how picky are you?

[gush]

After thinking about my last post, I was wondering just how picky do you guys get in your band? I realize there are many different levels of musicians on here but do you guys just want to play or do you really want things right? What is your deal breaker?

 

[crushpoint]

My band is going on 5 years together. We try to get it right as much as possible.

Solos is are a different story. If it's not a very recognizable solo, we feel free to improvise as we we fit.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I'm picky about: the style of the band, my debits and credits, fun and personal growth, realistic expectations of bandmate's abilities, and if I like the music... In that order of importance, but I start from the bottom up.

My only deal breakers are junkies and fundamentalists.

 

[Raven17]

Big egos, aka lead singers, are a deal breaker. I always wondered as a teen/early adult why great players chose to also sing (Zakk, Uncle Ted, Mustaine, etc.). Now I completely understand. There are only so many Myles Kennedy types out there....

 

[Pinch]

Big egos, aka lead singers, are a deal breaker.

Totally agree. Another thing that really gets to me is band members arriving late for rehearsals or gigs with lame excuses. I love playing in bands but I have other things to do as well.

 

[Luminandy]

For me the most important thing is a high level of enthusiasm from all members. That really shows in the performance when you have that great energy for each of the band members to feed off. We do originals, so we all have to be a bit picky. Once a song is down, we will all give input to fine tune and fix things up a little. I have always been the default singer/songwriter for my bands, so it is nice to have as much feedback as possible. I am very picky about vocal patterns. Sometimes I will scrap an entire song worth of lyrics just because I discovered a better vocal pattern.

 

[mezzio]

I'm not good enough to be in a band but it's probably a good thing because I get pretty irritated pretty quick having to repeat things over and over if someone can't get it right the first time, myself included.

 

[squirrel211]

I've been in my band for roughly 18 years. We aren't picky at all, and it shows. That can be a bad thing, or it can be a fun thing! Our shows are loosey-goosey, and I think that gives them a "party with friends" feel. We jam a lot of the songs, make up new verses off the cuff, flow from one song to the next on the fly, never have a set list, etc... Trying to be picky about stuff quickly devolves into arguments, so we just stopped worrying about it, and just try to take in the experience every time we play!

 

[alantig]

I'm picky about: the style of the band, my debits and credits, fun and personal growth, realistic expectations of bandmate's abilities, and if I like the music... In that order of importance, but I start from the bottom up.

My only deal breakers are junkies and fundamentalists.

What a great idea for a band name (or an album title)...

Undies & Funkamentalists

It's all yours.

 

[geese_com]

My deal breaker is rhythm section that cannot keep a steady/correct tempo.

 

[solacematt]

There are only so many Myles Kennedy types out there....

But Myles sounds like someone is killing a cat live. Even he knows he's pitchy and all over the place.

 

[ChrisCst22]

I'm not good enough to be in a band but it's probably a good thing because I get pretty irritated pretty quick having to repeat things over and over if someone can't get it right the first time, myself included.

Yep! I'm right there with ya! Very difficult for me to repeat things again and again. A bit of ADHD I guess.

 

[Shauncho]

My deal breaker is rhythm section that cannot keep a steady/correct tempo.

This! We are a band of varying degrees of skill. The band came together 6 years ago because me and our bass player were teaching a co-worker of ours how to play guitar. then that blossomed into a regular jam thing, then after a few years of different drummers (of varying skill level) we finally locked in a drummer who grooves with our bass player and a singer who'd never sung before but has a knack for it (other than his slightly limited range).

Over the years, the only thing that really stopped us from being happy with practices was not having a solid rhythm section. Once we dialed that in, all the other imperfections were completely live-able and were typically not noticeable.

Having said that, I too am a stickler for getting parts correct. However there is a right way/time to approach these things. I've been in several bands since high school (90's) and I've had many different experiences with trying to get band members to "play it right". Was even kicked out of my first band for trying to get them to "play it right". In the end, that was a result of me not going about it in the right way. Of course they wanted to sound better...just wanted it on their terms. In the end, like any relationship, it's all about appropriate communication.

With my current band, I've learned to not care as much. Yeah sure I'd prefer it if it was more accurate, but if everyone's having fun, then I'm having fun. If there's something you just HAVE to have right, try subtly to get them to hear the difference on their own between the way you guys play it and the way the original is played. Once they hear it, I can't imagine they'd want to continue playing it wrong.

 

[IKnowALittle]

For me, everyone has to be at relatively the same skill level, enjoy the same material, have fun and be proud to be in the band, otherwise, what's the point? Essentially, be on the same page. I've been playing a long time and have found over the years that widely varying levels of skill and interest never work over the long haul. Big ego=big zero=bye, bye for me. Have no tolerance for that nonsense. I've quit bands over it and kicked out people that had to much of it. Lucky now, we seem to in the "sweet spot" for everyone.

 

[John Beef]

Chemistry. Open mindedness while writing, definitely. Ability to jam and respond to another person's playing. But mostly it's chemistry, an intangible feeling.

 

[gball]

Chemistry. Open mindedness while writing, definitely. Ability to jam and respond to another person's playing. But mostly it's chemistry, an intangible feeling.

This sums it up for me. The best players in the World are no fun to be with if you don't have chemistry.

 

[aristotle]

I didn't think that I had any deal breakers...until recently. In addition to the regular band thing that I do, I started to hang with some guys that wanted to form something new. The something "new" included recorded backing tracks with horns, harmonies, etc. Turns out that it's actually harder to play in that sort of environment than with all "live" musicians, so I'm not 'dissing what it takes to do that well. It did take all of the fun out of it for me though... So, my "deal breaker" seems to be playing with recorded backing material....
'

 

[gush]

I have played with backing tracks before, it's hard to do and a lot of guys can't do it.

 

[CVS]

I play in a band where I am the leader and 2 of the members have been more or less my students. We use backing tracks for bass and drums that I put together. Soon I will add keys to some of our backing tracks (using a Roland GR55) . I am not into "perfection" but I am into "direction". Our band is not that serious and we play mostly to raise $ for charity. With respect to solo's I try to use some of what I hear on the recording and some of what I come up with myself (probably because I am not good enough to do exactly what I hear - or at my age - I forget what I learned by the next day and then have to come up with something). Each of our members gets to choose 1 song that they want to play every 3 months and we rotate new material into the set list this way. This seems to keep everyone interested in the music.

I agree with Gush's comment re: backing tracks and have some war stories to share if anyone is interested, but they for the most part work for our band.

 

[aristotle]

Oh... I agree with both of you. It's actually harder to play in a band with the backing track (though I'm guessing that in-ear monitors would be a big help with this.) My experience is that it's really easy to crash the car, and once it's crashed, it's hard to drive it back on the road in a way that doesn't make you look really bad.

The ease or difficulty with it wasn't what bothered me. It just took a bunch of the fun out of it. Keying off one another and switching things around doesn't work so well.