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Auditioning Guitarists Tomorrow - Advice Required


Sean
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Way too many absolutes here for my liking.
Keep in mind what you can offer before you put too many restrictions in the way.
You could be ruling yourselves out of the equation.
The idea is to be able to pick who YOU want..not have them turn you down.

I think you need to be very open and although you can have preferences, and maybe
you aren't that sure what you want..
All you really have to do is find a way that the combinations really work...

Personally, I could have a high maint player as long as he was basically an ok guy... if he played well enough
for the hassle.
What I couldn't cope with..or be bothered with, are dicks..!!

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Time for the full SP.

Singer and drummer arrived on time and everybody was non-hungover and in a positive frame of mind, we set up efficiently and had a really nice cup of tea ;) ; nothing fancy, PG Tips (standard type not any of the [i]Fresh, Strong, Rich, Mellow[/i] stuff).

The schedule worked well and proved to be enough time in each case to play the four songs through a couple of times and also have a bit of a jam with one of the songs.

So, what were the guitarists like? I hear you cry. Well, they were all good and based on what we saw and heard today I'd be happy to be in a band with any of them.

The first one was great to play with, played for the song, had a bluesy texas vibe, played a Heritage LP through a Victoria all-valve head and 2x10 and had tone that most blokes never achieve in a lifetime and it was all good just not right for what we're doing.

Second guy had a Line 6 100w head with valve power amp section and 4x12 cab. Rock monster and really nice guy that would probably fit; we liked him. He was the most nervous of the three and we tried our best to get him to relax and he had a good stab at it but on the negative side was blisteringly loud, like ouch, even my earplugged head is splitting. We did get him to roll back after the first song though.

Third guy rocked up, set up in no time, 15w Orange head and small cab, self-made custom pedalboard that was beautifully designed and populated by some nice gear with some of it using the FX loop and some through in the input - complicated and lots of leads cable-tied and going through a junction box but he certainly knew how to operate it all so it looked really slick, no fiddling, no faffing just great tone and then he nailed all four songs in his own style but had interpreted the material really well - it felt like a band that has been together a while. He gave us a really good vibe as a bloke too and was very easy to get on with but knew what he was about. Difficult to find negatives, really. His Soundcloud stuff was amazing and he went into this easily the favourite musically.

Fourth guy nailed all the stuff, so-so tone but was using a borrowed amp as his wasn't available (long story), learned the songs and put his own stamp on them and seemed like a good chap with lots of experience in originals bands and ticked most of the boxes.

We'll be contacting them in the next couple of days...

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[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1402251591' post='2471376']
That's amazing that they were all ok and even good.
Even more amazing that none of them appeared to be fruitcakes, ego monsters, flakey or any of the many other potential problematical characteristics.
[/quote]

Yeah, it's amazing. I must say that I enjoyed all four sessions and had my eyes (ears) opened to what the band could sound like. No. 3 was about as perfect as you could expect. We desperately tried to find negatives but when "he's got a French car", "he's tall", "he's um, I don't know" are the biggest minuses then Ia think you've found a winner.

We managed to have enough of a chat with each to get a feel for them as people and we asked some of the standard questions like Señor Del Var suggested. All in all a very positive day and hopefully we've found the one.

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Interestingly today was the drummer's first real session with us and although I've played with him before and he was our original first choice for this band (wasn't available six months ago) it wasn't until today that I realised just how right he is and how much fire he puts under a band. It was good to be able to present a prospective new band member with us on form, firing on all cylinders and in a positive frame of mind.

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[quote name='Sean' timestamp='1402252719' post='2471393']
Interestingly today was the drummer's first real session with us and although I've played with him before and he was our original first choice for this band (wasn't available six months ago) it wasn't until today that I realised just how right he is and how much fire he puts under a band. It was good to be able to present a prospective new band member with us on form, firing on all cylinders and in a positive frame of mind.
[/quote]

Its amazing how much a decent drummer makes.

Our drummer in our band is fantastic and I just feel so comfortable playing knowing he's keeping it solid.

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[quote name='DarkHeart' timestamp='1402264382' post='2471574']
ask them to turn down half way through, if they wont ...............................................next! ;)
[/quote]

We did, he did.

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