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All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread

Started by Elite, August 26, 2012, 06:12:01 AM

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hefdaddy42

Quote from: BlobVanDam on December 11, 2014, 08:19:46 PMHef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Orbert

So I heard from another band, a Skynyrd tribute band.  I told them I liked Skynyrd okay, but I'm not crazy enough about them to want to join a tribute band.  If I'm gonna play, I need more variety and stuff.  But I thanked them for the note and wished them luck in their search.

The band with the 12 videos and nine of them I'd never even heard of the songs, they followed up with another list of tunes (at my request) and they're mostly different, but still in the same vein.  Trower, Clapton, Doors, and it occurred to me that this is a band of all guys, because no way a girl's singing those songs.  Plus, other than The Doors, a lot of their songs don't even have keys.  ZZ Top, Cream.  The videos were all from three years ago and they don't do any of those songs anymore.  They have a different lineup now; it was really just to give me an idea.  In other words, we don't have the hot babe singer any more.  So I told them hey I'm sorry but I'm gonna pull out of this.  I used those words because it amused me.  But I thanked them and wished them luck in their search.

But this other band, the one with a song list that's kinda cool, I'm still gonna jam with them next Tuesday.  The leader is a woman named Carol who is the same age as me (56) but looks like she keeps in shape.  Once we got serious and exchanged song lists via email, I had her last name, so I stalked her out on Facebook and checked her out.  I'm still planning on going to her house to jam with three other dudes (guitar, bass, drums) so this could be cool.  She picked "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac, "Born to be Wild", "Margaritaville", and "Come Sail Away".  She told me to pick two songs from her list to be my "showcase" for them.

Sidebar

I think it's amusing how, throughout all of this, neither I nor any of the bands/persons I've communicated with have used the word "audition".  We've talked about getting together to jam, see if we have any chemistry, see if it's a good fit, but never used the "A" word.  And now that I think about it, I'm the only one who's really talked about chemistry and fit; they're just looking for a keyboard player, and I'm musically promiscuous.

End Sidebar

So anyway, I picked "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey because I learned it recently and want to play it, and "Never Been Any Reason" by Head East.  Synth and B-3 all up in that bitch.  I would've picked "Come Sail Away" as one of my showcase tunes, but Carol had already picked it, because she wants to see what I can do with it anyway.  I hope she's prepared to have her britches blown off, in a not necessarily gentle fashion.

So two bands still on the hook right now.  I'm jamming with Carol and her band next Tuesday, and this other band still wants me to get back to them.  I'd told them already that the holidays get pretty crazy for me, but if they're okay waiting until after new year's, maybe we can do something then.  The guy got back to me and asked if Jan 7 worked.  It's a Monday.  Oh yeah, this is the band that practices Thursdays, which I thought ruled them out, but they're willing to do a Monday night.  Fuck.  They're like 45 minutes south of me, the opposite direction from work from my house.  I'd be driving over an hour to get there after work on a Monday night.  I'll give him credit: he's pushing, but not quite pushing too hard.  It just confirms my theory that I'm in control here.  I don't need them; they want me, or at least want to check me out.

I find this whole process to be very enlightening, and entertaining.  Win-win.  :hat

Orbert

Heard from yet another band yesterday, a Steampunk band.  I'm familiar with Steampunk as an aesthetic, but I have no idea what a band based on that concept would be.  But their stage sets and promo pictures all have a Steampunk aesthetic to them.  Also long hair, facial hair, black leather, and overall "badass" look.  I could conceivably fit in with the badass Asian thing going on.  But overall not my thing.  They do mostly studio and festival work; they have a CD of original music.  It sounds like they're a much more serious band and work a lot harder than what I'm looking for right now.  Also, the girl is kinda ugly.  I told them thanks for the note and I wish them luck.

I told the Monday night band I was pulling out.  I like that phrase.  It's common enough to where it doesn't have to carry sexual undertones, but it does anyway and when you tell someone you're pulling out, you're telling them that it's over, all the foreplay was for naught, and hey we're both a little disappointed here, but let's try to move on with our lives.

