So I learned something

Bands are tough to put and keep together. Im an old hand at being in bands and dealing with politics. We had two guitarists try and take the band over outright, creating a virtual coup. We let them go immediately and it really shook them up to find out they had been dropped.

When guys cannot start a band, it seems they often join one, then try to create discord/animosity, as an opportunity to appear to be a 'musical messiah,' or, they publically cast a vote to oust the bandleader and take over.

A short time after this drama, we picked up another bassist who seemed like a cool dude. He recommended a lead guitarist, who also seemed legit and we rehearsed/played a few months.

We didnt know - at the time - that they both were trying to resurrect their defunct band and they quit abruptly, trying to entice our drummer to leave and join them. The effort wasn't successful and they became enraged at the rest of us because their coup failed.

We are being a lot more cautious moving forward with new members.

The one saving grace is the singer/bandleader and i are tight. We don't let anyone know that he and i run the band together, as i just assume the outwardly-appearing role of a humble band member.

One of our previous guitar players called me in secret one day and said, "Hey, Bruh...we are taking this band over today. We gonna kick the singer out and we start rehearsing at my pad next Saturday. Are you in???"

Little did he know, he was actually talking to the band manager... :)

I guess you could describe my role as, "For a fee - I'm happy to be - your backdoor man..."

I protect the singer and support him in the role of frontman/bandleader, offering support and advice as we go along the way.
 
Robert Herndon said:
Bands are tough to put and keep together. Im an old hand at being in bands and dealing with politics. We had two guitarists try and take the band over outright, creating a virtual coup. We let them go immediately and it really shook them up to find out they had been dropped.

When guys cannot start a band, it seems they often join one, then try to create discord/animosity, as an opportunity to appear to be a 'musical messiah,' or, they publically cast a vote to oust the bandleader and take over.

A short time after this drama, we picked up another bassist who seemed like a cool dude. He recommended a lead guitarist, who also seemed legit and we rehearsed/played a few months.

We didnt know - at the time - that they both were trying to resurrect their defunct band and they quit abruptly, trying to entice our drummer to leave and join them. The effort wasn't successful and they became enraged at the rest of us because their coup failed.

We are being a lot more cautious moving forward with new members.

The one saving grace is the singer/bandleader and i are tight. We don't let anyone know that he and i run the band together, as i just assume the outwardly-appearing role of a humble band member.

One of our previous guitar players called me in secret one day and said, "Hey, Bruh...we are taking this band over today. We gonna kick the singer out and we start rehearsing at my pad next Saturday. Are you in???"

Little did he know, he was actually talking to the band manager... :)

I guess you could describe my role as, "For a fee - I'm happy to be - your backdoor man..."

I protect the singer and support him in the role of frontman/bandleader, offering support and advice as we go along the way.
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A very informative post there Robert.
True wisdom is a great asset , for anyone, great to see this alliance you guys have.
Priceless
 
I spent the better part of a decade playing in working bands when I was younger, but just can't do it any more and there are two main reasons: 1. My work schedule simply won't allow the commitment, and 2. Dealing with the personalities of people who think they are still somehow gonna be a rock star is just too draining. This second point is evidenced above by Robert's posts.

I love playing with other people and really love playing live, but I've accepted that this hobby for me has become a lot of solitary playing with the occasional jam session amongst a few other similarly-situated guys thrown in for spice a few times a year. But even that isn't very fulfilling any more because I cannot stand playing covers and it takes a lot of time in the same room with people to build a synergy that allows you to improvise and work on material freely.

For the record, the reason I hate covers so much is that they are so. damn. predictable. Seems like everyone you get together with (of a certain age) only knows the same 20 songs they learned in 1983 and, man, what a bore. Equally boring is the "blues jam" that seems to be the only thing most people are willing to improvise to.
 
jtcnj said:
You know that video conference thing the muppets advertise?

Would it not be cool to have it set up like a conference call - and have the ability to display multiple windows on the screen by selecting layouts - like on a cctv camera system?
live TTR remote jam....
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That would be the coolest thing ever, I remember a TV commercial from about 6 years ago where the band was doing that , and thought that is great!
 
Yargnad said:
Exactly what this guy ^^^ said. YouTube backing tracks are the best bandmatez everz. They stay in time, sound good in a mix, never give me the evil eye or stiff me on the bar tab.
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I haven't even found love for backing tracks, because they still lock me into someone else's song. I download drum beats from the internet, drop them into Audition and splice together what I want and then build my own songs on top of them.
 
Yargnad said:
Exactly what this guy ^^^ said. YouTube backing tracks are the best bandmatez everz. They stay in time, sound good in a mix, never give me the evil eye or stiff me on the bar tab.
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I tried doing that with a singer I met through a buddy of mine, it was a pretty cool drum machine with a bass groove going with it.
And about 60 or so tracks to choose from, but just as gball said above you are locked in to its tempo it’s key, and it gets boring really really fast. So I haven’t been back to his place in years.
 
I love jamming and I love playing live. Jamming live to a song I've never played before is the absolute best. It took me years of jamming live to get to this point. I'm not a fancy player. rarely play lead, usually strum chords on an acoustic. Once you get over the nerves and learn to turn your sound down until you figure out the song it is a piece of cake. I usually ask for the key and what the chords are. Then I watch another guitar player or the bass player to figure out when the changes happen. Playing live with other musicians is what floats my boat but I`'ll never turn down a private jam either. As for playing in a band that can be tough. You need the time to practice at least twice a week if it's a serious band. Then you need to play live at least once a week. You need to deal with personalities. I play in a trio but we are not super serious, usually only practice once a week at best and just play open mic's and bar jams. Even though we aren't serious about practicing we are very serious about the music. We all write our own songs and we all have covers we like so there is a lot of debate about what we'll play. Luckily we are all mature enough that it never deteriorates into arguments or fights. Our singer is very, very good. She probably won't be with us for long. She is way above our pay grade and we keep telling her that. When she goes we will find another, That's just how it is with bands.
 
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