General Music Chat

My drummer friend and I have been running ads for a bad ass guitar player.

My add said

Wanted guitarist who can play Cliffs of Dover, Satchs Boogie, Frankenstien, YYZ. Want major chops, but also want someone to put thier own stamp on covers. If this fits you then give us a call.



I got a few hits on these ads. I had told my drummer friend that if we could find a guitarist that made me want to play bass then I would be cool on bass and vocals. We hadnt had any luck finding a bassist, so we are trying a different approach.


Last night this guy came over that had answered that ad, I had sent him a pretty complete song list of stuff the two of us could do. I had been talking to him for a couple of weeks. He comes over brings his own amp head, a really nice Rivera stereo head, and hooks up to my Mesa Cab. First off when he goes to his distortion channel the thing is just howling bloody murder. So we start playing, and granted his had a list for close to 3 weeks. We wound up playing the simpliest stuff on the list. Hes pretty good at these songs.

So we take a break and are talking and he says what do you think? I said what do I think about what? He says about us starting a band, am I what you are looking for. I said no you arent. You dont come close to what I advertised for, but your a nice guy and we can play a couple of more hours. I go outside for a minute, when I come back in he is packing his sh*t to go. I said whats wrong? He said well Im not what you are looking for, I said yeah but you havent played with anyone in a couple of years, so at least enjoy the moment and playing, youve got probably the best rythym section I know right here to play with. He just says no Im going home.

I guess I came across as an ass hole to him or something, but i was straight up honest with him, no reason to not be. He knew when he came in that he wasnt what we had said we were looking for, but then lays a guilt trip on me that I didnt communicate what I was looking for.

I say all of this, cause if any of you are going to audition or try out for something and its obviously over your head, then dont get upset when it doesnt work out. If you are given a song list then make sure you can cover 10-12 songs before you walk in.

This was crazy cause I put a couple of other guys off to see what this guy was about, and then to just run away when he didnt hear what he wanted to hear, the music business can be tough.

Anyway, just thought I would share.

Sat night Im playing with the Memphis Yahoos, on guitar. May have found me a home. The Yahoos are a bassist and drummer who use different guitarist for gigs depending on the location of the gig, they play all the time and just call in guitarist. Im now on the list, and its a list of heavy hitting guitarist in my neck of the woods. The best thing they never rehearse just do gigs, so Im hoping to get called every 4-6 weeks to do a gig.

Everyone have a rocking weekend.

No, you didn't do wrong, John. However, you could have told him that the stuff he did was alright, just not what you needed, or that he hadn't attempted the hard songs. I can understand him packing up at that point, too.

Do you remember the crap I went through when Instant Karma was auditioning lead singers? Lot of guys out there who are self-delusional about their abilities.

Mike, Im a blunt person when it comes to stuff like this, I did tell him that he was playing good on the things he knew, but it was just elementary stuff, you tell a guy you are looking for a Steve Vai type up front on the phone, and then they are nothing like that.

But yea I could have just said, me and the drummer will talk and give you a call.

Like I said he had the opportunity to play in front of a great rythym section, if it had been me I would have at least played a little longer instead of running with my tail between my legs.

The truth hurts sometimes.

Mike, Im a blunt person when it comes to stuff like this, I did tell him that he was playing good on the things he knew, but it was just elementary stuff, you tell a guy you are looking for a Steve Vai type up front on the phone, and then they are nothing like that.

But yea I could have just said, me and the drummer will talk and give you a call.

Like I said he had the opportunity to play in front of a great rythym section, if it had been me I would have at least played a little longer instead of running with my tail between my legs.

The truth hurts sometimes.

Auditioning is always tough and auditions go both ways. I prefer someone being honest even if brutally honest. The problem with auditions are some guys don't want to invest time learning the songs for a band they are not sure they will be in. To me that is just pure laziness. Like Ted says anything worth doing should be worth doing right! I have been known to look at a bands website pull up their song list's and start learning them before a formal audition has even been set. It is called being proactive!

Been on both sides of this. I've had musicians who I thought were wrong for the band, and I have been in auditions where I was wrong for the band. No harm, no foul. Gotta find the right fit.

I walked into a blues band audition and they offered no set list and wanted to do a bunch of really deep cuts I had never done and never even heard before. Blues guitar is in my soul but I can't just pull that stuff out of thin air. I need to know who's arrangement they are doing and listen to the track. Woodshed time will be involved if you want all the little tasty bits. Clearly this was not going to work as neither of us were meeting expectations.

Last I heard they were still looking for a lead guitarist.

JW

Over the last few years I've played with lots of folks looking for the right combination. I had two experiences like yours - in the first, I'd told the guys up front that I don't do cover music - not what I'm into just now, thanks. They still wanted to get together.

Ok I thought - at least we'll play! They treated me like sh*t, quite contemptuously. When we jammed, briefly, they played bass and drum parts from cover tunes that 'sorta' sounded like what I was playing. Not fun. It was a waste of my time and theirs.

The second experience was totally different. The guys were looking for a lead guitar man to do 'good ole rock and roll.' We soon saw that I was not that man. But we were set up and feeling good. We played about three hours and all kinds of folks came around and one old boy walked up to the mic and started blowing some great blues harp. We had a blast and did not waste a good opportunity to just rock.

You were right. It doesn't, it can't, always work. But only a buffoon will waste a chance to play with good folks - totally silly.

Talbot

lol You can never fault a guy for telling ya what he really thinks.

That guy was just a little baby. "You going to walk out because they aren't doing what YOU wanna do"? I bet he's done that before..

Face it, you were honest and blunt and he didn't like it.

"f em". What? Were you supposed to lie to him?

I think you did exactly what you were supposed to do.
If he was smart he would have jammed it out till the end, said "thanks", shook your hand and left.

Maybe you would have changed your mind a little? Stranger things have happened.

Just be glad he didn't leave you the night you were supposed to play.
(been through THAT before as well)

Send him a card with a MIDOL inside..