General Music Chat

So we are setting a pretty solid schedule, but one of our members is new and having a difficult time learning music theory and taking in the progressive feel of music. We want 9 tracks for this cd, and to be playing shows by summer and record a demo or just a few teaser tracks before hand. Getting our ducks in a row is proving to be chaotic, this whole new idea of a "democracy" is a real hindrance, things were so much easier as a partnership.

I would like to see what you guys do for getting things in line. A schedule, or hurry up and wait, whatever you do. I know we aren't the only ones to have this problem. Please help though, we need some ideas to oil our machine!

Air of course Im doing mainly covers these days, but we just agree to a song for a gig and play it if everyone has had a chance to run thru it, now weve been together for a long time and have a huge well of songs that we may have played 20 yrs ago to bring back and play.

To me and dont take this wrong but 9 songs is nothing to get thru, I dont know what you do if one member isnt up to the playing level the rest of you are on. Either work him thru it, or make a rough recording for him to play with, without the bass or whatever instrument he plays for him to work with on his own, for recording if he cant cut it then do it yourself, I hate to say it but one time we were recording something and for some reason this little break part I just couldnt get a handle on it, our bassist showed me a couple of times, and finally I said dude thinking on time just lay that little part down for me, of course as soon as he did it clicked for me.

9 songs, I would try to do maybe 3 at a time from now til summer, give the weakest link the choice of what songs he is most comfortable with and then move on from there.

JW I must be a fool for leaving so much info out. We're at 6 already, we have one in the works, another one is going to be submitted for rewriting (from an old band) soon, so that only leaves one more for writing that we MUST include our new guitarist in or we will be jerks.

Is the new guitar player technically capable of learning the songs then?

People all tend to be at various levels in thier learning curves musically, sounds like he just needs to take some time and really learn the songs inside and out to me, if he cant then what options do you have?

"learning music theory"?? I'm not really clear on this. A player can only play what they can play. No one does everything well. If a guy is having trouble with a certain song or passage, ask him what you can do to help. Some guys work well with lead sheets, some with recordings. Some guys just need to come up with their own part that fits the groove of the song and their own playing style better. Some guys are just not ready.

No judgement here. We only know what we know. I can step into most rock or blues grooves without much effort. Jazz with a lot of harmonic depth and movement will require a lead sheet and a run through. Progressive (King Crimson, Mahavishnu, RTF, DT) will require serious woodshedding on my part. So many critical details.

We are teaching him music theory because he didn't even know it existed. When he joined up he still thought people fiddled around until something fit the part, and we told him that shouldn't be the case at all.

We've got him learning scale progressions right now, only major and minor for now. We'll get into the circle of fifths after that and so on. All very basic intro to music stuff. He's gotten better just in the short time he's been with us.

My real question is how other bands set schedules in a "democratic" band. We are all supposed to have a vote about what to do but it usually comes down to what me or the lead guitarist want. I'm trying to stay on course with everyone gets a vote, but as time draws near we need to buckle down and get things done --something that is not happening while everyone gets a vote. Ok we are getting things done, but not at a land speed record. Some of our songs are "difficult" with a 3/8 and 7/8 part, but that is nothing to a seasoned musician.

We meet.
We talk about it in a civil manner.
We come to a decision based on a group consensus.
We pray on it, and we move on.

We meet.
We talk about it in a civil manner.
We come to a decision based on a group consensus.
We pray on it, and we move on.

Exactly like Sans says except...

Your issue doesn't sound like a scheduling problem. It sounds more like an unrealistic expectations problem. You have a new player and you like the guy, but he doesn't understand basic scales, harmony, or time signature and you want to do Dream Theater style prog rock in 7/8 time??

Sounds like a disappointment sandwich to me. He is not ready for this. Hell, I've been playing for 40 years and I am not ready for Dream Theater prog rock. Very very few players do it well.

We meet.
We talk about it in a civil manner.
We come to a decision based on a group consensus.
We pray on it, and we move on.

Exactly like Sans says except...

Your issue doesn't sound like a scheduling problem. It sounds more like an unrealistic expectations problem. You have a new player and you like the guy, but he doesn't understand basic scales, harmony, or time signature and you want to do Dream Theater style prog rock in 7/8 time??

Sounds like a disappointment sandwich to me. He is not ready for this. Hell, I've been playing for 40 years and I am not ready for Dream Theater prog rock. Very very few players do it well.

WHo's that drummer of theres... Doing 9/8 on the bottom and 9/4 on the "china" ... Sheeit..those guys kick my ass so far back I can see the frun o me...

7/8 is easy. It takes a lot of mouth movement if in a moderate tempo to say each number (plus seven is two syllables) so just say:

1 and 2 and 3 and a
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(if playing classical where the accent falls on 1 an not rock or jazz where beat 2 is the accent.)


be careful as --and a-- usually means 16th notes as in

1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a

I've never found splitting 8th time signatures into patterns helpful

like 3 -2 -2

as in 1 2 3 1 2 1 2

That's just a lot of mouth work at a moderate or fast tempo

7/8 is really fun if you get the chance. 3/8 is great too if you just want to shred. I believe I remember john petrucci saying something about how he likes 3/8 because of how it flows with 3 and 6 string sweeping. I could be mistaken though.