So in one of my bands we have a song picking rotation. One of the songs I picked we have been working on A TON. It is a very easy song (House of the Rising Sun). The lead guitarist messes it up a lot and hasn't put in the work to learn the chord progressions. He said last night he doesn't think he plays it well and would rather not play it. The drummer and singer agreed (most likely because he keeps messing it up). I guess I should just let it go, but it is a little annoying to skip my pick because someone isn't learning the song (that is very simple to learn none the less). Anyone else relate? Should I just say oh well and carry on?
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Your Song "Voted" Out?
- Thread starter lilcrate
- Start date
DiabolusInMusic
Functionless Art is Merely Tolerated Vandalism
The petty thing to do would be to veto the guitarists next pick, regardless of choice. The adult thing to do would be to air your grievances about the guitar player's lack of effort toward learning the song. That being said, I would imagine the guitar player complains more instead of stepping to the plate, you will probably just end up moving on and not playing it (or have another thread about you getting ready to quit your band.)
Well I asked him in front of the band in a nice manner what he was having trouble with and told him I would help him fix the problem areas. Quote from memory "well, I could spend hours playing it over and over to learn it, but it would take me a while".
Yet he's putting in hours on his songs, that are MUCH harder songs. One of which I can't stand playing, but never once complain about it.
Yeah, lol, you may be right to be honest.
Sounds like pure laziness on the part of the lead guitarist.Is he having issues with other songs re: not learning them?
He isn't a fast learner, but he has put in a lot of time on the other songs and learned them pretty well. But they are also songs he enjoys playing and listening to.
When we are putting together a list we each come up with at least 5 or 6 ideas to pick from. We will look at each other's list and give them a pass/ok vote. Then we look at which ones we all ok'd. We will give them a week to listen to and play at home and a few get weeded out as harder than we expected, or not really as cool as we thought. Out of the 6 or so we each started with we get about 2 a piece that are committed to.
Still sounds lazy. House OTRS is an easy one that everyone should learn.
I got PO at my drummer for not being able to pull together War Pigs after learning the whole 7 minute song, but in the end, it was a great song to learn, and maybe we will revisit it someday, or I'll jam it with another band. Same thing with Exciter. I learned the whole freakin song, but it got put on the back burner because the vocals were so difficult. Now we've got a vocalist who can pull it off a year later, and I'm dusting it off.
Still sounds lazy. House OTRS is an easy one that everyone should learn.
I got PO at my drummer for not being able to pull together War Pigs after learning the whole 7 minute song, but in the end, it was a great song to learn, and maybe we will revisit it someday, or I'll jam it with another band. Same thing with Exciter. I learned the whole freakin song, but it got put on the back burner because the vocals were so difficult. Now we've got a vocalist who can pull it off a year later, and I'm dusting it off.
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Say oh well and carry on. I don't get too married to songs, if they are't clicking with the whole band just drop it. There are so many songs out there to cover that i see no point in putting all my eggs in one basket.
Simple. He's telling you that he doesn't want to do the number.
He's inventing an excuse to avoid performing it.
I've had more than one of my ideas "voted out", but only on the up-and-up. No sneaky passive aggressive stuff like this. I don't put up with that - if someone is acting like they have a problem, I ask about it and bring it out for discussion. If I'm the only one who want to play it, then it's out.
He's inventing an excuse to avoid performing it.
I've had more than one of my ideas "voted out", but only on the up-and-up. No sneaky passive aggressive stuff like this. I don't put up with that - if someone is acting like they have a problem, I ask about it and bring it out for discussion. If I'm the only one who want to play it, then it's out.
Be sensible, if he can't learn that song, why are you playing with him.
I would agree that the "oh well, carry on" plan is probably best. Better to cut the tune than have it
come off as a mess at your gigs.
come off as a mess at your gigs.
