I'm sure you get asked for musical advice quite often, and I apologize, but you're one of the guitarists I look up to and I was curious on your opinion.
I'm sorry, it's abit long
I was in a band situation for a couple months, probably the first band where it looked like it was going anywhere, as with other bands it seems I was the only dedicated one. Ashamed to admit it, but we haven't even had a single song done. We were constantly trying out new members and while we were working on songs while looking for members, nothing much would get done because it's simply a guitarist and a vocalist, and it's a little complicated to get material written with such a small 'lineup' if you can even call it that.
Anyways, I was talking to an ex-bandmate and he said he wanted to take part in this band as the guitarist. Me and him work extremely well and I considered asking him to play the role numerous times but figured he had no interest as we've already had multiple bands together, I figured he wanted to work with new people. Since he was brought into the picture, we got together to work on one of the songs we already had half written. I'll be completely honest, before me and him worked on this song it was extremely repeatative and boring, but since I had a second guitarist to bounce ideas off of we got alot more done, the song is still incomplete but the structure is alot more interesting, unpredictable and less repeatative than it was before.
When we got together to work on this song, our vocalist wanted to tag along. I notified him it would just be me and the other guitarist and we would be working on the music and that there's a good chance he won't even be able to do any vocal work at the jam, he insisted on coming. Alright, no problem. Needless to say during the whole jam he was sitting around doing nothing, no I'm not complaining, I'm just pointing this out as this becomes an important part of what happens later on. He does vocals only, he has no other musical experience so he couldn't provide any help, just sit back and watch, which is a shame because it's about an hour drive for him to come down, hence why I tried notifying him that it'd probably be a wasted trip anyways.
After that day, me and the other guitarist discussed it and decided that it would be best if our vocalist does not come to practices until we finish the guitar parts for the song. Then we can start peicing things together and fine tuning the song. We brought this up with him and he had no objections, we scheduled a couple practices during the week but the guitarist cut his finger up pretty bad at his work so he wasn't able to play. So the jams were called off, our vocalist then started to assume we were slacking off (even after notifying him of the situation) and we started discussing again. He stated that it would be good to have one day a week where as much of the band as possible can get together so we can make sure we don't get 'rusty' which I had no problem with. But I notified him until the main structure of the song is written up, nothing would get done at these jams and that we should wait until this song is written out before we start rehearsing as a group and fine-tuning the song.
He's been throwing fits and getting all upset over the situation for awhile now, he suggested bringing down another guitarist to 'help' us out, which I find to be an insult to our skill. I have no problem working with other musicians outside of a band, I think music is like a brotherhood and that we should all look out for eachother. But to say "I'm bringing down a guitarist to help you guys figure stuff out" is downright rude, as we're capable of doing it ourselves, we are the guitarists of the band and we work fine on writing the material. Needless to say, me and the vocalist had enough and we parted ways, the other guitarist said he would still like to get a project going and we still have the hookups (Infact all the members of that band were brought in by me, and they all decided not to stick around once I left, leaving him with just a bassist now)
My only problem is, looking back, was I in the wrong?
Should I have perhaps approached the situation differently?
I believe he took things too far and it got more out of control than it could have been because of his approach to it, but looking back at the situation I'm wondering if it was an unprofessional move on my part aswell.
Now It's down to me, another guitarist and a drummer. We're without vocals, which is a shame as vocalists are the hardest roles to find in this city, especially one's with skill, and we're without a bassist. We have the dedication, but I fear lack of being able to find a new vocalist will tear us apart. Do you have any advice? If you took the time to read this I greatly appreciate it.
Also, do you have any advice in general that I should take note of when it comes to band situations?
Note: Advice from anybody is welcome, I could really use some help and evaluation. Thank you all in advance
I'm sorry, it's abit long
I was in a band situation for a couple months, probably the first band where it looked like it was going anywhere, as with other bands it seems I was the only dedicated one. Ashamed to admit it, but we haven't even had a single song done. We were constantly trying out new members and while we were working on songs while looking for members, nothing much would get done because it's simply a guitarist and a vocalist, and it's a little complicated to get material written with such a small 'lineup' if you can even call it that.
Anyways, I was talking to an ex-bandmate and he said he wanted to take part in this band as the guitarist. Me and him work extremely well and I considered asking him to play the role numerous times but figured he had no interest as we've already had multiple bands together, I figured he wanted to work with new people. Since he was brought into the picture, we got together to work on one of the songs we already had half written. I'll be completely honest, before me and him worked on this song it was extremely repeatative and boring, but since I had a second guitarist to bounce ideas off of we got alot more done, the song is still incomplete but the structure is alot more interesting, unpredictable and less repeatative than it was before.
When we got together to work on this song, our vocalist wanted to tag along. I notified him it would just be me and the other guitarist and we would be working on the music and that there's a good chance he won't even be able to do any vocal work at the jam, he insisted on coming. Alright, no problem. Needless to say during the whole jam he was sitting around doing nothing, no I'm not complaining, I'm just pointing this out as this becomes an important part of what happens later on. He does vocals only, he has no other musical experience so he couldn't provide any help, just sit back and watch, which is a shame because it's about an hour drive for him to come down, hence why I tried notifying him that it'd probably be a wasted trip anyways.
After that day, me and the other guitarist discussed it and decided that it would be best if our vocalist does not come to practices until we finish the guitar parts for the song. Then we can start peicing things together and fine tuning the song. We brought this up with him and he had no objections, we scheduled a couple practices during the week but the guitarist cut his finger up pretty bad at his work so he wasn't able to play. So the jams were called off, our vocalist then started to assume we were slacking off (even after notifying him of the situation) and we started discussing again. He stated that it would be good to have one day a week where as much of the band as possible can get together so we can make sure we don't get 'rusty' which I had no problem with. But I notified him until the main structure of the song is written up, nothing would get done at these jams and that we should wait until this song is written out before we start rehearsing as a group and fine-tuning the song.
He's been throwing fits and getting all upset over the situation for awhile now, he suggested bringing down another guitarist to 'help' us out, which I find to be an insult to our skill. I have no problem working with other musicians outside of a band, I think music is like a brotherhood and that we should all look out for eachother. But to say "I'm bringing down a guitarist to help you guys figure stuff out" is downright rude, as we're capable of doing it ourselves, we are the guitarists of the band and we work fine on writing the material. Needless to say, me and the vocalist had enough and we parted ways, the other guitarist said he would still like to get a project going and we still have the hookups (Infact all the members of that band were brought in by me, and they all decided not to stick around once I left, leaving him with just a bassist now)
My only problem is, looking back, was I in the wrong?
Should I have perhaps approached the situation differently?
I believe he took things too far and it got more out of control than it could have been because of his approach to it, but looking back at the situation I'm wondering if it was an unprofessional move on my part aswell.
Now It's down to me, another guitarist and a drummer. We're without vocals, which is a shame as vocalists are the hardest roles to find in this city, especially one's with skill, and we're without a bassist. We have the dedication, but I fear lack of being able to find a new vocalist will tear us apart. Do you have any advice? If you took the time to read this I greatly appreciate it.
Also, do you have any advice in general that I should take note of when it comes to band situations?
Note: Advice from anybody is welcome, I could really use some help and evaluation. Thank you all in advance
