Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

First, Hello to all my fellow musicians. I'm not new to this site but this is my first post. I have searched the posts and have done a lot of reading. My observation so far is not matter what you think you know here is All Ways more to learn and a different way to look at things or situations. This Site does work! I have meet several guitar player and four different band looking for singers.
I jammed with all of them and finally found the RIGHT situation. it took all most four months. I have found there are some musicians that like the idea of trying to put a band but really don't want to play. weird Well that my little rant. Thanks Shawn D.

Welcome to the forum, and glad to see that youi've approached it with an open mind...There is TONS of good info here, and all ya have to do is ask!
You're talking about the difference between musicians who play for fun, and musicians who play for passion. Sadly, in my experience, those two groups usually can't co-exist.
A "fun" musician doesn't care if there is any progress made, as long as they enjoy themselves. Oddly enough, they will at times actually work AGAINST any set goals because they don't want the situation to become "work". As an example: Three friends get together and start jamming-no pressure, just for fun. Pretty soon, though, two of the friends begin to take it a little more seriously (learning songs, creating sets, getting better on their instruments). The third guy, however, doesn't want to work that hard at it. He only wants to do it for fun. I've seen guys like this eat up rehearsal time with stupid jokes, goofy song suggestions, twenty minute stories about anything BUT music, etc. At the end of practice, guy #3 is happy. He got to hang with his buds, laugh and enjoy himself. Unfortunately, the first two guys have begun to develop a "passion" for what they are doing. They understand that there is going to be work involved, but the payoff will be even greater. Eventually, one of two things will happen: A, "fun" guy will kill the band, or B: They'll kick him out, and probably kill their friendship in the process.
Maybe I'm cynical, but I've seen this situation first-hand many times.

Damn, joseph! Ain't you a little ray of sunshine!

LOL

It's all true, sadly. That happens too often, that is, if the "fun guy" even bothers to show up at practice! Last drummer I "worked " with blew off a cpl practices to go 4-wheelin' with his kids! Had to fire him. We are still friends, though, last I checked. Now that he's out, I don't see him very often cuz there's really not much that I do except play music, fish, & spend time with the wife, son & grandkid. Life is good, though.

Anyway, welcome to the forum. shawn. Glad you found a good situation. Keep contributing if you have the time. It's fun & educational & stuff, too.

dang Joesph, you nailed that one.

Welcome, new dude.
Joe, I kinda disagree. I mean, yea I know, some of em just wanna have fun and THAT'S IT.
I like to have fun AND create something nice along the way. I like making progress.. otherwise I wouldn't have picked up instruments at all. However, if I'm not enjoying, I'm stopping and leaving lol
So, I am both.

Ah, I knew someone would hint on that point. Of course having fun or otherwise enjoying it is an important part of music. I couldn't agree more...BUT, there's a point where, in order to make progress, a musician has to work (and push him or herself to another level). That's not always fun, but it's also an important part of it. The "fun" guys are the ones that are simply not going to put forth that effort-and they tend to believe that the progress is not important to anyone else, either.
A good example was my band from last year. We had a bass player that basically didn't care if we played through ANY songs, as long as he got to hang with his buddies. I asked for advice here and you know what nearly everyone told me? Drop HIm. Period.
Was the bass player wrong for wanting to have fun? No, but he was wrong to stand in the way of the rest of the band.
Anyway, I'm kinda rambling.

Welcome shawnkarl.
Post some music dude!

Welcome to the site shawn. What you need to do is post some music.....

WOW ...

Joseph6 that was spot on dude ... had that very thing happen to us last year ... now it's just me and the bassist ...

Our drummer talked a BIG game ... went out and bought a $1,700.00 Ludwig set brand new with Sabian cymbals, double pedal the works ... a month into it or so the bassist and myself started gel'N and came in each practice with some new song or idea ... we would start playing and I swear not even half way through the first song all of a sudden you wouldn't hear the drums ... ya'd look over and he would be headin' out the door to talk with SOMEone on his cell phone ... LMAO

This happened more often then not SO ... we booted him and that was the end of that friendship and he was my cousin I haven't talked to him in over a year now

ANYHOO ... sorry to ramble ... Wel-Come Shawnkarl ... I'm new here as well so just jump right in

Nothing like someone who is so uptight that it removes any fun in playing.

Yeah, that's a sure way to kill a band. Micro-manage and squeeze the life out of everything ya touch.

And your music will sound like the same. Dry and lifeless.

(gasps WATER)

Football players love playing the game, ask any Superbowl winner. But then ask them how much work it took in practice. Ask them how much fun practice was.

I think Joseph hit it right on the head. I've had more than my share of musicians who just looked at it as getting away from the wife a few nights a week. Best to just let them go if you ask me. If they really just want to hang with their musician buddies, then they can feel free to come to the bar after the set is over with someone else who has drive playing in their place. If their wives will let them.

I think Slippednot brought up another annoying character.

"Cell phone guy"

Our keyboard player was caught a few times texting people while he was playing keyboard... Live onstage.

During practice he would constantly watch his phone and text people in the middle of practice. I had a singer who would text people while he was singing in practice. The last Bass player we tried out, just HAD to have his cell-phone plugged in and on his lap constantly watching it, waiting for any messages that might come up. Picking it up to look at it even in the middle of a song.

Dude... WTF!!!!!!

We now have a cell-phone bucket. All phones are shut off and placed in the bucket until practice ends. It's one of the greatest ideas we ever had. Wanna have some fun??? But the bucket next to the biggest culprit. It's kind of fun watching them go through their cell-phone withdrawal. They'll constantly be glancing in the bucket. Hahaha.

yeah they peel off like 2 day old sunburn when it becomes obvious there will have to be work done in order to have that fun!

welcome ShawnKarl

www.myspace.com/blunderingeye
http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/6039/
http://bandmix.com/hayden-king/
"Jamm Pudding" on yahoo messenger (wed's 8-10 pm E.S.T.)

"enjoy your work"

*

Play hard, but practice harder..


And that's my 100$ I have to pay to get his verizon phone back, as after the 5th call I smashed it to bits under foot.

Phone bucket! Good idea!
When I operated the gym I insisted that all phones are off.
If you cant step away from that addiction for a couple of hours you dont have room for another addiction. Get out!

I dunno. I actually enjoy practising something. Ofcourse, after I had to listen to a piece a thousand times, I'm kinda bored of it. Otherwise, it's a pleasure pushing myself to the limit. Sometimes frustrating, yes, but it's always worth it.

Yea, I agree with the cellphone part. One of the guitarists kept getting calls from his girl every 20 mins. Me and the drummer started banging on the drums endlessly til he put his phone back in his pocket. They had a fight because he couldn't hear what she was saying. Bitchy, if you ask me lol