Band practice etiquette

slacker

From his perspective, you've joined his band and he's always noodled away and nobody has told him (or firmly enough). You're the new guy and he's not going to listen. 

From your perspective you want to arrange and rehearse your songs and he's playing over everything. 

This is why in my current band I pick the players and I dont put up with noodlers. I'm the established leader and can lead the rehearsals so that they are effective (or it's my fault if they are not). 

I was in a band where the other guitarist had similar qualities. Luckily we had started as a three piece and added him. When all three people told him the same thing he listened but only dialled it back to a point. 

I joined a band a couple of years ago and bailed because of the other guitarist. Too loud, cherry picked parts, complained about everything. The smart move would have been to dump him, put the vocalist on acoustic guitar, share vocals and pick more suitable songs. However it wasnt my band so I bailed.

rico

Well I don't know what happened but our rehearsal today went so much smoother with much less irritation. Our most productive session yet but still lots of rough edges to iron out. Onwards!

Roland

Maybe your other guitarist lurks here

close2u

rico said:

Well I don't know what happened but our rehearsal today went so much smoother with much less irritation. 

Maybe he read this thread!

Flanging_Fred

If it goes south again I suggest plenty of 'tut-ing'. If that doesn't get the message through, go nuclear with a Paddington bear 'Hard Stare'

Nikko

Ive got a bit of a similar situation with the lessons I take. I do a lesson once a week as part of a group of 3. One guy in particular has been playing guitar a LOT longer than I have, and he is good at the widdly widdly stuff. The reason he wanted the lessons is because his rhythm/timing absolutely suck. Its bloody annoying when the tutor is trying to explain something to the other 2 of us, and there he is in the background widdly widdly fucking widdly. A couple of times ive asked him to stop and he just keeps on doing it. The tutor is a very good guitar teacher, but he does struggle to be firm with this guy as he is older than him.

paul_c2

There's a case to be made for having a mute pedal in the signal chain - with someone else controlling it.

Nunogilberto

I have a similar problem at band practice with a younger lad who also plays guitar - he has the tendency to be too loud when playing the songs, but more annoying than that; during the moments where we're not playing, he widdles non stop and loudly enough for it to be seriously irritating. I can't lose my shit entirely because two of the band members are his mum and dad (who also sometimes lose their rag and shout at him for it). Doesn't make it any less annoying though, and he continues to do it. He sometimes also does it while we're setting up at jam nights and you can see how much it pisses off the locals/punters...

hotpickups

Nunogilberto said:

I have a similar problem at band practice with a younger lad who also plays guitar - he has the tendency to be too loud when playing the songs, but more annoying than that; during the moments where we're not playing, he widdles non stop and loudly enough for it to be seriously irritating. I can't lose my shit entirely because two of the band members are his mum and dad (who also sometimes lose their rag and shout at him for it). Doesn't make it any less annoying though, and he continues to do it. He sometimes also does it while we're setting up at jam nights and you can see how much it pisses off the locals/punters...

Oooh I would hate that close relationship in my band. Spells danger to me as they will always be biased to their son and vice versa. I would even hate it if they were old friends. Had that in the past and had to leave my own band because of it

TheBigDipper

hotpickups said:

Oooh I would hate that close relationship in my band. Spells danger to me as they will always be biased to their son and vice versa. I would even hate it if they were old friends. Had that in the past and had to leave my own band because of it

Many years ago, in my first serious band, there were three of us who were tight as **** (in a personal sense). We spent months failing to get an extra band member before realising we were the problem, because we wouldn't let anyone else into our little gang. Family relationships would certainly work the same way, I feel. 

These days I try to make sure we all talk too much about what we're trying to achieve before we just start playing and building musical resentments... 

Guitarse

I went through it once when I was getting a band together and I met a singer who recommended a bassist, who also ran his own rehearsal room. Sounded ideal as we had a drummer already, so a full band. All good, until we met this bassist who I'd met some years before at an audition where he thought he was calling the shots and was incredibly arrogant. Suffice to say, he didn't get the job. So there I am, trying to get a band together standing in what is to become our rehearsal room with this bassist (a good bassist, by the way). So we give him a list of a few songs to rehearse. We meet up the following week to find that he has decided on a name for the band (eh??) and refuses to learn any new songs, insisting that we play the songs that his previous band played (lazy, presumptuous, and arrogant), so we start playing a couple of songs that we all know, and he's turning his volume up all the time. He thought he was calling the shots and was the 'star of the show'. I never went back. You live and learn.

hotpickups

Always good to talk IMO as long as everyone listens to what each other are saying. – that's the hard part. It's a human condition that most of us have and is a very difficult job to be good at i.e. listening and it takes a lot of practice in doing well. It's a real art to not feeling that one isn't the only one who is 'Right' ........ if you know what I mean

Hello is anybody there LOL

rico

We have two ears and one mouth for a reason! I have been writing a couple of new songs this week and putting quite a lot of effort (on Garageband haha) into the second guitar parts - they sounds pretty good and the drummer and bassist are digging them but not heard anything from the guitarist number two on our group whatsapp chat. Hopefully he is at least listening to them!

koneguitarist

ICBM said:

If everyone stops what they're doing and stares at him until he shuts up and then for a bit longer, and then break the silence with a "now where were we?" type comment every time, it may get the message through.

Have you talked to the others and found out if they find it as annoying?

I like this option, or you could also punch him, that works as well. From experience.