General Music Chat

Mike they just may need someone to be more assertive to get paying gigs.
Careful now... or you might turn into a slinger.

I don't want to be the leader, I just want to play for money!

I NEVER play a cover song, note for note. And, I never intend to. I DO, include all signature licks and original chord arraingement. But, the rest of the song is mine ! When and if, I want to bust out with my own interpetation on a Lead, I Do ! That is also the way the guys in the Band with me(when I have a Band) are expected to play if they choose to.

Groove

Exactly - I did some cover stuff last year on guitar. I asked my brother (who has done more lead work than me) how to approach it: "Learn the main licks and work the rest best you can. The signature matters - the rest is yours."

I wasn't happy with that at all though. Since I use six string guitars for original work I'm used to really having it down. For me, improvising on guitar is for situations where everybody is having fun and that's the expectation.

With bass I can jump into a cover situation and usually pull off something - there are few signature bass licks that folks actually expect to hear.

Talbot

You learn it note for note first. PERIOD.

Then when the groups comfortable with it, you can stretch it around, play with it, and experiment if you want.

You'll learn more, and appreciate it more.
Unless you just don't care.

The guys I audtioned with on Sunday sent an email out about to CL ads they saw - one was for a Thursday night gig in 2 weeks (8pm to midnight) - I told them that it better pay $400 for 4 hours on a Thursday in the middle of Cambridge! The other was for one of these clubs that gets 4 or 5 bands in - and makes the bands pre-sell a minimum of 10 tickets each. No pay, other than what they can get by selling tickets.

Still haven't heard again from these guys - maybe they are still trying to figure out when we can all get together for practice. I suggested we could do an hour busking at the big Lowell Folk Festival on Saturday.
Despite their talk, I'm thinking these guys really don't have much actual gigging experience.