is it just me?

EricTheWeary

Bass player: fed up of just playing the same few songs.
Me: ( thinks - we have been sorting out a singer, we have only rehearsed a few times and the bass player doesn't seem to have learned anything properly) okay. Here is the list of songs for Thursday. I have included a couple of songs we have discussed but not played through before. Fairly straight forward. I can send you the chords if you like.
Bass player: I haven't got time to learn any new songs.

dogload

No. It's not just you. 

John_P

No it's not -  I've been on that roundabout with most bands I've been in...  I've learned to just nod and go with it a lot better than I used to!

daveyh

The word you're looking for is "commitment".

monquixote

It is often the case that talent is proportional to the tendency to be a mental.

RocknRollDave

I've definitely been there, and am glad to say my current band isn't like that.

I wouldn't put up with it again.

nickp

nope deffo not just you.

that would make the whole thing just tiresome.

if you are at the beginning of things suggest you set it out like it's gonna be and not let it drift because it'll be you who leaves the band in 6 months time frustrated and bandless

IMHO etc

mudslide73

Groundhog day..

EricTheWeary

Bass player: I don't want to do any 12 bars they are boring
Me : we will need to think of stuff that is bluesy but not 12 bar then.
Bass player: here are a couple of Chuck Berry songs we could cover.
Me: [ thinks: these are 12 bar numbers]

He is the talented one really. I have come to think that talented people are often lousy band members because they can get by easier.
At the other end of the spectrum I am fucking ace to be in a band with...

EricTheWeary

monquixote;59964" said:

It is often the case that talent is proportional to the tendency to be a mental.

had missed that, rather more succinct than what I said.

Handsome_Chris

I once spent a brief period with a bass player who refused to play funk because the "bass doesn't do what it's supposed to.".  He wanted to do RHCP covers!  :-S

EricTheWeary

Handsome_Chris;61856" said:

I once spent a brief period with a bass player who refused to play funk because the "bass doesn't do what it's supposed to.".  He wanted to do RHCP covers!  :-S

the last time I was in a band and somebody suggested a RHCP cover the bass player said something like ' if I could play like that I wouldn't be here with you lot.'

EricTheWeary

Me:[ thinks: fed up of bending over backwards to accomodate the bass player]
Bass player: not sure things are going the way I want so I am quitting.
:-t

jd0272

No mate, it's def' not just you.

We agreed on a selection of tracks on the Friday to have ready for the Monday rehearsal. So I learned them. All new to me btw. Singer rocks up Monday, and turns it into a bit of a farce by bringing in other stuff without discussion. I packed up and left an hour early as effectively it turned into fuck all productive for the upcoming gigs, ie; not the fucking tracks we were supposed to be doing.

Then the knob end suggests via group email another track out of the list as he already 'knows it'. I advise via group email that that's fucking shabby, effectively he's looking for less graft for himself, where as I/we had put the time in to learn it. He strops to fuck, like a proper arsefuck.

He's going to get both fucking barrels from me on Monday night. Doesn't put the effort in, turned a recent gig into a karaoke (as it was in his local), forgot verses left right and fucking centre, wandered off during one track to talk to some cunt in the crowd, and got half pissed. Seems to think it's his band and relying on the reality that a decent singer is harder to find than a decent guitar player. And he's in his 50's! Fucking tool.

EricTheWeary

I can't decide which is worse at rehearsals: somebody having made no effort to learn the songs you have agreed on or somebody trying to get the band to pick up a song they half know but which has never been mentioned before. As your singer @jd0272 is guilty of both perhaps it doesn't matter.
Why grown men and women with sensible grown up jobs feel it is okay to behave like utter dicks once they walk into a rehearsal room I don't know.

JAYJO

I think once they become awkward they want away or they want you away.Unless  i was making a living out of gigging and paying the bills i couldnt put up with anyone who wasnt cooperative. I treat people with respect and expect the same. 

dogload

I think for me it's definitely the 'not having learned a song' option. 

mudslide73

For balance, I was expecting our rehearsal this week to be bad. (bad week at work for most of us, me a row with the missus, late because of rural road closures etc.) but we nailed 4 new ones and got an agreement on us doing Beetlebum which I've wanted to do for ages.

I've started doing structure diagrams (we're both in IT) and lyric sheets for our singer - he often won't do a song if he doesn't know the structure. He's worth it because he's such a good front man and the main reason we keep getting gigs. Some people just learn in a different way and the extra work is a means to an end.

RocknRollDave

mudslide73 said:

For balance, I was expecting our rehearsal this week to be bad. (bad week at work for most of us, me a row with the missus, late because of rural road closures etc.) but we nailed 4 new ones and got an agreement on us doing Beetlebum which I've wanted to do for ages.

I've started doing structure diagrams (we're both in IT) and lyric sheets for our singer - he often won't do a song if he doesn't know the structure. He's worth it because he's such a good front man and the main reason we keep getting gigs. Some people just learn in a different way and the extra work is a means to an end.

I do this for my band, i.e. draft a lyric sheet with the chords etc on.

Really works for us, and if nothing else it means you're all learning the same version because if there's a radio edit with a verse missing compared to the album version, it will be clear from the sheet which of the two you have worked from.

I'm in a position where I need the money I get from my curren band, and whilst I'm lucky to by and large be working with people I get on with and agree with, there's always going to be the odd moment when you get on each other's nerves and someone says something that makes you think "Bloody hell...why do I bother?" but if you know the band is good enough and the commitment is there, it's worth pressing on with. If not, then I wouldn't waste any more time on it. A bad band is worse than no band, in my experience.