Musical Magic - How often do you feel it with your bands?

[xilddx]

I used to get some huge thrills playing in bands, these days it's rare. I get good feelings quite often, and once in a while, a deeper thrill. It happens more often live, but while I used to love rehearsing, these days, it's not so much 'fun'. It could be over-familiarity with the material, the higher (probably TOO high) standards I set myself, or just getting older ..

The best times for me are either working on a new song, or performing live.

What about you?

[thisnameistaken]

I think it depends on the audience more than the band. I don't get that feeling when recording/rehearsing anyway, it's about the crowd pushing the band to be better.

[LiamPodmore]

When we throw out a new song live, to a larger crowd. We've just written one called Get Happy which i cannot wait to properly unveil at a gig. Another few was when we first hit 1000 and 2000 views on our first single, that was a proud moment for me.

Liam

[deaver]

When I hear something I've recorded and think that it sounds like a proper bass player rather than me. When I get to the end of a gig and get that rush from having got through it and done a good job. When a new song comes together properly for the first time.

[Low End Bee]

I still love rehearsing. When we get it just right and we're all playing well and in sync it's lovely. The good gigs get me going too. Last one was right up there and was exciting as undoing a bra strap as a teenager. Getting new songs arranged and sorted to the point were the band 'clicks' and you get a 'that's it!' moment are great too.
I'm getting miles more musical excitement in my 'mature' years than I did when I was a nipper. Far less stupid distractions and hang ups now.

[shizznit]

The covers band I am currently playing for is the only one I have ever played with and I never would ever thought I would play covers to help earn a crust. But, all the guys in the band have done it and worn the t-shirt so to speak and are all very experienced and talented. There's a high level of professionalism going on both live and in the studio and it makes the whole experience a lot more pleasurable for me. We can rely upon each other to do a good job and we all have very similar musical tastes and interests. This is probably the only time I have experienced such harmony in a band!

Rehearsing covers can be a drag sometimes because you have barriers to abide by so that you can pull off the song as closely as you can to the original artist/band and is not as much fun as creating your own music, but writing your own stuff with other musicians can have its negatives too. It can be frustrating when you can't finish a song, singers are struggling with phrasing, the musicians have creative constipation, arrangements can't be remembered etc... It happens to the best of us. You will get good days and bad days, but the trick is not to be hard on yourself or the other members of the band. Rehearsing is where you are totally protected from the outside world and you can fine tune the band. You can make as many mistakes as you want, discuss issues and focus on your overall performance. Yes, going over the same 16 bars 20 times will nark you off, but you can't do that infront of an audience. Always try and treat rehearsal time with gratitude and make best use of the limited time you have.

[geoffbyrne]

One of my original musical 'sketches' went top 50 in its category in Soundclick recently & I was well chuffed.

G.

[paul torch]

I get it at least once each time one of my projects rehearse. It's that feeling of us all being on it and the sound balance is just right. It's hard to beat.

[SteveK]

I'm in the fortunate position of being surrounded by truly great musicians. I don't think there have been many gigs where I haven't thought, "Wow, f***in' brilliant"... Then, I guess, that's one of the beauties of not playing the same thing every night...leaving some things to chance.
I can't personally see it being an age thing. I still get tremendous excitement whilst actually being on stage doing our thing... It's the other c**p that bores me more the older I get.

[Muzz]

[quote name='deaver' timestamp='1331032830' post='1566494']
When I hear something I've recorded and think that it sounds like a proper bass player rather than me. When I get to the end of a gig and get that rush from having got through it and done a good job. When a new song comes together properly for the first time.
[/quote]

+1 to this, all of it. It's what it's all about.

[BottomE]

Good question. I have found that its the subtle things that leave me with that magical musical feeling these days. When i was a kid it was fast playing, showy things. Spandex and being able to play something that other people said was cool.

Nowadays it can be simple things, subtle changes in a turnaround or bass parts that reference other songs or parts of songs. A note that fits well but is in an unexpected place. Space - leaving space and it making a difference in a positive way. Supporting the song and putting it first. These are the things that i get a buzz from. Oh and gigging in a good band with a dance floor thats packed.

