Why did you quit your last band?

[jmattbassplaya]

Just curious.

I'm thinking of quitting mine due to the long commute which takes about an hour to get there and another hour to get back. Good guys, good players, and good music, but I hate the drive that much.

 

[Bassist4Eris]

BL was impossible to please, there were certain differences in our value systems that prevented me from having much fondness for him on a personal level, and there was no money. I normally don't care about the money, but in light of the first two things, I needed some kind of reason to stick around, and I really didn't have one.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Not my style of music, and got bored. (Typo edit)

 

[hrodbert696]

Just curious.

I'm thinking of quitting mine due to the long commute which takes about an hour to get there and another hour to get back. Good guys, good players, and good music, but I hate the drive that much.

Kinda similar. I had tried putting a cover band together out of people I knew rather than going the CL route. As it happened, most of the people I knew who were available to form a band lived back in the area I moved from three years ago, an hour away from where I live now. At the time it didn't seem so bad because I still worked over in that area a few days a week and could hit practice on the way home from work. Also, I assumed that because everyone had gigging band experience, it would be a pretty quick process to get a set list together and start gigging, and once we were up and running we wouldn't be practicing so much.

It seemed great, but didn't work out as I expected. I've posted about all this on other threads, but basically the "cons" started piling up. The guitarist got cold feet and kept putting the brakes on getting out to gig. The drummer was from my first gigging band, years before; since that had broken up I had kept playing and improving, he had pretty much packed up his drums and let them collect dust. When this group formed he really wasn't up to snuff, whether because his skills had deteriorated or, maybe more likely, because my standards had risen. We played a few gigs but then the guitarist said he had to quit because he had developed arthritis. And by that time I wasn't working in the area any more. At that point, with the long commute and all, it just didn't seem worthwhile to keep pushing it, so I pulled the plug on it.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Kinda similar. I had tried putting a cover band together out of people I knew rather than going the CL route. As it happened, most of the people I knew who were available to form a band lived back in the area I moved from three years ago, an hour away from where I live now. At the time it didn't seem so bad because I still worked over in that area a few days a week and could hit practice on the way home from work. Also, I assumed that because everyone had gigging band experience, it would be a pretty quick process to get a set list together and start gigging, and once we were up and running we wouldn't be practicing so much.

It seemed great, but didn't work out as I expected. I've posted about all this on other threads, but basically the "cons" started piling up. The guitarist got cold feet and kept putting the brakes on getting out to gig. The drummer was from my first gigging band, years before; since that had broken up I had kept playing and improving, he had pretty much packed up his drums and let them collect dust. When this group formed he really wasn't up to snuff, whether because his skills had deteriorated or, maybe more likely, because my standards had risen. We played a few gigs but then the guitarist said he had to quit because he had developed arthritis. And by that time I wasn't working in the area any more. At that point, with the long commute and all, it just didn't seem worthwhile to keep pushing it, so I pulled the plug on it.

Sounds about right.

We have a guitarist who doesn't practice much. He's a good player, but you can tell on some of the older tunes of our set that he hasn't improved much from when we first started playing them.

Similarly, we have a singer who is fairly new to playing in an actual band. It took him over a month to learn 6-7 tunes, and none of them or what I'd consider obscure or that hard to memorize.

The main reason I'm sticking around is for the drummer and the second guitarist. Both guys are great people and great players, and we are all into the same music which makes it fun. But man. That drive. They know I don't like it and yet they insist on practicing once a week and are even hinting at making it twice a week.

 

[garp]

But man. That drive. They know I don't like it and yet they insist on practicing once a week and are even hinting at making it twice a week.

Four hours on the road per week would be an absolute deal-killer for me, no matter how good the players might be or if the associated gig revenue offset travel expenses. Best wishes whatever you decide.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

Four hours on the road per week would be an absolute deal-killer for me, no matter how good the players might be or if the associated gig revenue offset travel expenses. Best wishes whatever you decide.

Thanks man.

Unfortunately, I'm still in the red as far as profiting from gigs is concerned. At the rate we're going I might be in the black come 2018...

Not going to lie, this thread is making my decision easier.

