gettin a band

[blindboygrunt]

i gig occassionally with a couple of people , it's a situation that kinda just came to be ... the girl i've known for years from open sessions that used to go on at the local bar , the other guy is an extremely talented guitarist who we saught out to help us pick a PA system as we were all inept with sound systems .... its a little combi that is good when it works but is also a bit shambolic due to differences is age / musical taste and lack of practice together .

what we do is bring a few new songs with us when we meet , the guitarist is able to pick basically anything up and noodle away adding a bit of body to mine and the girls songs .

he's old school though and part of that section of musicians who dont really love music , as in he has played all the old classics but isnt really interested in anything 'new'

not that i play anything leftfield or nothing .

just wondering how you all ended up in bands , how you all get on. , dealing with musicians fragile egos , changing the music you play and not getting stagnant .....

 

my gut feeling is that i would be better doing it alone but worry about filling a couple hours without the lift that comes with a guitar solo or a complimentary instrument .

i'm good friends with the woman and couldnt say that i just want to play with the guitarist .

 

any thoughts kids ?

[EuroAussie]

Well i have to say ive been extremely lucky in this respect.

 

My band, DoubleShot, is the first and only band Ive ever been in.

 

Were basically a duo and the core of the band, but often have guests performers on lead guitar, harp, vocals etc ...

 

We were lucky because myself and the singer clicked straight away in terms of chemistry, music taste and ability to rehearse and work on tunes together. To be honest it just sort of flowed and came together effortlessly. We've had a few minor scuffles and once my singer almost quite, but were able to talk it through and moved on.

 

We've been going now for over two years and still have the spark and desire, and we both have improved a lot in that time and enjoy playing together. In fact were probably best as a duo as the core is so strong.

 

But Im guessing my story is one of the lucky ones as I can imagine egos, time tables, taste can be a major issue, epecially when a number of of people are inolved.

 

Probably the most important thing we did in the beginning is agree on a set of principles in terms of style of music we play and how we play it. We had stuck to this principle and thats probably what has helped so to keep the glue, as this was always the reference point. Its really important to have that principle and understanding what youre about at the beginning, and then see how you evolve within this circle.

 

Good luck with it BBG, you deserve to be in a good band with your talent, its good for the soul and happiness you sad bugger ... ;-)

[ParlourMan]

Not sure I've got the full drift or if I've taken the wrong meaning, BBG... are you saying you want to keep the guitarist fella for a band but not the girl?

[blindboygrunt]

Not sure I've got the full drift or if I've taken the wrong meaning, BBG... are you saying you want to keep the guitarist fella for a band but not the girl?

 

kind of , yeah , but i dont think that'll happen due to my friendship with the girl .

i'll deal with all tht by just either going at it alone or not gigging , its not like i would count it as income or anthing other than a bit of fun and a free night out meeting people anyway .

was mainly wondering if the likes of yourself had to wrap each others knuckles once in a while or have the occassional tiff :)

or how many were same as me and just thought sod it i'm playing by myself

[geeterpicker]

I've been in various acoustic bands in the Cincy area since the mid 70s. Never anything big or any that garnered much publicity at all, but groups that were consistently good. I have worked with the same bass player since 1979. The pieces around us have changed over the years, but it has always been an acoustic oriented act, doing a wide variety of music with a bluegrassy tinge. For me, I have been fortunate in that I have been very good friends with the band members in all of the groups. We really never had a group where we just had stray people come in. The key is finding people that will practice at least once a week and actually work on the tunes on their own, so that when you get back together, the thing comes to life. We work hard at getting a good sound. In most of the bands, I was the lead singer and then in 2000, I was asked to join a gigging group whom my bass playing friend had hooked up with. I had taken about 5 years off playing gigs at the time after doing it non-stop since the late 70s. They did bluesy and rootsy material, which was a nice change of pace for me. It was great not be the main singer. I added guitar, mando and dobro as well as back up vocals. And I had the time of my life. And with these guys, the routine was familiar. Practice once a week and get the songs right.