I changed my status from "seeking band to play with" to nothing.  I'm just a guy out there with a profile page.  I'm going jam with Carol and her band next Tuesday because I spent a couple more hours tweaking "Margaritaville" and "Don't Stop Believin'" and now I want to actually play them with someone, if only once.  Plus they're only like ten minutes from my house, so going over there on a weeknight isn't the complete pain it is going up to John's house after work.  If my regular band finally self-destructs or whatever, they could be a good fallback, so I want to keep them on good terms.  Something we tried but the timing just wasn't right.

Orbert

When I think about my main band, and the various musical side projects I have, I often find myself thinking in terms of relationships.  And yes, I mean that in a sense analogous to relationships between two people.  My main band (whose name some people may have noticed I don't use anymore, because it occurred to me that people could search for it and find this thread, and find out all kinds of gooey secrets that really ought not to be shared with the public (but I'm too lazy to go back and excise from earlier posts)) is obviously my main squeeze.  Tonight I jam with another band, one that's looking for a keyboard player.  I told my wife a few weeks back that I was flirting online with another band.  I find myself looking forward to this in some ways I assume are similar to having an affair, a piece on the side.  No one in the band knows about it.  I'm going to go get my rocks off tonight (hopefully) with some strange, do things that my main squeeze isn't into, and I'm excited about it.  Kinda like... you know.

Now seriously, I realize that the analogy only goes so far.  For one thing, there's no reason not to tell my main squeeze about it.  We're not monogamous; we're not in some kind of exclusive relationship.  Most of us have other musical endeavors that we're involved in.  David and JT each play regularly with another band.  Jerry has studio stuff that he does with some band.  Even I have all the musical stuff that I do at church.  But the church stuff is kinda like my female co-workers.  Appreciate, admire, enjoy the time together, but it's understood all the way around that it's 100% chaste and can never lead to anything more.

But this is different.  I learned two songs for tonight and have been practicing four others today.  I'm looking forward to rocking differently.  I'm looking forward to connecting with new musicians, playing new songs, and playing some old songs differently, because it's always different.  Everyone is different.  And jamming is much like pizza, or sex.  Even when it's bad, it's good.  It's all good.  I'm gonna take a shower, shave my face, cop a buzz, and go rock and roll.  I already assume that this will be a one-night stand, as my regular band is starting to line up gigs for early next year.  But this is kinduv exciting.

Orbert

There is the walk of shame, and then there is the "haul your keyboards, stand, and amp up a steep narrow staircase and out to your car" of shame.

Yeah, it was still good.  Making music.  But No, I'm not going to be joining this band.  And despite the fact that the guitarist was pretty bad but at least was a self-admitted "rhythm guitarist, not a lead guitarist" and the bassist was kind of an asshole, the Number One Reason why I'm not joining this band is because of that stairway.

Her email said to take the driveway all the way to the back, and she'll help me load in my stuff.  The driveway is long and narrow and runs between her house and the neighbors next door.  You either drive in and later back all the way out, or back all the way in so you can drive straight out, but there is no margin for error.  Once inside, the basement stairs are right there.  There is no room to set anything down for a second while you close the back door.  The stairway is steep and narrow; it's an older house and making stairways up to code was optional, if there was even a code back then.  The practice space is at the far end.  They cleared a spot for me by the drum kit in front of the big bookshelf with stuff on it that I kept bumping into.  Once we were all set up, I could not get to and from my keyboards without stepping on cords.  They were all over the floor, and there wasn't much room to begin with.  Also, it was loud as fuck in there, with acoustic drums and everyone amped, in a tiny basement.

They practice every Tuesday night, in that basement.  If the band was really good, or the singer was really hot, it might be worth it.  But I'm not going to make three trips up and down those stairs every week carrying my stuff in, and three more later carrying it back out, and deal with that driveway, too.  I'm the one in demand.  They wanted me; they wanted to add me to the emails "just in case" and start talking about next week's songs (even though half the guys hadn't bothered learning the ones we played last night), but I'm in control here.  I set the bar as low or as high as I want.  And fuck that stairway.  I'm not dealing with it.