[sticker]

I played guitar in my Motown/Functions band for 18 years and I was always just going through the motions , a switch to Bass (learning the 'proper' parts) , and alot of hard work and the smile has come back during rehearsal .
We did a charidee gig in October with a string quartet and 4 piece Brass section , lots of hard work but the feeling and smile lasted weeks and gave us all a renewed enthusiasm.
So we added a second keyboard player to cover more parts and the smile has turned to a grin

Edited March 6, 2012 by sticker

[Bobo_Grimmer]

I have good days and bad days i guess. we jam every week. We call it jam because we don't really practice songs we just turn up set up turn up and play.
I used to set standards for myself and i seemed to end up thinking far too much and killing it before it started but now i try to relax and play.

If we do go through songs on the odd occasion, i guess for me there are still a few of them that give me that thrill from when we wrote it or from when we play it live but there are some that i can't help but fully involve myself in. every time we play one of our songs i feel it fully and feel very tight with the drummer, we hit together and maybe play about a bit. i will dance if it comes up and regardless of my emotional state or tiredness i will always enjoy it even though the track is 12-15 year old!

most of our jams we just play. i find that this is where your emotion and musical feeling can entwine with the rest of the band and that webby mess can sometimes create some of the most awesome musical experiences I've had without drugs.

I'f it's a good song or had a good rhythm section then I'll enjoy playing it all the time.... I'm still young though so it might change yet...

then i guess live it's down to how i am on the day. I've had some very good gig's and some very bad ones, or at least that's how it felt from my end.

i think all in all for me it's the connection between the band that gives me the buzz and fuel's my enthusiasm for music. ^_^

[spinynorman]

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1331032260' post='1566472']
I used to get some huge thrills playing in bands, these days it's rare. I get good feelings quite often, and once in a while, a deeper thrill. It happens more often live, but while I used to love rehearsing, these days, it's not so much 'fun'. It could be over-familiarity with the material, the higher (probably TOO high) standards I set myself, or just getting older ..

The best times for me are either working on a new song, or performing live.

What about you?
[/quote]

I know what you mean, it's something that's been bothering me too.

When we started out we linked up with a younger metal band and did joint gigs in a local pub, with a lot of people we knew in the crowd. We'd end up playing standing on the tables, one gig we put the two bands together at the end and did Paranoid. Complete chaos, but I'd go home from those gigs too wired to sleep and spent most of Sunday cleaning beer off the equipment.

Problem was we couldn't make that work on our own in other places. Ten years on, after some personnel changes and a massive rethink of the material, we have a number of venues we get repeat bookings from, there's a wide enough range of material to appeal to most pub audiences and it all seems to be going pretty well. Except that it's very routine and polite. I come home and go to bed, and I can't remember when I last cleaned anything off the gear.

We still play "Jumping Jack Flash" though, albeit a Johnny Winter inspired version. As Keef said, you'd have to be a really miserable sod not to enjoy playing that.

[risingson]

I too am someone that tends to feed from an audience's response to our music. It gives you a big boost.

The feeling of over-familiarity of music is a bit power zapping. The real struggle in being a regular gigging musician is finding the enjoyment in a song you've played thousands of times before, and that's really where the audience helps. If you're playing to a lifeless audience, then it can be really hard to find that energy to perform to your full potential.

[Truckstop]

Yeah totally, funnily enough though it always happens in different places in different songs each week!

At last weeks rehearsal, Back To Black (Amy Winehouse) sounded incredible. Espeically the middle section. Everyone played their parts perfectly, the balance was just right, the pace, the volume. Really quite magical. But the week before was an outro to Forget You we've made up for gigs. Sounded so soulful, so perfect. The keys and the guitar were playing off each other, I was making lovely little runs in the right gaps and we were well and truly in the pocket!

You gotta hold onto those little bits of magic and fight and work to get that feeling back, that's what being musician is all about.

Truckstop

[xilddx]

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1331043227' post='1566728']
Yeah totally, funnily enough though it always happens in different places in different songs each week!

At last weeks rehearsal, Back To Black (Amy Winehouse) sounded incredible. Espeically the middle section. Everyone played their parts perfectly, the balance was just right, the pace, the volume. Really quite magical. But the week before was an outro to Forget You we've made up for gigs. Sounded so soulful, so perfect. The keys and the guitar were playing off each other, I was making lovely little runs in the right gaps and we were well and truly in the pocket!

You gotta hold onto those little bits of magic and fight and work to get that feeling back, that's what being musician is all about.

Truckstop
[/quote]

We had one last night too. Played onesong we like but we played it amazingly last night and we all got a great big buzz from it. It makes everything else worth the effort.

Like risingsn though, I usually need an audience these days, I need their energy.

