A raging rant about clueless "musicians"

[CoffeeFan]

Originally Posted by fazool

He now has a really good business job. Quite the professional in abilities still. Is this relevant or just a premise for "suspecting something" as you put it?

I'm just always wary of the opinions of those who, for whatever reason, feel justified in calling other people "clueless" or question their musical abilities just because they do things differently...

I am totally cool with biker bars and bikers - don't try to paint me as some sort of bigot or snob. My comment which you selectively disassembled was that he wants to play new-wave dance music in a biker bar. Wrong music for the wrong crowd. My statement stands,

I actually didn't disassemble anything, and I didn't try to paint you as being anything. I essentially agreed with the comment 100%.

I'm at a loss as to why you would be bothered by that...

[fazool]

Originally Posted by CoffeeFan

...
I actually didn't disassemble anything, and I didn't try to paint you as being anything. I essentially agreed with the comment 100%.

I'm at a loss as to why you would be bothered by that...

I apologize - I mis-read your response to be sarcasm saying "oh yeah sure you better stay away from bikers"

[KevWind]

I am thinkin' of starting an inside out- law, Biker gang, called The Sons Of Ibuprofen

You can play anything but Polka at one of our bashes

[Kerbie]

Guys, this back and forth needs to stop.

[Denny B]

Say, if your gang could use an old dude on an old Shovelhead, I'm in...

[patrickgm60]

Originally Posted by Earl49

And unlike the general population (which would be bad enough) also burdened with a creative side. That makes it all much worse in terms of flakiness.

Agreed, as to flakiness, not as to creativity.

[Brucebubs]

Frank had an awful lot of 'one-hit wonders' didn't he?

[6L6]

And yet our 50/60’s Oldies Band lasted 27 years...

[ChrisE]

I played in a band for only about a year and encountered a lot of the stuff mentioned here. Especially the part about the girl singer.

When we first started we had a girl singer who thought it was her band. She saw herself as the star and we were her backing band. The problem was that she couldn’t sing. Or count. Or remember lyrics. She had to read lyrics off her phone and never knew where to come in. Apparently she didn’t own a radio, either. She didn’t have any musical exposure. Even the most popular tunes that anyone would have heard on the radio a thousand times were absolutely unfamiliar to her.

We rehearsed several times, steadily cutting the songs she couldn’t sing from the set list. When we cut her songs, she tried to sing harmonies on the other songs and couldn’t do that either.

By the time we played our first gig we polished our set list enough that she only sang on one song each set, and that was too many. She only had that one gig with us.

The band volunteered me to fire her. I did. No problem.

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by ChrisE

When we first started we had a girl singer who thought it was her band. She saw herself as the star and we were her backing band. The problem was that she couldn’t sing. Or count. Or remember lyrics. She had to read lyrics off her phone and never knew where to come in. Apparently she didn’t own a radio, either. She didn’t have any musical exposure. Even the most popular tunes that anyone would have heard on the radio a thousand times were absolutely unfamiliar to her.

We rehearsed several times, steadily cutting the songs she couldn’t sing from the set list. When we cut her songs, she tried to sing harmonies on the other songs and couldn’t do that either.

By the time we played our first gig we polished our set list enough that she only sang on one song each set, and that was too many. She only had that one gig with us.

This reminds me of one of the first bands I joined and we needed to get a front singer, which they decided needed to be female. While we were searching, the drummers wife would come out to the room where we were practicing and try to sing. Next thing we knew, they'd decided that she was the one to lead the band to local stardom.

Now, my idea of a good fronting singer, male or female, is that in an ideal world they would be 1) Good looking, 2) Charismatic, 3) Have a great voice, 4) Be physically attractive, 5) Know all the lyrics ever written, 6) Be outgoing.

Now there's reality, so in a local scene you're still hoping that your singer is going to hit at least 2 or 3 of those points, especially the singing and charisma parts.

Well, she was a nice person, so there was that. However, she was 1) Very homely looking, 2) Not outgoing and made you feel sorry for her more than anything else, 3) Couldn't sing. I mean really, had no idea of what melody even was, 4) Could, and did, hide her entire body behind the mic stand, 5) Didn't know any lyrics and would hide her face behind a piece of paper while she tried to sing into the mic, 6) Was so shy that she had a hard time even talking to the band members, let alone strangers in an audience.

I never gigged with them, but found out that after a couple gigs that they'd talked themselves into, they disbanded since none of the clubs would let them come back.

[aknow]

Yeah! The one's who can't get into bands are asking lots of absurd questions on Reverb.

Want to see a great musician's attitude? Watch any interviews with Jay Graydon.

[Tony Burns]

Fazool -
since when are musicians normal ?
I think were a difficult bunch of people
from the day we pick up our guitars
for the first time :

[Mr. Jelly]

I told my son when he was starting to play guitar that it is a sickness in which you will never recover.

[UncleJesse]

The people you come across can make you shake your head. I must say that I've done a few of these things in this thread. Namely playing only music I wanted to hear because I refused to play Jimmy Buffett or Modern Country or whatever was too popular . That said, I was a young man and people did like us and we played hundreds of paying gigs playing mostly obscure Neil Young, Grateful Dead, and Allman Bros tunes. Now I'm not so picky. I play in a band with my brother and Dad and long-time friend and those are occasional (6-10 per year).

Nowadays I'm not so picky about what I play. I've even played the trifecta: Brown-Eyed Girl, Mustang Sally, and Sweet Home Alabama (together with Werewolves of London, but still). I still refuse to play Wagon Wheel.

[mr. beaumont]

Keys to professionalism, 101. (This list goes to ELEVEN)

1. Show up on time. Actually, early is on time, on time is late, and late is "you're never getting called again."
2. Know the music you are supposed to play, and the style that it is to be played in.
3. Rehearsing is for working out kinks, not learning songs. Learn the songs before rehearsal.
4. Have equipment that works and backups if needed.
5. Bring your own extension cord and power strip. If anything you use takes batteries, have extras.
6. Play to serve the music. When it's your turn to lead, LEAD. When it's your turn to accompany, make the other players sound better.
7. Check attitude at door. Nobody cares if you had a bad day.
8. Don't drink before or during a job. A gig is a job.
9. Be a good bandmate. Help the drummer load in/out. Let all stringed instruments tune with the same tuner.
10. Be flexible. If the singer has a sore throat and needs you to play a song a step lower, don't whine about it. Be prepared.
11. If you say you're a professional, act like one.


You'd be dang amazed how hard it is to find people who live by these rules, but once you play with people who do, you'll never go back.