Post by strat-0 on Sept 29, 2004 20:38:52 GMT -5
"Too many notes"?? And just which notes would Herr Salieri have you remove?
Sorry you've hit an early bump in the road with Mad Laugh, Jac. "Overplaying" of the bass can be a very subjective judgement. So much depends on the type of music and the song. My experience has been that it's usually guitarists relegated to bass that tend to overplay, but that's not really a scientific observation. You've more or less always been a bass player, no?
I hope it's not that the vocalist is just a horse's ass. My impression was that they've been pretty steady previously. Seems like there's often at least one prima donna in a band. They seem to be back-pedalling from being happy to have a competent bass player they can work with and who has ideas, to "play it just like the other guy did," which would be impossible without at least a rudimentary recording of what they guy did. And no one could ever play it "just like he did" anyway - that's absurd! That's like trying to tell Kenny Jones to play the drums "just like" Keith Moon. I'm sure the Who could have found somebody who could very nearly do just that, but that would be stupid! It wasn't the same band as before (though still definitely the Who) and it couldn't be. Everybody has their own distinctive style - or else they have none and are just a robot.
Anyhow, maybe this will just be a little growing pain. I hope the singer will realize that he can run off or fire every bass player they get, but that he will not have a band if he doesn't let it be a band. Maybe he'll find out what I did with the Mojos - at some point, you have to let the band be the (a) band.
We went through several bass players early on. I brought my drummer, and the other guitar player brought his bass player, but he quit within a year, due to illness. Then the search was on, and we went through several - never was a good fit. We had a kid for a while who thought he was Jaco Pastorius - he really did overplay - at least for a rock and roll / blues band. He was a talented virtuoso, though.
So, anyway, we ended up with a guy who was adequate or even good on bass, but there was occasional friction, of course. Let me give you some personal profiles. The other guitar player (my best friend - or so it seemed) is a high school English teacher who was married with two young boys. The drummer is a 20+ year steel worker, former Army Ranger instructor who likes his weed (we all did), divorced with a little girl. The bass player was a biker-type dude and professional chef - but his "one-percenter" tendencies always showed through. He had a wife and new baby. Well, I didn't worry too much about playing in rough places or loading out with those guys around. The sax player - I don't know what to say about him, except that he's gregarious, did a lot of pro work, and was the eldest among us. And you all know me...
The most usual trap we'd fall into was "volume wars" that would start with the drummer. He plays a steel set with a huge, like 28 inch bass, and always wanted to be miked, even in small venues. He is a power drummer who can play at several volume levels - too loud, louder, much too loud, and Mt. St. Helens. So, the bass player would have to get in on the act, to be heard, you see. You get the idea. Now, I could crank up that Fender Super Reverb and keep right up with them, but I refused to, because we didn't need to give earbleeds to everybody up front. The horn player would claim he was getting nauseous from the volume, and he probably was. Luckily, we were playing the right kind of places and didn't get run out from future gigs on account of it - quite the contrary. But the point is that every now and then, the horn player would get on a kick to try and get the bass player kicked out, or the bass player and other guitar player would try to get the horn player out, or whatever. The drummer always had this sort of "trade up" mentality about bands, and that's not the way to develop a band. You get the idea again.
But I (we) had to back them off from time to time and say, "The band is the band. We are what we are. We are who we are." And since we continued to get better quality gigs, more exposure and recognition, more $, steadily for over 10 years, I think it was the right call. Until we finally destructed about three years ago. Damn shame, too.
But now, back with my old pals, Doug and Abby and John, we have a very egalitarian and democratic system. There is a great deal of mutual respect and cooperation. We have also recently added a bass player, to free up Doug, and that is still playing out, but regardless, the band must be a (the) band.
I hope this diatribe makes some sense. I'm just pouring it out here for ya's. Hope it works out, Jac. Does this singer even play an instrument, besides his skin flute?
Sorry you've hit an early bump in the road with Mad Laugh, Jac. "Overplaying" of the bass can be a very subjective judgement. So much depends on the type of music and the song. My experience has been that it's usually guitarists relegated to bass that tend to overplay, but that's not really a scientific observation. You've more or less always been a bass player, no?
I hope it's not that the vocalist is just a horse's ass. My impression was that they've been pretty steady previously. Seems like there's often at least one prima donna in a band. They seem to be back-pedalling from being happy to have a competent bass player they can work with and who has ideas, to "play it just like the other guy did," which would be impossible without at least a rudimentary recording of what they guy did. And no one could ever play it "just like he did" anyway - that's absurd! That's like trying to tell Kenny Jones to play the drums "just like" Keith Moon. I'm sure the Who could have found somebody who could very nearly do just that, but that would be stupid! It wasn't the same band as before (though still definitely the Who) and it couldn't be. Everybody has their own distinctive style - or else they have none and are just a robot.
Anyhow, maybe this will just be a little growing pain. I hope the singer will realize that he can run off or fire every bass player they get, but that he will not have a band if he doesn't let it be a band. Maybe he'll find out what I did with the Mojos - at some point, you have to let the band be the (a) band.
We went through several bass players early on. I brought my drummer, and the other guitar player brought his bass player, but he quit within a year, due to illness. Then the search was on, and we went through several - never was a good fit. We had a kid for a while who thought he was Jaco Pastorius - he really did overplay - at least for a rock and roll / blues band. He was a talented virtuoso, though.
So, anyway, we ended up with a guy who was adequate or even good on bass, but there was occasional friction, of course. Let me give you some personal profiles. The other guitar player (my best friend - or so it seemed) is a high school English teacher who was married with two young boys. The drummer is a 20+ year steel worker, former Army Ranger instructor who likes his weed (we all did), divorced with a little girl. The bass player was a biker-type dude and professional chef - but his "one-percenter" tendencies always showed through. He had a wife and new baby. Well, I didn't worry too much about playing in rough places or loading out with those guys around. The sax player - I don't know what to say about him, except that he's gregarious, did a lot of pro work, and was the eldest among us. And you all know me...
The most usual trap we'd fall into was "volume wars" that would start with the drummer. He plays a steel set with a huge, like 28 inch bass, and always wanted to be miked, even in small venues. He is a power drummer who can play at several volume levels - too loud, louder, much too loud, and Mt. St. Helens. So, the bass player would have to get in on the act, to be heard, you see. You get the idea. Now, I could crank up that Fender Super Reverb and keep right up with them, but I refused to, because we didn't need to give earbleeds to everybody up front. The horn player would claim he was getting nauseous from the volume, and he probably was. Luckily, we were playing the right kind of places and didn't get run out from future gigs on account of it - quite the contrary. But the point is that every now and then, the horn player would get on a kick to try and get the bass player kicked out, or the bass player and other guitar player would try to get the horn player out, or whatever. The drummer always had this sort of "trade up" mentality about bands, and that's not the way to develop a band. You get the idea again.
But I (we) had to back them off from time to time and say, "The band is the band. We are what we are. We are who we are." And since we continued to get better quality gigs, more exposure and recognition, more $, steadily for over 10 years, I think it was the right call. Until we finally destructed about three years ago. Damn shame, too.
But now, back with my old pals, Doug and Abby and John, we have a very egalitarian and democratic system. There is a great deal of mutual respect and cooperation. We have also recently added a bass player, to free up Doug, and that is still playing out, but regardless, the band must be a (the) band.
I hope this diatribe makes some sense. I'm just pouring it out here for ya's. Hope it works out, Jac. Does this singer even play an instrument, besides his skin flute?
