Do you REALLY not know how your band sounds?

[Cruznolfart]

Did you tell them all this' date=' they may need to hear it and you put it very well.

[/quote']

 

Thank you, Shon; no, I haven't said anything...yet. But I tend to agree with the "need to hear" part.. It may be time for a wet blanket. It's just hard to believe that, having watched their own vids, they'd still believe they're anywhere close to "ready".

 

I'm just glad I don't live across the street.

[Shnate McDuanus]

For me, I never realized how god-awful I was until I recorded myself and took a listen. Of course the lousy recording equipment (improvised from an old pair of headphones) certainly didn't help, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get a usable tone from my amp, but you could tell by listening to it that I'm probably the worst guitarist who ever lived. My tempo was completely off, I couldn't create a cohesive-sounding arrangement, and my playing was just horrid and predictable in a bad way. It was just a little twelve-bar blues improvisation: an improvised lead track recorded over a semi-improvised rhythm track, but it wouldn't have been any better if I'd have played something else. No, I won't post the recording up. No, I don't think I'm ever going to improve substantially. Yes I'm going to keep playing, but nobody else will hear it because I realized today how awful I am. And no, I'm absolutely not kidding here.

 

That being said, I can't imagine that it would be different for anyone else who's as lousy as I am (HA! As if that's even possible.) I'm sure that, even if someone has trouble admitting how lousy they are, they often do know that they're truly lousy.

 

That's my .02.

[FennRx]

The thread that predicated my op was on another guitar site this time' date=' although I have seen similar posts here as well. And, other than to possibly embarrass the poster in question, I'm not sure that it would serve any purpose. Suffice to say it wasn't a post soliciting opinions of a specific song or arrangement, instrument of effect, or any individual musician. I will paraphrase as best I can;

 

[i']Please listen to these clips of our last practice and give me your opinion as to whether we are ready to play some paying gigs...or not. Be brutal if you must but please give me your opinion. We've got a gig coming up next month at Rockin' Rowdy's BBQ and Beer Joint and we need to really be ready. So what do you think?[/i]

 

You play the clip, the sound is, of course, awful cuz it was done on the video cam mic in a big room with several un-mic'd amps. The vocals are unintelligible, forced and out of tune. The tempo drags on every number. The overall balance is non-existent. You hear mostly drums, a little rhythm guitar, keys when the drums aren't overpowering, and the screechy-sorta vocal. The good thing is you sort of recognize the song...sort of. There is no tightness, no togetherness. The starts are sloppy, the endings are sloppy and you are left with the feeling that you're watching someone jam on some tunes that some of them sort of know; the others - not really.

 

Yeah, it's "whee, aren't we having fun?" but...it ISN'T a band that's ready to play out. It's a hobby-band pretending to be gigging musicians. And, yes; if everyone's happy then I'm happy too. But this band (and every other band like it) isn't ready to gig. They aren't professional in any sense of the word. And they're going out into the gigging world to make their impression. They're fooling themselves into thinking they're ready. And, in my opinion, they muddy the pool for those who would set a higher standard.

 

Of course, there's always the possibility that the band is fantastic and are just having a big ol' belly laugh at my ******.

 

 

why do i get the feeling i know what website this was posted on?

[FirstMeasure]

Thank you' date=' Shon; no, I haven't said anything...yet. But I tend to agree with the "need to hear" part.. It may be time for a wet blanket. It's just hard to believe that, having watched their own vids, they'd still believe they're anywhere close to "ready".

 

I'm just glad I don't live across the street.

If you did live across the street you probably would have told them about it a few times already[biggrin].

 

It probably won't help them before they make their big debut, but after wards they just may get what you meant. The voice of reason is a lot louder when your dusting yourself off and dressing your wounds.

[Cruznolfart]

why do i get the feeling i know what website this was posted on? :-

 

 

Perhaps you're physic.