Biggest issues when playing with other musicians?

BBN said:
Like other folks said....this is not a lead singer disease.
I'm the lead singer. I own the (multiple) PA's. I do all the booking. I own/update the website. I host rehearsals at my house and provide professional drums and amps for everyone.

Bands are all about finding the good people (that are also good musicians).
I have fun with my guys because all have realistic expectations for the band, and nobody is selfish.
That is where the trouble starts....selfish people that will overplay to please themselves instead of thinking about what the audience and band members will enjoy.

If the people suck.....find something else.
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I'm only speaking from experience.

Can I be in your band?
:)
 
Lol i am the other guitar player right for the band I joined. Though I admittedly joined to become a better musician while learning to play with others. Along with the line of "If i am not working out for you, feel free to kick me to the curb, I wont be offended". But having worked with bands long enough, and managed a few, I guess you can say i know my place, that goes with the position.
 
I think it's a perennial issue to balance talent with good working relationships. We've probably all been in bands with members who weren't all that talented, but suffered in silence out of respect for friendships. From one point of view, it's total BS to put up with it, because it can hold everyone down. On the other hand, it also sucks to be in a band with "professionals" you don't like or can't tolerate personally. I don't know if it's true anymore (it's been a long time since I had a paid manager), but good agents used to hook talented players up - that's apparently how Cheap Trick formed. Anyway, finding balance between musical quality and quality experience has been the hardest part for me.
 
I love playing with other musicians, as long as they are professional. I don't mean working pros, I mean their attitude and ability to work with other people. A band by their very nature depend on one another to make a collective sound that none of the members can make on their own. Once someone looses sight of the fact that all are equally needed, then some very ugly dynamics occur. I move on.
 
MesaGuitarGuy said:
lead-singer-itis

the lead singer shows up 5 minutes before the show starts, expecting everything to be up an running. Then they schmooze with the audience after and avoid tear down and packing up.
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aint this the truth, they show up late leave early and think they are the star of the group.
 
Geezerjohn said:
I love playing with other musicians, as long as they are professional. I don't mean working pros, I mean their attitude and ability to work with other people. A band by their very nature depend on one another to make a collective sound that none of the members can make on their own. Once someone looses sight of the fact that all are equally needed, then some very ugly dynamics occur. I move on.
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I maintain the belief that i am one of the worst guitar players around, at least at this point in time. Which i am fine with cause it encourages me to grow. But sometimes all you a group needs is someone consistent and tolerable to round out and balance things. So if that means i get to grow as a player in that spot i am fine with it. But I also don't hide the fact that I know limited in playing ability. But people seem accepting of because I am straight forward about it.
 
Playing cover tunes in bars and gigs is much easier than the P&W situation. Guys in the cover band are more honest, but not always more talented.
In the P&W scenario you may have a 14 year old female singer, a 16 year old guitar player, a 65 year old singer, a 30 year old drummer, a 45 year old bass player, (probably more singers every age in between) and at least half the team will be related to staff/management of the church. and you may see more maturity from the younger members.
It can be a very entertaining experience if you don't let it get to you.

The worst thing any band member can do though, is to talk about or threaten to quit. It puts you back to the beginning and you lose all of the hard work everyone has put in. Just saying it puts a black cloud over everyone's mood, whether it happens or not.
 
The smaller the band, the better. Much easier to organize and communicate.

As soon as talk sessions are needed, I'm out. Too little time to invest in that, and life's too good to waste on annoyances.

I expect each band member to properly prepare their stuff. If somebody doesn't, repeatedly, he's wasting the time of all others. I have no time and no understanding for that. So he's out or I get out.
 
Pride is an evil animal. Pride gets most people. I play with a lot of different people. My daily lesson is that I am nice and kind to everyone. I repeatedly say to myself this isn't about me, don't make it about me. I bend when needed, I apologize first even though I'm not the one who is wrong usually, sometimes I am. I check my pride/Ego every time I engage other people, for whatever reason.

As someone else said Communication is key. I had an issue with a new hire at church who was in the trying to prove himself, he would go overboard. So I kindly, nicely had a one on one with the guy, I said what can I do to make you successful, what can be done, to solve your issues. Slowly they come off the pride fence and learn, yes I need to learn to work with others. Church is a Volunteer business, why they don't get that, I'm still trying to figure out.

As I tell people, whether it's church or the Large place I work at. Fix yourself first. If you are a manger part of your skills is dealing with personalities, it's not their fault they are the way they are, it's your fault for not recognizing it, and finding a happy medium that you both can learn to adjust to.

Ego's kill careers. I don't care what industry you're in. Be nice and work with other people and the world will open up to you. It has for me.

My thoughts anyway

Peace
 
Apart EGO issues, for me the n°1 is to share the same fun playing together.

Rythm issues, parts forgotten, shyness, etc can be ok for a gigging in pub goal, but more professionnally, there is a step before that, can the band write song, record a demo, and MAINLY ask about themselves ?
There is nothing worse than blind musician that feels like supporting the band with their wings of godlike musiciansmith, humility is the path to progress and success (look at how John "The Saviour" Petrucci is humble !).

I played for parties, pubs and live, over the year, wonderful memories, and hope I'll join a band soon.

The main issue I encountered in cover bands was the fact that 1 or 2 persons had all the rights to choose songs, and us should STFU.
That's how I played songs that were already vintage for my parents or so common in pubs that people were bored !
Sadly, in most cases leaving the band can be the best choice.
 
yek said:
I expect each band member to properly prepare their stuff. If somebody doesn't, repeatedly, he's wasting the time of all others. I have no time and no understanding for that. So he's out or I get out.
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That's WAS mostly my philosophy when I was a BL. I had that control and have had to fire band members before.

