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When bandmates can't nail parts...

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CaseOfAceCaseOfAce Frets: 1307
My band has been doing Sex On Fire for nigh on 3 years or so - and do you think our drummer can play that intro drum part over the riff..? .Nope. At least he actually attempts to play it now - for a couple of years he just used to come in with the vocals (Lay Where You're Laying...etc..) much to the bemusement of the audience members I could see thinking ...err.. there's a bit missing here right?
This is only marginally better.. for some reason the count on it just throws him.. it's all on a sort of off-beat - I realise it's not the easiest part to nail..but.. damn...every time I play the intro riff I'm hearing the slight off count of the drums against my guitar part... grrr...

Full disclosure - I used to hack the intro to Johnny B. Goode - until I finally rolled up my sleeves and learnt the damn part properly - not to mention play it with a clean tone (which at volume in a large club - you're kinda exposed but I like it !). Like many of our brethren I used to smother the part in distortion and approximate it (blame Hendrix!).
...she's got Dickie Davies eyes...
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Comments

  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    Can’t or won’t?
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • CaseOfAceCaseOfAce Frets: 1307
    Roland said:
    Can’t or won’t?
    I'm not sure if it's sheer laziness... or he just can't get the "count" on it. We've tried everything - showing him you tube vids etc..nada.
    ...she's got Dickie Davies eyes...
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  • sev112sev112 Frets: 2739
    Does it really matter - do people complain ? 
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  • Bane of my life when band mates don't learn their parts.

    Barring major life events there's Literally no excuse for it other than laziness and lack of respect for the effort your colleagues have made

    And if one band members level of ability and talent is much lower than the others then they need to go as well. 

    Ffs its really not hard to do some homework from time to time. 
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  • If he can't nail it but is otherwise sound and the audience are complaining about the song then drop it and keep the drummer. You move forward as a unit and make compromises when required.

    Sex on fire is a shit song anyway :)
    'Vot eva happened to the Transylvanian Tvist?'
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  • stickersticker Frets: 869


    Sex on fire is a shit song anyway :)
    Nah it's not , there's just a LOT of shit bands doing shit versions of it ...
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  • HootsmonHootsmon Frets: 15924
    Throw him out the band and give him a damn good kickin'
    tae be or not tae be
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  • SoF is excellent. My old drummer couldn't get it reliably, so we turned it into a drum intro with the talky "thanks for coming, we're xyz go check our website" spiel then I'd come in with the guitar bit. 

    I don't enjoy playing with others who can't keep up but just about everyone has something they can't get right and it's no reason to chuck a band member (esp an otherwise good drummer..)
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71959
    Play the song, not the record.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • sw67sw67 Frets: 228
    edited November 2021
    Same issue - Drummer starts as singer introduces song and i start on guitar when i am ready.  We just couldn't get it to sound right starting with a count in.
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10357
    SoF is excellent. My old drummer couldn't get it reliably, so we turned it into a drum intro with the talky "thanks for coming, we're xyz go check our website" spiel then I'd come in with the guitar bit. 

    I don't enjoy playing with others who can't keep up but just about everyone has something they can't get right and it's no reason to chuck a band member (esp an otherwise good drummer..)
    This is the easiest way to get it locked in. What confuses people is where the 1 is .... get the drummer to start the drum riff then you can get it on the right beat even if the drummer doesn't know where the 1 is 
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • MusicwolfMusicwolf Frets: 3627
    If he can't nail it but is otherwise sound and the audience are complaining about the song then drop it and keep the drummer. You move forward as a unit and make compromises when required.
    This.  There will always be a weakest member of any group.  You can keep swapping out the weakest member until it's your turn (at which point you can do the honourable thing and fire yourself) or, if you are otherwise happy with the line up, either drop the song or change the arrangement.

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  • TanninTannin Frets: 5268
    Everybody has songs that they just don't get. That they will never get. There are certain songs that I can't hear in my head (at least not without saying "nope, that sounds completely wrong") and never will. The drummer is going to have one or two as well, the singer is going to have songs that suit her voice and are well within her range but she just doesn't have a mental handle on, and so on. 

    I'm not talking "I don't like Song X, it's a sucky tune" (there are always songs you don't like much: grit your teeth and play them anyway), I'm talking one that just don't work at all for you. Ones where you can't even see the groove, let alone get into it. Probably, in a set list of 100, there will be one or two at most. The sensible thing to do is have a "right of rejection". Any band member can simply say "I don't want to play Song X, sorry, I don't get it". Once. Probably twice. (A third time and you start to wonder if they would be happier in some other band, playing some other genre.) 

    Yep, there are five or six songs out of your 100 that you drop and replace with something everybody likes. Where is the harm in that?  Chances are they weren't your best songs anyway. Cull the dross and move on.
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  • What does the drummer have to say about it when you discuss it as a band? 
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  • I'm currently struggling with 'I want your love' by Chic - its 3 bloody chords FFS but I just cant get the timing right despite practicing the hell out of it. It’s not always a lack of effort or application- it may be a lack of talent though !

     Are you guys in this as a career or as a way to play music together and stick a few quid in your pocket at the same time ?
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  • LebarqueLebarque Frets: 3755
    Bane of my life when band mates don't learn their parts.

    Barring major life events there's Literally no excuse for it other than laziness and lack of respect for the effort your colleagues have made

    And if one band members level of ability and talent is much lower than the others then they need to go as well. 

    Ffs its really not hard to do some homework from time to time. 
    Sorry, mate. I'll try harder.
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  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    edited November 2021
    Think the all-for-one approach is best if somebody just can't get it.

    Our drummer can't get synchopated off-beats / grooves - he seems to always turn it into 7:4 or 5:4, and it makes him play even louder than the deafening racket that's "normal".  We've discretely dropped those tunes

    (My kryptonite tune is the Layla opening riff - I know the notes well enough, but just can't get the timing right - anyway Eric's rampant anti-vax pronouncements have made him even less trendy, so I'm home free ).
    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
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  • CirrusCirrus Frets: 8481
    Kill them.
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  • dariusdarius Frets: 619
    If you’re going to keep the song in your set then mash it up into your own version, with something the drummer can play.
    Does your band try to play everything the exact same as the record? If that’s the most important thing then you’ll have to drop the song. 
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  • Lebarque said:
    Bane of my life when band mates don't learn their parts.

    Barring major life events there's Literally no excuse for it other than laziness and lack of respect for the effort your colleagues have made

    And if one band members level of ability and talent is much lower than the others then they need to go as well. 

    Ffs its really not hard to do some homework from time to time. 
    Sorry, mate. I'll try harder.
    Some on bud, you've had 2 weeks to learn Herman Li's Through The Fire and Flames, what's the hold up? :lol: 
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