 

[edhead]

Too few gigs, and rehearsal time was just going over the same songs so the guitarists could work on solos. Very boring, so I quit. Never once, since then have I regretted it. Life is too short and my time is too valuable to spend 3+ hours a week playing the same thing over and over and over.

 

[shawshank72]

A few reasons, drive was one but not the biggest problem.
No dedication to play out but yet it was there for their cover project.
No dedication to accomplish things.
Guitarist was always late.
Very restrictive on when we could play.

 

[Aberdumbie]

We had a super gig going on. Stayed booked months in advance. After eight years breaks were hitting too long. Band members disappeared. Too much negative peripheral stuff. My son was born and was not a conducive atmosphere for a young father. I had to walk.

 

[DirtDog]

Idiot bandleader being sketchy with $$$ related to PA, keeping backing vox out if the mix and the final straw - hiring sidemen to do a "big gig" that the rest of us were not available for. We all quit at the same time upon learning this and reformed our old band.

I've quit many bands over the years and have never once regretted it. Same this time.

 

[sean_on_bass]

Hard rock originals group: This was a number of years ago, but i quit due to lack of progress. We had some good demo's down, but couldn't find the right vocalist. After a couple months of it going nowhere i quit, and the group disbanded.

Jazz trio: Was trying to lead a trio with a couple of friends. I ended up disbanding the group for two reasons. First, the drummer was new to the style and was barely getting by. He wouldn't practice at home, so hence was never truly prepared. He was a good drummer, but not in jazz. Second, the piano player was very slow to pick up new material. He couldn't get more than a tune a week in, or less. Since we were mainly just reading Real Book charts, i wanted to have a group that could site read it and pick it up quickly without much rehearsal time. Didn't happen and i got an opportunity in a gigging band, so down the drain it went.

 

[leurw]

Among other things...long commute was a huge issue. 2 hours each way, 100 shows a year. After 4 years, that was too many miles on the car and too much windshield time.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

I quit my last band because I was leaving town. We're all still in touch.

The band before that, which I led, I quit. I was a lousy bandleader. I still talk to one of the guitar players; don't know what happened to the other guitarist and drummer.

When I was in my '20s, I'd get fired every now and then because I was being a jerk. I eventually learned other, more productive modes of behavior.

Since then, I've parted ways with various bands for various reasons, usually by mutual consent. I have discovered, by observation, that leaving a trail of hard feelings eventually catches up with you. I'd just as soon not have that happen to me.

 

[lbbc]

The last band I quit..... well, it was 22 years ago. I left because of the style of music....Everyone got along, we gigged regularly, we were dedicated to putting on a great show and got paid well. It was a band that played both kinds of music...Country and western... and I mean OLD country. It wasn't challenging or fulfilling so I left to form my own band and the core of us have played successfully for the past 22 years. BTW, I am still friends with the members of the band that I left.

 

[MrLenny1]

Endless rehearsals and lack of gigs.
Just wasn't working.
Currently working and no rehearsals invovled. Ha, go figure.

 

[Stewie]

I'm about to jump from one. Don't mind the hour and a quarter drive each way(was like that when I joined). The drummer is just so loud that my ears ring for days after a practice. Also no gigs in sight. The hard part is that it's a great group of guys, if it wasn't making my deaf, I'd probably keep going just for fun.

 

[REV]

The band just kind of fell apart and I wasn't willing to make the effort to try and pump any life into it. The thing that did it for me was we were working on a new tune, a slow blues. In my mind our drummer was really overplaying on this tune, lots of fills in between the chord changes. We took a break and I mentioned to him that maybe the tune needed a little more space and maybe he could lay back a little. He responded " I've worked hard to develop my technique and I want to be able to show what I can do". I knew right then and there that I was done with the band. When things started to fall apart I just let it go.

 

[Frank77]

Long commute + low level of musicianship from another band member (who was not going anywhere anytime soon).

Edit: Also, because of boredom due to a stagnating setlist deeply rooted in '90s nostalgia.

 

[RustyAxe]

Nearly two years ago. The BL was a narcissist. One rehearsal, two gigs, I quit. It was all good, he didn't like me any more than I liked him. The band has since disintegrated.