If the guitar player can't play it, let it go. It's just 1 song. I get frustrated by my band for the same reasons. Our Acoustic player is incredibly lazy & doesn't put in anywhere near the effort the rest of us do. In fact, he doesn't even know his chord shapes beyond the 1st position. Everything he plays further up the neck either needs a capo, or he power chords. This, combined with the fact that it's an acoustic and he just strums the p$$ out of it so he can hear himself (instead of getting an amp like we've suggested) has caused MANY songs I'd like to play to be trashed. Personally, I'm leaving my band at the end of the month.
Bingo - it's "just" a Blues, anybody that can't play that sucks.
BTW to the OP, do you play it as an 8 bar (like most hacks) or 11 bar (like the Animals) blues? A personal hot button of mine are bands that play every Blues song the same and say that the Blues is booring
.
This is a pet peeve of mine as well. Lately I've been getting frustrated in my jazz group because there are too many lame picks, then when I chose "500 Miles High" it got butchered at a gig and then dropped because the other guys couldn't be bothered to learn a slightly unconventional 14-bar form.
well, if you can support the song on your own, then rehearse it with the band until he gets it right, because if you do it live, and the rest of the band is sounding good, and he is not, then it will reflect badly on his playing.
But, he may just not want to play the song and this is his way of telling you in a round about manner.
But, he may just not want to play the song and this is his way of telling you in a round about manner.
I agree with you. If the band agree to play it, the guitar player was obligated to learn it. I have called people out in the past over this. I would say something along the lines of, "I don't ming dropping a song if we put in a good-faith effort to learn it and it sounds bad, but I'm not dropping the song because you are too lazy to learn it." Guitarists are like kids, they need boundaries.
At least you'll have the satisfaction of calling him on his BS. Regardless of the outcome, let it go and move on. I wouldn't quit a band over something like this, but I would make sure that everyone is clear that the song sounds bad because he's a lazy asshat.
At least you'll have the satisfaction of calling him on his BS. Regardless of the outcome, let it go and move on. I wouldn't quit a band over something like this, but I would make sure that everyone is clear that the song sounds bad because he's a lazy asshat.
+1 that this sounds like the guitar player's passive-aggressive way to veto the song. I also think that it would be better to include in your song-picking system a way to let people veto each other's songs so that this doesn't happen and waste everyone else's time.
It also seems to me that if this kind of rotation IS your way of picking songs, then you should get to pick something to replace it - I would assume it's still "your" slot.
Honestly, though, I don't like arrangements where everyone gets to make their own picks this way. Everyone inevitably has different tastes and you often wind up with a setlist that's incoherent and will go over with no one. Much better to have a discussion where you all agree on what style of music you're doing and all the songs have to fit that definition. Then let anyone who wants nominate ideas for songs, but final selection has to be either by consensus or else a band leader chooses.
Either way, there's also the factor that everyone in the band should take the interests of the other band members into account; if you keep making someone play songs they hate, or refuse to ever play anything they like, pretty soon you'll be looking for a replacement for them.
It also seems to me that if this kind of rotation IS your way of picking songs, then you should get to pick something to replace it - I would assume it's still "your" slot.
Honestly, though, I don't like arrangements where everyone gets to make their own picks this way. Everyone inevitably has different tastes and you often wind up with a setlist that's incoherent and will go over with no one. Much better to have a discussion where you all agree on what style of music you're doing and all the songs have to fit that definition. Then let anyone who wants nominate ideas for songs, but final selection has to be either by consensus or else a band leader chooses.
Either way, there's also the factor that everyone in the band should take the interests of the other band members into account; if you keep making someone play songs they hate, or refuse to ever play anything they like, pretty soon you'll be looking for a replacement for them.
Bingo - it's "just" a Blues, anybody that can't play that sucks.
BTW to the OP, do you play it as an 8 bar (like most hacks) or 11 bar (like the Animals) blues? A personal hot button of mine are bands that play every Blues song the same and say that the Blues is booring
We play it exactly like the album (well, everyone but him), other than a guitar solo instead of an organ solo.
I kind of feel the same way about both points, but not sure if I should just say whatever for now or what.
Every song should follow the specific bluesrock genre and have that sound. If a song doesn't then we wouldn't let it in, but we all seem to be on the same page there.
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