Along the way, I decided I wanted to have a complete small PA of my own, so piece by piece I acquired that stuff. Most of it I use at all the gigs I play and some of it is at home just in case. My thinking was if I ever played solo, I'd have everything I needed. Or if I met other people, I'd have it all.

So now I play in two groups. One quartet and the other a sometimes trio, sometimes duo. The music of each is different, so I don't feel like I'm treading the same water. And the members are all people I've known and played with for years. It's a fortunate thing.

So I guess I am saying you have to find people who will commit to the band and give the effort. There will always be times of frustration, but the joy of the music usually wipes all that away.

[ParlourMan]

kind of , yeah , but i dont think that'll happen due to my friendship with the girl .

i'll deal with all tht by just either going at it alone or not gigging , its not like i would count it as income or anthing other than a bit of fun and a free night out meeting people anyway .

was mainly wondering if the likes of yourself had to wrap each others knuckles once in a while or have the occassional tiff :)

or how many were same as me and just thought sod it i'm playing by myself

 

I wouldn't stop gigging because of it. But I can see the predicament over it, a tough one....

 

for my wee setup, its weird, it works well because it's two mates, ones I would socialise with, it's a covers venture too, so there's no precious 'musical differences' and no fanciful dreams of it being a job/career type thing... myself and the singer are on opposite sides of the football religion thing, while that might be an issue in certain situations in Scotland, it quite simply never comes up here in Lux.

 

Myself and the big Frenchman look at it as a giggle and we're sort of his backing band, him being the singer an all, but he's quite reliant on us for lots of the decisions, so all in all it's a very easy setup, never had a single cross word yet. I guess the best way for me to describe it is, the band is simply a knock-on effect of us mucking about together socially.

[blindboygrunt]

I wouldn't stop gigging because of it. But I can see the predicament over it, a tough one....

 

for my wee setup, its weird, it works well because it's two mates, ones I would socialise with, it's a covers venture too, so there's no precious 'musical differences' and no fanciful dreams of it being a job/career type thing... myself and the singer are on opposite sides of the football religion thing, while that might be an issue in certain situations in Scotland, it quite simply never comes up here in Lux.

 

Myself and the big Frenchman look at it as a giggle and we're sort of his backing band, him being the singer an all, but he's quite reliant on us for lots of the decisions, so all in all it's a very easy setup, never had a single cross word yet. I guess the best way for me to describe it is, the band is simply a knock-on effect of us mucking about together socially.

 

i had that before and know what a great situation that is to be in, but they were playing more and more trad stuff and i go bored but no hard feelings at all , i'd never take it bad if something wasnt working out .

[ParlourMan]

i had that before and know what a great situation that is to be in, but they were playing more and more trad stuff and i go bored but no hard feelings at all , i'd never take it bad if something wasnt working out .

 

Some of the covers we do, the originals are not my cup of tea at all, a lot of charty pop stuff... rather than get fussed about it, I try to mess with the arrangements or drop the bits that i/we don't like. There are some songs I've poopoo'd but not too many, I normally just keep the mindset that it's a laugh for folk for coming down the pubs for the gigs so there's no need to be serious about it. Funnily enough the stuff I've been most negative about doing tends to be the stuff that's worked out the most popular with the crowds.

 

but then again, 20 years ago I would have hated me now, playing in a covers band was a total no-no back then, haha.

[blindboygrunt]

i dont want u thinking i'm in any way snobby about it but if i say at a gig 'my grandfathers clock' was given an airing ?

would that explain it better ? lol

[ParlourMan]

i dont want u thinking i'm in any way snobby about it but if i say at a gig 'my grandfathers clock' was given an airing ?

would that explain it better ? lol

 

haha, I certainly hope not, I've been trying to maintain a monopoly on snobby about here... ;)

 

Wow, what a tune! BBG... So you're looking to bring it into the more modern times then? Are you the singer? Can't you just do a setlist and see who you can get to get onboard with those tunes and subtly direct the venture? Would make things easier for you and it's an easy out for your current mates if they're not up for it. No awkwardness all round.

[blindboygrunt]

i'm not sure what i'm trying to say anymore , i dont want to be playing stuff thats only been released in the past year , i dont think the world needs another guy in a pub singing brown eyed girl ...