[Len_derby]

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1331047107' post='1566804']
Like risingsn though, I usually need an audience these days, I need their energy.
[/quote]

I agree with this and it neatly cross-references with the other thread about stage fright. I think for a lot of us the boost of adrenalin is what keeps us keen. As long as it's not too debilitating of course.

[xilddx]

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1331048744' post='1566833']
I agree with this and it neatly cross-references with the other thread about stage fright. I think for a lot of us the boost of adrenalin is what keeps us keen. As long as it's not too debilitating of course.
[/quote]
I never get nervous at all, only very occasionally and even then it's only very mild. I used to be petrified when I was a young'un in my 20s.

[neepheid]

I just like to play. It's particularly pleasing when everyone in the band is clicking together like Lego, be it an old song, a new song, a new arrangement of an old song, at rehearsals, recording or live performance, but when simply having a bass on me is pleasing to me, I'm easily pleased

I guess having played for only 4 years it's all still amazing to me. Ask me again in 10 years or so.

[Lfalex v1.1]

I used to get a lot of magical moments in one band I was in.
We'd regularly land all the stops and starts virtually perfectly. Other bands and the studio owner/staff would come in and watch us if we were doing a pre-gig run through. The proprietor would just say "Go on then, show us how it's done!" And we would. Awesome band (for the most part) shame it broke up.

[JTUK]

Not so much....altho we have our moments, IMO.
I am constantly pushing for things to improve but that is construed as negative by some others in the band.
I have to reign it in as for one thing, its gets boring and that in itself is the negative side.

I am heartened by the fact that I am probably musically arrogant and I know it is good..I just think it could be better.
But considering the time we put in and the pay days, you have to be reaslistic.

So..in this case, audience reaction isn't that much of a comfort..altho you'd complain if you didn't get it...

Yep..constant battle for me....

[4000]

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1331032260' post='1566472']
I used to get some huge thrills playing in bands, these days it's rare. I get good feelings quite often, and once in a while, a deeper thrill. It happens more often live, but while I used to love rehearsing, these days, it's not so much 'fun'. It could be over-familiarity with the material, the higher (probably TOO high) standards I set myself, or just getting older ..

The best times for me are either working on a new song, or performing live.

What about you?
[/quote]

Writing and recording (when the recording is going well). Have had some fab times live in one band, but haven't had any for years. I actually prefer rehearsing to playing live most of the time (see my thread ).

[xilddx]

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1331051291' post='1566889']
I used to get a lot of magical moments in one band I was in.
We'd regularly land all the stops and starts virtually perfectly. Other bands and the studio owner/staff would come in and watch us if we were doing a pre-gig run through. The proprietor would just say "Go on then, show us how it's done!" And we would. Awesome band (for the most part) shame it broke up.
[/quote]

I like the sound of that! I'm very lucky, I play with some truly wonderful musicians. But I only love playing live and recording these days. Although writing does give me a big kick if I do something beautiful. It just seems rarer these days. I used to love rehearsing but I think I'd prefer it if they were much much longer.

[CS2]

Currently I'm in two 'bands' and they are slightly unusual. The first one is a church music group that I played bass for 8 years and guitar for 6. There's 3 people on each instrument and we have a rota. It's a big band and so one has to be a bit disciplined in keeping parts sparse. There have been some magic moments but currently there are a lot of people who stare at the music and don't give off any vibes. More later.

I also jam with 3 friends and we rotate instruments. I'm technically the bass player as I have more experience. We improvise instrumentals for 4 hours at a time. We have been up to 1 a month but one guy moved abroad so it's been 2-3 a year. He's back so we should pick up again. There are more magic moments than not and here's why.

We knew each other via a musician board and we had arranged massive sessions in central London with as many as 10 guitarists drinking ourselves stupid (I know). Three of us got together to jam in a living room (with edrums, headphones). At the very first ahem rehearsal we discovered that we were completely on the same page musically. It didnt matter what combination we tried, it worked. Ok I can only do one drum beat but it worked. We decided to rehearse in a studio and the magic was still there. After a year or two a friend of one of the guys did the big puppy eyes thing and begged to come along. He was a bedroom player and initially killed the magic stone dead. We worked with him and after 5-6 rehearsal he got it and there's magic most times.

The reason IMHO is that some players communicate. I don't mean shout out chorus but stop dead, change feel, change tempo and it's instant. Someone does a bum note and someone else fills in/plays more. The only way I can explain it is that there's a line from me to the other person or persons or there's not. In our band there's a line from each person to each person most of the time. In the church band it's barely there with one person most of the time nowadays.

I know what I mean.