Anything that other band members do that wind you up

[bremen]

[quote name='kevbass' post='184745' date='Apr 24 2008, 07:11 PM']Well, heres my experience of certain annoyances from past bands.

1- Band leader would adjust the volume on my amp whilst in mid song, up and down up and down. This was a definate no no[/quote]


Were you in The Fall?

[lowhand_mike]

[quote name='P-T-P' post='184997' date='Apr 25 2008, 02:00 AM'][b]Constant Annoyances[/b]

Pick a couple of tunes to learn, make a rehearsal date. Learn all bass parts, get lyrics (e-mail to singer), prepare chord sheet as a guide, maybe get the tabs and check they're correct (e-mail to guitarist). Listen to songs so many times you know them inside out. Turn up to rehearse. Singer needs to download lyrics of the internet again and is only vaguely familiar with the melody of the song. Guitarist has never heard the song before, "Have you got a copy with you?" Proceeds to play along with it 15 seconds into the intro trying to work out chords. Inevitably gets chords right but not quite. Disputes chord sheet already prepared as doesn't fit with melody singer is singing in places.

Defeated.


[b]Warm Fuzzy Feelings[/b]

For our drummer who is always a pleasure to play with; will have learned his parts when time comes for him to join rehearsals (he won't come to the chord haggling sessions anymore, don't blame him either); always does more than his share of loading and setting up and nearly always gets the drinks in as he's usually set-up first.[/quote]

+100 for both of them. the amount of times we have spent weeks deciding on new songs to do and then said "right next week make sure you know the songs, get lyrics.." etc and we turn up and genrally i'm the only one who has even got the songs let alone got tab or worked out the songs, i then get asked can i make a copy of the tracks for everyone else so i know that even the next week no one is gonna know their parts and the singer still wont have the words. AAARRGGHHH! and then even whe he has the words and says he's been listing to them constantly in the car (drives alot) still doesnt know how they go and we have to tell him.

rythmn guitarist who no matter how we try and explain it doesnt get the concept of palm muting.

lead guitarist after a year and a half of saying he will get his pedals on a board, hasn't done it so take ages each practice to set up.

drummer is an angel though and the guys are a laugh just sometimes they take the piss, with the exception of the drummer

[Thunderthumbs]

[quote name='Merton' post='184655' date='Apr 24 2008, 04:51 PM']Are you sure you're not playing in my covers band??!!! Our male singer still has to have the words on a music stand, 6 years after we started the sodding band. I know we're constantly adding new songs, but for the love of god, having the words for Alright Now is unforgiveable!![/quote]
Good God, I thought it was just me!

I told our singer the other day we should be listed as a 5 piece band, not a 4 piece, as the singer's music stand is quite literally a permanent member!

[chris_b]

Well, I feel blessed.... I haven't played with a bad drummer for over 20 years and most of them I would rate as bloody good. I also play with some good, unassuming guitarists and singers but in my experience, unprofessional behaviour, ego and "star complex" problems always emanate from the front line!!
I think the reason for this is that drummers and bass players start because they want to play the music and the idiots generally start playing because they want to be "stars" and their egos say they have to be at the front of the stage, showing off.
I think I used up my idiot quota when I started playing which is why the guys I play with now are so good.

[lowhand_mike]

[quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='185177' date='Apr 25 2008, 11:19 AM']Good God, I thought it was just me!

I told our singer the other day we should be listed as a 5 piece band, not a 4 piece, as the singer's music stand is quite literally a permanent member![/quote]



you're not alone, i can understand and accept it at practice but live really bugs me, suppose the upside is we dont need a set list as he has his bible in front of him. alot of the songs i know the words too and i dont sing. blimey

[burno70]

Excellent and humourous thread this has turned out to be!

I think I have minor niggles which at least slightly irritate me, as we all have, but I do have one which does stand out.

I've always been in bands who write their own music, I've either been the main music writer or a co-writer. I don't write for guitar or drums and prefer the other musicians to put their own stamp on these parts, afterall, that's what jamming is all about!

