its fine I suppose, but playing out with this group isn't something I had on my mind, it was really just put together to work on chops.

Second for me is lack of consistency and continuity in most projects. Perfect example is one set of guys thats focused solely on putting sessions together where they pay musicians to come in and play with the intent of having "awesome jams". I get it, but generally these don't work out or sound as great as the expectations are. I keep making the argument to the person putting them together that it makes far more sense to just find musicians, (even if they are at a lower skill level), that are dedicated to playing on a regular basis and improving. personally I see more benefit in regular playing sessions with a core group of people than I do in sessions with random people even if they have a better skillset.

I get the reasons for a lot of this, people are busy with their lives and just want to get to the glory aspect of things.

You said jazz combo. Explains a few things. This whole thing sums up my experience too. Music to play gigs, I get it if your at a pro level, studio quality bunch, but 99% of the guys I play with are in this camp and it takes a lot for them to understand, "Folks, this sounds like crap. Let's focus on becoming a group first".

I get why a lot of musicians do it, to turn a buck. You my friend are an artist and want to make art. Me too. Find players that want to make art and you will find that core group. They become friends, you play off each other, not at each other and it makes music what it truly is, a beautiful thing.

 

[slagbass]

.... booze/drugs - depends on the individual though, fine in moderation, not fine when they steal my gear and sell it so they can buy some smack....

Wow. Next to that, my beefs are insignificant.

 

[selowitch]

I am annoyed by one particularly pitchy, poor singer I work with who sometimes has bad timing to boot. If he would just put a little bit of effort into ear training, he'd be so much better (I even bought him an introductory voice lesson for his birthday and he loved it but didn't follow up).

 

[LBS-bass]

I am annoyed by one particularly pitchy, poor singer I work with who sometimes has bad timing to boot.

Oh, you just reminded me of another thing that drives me crazy. That would be when you're singing something rubato, and some instrumentalist assumes you just slowed down the timing and slows down in response. Nothing drives me crazier than this. Please understand that I need the rest of the band to keep 1 where 1 ought to be and I PROMISE you I will come back to the 1 exactly as it should be in due course.

Instrumentalists should not be adjusting to the singer's timing. They should be holding down a steady tempo so that the singer can riff as he/she sees fit over that.

 

[micguy]

My only real beef is I have nothing to contribute here. The churches I play, people are well screened, and those that get to play where I play show up prepared, have decent skills (obviously, some are better than others), and know what they're signing up for in most cases. Especially this last year, we don't have time to work things out - you gotta show up ready to go - we have to play in front of people in a couple hours.

I have played a few churches where things weren't quite as will run, but now, all the places I play at are working well.