Skinnyman Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 (edited) I've joined a startup band and we're just starting to put a setlist together. Everybody involved has previous gigging experience. In addition to bass, drums and vocals, there's a guitarist and a keyboardist/guitarist. It's still early days and we've got a rough list of about thirty songs, picking off four or five at a time and working on that subset until they're about ready and then adding the next group. My issue is with the keys/2nd guitarist. He's a very accomplished player but he's missed two of the four rehearsals so far and clearly hasn't spent any time actually learning any of the songs. He also spends a huge amount of time in the two rehearsals he's attended going through a million and one synths for each song. I know it's early days and i may be doing him an injustice - but I'm getting a bad feeling that he's not going to put the effort in to get us up to speed. Am i being neurotic? Edited June 8, 2019 by Skinnyman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bafflegab Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 Depends on his reasons for missing them I guess. But yeah it does sound frustrating, and the synths thing. Has anyone else voiced any concerns? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnyman Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 2 minutes ago, Bafflegab said: Depends on his reasons for missing them I guess. But yeah it does sound frustrating, and the synths thing. Has anyone else voiced any concerns? Not yet - and the complication is that he and the guitarist are long-time buddies.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bafflegab Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 2 minutes ago, Skinnyman said: Not yet - and the complication is that he and the guitarist are long-time buddies.... I wouldn’t worry too much just yet, although it’s annoying, he might have a valid reason for missing the practices. Sick kid or something like that. Regarding the synths thing, sounds like someone just needs to be friendly-assertive, and tell him to just pick one so you can get practicing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 Bands: 99% political 1% musical. It's the way it is, you just have to play the politics slowly but surely. I've been in two potentially pretty decent bands in which performance and progress were significantly hampered by the fact that a member in each owned the PA and the van respectively. In both cases, we were f*****d without them, they knew it, and there was little we could do about their attitude to rehearsals and gigs. Both were also completely unnecessary musically; one a twiddling lead guitarist who played solos so much of the time that after a while you simply didn't notice that he was there, one a rhythm guitarist who so swamped his sound in reverb that it was almost like the sound was coming from a pub down the road. Both of them outlived me in each band 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 19 minutes ago, Skinnyman said: he's missed two of the four rehearsals so far and clearly hasn't spent any time actually learning any of the songs. He also spends a huge amount of time in the two rehearsals he's attended going through a million and one synths for each song. ..that's what they do, isn't it??? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 42 minutes ago, Skinnyman said: I've joined a startup band and we're just starting to put a setlist together In addition to bass, drums and vocals, there's a guitarist and a keyboardist/guitarist. Personally the the first alarm bell rang when you mentioned a keyboard player. We could do with some Hammond on about 15% of our set but we all know we'd never shut one up for the remainder. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky 4000 Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 1 hour ago, Skinnyman said: Am i being neurotic? You're probably being right, and the further along you get, the more everybody will notice. Or, the guy may pick up the slack at some point. 👍 14 minutes ago, Maude said: Personally the the first alarm bell rang when you mentioned a keyboard player. We could do with some Hammond on about 15% of our set but we all know we'd never shut one up for the remainder. How about some clavinet for the other 85%? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 We don't do that there funk. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_c2 Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 (edited) Why not simply cancel or not arrange any gigs until you're ready? If things are going slower that you're happy with, is it because you're being too pushy or one person are lagging? What do the others think? (Edited due to miscounting the number of guitarists). Also, you say everyone has gigging experience - how much experience does the guitarist/keyboard player have? Does he know that failing to rehearse/know the music is going to catch him out at the gig or does he have a cunning plan you don't know about? Edited June 8, 2019 by paul_c2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 41 minutes ago, Maude said: We could do with some Hammond on about 15% of our set but we all know we'd never shut one up for the remainder. Which is true, but I guess one has to see it from the POV of the keyboarderist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 28 minutes ago, Beedster said: Which is true, but I guess one has to see it from the POV of the keyboarderist I quite agree, I wouldn't want to do nothing for most of a set, and I wouldn't expect anyone else to. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky 4000 Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 4 minutes ago, Maude said: I quite agree, I wouldn't want to do nothing for most of a set, and I wouldn't expect anyone else to. 🙂 If I could play the Captain Morgan, I'd come along and be a stage (or cage) dancer for the rest of the funk-less, funk-resistant set... that is a big IF though. 😃 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 5 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said: If I could play the Captain Morgan, I'd come along and be a stage (or cage) dancer for the rest of the funk-less, funk-resistant set... that is a big IF though. 😃 The horror, the horror! