My very first band audition....

[icastle]

[quote name='Maverick' timestamp='1330993397' post='1566158']
"Hail satan, lord of darkness.... sorry, what do you mean I haven't got the job?"
[/quote]


Giving a lost Amazonian tribe a Stratocaster and demanding they play Purple Haze would have a much higher chance of success - my family moved away from Christianity four generations ago and I've never been into a church.

[Lozz196]

Very strange that it was a covers band, yet didn`t give details of the covers being played. Could be some strange idea of seeing how quick you can learn things, but all in all, if covers, I always expect to be told which ones before the audition.

[KevB]

I'd expect more information than that if it was covers, not much excuse. It also gives an inkling as to how organised as a band they are. If they have been together a long time then they could have fallen into a pattern where everyone knows the stuff and they assume someone new coming in will too or they could have thrown you in as a test. What would worry me would be that it might also show how disorganised they might be at working up new material and I'd be cautious about joining even if offered it. I once turned aband down before they even offered me the job. I might have failed anyway but didn't give them time to make the decision. I thought they were so shambolic in their approach that I pulled over in the car on my way home and texted them that they could rule me out before they got back to me.

[Thurbs]

I had an audition last night and I was prepared with about 10 songs from their set, some I knew and some I was reading.

They seemed very keen for me to join from about the 3rd song in but I wasn't so sure. Musically they were all competent and knowledgable, they just hadnt got the structure sorted out for someo of the few songs. Nothing winds me up more than "err, how does this one go" just before we play a number...

In the end I gave them the benefit of the doubt and said I would join but made sure they understood my expectations. Hopefully I made the right decision!

[BigRedX]

There's covers and then there's covers. If it's a "covers band" then you would expect to be sticking fairly close to the best-known recorded version with maybe a key change to accommodate the singer. However I've played in a band where up to a third of the set was covers but their take on it was to keep just the words and the vocal melody and everything else including to overall structure of the song was open to interpretation. In those case I would just treat it like any other new "original" song and make up something that fitted with what the other musicians were doing. Of course in my case since I didn't know the originals of a lot of the songs they were covering that wasn't too difficult!

[thepurpleblob]

This comes up quite a bit and I'm sure we've all been in the same situation. Personally - if I don't have a recording of the songs and some time to learn the songs properly then I'm not interested. I've never played guitar so can't follow chord shapes and (even after quite a few years and hundreds of gigs) I don't have the skills to improvise base lines "on the fly".

So, what I'm saying is, the information you are given prior to the audition is often a big clue whether this could be the band for you or not.

Don't sweat it... another will be along in a minute!

[REDLAWMAN]

Thanks very much everyone for taking the time to come in on this; much appreciated.

For future reference, how exactly do musicians usually communicate what and where the changes are?

In relation to the actual chords, I understand, for example, that if they say a song is a I, IV, V in G, then it's G, C, D or I, ii, IV, V, vii, then it's G, Am, C, D, G dim, but how exactly do they articulate/explain what and where the changes occur to you?

[thepurpleblob]

[quote name='REDLAWMAN' timestamp='1331027131' post='1566364']
Thanks very much everyone for taking the time to come in on this; much appreciated.

For future reference, how exactly do musicians usually communicate what and where the changes are?

In relation to the actual chords, I understand, for example, that if they say a song is a I, IV, V in G, then it's G, C, D or I, ii, IV, V, vii, then it's G, Am, C, D, G dim, but how exactly do they articulate/explain what and where the changes occur to you?
[/quote]

They write them down on a bit of paper

Yes - you are correct (without checking very carefully). In my experience, most people just write the chords out - especially if it's covers. I've never seen the chord numbers written out or discussed like that outside of written discussions. I'm a covers band person, though, so my experience is limited.

Where the changes are is (again, tempered by my covers background) down to having listened to the music. You should be able to tell when the chord changes. If you know for sure what the chords are then it's pretty easy (usually).

Edited March 6, 2012 by thepurpleblob

[BigRedX]

If it's covers following a know version then all I need to know is which version it is and what key the band are doing it in if not the one on the recording - plus enough time to learn the song if I don't already know it.

If it's originals, it doesn't really matter. Give me the first/dominant chord and I'll work it out from there. It's a rehearsal so while it would be dead impressive if you nailed the part first time and came up with something stunning, it doesn't matter if you play some bum notes while you are finding your way around the song. I usually start with something fairly simple and by the time we've run through the song 2 or 3 times I'll have a pretty good idea what I want to play and then maybe concentrate on individual sections where I can hear what I want to play but my fingers haven't quite found the correct notes yet.

[REDLAWMAN]

Gottcha.

I know when the changes are going to happen, it's just that I don't yet know instinctively which chord to move to, but I guess that that comes with experience and that it will come in time and with more practice.

[BigRedX]

IMO that's what band rehearsals are for making sure that all the individual parts fit together, and working on fixing those that don't.

[thepurpleblob]

[quote name='REDLAWMAN' timestamp='1331028241' post='1566386']
Gottcha.

I know when the changes are going to happen, it's just that I don't yet know instinctively which chord to move to, but I guess that that comes with experience and that it will come in time and with more practice.
[/quote]

A lot of stuff follows some well trodden patterns and you start to be able to make a good guess and what's coming next (classic example - blues songs). However, unless you are a mind reader, being able to do that kind of thing all the time is overly ambitious. That would take years of experience and still lots of luck. I think that professional players who play all the time just seem to know every song ever written - it's part of the job description!!