[ParlourMan]

i dont want to be playing stuff thats only been released in the past year

 

It can really work well, especially if your approach to it is quite a surprise. As an example, we're gigging on Friday night and playing 2 dubstep songs for the first time... acoustic dubstep, the very thought just doesn't work, strangely enough both songs should work quite well... but we'll see if I'm still saying that by Saturday.

 

i dont think the world needs another guy in a pub singing brown eyed girl ...

 

Amen, brother......

[zombywoof]

I can't sing a note so solo stuff is out for me.

 

My take on bands is that it was never any better than when I first started out - when I had more chutzpah than talent. The folks in the band were there not because of any particular talent but because they were friends who happened to have a bass or a drum kit. And we stuck it out alot of years. Professional we were not. We never even bothered with setlists although we and the crowd knew certain tunes had to be played especially at the beginning or the end of a set. But I could not imagine playing with anybody else other than a few folkies and a harp player or two I had been friends with for years and who would snag me to do some backup work. In the early 1970s, when I felt the need to go back to where I started out and put together an acoustic blues band the lady singer and bass player came with me. Decades down the road though, even without a setlist, how many times are you gonna play "Who Put the Sting in the Honey Bee" or "As Long as I'm Moving" never mind Van Morrison or whatever covers that the bar owners really wanted rather than that obscure stuff or God forbid originals.

 

I think the thing is there comes a time when it just gets tougher to dredge up the sincerity never mind the self-discipline. In the end though what I needed was freedom, to be able to play just like I do when I am messing around by myself or in some informal get together - to take tunes and turn them upside down - change the key, rhythms, or whatever else may hit my fancy at the moment. On my best day my playing has been described as loose and boozy. That is who I am and trying to cage it or change it to make it easier to play in band just ain't ain't in the forecast any longer. So these days I content myself to doing backing work with singers who are familiar with me and like the way I arrange tunes and just sitting in with others.

[BluesKing777]

BK777 played in lots of bands and was probably voted too hard to get along with and the most likely to play solo!

 

And were the ones that did that voting the same bandmates and friends that let all 4 tyres down on my car at the gig, or was that some kids having a laugh?

 

I always liked the solo blues pickers but playing on your own can get, well....lonely!

 

And friends in bands can be enemies after it all turns to glue, so then you end up in a 'pro' outfit that doesn't get paid while everyone else to do with the band is making plenty, etc,etc.....so you go solo!

 

Good luck with all of that and have a lot of fun and you will then have lots of weird stories to tell your friends (and forums)!

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[moej45]

I've been in a lot of bands...3 of which I have fronted and here is where I am at this point. I am playing right now with a bass player and drummer....both of them are great old friends. I'd love a lead player to compliment what I do but honestly...with three kids and my own business I have NO INTEREST in massaging egos. And that's what a lot of it is.

 

Musicians by nature are fragile and weird beings....getting four or more on the same page is unbelievable difficult.

 

Moe

[blindboygrunt]

I've been in a lot of bands...3 of which I have fronted and here is where I am at this point. I am playing right now with a bass player and drummer....both of them are great old friends. I'd love a lead player to compliment what I do but honestly...with three kids and my own business I have NO INTEREST in massaging egos. And that's what a lot of it is.

 

Musicians by nature are fragile and weird beings....getting four or more on the same page is unbelievable difficult.

 

Moe

 

well , you did rightly last time moe !

[Dreamline]

Hi...I've been in loads of bands since school age, one of the main bands when I was younger consisted of me on bass and occasional acoustic and a good friend on drums who were the core, all the other members chopped and changed over time but me and the drummer had a great agreement that we could say whatever in the rehearsal room to be constructive, sometimes quite heated, but that was where it stayed and it never affected our relationship outside the band. This worked really well and others that joined us soon got used to it. Now I am playing bass in a rock blues covers band and our agreement was that we would only play songs that the three of us really liked and that seems to be working too. A the same time I play with a good friend as an acoustic duo doing covers that we like that I couldnt do with the blues band and for the folky type stuff that I really like I play on my own. That means that when I write stuff, whatever it comes out as I have an outlet to play it.