Now, the one thing that really, really, really gets my back up is when I've been practicing on my own and have gotten a collection of riffs together which should make the humble beginnings of a good tune. At this point I can't wait for the next band practice so I can show these riffs to the lads and start layering guitars, drums and vocals over them and see how the tune unfolds. The emphasis here is riffs. Sometimes, (not often in my current band I have to add!) guitarists will see this as an opportunity to just solo over everything!!!!!!!!! Man, that makes me proper angry! The amount of exclamation marks I'm using here shows how angry I am!!!!!!) Afterall, I've put time, effort, inspiration and love into these riffs and instead of helping complete the song and writing a guitar part he goes into noodle overload. So for the verses you have, what - a solo? For the chorus you have - thats right, another solo! For verse two you have.....etc, you get the idea.

OK, deep breath, rant over. Wow that was really therapeutic! Thanks for listening!

[TheRev]

[quote name='dabootsy' post='185087' date='Apr 25 2008, 09:36 AM']Another one for me is that when our guitarist tries to explain something like an accent at the end of a chorus he seems to have to play through whole song on his own , i think he just likes to hear himself play[/quote]

They all do that. Every single one of them. I hate them so much.

Does he do that thing where if you ask him what chord he's playing, he plays it (usually very loudly) and says: 'that one'?

[johnnylager]

The drummer suggesting changes to "improve" the songs, then getting the fear live and refusing to play 'em.

The singer/guitarist chap starting the songs a semi-tone out. At least I fixed his fender Jag E-string popping out problem for him.

No one listening to my idea of trying to play with our individual EQ to find our own sound space. Actually, what I mean is so it doesn't interfere with [b]my[/b] sound . Selfish lot.

[stingrayfan]

[quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='185177' date='Apr 25 2008, 11:19 AM']I told our singer the other day we should be listed as a 5 piece band, not a 4 piece, as the singer's music stand is quite literally a permanent member![/quote]

[peety]

What is it about lead guitarists, i could start a thread on it's own about how much they annoy me,

Why is it when our singer and myself are crawling around setting up the PA and lights, monitors etc he is stood with his marshall stack playing a succession of riffs at a hideous volume

Why is it in my experience that they want to be paid top dollar for weddings etc but don't seem to want to learn songs that are popular at these events because they don't involve a 4 minute solo, To make matters worse the guitarist in our band while extremely talented is stuck in the 70's and thinks anything post 1980 is spawn of the devil.

Finally +1 for people not learning songs before rehearsal, we recently had a discussion about a couple of new songs for our set our drummer suggested Chelsea Dagger which we agreed on, we then got to rehearsal and i asked him if he had listened to the drumming for the breaks etc to be informed he hadn't got the song and had only heard it on the radio !!!!!

Anyway rant over i'm sure there are many things i do that annoy my band mates !

[P-T-P]

Actually the more I think about the whole not learning songs thing the more I realise just how unbelievably disrespectful it is.

[peety]

Just on the topic of learning new songs, i would be interested to know if other people in covers bands have the same trouble agreeing on new material that we have.

All of us bar our keyboard player are in our forties and have such a varied taste choosing new songs is a nightmare also our ideas of what works and what doesn't are so varied.

Finally and i know i've gone a it off thread but how often do people tend to learn new material our lead guitarist thinks we should only learn 2 new songs a year which i think is ridiculous as for me half the enjoyment is learning new stuff, we play roughly once or twice a month and mainly functions and have a playlist of about 50-60 songs ! just interested in other peoples method to see if it is as difficult as ours.

[markytbass]

A band I was once in used to vote on what new songs we did. This worked until the guitarist refused point blank to play the songs the drummer had chosen and vice versa.

[P-T-P]

Yes, choosing songs is always a long, drawn out process.

What's amazing is that we've been successful on the back of playing mainly pop, some soul and an occasoinal rock classic, but for some reason, people still come in and say something like, "I heard "Aces High" on the radio the other night, we should do that one."