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 2 hours ago, Skinnyman said: I've joined a startup band and we're just starting to put a setlist together. Everybody involved has previous gigging experience. In addition to bass, drums and vocals, there's a guitarist and a keyboardist/guitarist. It's still early days and we've got a rough list of about thirty songs, picking off four or five at a time and working on that subset until they're about ready and then adding the next group. My issue is with the keys/2nd guitarist. He's a very accomplished player but he's missed two of the four rehearsals so far and clearly hasn't spent any time actually learning any of the songs. He also spends a huge amount of time in the two rehearsals he's attended going through a million and one synths for each song. I know it's early days and i may be doing him an injustice - but I'm getting a bad feeling that he's not going to put the effort in to get us up to speed. Am i being neurotic? Not neurotic, no. This scenario is all too common, I'm afraid Why it's too difficult for some musicians to just learn the music & concentrate on their instrument & the band's overall good is beyond me. I was going to suggest a 'terminal' solution for your erstwhile keyboard /guitarist, but I'd only offend someone... Time for a band chat with the erm, 'accomplished' chappie 🔥 Good luck SM 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 BTW, I've just been on KeysSpeak forum, there's a bloke from Lincolnshire complaining about the bassist in his new startup band. He reckons that the guy keeps missing rehearsals vcos he's off frollicking in the Lincolnshire Peak District, and when he does turn up, he keeps trying to play prog. What a coincidence eh? Also he says that the bloke's Rickenbacker sounds 'clanky'. No idea what that could mean... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 19 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said: If I could play the Captain Morgan, I'd come along and be a stage (or cage) dancer for the rest of the funk-less, funk-resistant set... that is a big IF though. 😃 Well if you can't play then you'll have to dance for the whole set then, see ya next Saturday 😁 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 Just now, Maude said: Well if you can't play then you'll have to dance for the whole set then, see ya next Saturday 😁 Maude! Do you know what you're asking?!? Once you see the gimp suit, you'll NEVER be able to erase that image from your mind! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnyman Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 22 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said: If I could play the Captain Morgan, I'd come along and be a stage (or cage) dancer for the rest of the funk-less, funk-resistant set... that is a big IF though. 😃 Why am I imagining some kind of manic Bez thing? *shudder* 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teebs Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 Just now, Skinnyman said: Why am I imagining some kind of manic Bez thing? *shudder* You're lucky, my imagination is suggesting something far, far worse... *shudders* 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnyman Posted June 8, 2019 Author Share Posted June 8, 2019 1 hour ago, paul_c2 said: Why not simply cancel or not arrange any gigs until you're ready? If things are going slower that you're happy with, is it because you're being too pushy or one person are lagging? What do the others think? (Edited due to miscounting the number of guitarists). Also, you say everyone has gigging experience - how much experience does the guitarist/keyboard player have? Does he know that failing to rehearse/know the music is going to catch him out at the gig or does he have a cunning plan you don't know about? We’re still some way off gigs - aiming to do some “friendly” venues in early autumn. This guy is actually a very accomplished guitarist. Not so much on keys but very good on geetar. I think that may be part of the problem. He’s used to just winging it on guitar and then finding he’s out of his comfort zone on the keyboard. i guess I just have to let it play out - if it starts to become an issue I’ll try and nip it in the bud all friendly-like and see how things go. But it seems like this isn’t that unusual an occurrence and not just me. For once 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky 4000 Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, Maude said: Well if you can't play then you'll have to dance for the whole set then, see ya next Saturday 😁 Dammit... I'll have to bring my dancing troupe. 😬 Edited June 9, 2019 by Ricky 4000 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krysbass Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 (edited) After just over 3 years, I have just folded a musically solid band that I started. This was principally due to the lack of commitment and availability for gigs and rehearsals of two keyboardists in a row. The keyboardists' behaviour became infectious too and the singer went and joined another project whilst staying with ours, which made the band's availability for gigs become almost non existent, so there was no point carrying on. I no longer had the patience to just replace the two of them and start again. The OP's situation may not be so bad or end the same way, but I do recommend watching it closely. As for me; this was the first band I had started that needed a keyboardist, and I have vowed it will be the last. Although I'm sure there will be exceptions to the rule; I feel keyboardists tend to be too high-maintenance. Edited June 9, 2019 by Krysbass 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJE Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 (edited) Over the years I have found that people have two attitudes to rehearsals. Some people think that rehearsals are there for everyone to learn the parts, fiddle with sounds, go over structures etc and generally learn it at practice. luckily my attitude as well as the other folks in my better bands have always Been that rehearsals are to sort out intros and endings and vocal harmonies etc. It might be worth having some kind of chat to make sure you all have the same concept of what rehearsals are for, basically learn the chords, structures, solos and get your sounds sorted at home because only a small amount of fiddling around at rehearsal will be tolerated. There is a more blunt solution too...if you get to a song that the keys player hasn’t got a sound for it or doesn’t know the parts for it, give it one go through and just say “not everyone’s got that one, that’s homework let’s move on to the next one”. A little bit of subtle shaming works well sometimes. Edited June 9, 2019 by NJE 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikel Posted June 9, 2019 Share Posted June 9, 2019 We have a band rule, band practice is not for learning songs or noodling sounds. You do that at home and come prepared. If llife gets in the way you let the band know so we cover something else at the practice. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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