I sent her an email this morning.  I told her I was sorry, I know I'd said I wouldn't make a decision right away, but I'd actually decided before we were done last night, and it was just awkward being there after I'd made my decision, and I couldn't say No to their faces.  I'm such a wimp.  But whatever, I sent the email.  I'm done with this particular experiment, for now.

hefdaddy42

Quote from: BlobVanDam on December 11, 2014, 08:19:46 PMHef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Orbert

Yes and No.  I wanted to test the waters, see if keyboard players really are in demand as I'd been led to believe, and as I kinda guessed was true anyway.  It is definitely true.  I was contacted by six people in a week, all looking for keyboard players.  So at the very least, I now know what I'd only suspected before, and I consider knowledge a good thing.

Kinda bad because the band and their situation turned out to be not great.  They're just starting out.  The guitarist is easily the weakest link, but he admits he's not lead guitarist material.  They are currently looking for keyboards and a lead guitarist.  Some of the songs we played, they'd never actually played through as a group before.  Maybe it's not fair to hold them to the same standards as my regular band, but I honestly don't see that as excuse for what I see as the biggest problem, musically anyway.  They just weren't prepared.  The drummer said he was glad he'd listened to the songs earlier that day, or it would've been much worse.  The guitarist was reading chord charts on his iPad while we were playing.  What the fuck, people?  I showed up there with all six songs in the bag, ready to go onstage and play.  Dual keys on three of the songs, background vocals down, the works.  You perform how you practice, which means you show up to practice ready to perform.  I'm just starting to come to terms with singers reading lyrics off an iPad or sheet, but I'm not going to play in a band where there's people reading the chord charts as they play.  There's being able to play the songs, there's knowing how to play the songs, then there's knowing the songs.  Don't tell me you know the song if you have to read it off a chart.  You can play the song, great, you know how to play the song, okay, but you don't know the song.

Turns out Tuesday night is their regular practice night.  They do this every week.  I have no idea how they expect to get anything done as a group if they don't individually do their homework first.  You don't waste band rehearsal time discussing how many times that one section repeats before you go into the solo, or how many bars the solo is.  Theoretically, you've been playing this song along with the mp3 or video or whatever and know exactly how it goes.  That goes for every song.

I told Carol the truth, that I'd forgotten how much work it is to get a band started, but it's not something I'm interested in.  Somehow I'd imagined "band looking for a keyboard player" to mean an established band, already together for a while and maybe even gigging.  All I'd have to do is learn the songs, show up, and suddenly we're awesome.  I didn't think to include that in my profile.  I'm definitely not interested in helping start a new band.  I mentioned the lack of preparation and the chord charts and people not knowing the songs we'd all agreed on a week earlier.

I didn't mention the staircase.

Lax

After a year of playing alone and trying to for a pop punk + metal band, I've been mailed by a pop punk band that just fired a lazy guitarist and that have a gig on 26th january.
Since we got along well on messenger, I think tonights rehearsal will be fine ^^
Even my wife is uber supportive because it's her favorite music ;)
The only goal I have is to maintain 100% availability to my 5 months daughter !

Orbert

Good luck!

It can be tough when you have little kids.  I'd stopped playing in bands when I "got serious" and when back to school, got my degree, got a job, got married, and had kids, but once they were in grade school and junior high, life had settled into a new routine that allowed me time to get out and play again.  Gotta play.

Lax

I felt like I shouldn't wait too long before having a small musical activity again, to avoid routine and being locked (it would be less of a battle).

First rehearsal was great, due to the simplicity of the song it was pretty plug and play, and it felt pretty square right away, so we were overexcited and since there is a gig january 26th, it's a relief !
We are currently choosing the last songs of the set.

Rehearsing again in a studio with a PA system sounded massive :)
(with the muse tribute we rehearsed a lot with headphones)

We made a little facebook page and I can't wait to fill it !

The singer/guitarist just told me to take all the guitar parts, he is not interested in soloing etc, so no battle neither here

Rock on !

Lax

Wow, this topic is surprisingly quiet ! Don't make me think Orbert and I are the only gigging musicians lol

So, rehearsals are going fine, the gig has been a little changed, we play first and it's kind of a private birthday party, so the crowd will be smaller.
I'm a little disappointed but it will be our warmup :)

On the human side, I began to make my opinion on my 3 mates :
On the pro side, they are nice, very positive etc
On the con side, they are disorganized, have various money issues & have kind of lay back behaviour

So yes, I expected it 100% joining a punk band, but I already know that I must be cautious about money and I'm gonna be their mom when preparing gear & gigs...
My first project was to create a band, so I don't mind being in charge.