[lowhand_mike]

yeah choosing new songs is really hard, especially as the singer and rythmn are brothers and mid to late 40's, lead guitarist late 30's to early 40's (strange i've never asked their age i suppose) drummer and me mid 30's. also our musical tastes are VERY different.
The older 3 like the classic rock stuff (some of which i had never heard before) and me and the drummer like thing like more recent rock, muse for example and some more funky stuff and my tastes go off to metal too.
Bugs me that nothing i have picked so far has actually been played, worse still they did choose 2 songs that i put forward only to percistantly say they haven't got round to learning it, i gave up asking.

dont get me wrong whatever i play i enjoy what i am doing, it just seems i just have to do as i'm told.

edit again cos that just sounds like i'm wingeing i'm not honest. though you can tell what songs they really want to do cos they are the only ones they learn first.

Edited April 25, 2008 by lowhand_mike

[peety]

It appears everyone has the same problems our guitarist has a habit of claiming not to have time to learn songs he doesn't like but amazingly always manages to be in a position to play his own choices,

generally it's quite a democratic process but is a tad frustrating that we have to go all round the houses to get there, i think we should just accept that we will all have to occaisionally play songs we don't particularly like because of the nature of the gigs we play where our primary function is to ensure that people who book us have a great night.

quite obviously there is no easy answer to this

[lee4]

Over a month ago I told my fellow band members that I could no longer do our normal rehearsl night due to looking after my son.
They still think I can make our old night despite repeatedly telling them otherwise.
Other than that they are a great bunch of people.

[Gamble]

I have an epic list of stuff that other band members do that annoys me. I'm going to skip all the stuff from the covers band I used to play in as that's all in the past, and pretty much all from one guy. I'd love to unleash the fury, but I can't type that fast and I want to go to bed at some point this weekend! Let's just leave it as plus 1 for nearly everything that's already been said.

Currently winding me up is:

Instant dismissal of my ideas for songs (our own material), and toys flying out of prams if someone doesn't get their own way. Again that's just one person (guit*rist, funilly enough) and he tends to get the same response from all of us.

Two guit*rists playing the same riffs every week (at a barable volume) while I help set the drums up, then as soon as I plug into the bass amp (the studio's, not my own) the volume goes up so I can't set up a tone. THEN being told my sound is a bit sh*t/too loud once we're playing songs.

I'm going to stop there as I've been really irritable lately and I don't want my girlfriend to come home to find me twitching on the sofa with a multitude of burst blood vessels in my forehead. If I ever meet any of you, put a Smirnoff Ice in my hand and ask me to tell you all about it, we'll be there all night!

I'm suprised that any music gets made with all the politics involved!!!

[budget bassist]

[quote name='P-T-P' post='185381' date='Apr 25 2008, 03:57 PM']Actually the more I think about the whole not learning songs thing the more I realise just how unbelievably disrespectful it is.[/quote]
Yup, it's even worse when the person that suggested them doesn't bother learning it! my guitarist did that recently. If anyone has heard into the pit by testament you'll know it's a fiddly song and really fast. not only that but the bass line is almost identical to the guitar riff so that makes it difficult on a 4 banger with wide string spacing and a much longer scale suffice to say i took ages to learn it and get it right, despite it being a bit of a challenge, and our guitarist turns up and goes "oh yeah.... doesn't it go something like this?" He then plays the first riff... and very badly at that because he hasn't even bothered learning it, even though he suggested it. GAH!!

Also the fact that i hadn't even mentioned a song to learn and the two guitarists are still taking the piss to choose. I might just tell them to pick something and hurry the f*** up about it!

Edited April 25, 2008 by budget bassist

[markytbass]

[quote]Over a month ago I told my fellow band members that I could no longer do our normal rehearsl night due to looking after my son.
They still think I can make our old night despite repeatedly telling them otherwise[/quote]

I had a similar problem with a band I was in last summer. Had a text saying "can u practice thursday evening" sent text back saying "no missus is working got to look after kids". Got another text "ok I've booked room for thursday 8 til 10" to which I reminded them that I can't do Thursday but could do Friday. Anyway to cut a long story short the practice was arranged for the Friday but the missus had agreed to work. Not wanting to let anyone down I arranged for the kids to stay at their friends so I could go to practice. I dropped them off and just as I got on the A1 I had a text saying "Practice cancelled singer can't make it". Hence I jacked it in a few days later.