However, I play in a top-tier local weekend warrior cover band now where I am NOT the BL.
We gig 6-8 times a month, which gave us slightly over 75 gigs last year. 2016 is looking to be the same, or better!

While everyones situation is different, quitting isn't really an option for me, as there are not that many bands on this track, competition is stiff and few (if any) openings exist at that level. Plus, I have no desire to sit out for 6+ months (which happened last time I left a band) trying to find another GOOD band to work with. I'm not a pro, but I sure don't want to run the gauntlet of garage-band wannabees, bands going nowhere and all the horse feathers one has to deal with in finding a good fit!
I've worked very hard to reach the level I'm at and would not jump ship over internal band politics.
I would work toward a resolution, rather than bail.
Plus, if a member gets fired, with our gigging frequency, we can't just stop playing. We'd have to bring a replacement up to speed in parallel while the existing member covered for the replacement (or do that without their knowledge :rage:). That's the professional approach, but emotions can get in the way..
YMMV
 
s0c9 said:
to be fair, in most cases they are the "front man" (or woman) and their image projects the band image...
The rest of us are simply backing them.. ;)
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SOOOO much this!

I WANT the front man engaging with the audience, making the show personal to people, winning over fans... I can roll cables and carry cabs myself (plus I'm one of those honest-to-a-fault types and am generally unlikable). IMO, he's at his most valuable doing those kinds of things, even if it seems like the "fun job" compared to loadout.
 
Rotti said:
I can roll cables and carry cabs myself (plus I'm one of those honest-to-a-fault types and am generally unlikable). IMO, he's at his most valuable doing those kinds of things, even if it seems like the "fun job" compared to loadout.
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Teaching people how to roll cables properly that are good friends. Is a great way to gain both a roadie, and potentially get them involved in the music scene if they already have some interest. I speak from experience :D
 
scottburrow said:
Pride gets most people
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You are right about everything in your post, but I would go a little farther and say "pride gets everyone" just at different levels. I know personally when I think I've conquered something, and the ego swells, I'm humbled most every time.

The key with any relationship is to treat someone the way you want to be treated. The sad part is people have been mistreated, and instead of understanding and helping another, they usually (not always) see themselves in the dominant, abusive role when the situation is reversed.
 
As a long time covers band guitarist I started while still pretty green as the 'rhythm guitarist' in a 2 guitar band .... perfectly acceptable because the other guitarist was a seasoned live performer and way better at lead work. I got some harmony lead lines and really enjoyed keeping it tight with the drums and bass - and learning plenty from the other guitarist.

The drummer, keyboardist, bassist and myself were friends from school and learned our craft together in endless rehearsing to be note perfect over a 2 year period ...... we ended up being a pretty intimidating rhythm section for propective guitarists and singers when they auditioned and had half-learned stuff.

Eventually the other guitarist moved on and we got a new guy in. By this time the band was known in the circuit and I was a much more proficient guitar player so we shared lead duties - it was never a problem who did what as it soon became apparent which person was better at certain styles of leads .... I as a LP player got the more bluesy stuff and the other floyd rose wielding axe guy got the more shredding dive bombing stuff. If songs had multiple leads we shared them. We'd gather new suggestions for covers after a rehearsal and it was usually just sorted out which guitar part went to whom by a nod of the head once we'd listened to the tracks.

The common goal understood by everyone in the band was to sound the best we possibly could - if I struggled with something and the other guitar player didn't - then he got the job and vice versa. No ego crap - we were semi-professional and people paid to hire/see us so we did the job with that in mind.

It sometimes does require at least one person in a band to take on the responsibility of speaking up and saying "That doesn't sound good" - it shouldn't be a problem (especially in a covers band - where you can just throw a song out and learn another one instead). If someone feels insulted then they are not grasping the concept that it's a 'band' and the most important thing is the collective end result.

If you're in a 2 guitar band the best advice I can give is to

1. Compliment the other guitarist when they do a good job on their parts.

2. Record your rehearsals and sit as a band when listening back - and everyone should first criticise their own playing - then discuss what sounds off and what solutions can be tried. A lot of the time it was "OK .... I'll work on that between now and next rehearsal" which generally worked out ok back then when we were young, free and single with time to sit and work things out back home in front of a crappy cassette player :)

I've never had to play in an originals 2 guitar band ...... that could be a lot more tricky! But the end result is the key to all...... so accept there might be someone else better at some things than you in the band!

I've been the sole guitar player in bands now for many years so it's all a bit easier ... but I'll always accept criticism on the chin when it's due .... the old ethos of 'Do it right' never has died.
 
s0c9 said:
to be fair, in most cases they are the "front man" (or woman) and their image projects the band image...
The rest of us are simply backing them.. ;)
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I agree, most people want to hear vocals and the rest is secondary. I can overplay, so I try to keep in check and enhance the other musical things going on, rather than try to be out front. I love ambience, and work harder at that than I do solo's anymore, and still feel I get to contribute.
 
Singers that absolutely want to play the guitar, but can't really manage their guitar, and then try to convince you that is really their "beach song" chord that is the correct one, can be a pain in the ass from time to time. Except this I've always been a lucky ass, to be able to play round with people that knew to play, how to rehearse and teamed up perfectly.
 
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