TimR

It does make you wonder why you spend hours learning a complex tune when 30 seconds spent picking up 3 chords for a song with catchy lyrics goes down a storm.

Classic. We used to do Postman Pat in the late 80s. Went down a storm. It was shortly after Nellie the Elephant hit the charts and we wondered what we could do in a similar vein.

I'm not a great fan of this kind of band. Very corporate/cruise ship/wedding band, type of thing. There's something missing, just feels a bit like they're 'playing the dots'.

It's a lack of imagination or experience of playing many different genres. I played with a drummer for years who was like that. Until he heard a cover version by someone else doing something clever when he'd say we should do that version. Currently in a rock band playing modern pop with a rock edge and the guitarist is slowly coming round to just because the original is piano, strings and acoustic guitar, doesn't mean that's how it must always be played.

If you're in a tribute band there's a fair chance you have the same instrumentation. If the song you're covering has a 9 piece with keyboards, brass, backing singers etc, and you have guitar, bass and drums, you're going to really struggle playing the tune exactly as per the original. Just get the structure, chords, melody and feel right.

Just smile and nod at random points on the back wall if you can't do the eye contact thing. No one will know.

Usually the original artists don't play it the same live as they do on the recording.

In tune. Not too drunk. Anything else is a bonus.

Sorry I'm fairly bass centric. Live After Death - I.M. Exit Stage Left - Rush Real to Real - Marillion

"You know the bass part doesn't go like that." "It does when I play it mate."

Lots of generalisations creeping in. The OP's entire set is only 8 songs. If the band ever end up playing 2 hour gigs it's going to get real messy. Sounds to me on re-reading the OP, that the guitarist just isn't experienced with performing for a crowd. It'll probably improve, but until he gains experience and confidence he needs to simplify his setup and concentrate on getting the music and stagecraft right. As much as we like to obsess about 'the right sound', the audience really won't notice.

I played with a guitarist who had a £6k Martin. He would have been better off spending £5k of it on guitar lessons.

It depends what kind of band you are, and what the gig is, as to how fluid it needs to be between songs. The main thing is to be in control of the audience. If the guitarist needs to change stuff, then the front person needs to be covering with banter to take away the focus. If you're all stood there looking at the guitarist then it's not interesting for anyone. You can have breaks as long as they're scripted, and not punctuated by the EADGCE solo.

All the gear, no idea. I played with a guitarist like this. I'm not sure you can cure it, some people are attracted to the gear and making new sounds with it. Some just want to get on and play the music. It's something they evolve into with experience. As has been said, some of it may be stage nerves, does it happen at rehearsals? What are you playing that requires loads of different sounds?

If you're working shifts then you're probably all pretty rock solid at keeping diaries. As suggested before share a Google calendar. If you all have smartphones you can have multiple calendars in the same app, and get them just to show 'busy' in the shared calendar when you add to your own. You can share Google calendar with an iCal. If everyone has iPhones iCal might be the better option. You'll still need to check people are free, but if it's blocked out you can avoid it.

You need to start off by compiling a list of dates where people aren't available. Calendars are a bit overkill for us as generally we are looking for Saturday night gigs. And they rely on people updating them without being prompted. If you have to prompt them, you might as well just ask in the first place if there are any additional dates since last time you asked.

We just have a WhatsApp group purely for gigs and a WhatsApp group for general chat. Ask if anyone is available on certain date in the general chat group, and when a gig is booked stick the details in the gig group and go from there. Getting amatuer musicians to be organised is like, well, as we all know, herding cats.

Your volume will be dependent on the cabs, not necessarily the amplifier. You can get very loud by adding cabs. I had a Trace Elliot that had a dry joint on a resistor, apart from that touchwood, I've only blown a fuse in a lead from using a 3amp fused (lghting) lead instead of a 10A one. The other thing I found with amps is you need to clear out dust and spiderwebs from inside the amp and cooling fans if it's not kept in a sealed box, flight case. If you can't hear yourself over the drummer then you need to look at your EQ, something that sounds nice solo'd, probably won't fit in a band mix. Check you are using speaker leads and not instrument leads between the amp and speaker. If you are hearing distortion, check what's causing it, is it the power amp (generally bad), the speaker (bad, the coil will eventually melt), or the pre amp(should be ok)

The band booked for the Friday failed to show up.

Good luck. More data is coming out everyday and as time passes people should get more confident.

Yes. I agree with you there. I'll try not to derail, there's a long enough thread in OT. Seems to be a mix, guess it's going to be down to all members of the band to be up for it. Hope it doesn't provoke arguments.

Played our first gig last night. Pub was rammed, seems the public are generally up for it. Have a couple of mini festivals booked, one is outdoor high stage next Sunday, one is a pub, not sure if it's inside or outside. How is everyone else doing?

It’s not really the same band. They’re two generations older now. 40 years ago.

It was their pinnacle. I saw them at Hammersmith on the Someowhere in Time tour, then a at Donnington and Hammersmith again. By the time they played Hammersmith they’d picked up loads of kids off the Number 1 - Can I Play With Madness. Bruce tore into the audience and pointed out my friend and I were the only true fans in the audience up in the front row balcony up all night head banging and singing the words to every song. After that Adrian Smith left and Bruce shortly followed. Shame. I last saw them at the O2, the night before the Croydon riot. They just weren’t the same. Might have been the big auditorium, I don’t like those big gigs.

I know Tony Parson’s sister-in-law pretty well. We were in a restaurant one night and she told me her husband plays drums a bit now and then, but his brother is a good guitarist. He was in a band called Iron Maiden in the late 70s. I also went out with a girl who knew Derek Riggs. It’s a small world.