Cheers Orbert ;)

Orbert

Hiya Lax!

Yeah, I know there are other musicians here on DTF, and I'd have thought that we'd all share war stories about bands, gigs, bandmates, pscyho bandmate girlfriends, etc., but maybe the others are all too busy gigging.  :P

CodyWanKenobi

I'm releasing my new concept album this friday. I've worked on it for the better part of a year so it's been a lengthy project. I've never worked on a single project for that long before. In all fairness, it was supposed to have been ready for release this past August, but long story short, due to a circumstance at work I lost quite a bit of free time to work on it for about seven months (May - Nov). But now it's finished, and I'm super proud of it, and I really think a lot of DTFers would really like it if you guys took the time to listen through it. I suppose my usual concern with releasing concept albums has always been whether or not people actually listen from start to finish, or if they just skip to the next song every 25 seconds. I use bandcamp and what a lot of people don't realize is bandcamp tells me whether or not people listened past the 25% mark. You'd be appalled by how many people skip before the song really gets started. It gets depressing because I work just as hard as any professional band/artist out there (perhaps even harder because I have to find the time/energy while still going to my shitty day job, not to mention I do EVERYTHING - write/record/engineer/program/mix/etc), but the fact that I'm sharing my music on forums (my only real outlet) instead of through some label's social media platform, causes people to have this mentality that it's not a "real" album or whatever. It's pretty disheartening and discouraging that people might not give me the same chance as they would any other "professional" band/artist. Anyone else feel this way?
My latest concept album "III: The Sparrow & The Architect" is out now!
"IV: Timber" Coming October 18, 2024!
linktree = STARCOMMANDStudios

Lax

Gig saturday, I can't wait :)

@thelordofthestrings : There are two separate things to me :

-Concept album with long proggy songs : It's a thing only people enjoying it can listen from start to finish. You need to share a good synopsis and eventually the lyrics for the people to stick and follow. When you see how discreet is ayreon and how flat the astonishing fell, marketing is nearly as important than the music itself for a concept album.

-Unlabeled & "real" album : I feel like ola englund is right on one thing, if you want to sell via internet : release singles. You're on a better start if you put a song that is acclaimed on youtube with a good video clip than releasing a streamed full album.
I don't believe you need a label contract for it to work, even my bank promotes musicians :)
Find your despacito and people will WANT to listen for more and discover you, or it's the same reaction as a wall of text that removes the will to read it.

My 2 cents obviously, I'm not more enlightened than this theory.

Cheers ! And happy and successful release !

CodyWanKenobi

Concept album has released. I'm really proud of it. Hopefully you guys dig it. I think there's something in there for everyone to enjoy.

https://codymckenna.bandcamp.com/album/volume-ii-tribes-oddities
My latest concept album "III: The Sparrow & The Architect" is out now!
"IV: Timber" Coming October 18, 2024!
linktree = STARCOMMANDStudios

Lax

#1765
Congratulations for your release !

Our gig went very well, we begin to share pics and videos already on our page :)
https://www.facebook.com/Noshers06/


Lax

#1766
Update, in theory we gig at the same place again on april 5th ! :) *edit
This time it's not a private party and we'll get paid a little.
We get to play 15 songs (12 before).
Rehearsal time !

Lax

Update :
-The singer left the band to pass exams and leave the region in august
-The drummer's wife is going to replace him (maybe). She sings right with a nice english accent, but has no power :/
-Once we are settled we are going to search for a guitarist or a lead singer guitarist, right now I'm doing it all

Best gigs of the year are between may and july, I don't think we are going to make it...And we just started promoting the band while getting ready !

Happily it's a fun band and we play easy songs, and I'm now the biggest mouth for decisions :D

Orbert

As our drummer keeps saying "Putting a band together is easy.  Keeping it together is the hard part."

Good luck!

FreezingPoint

Finally, after 6 long years, I completed my progressive rock concept album (seems like the concept album idea has been in vogue around here recently). At this point, I'm just happy to have completed it in the first place! It's the first full album I've ever completed and by far has been the most collaborative project I've ever done.

I realized that I did it more for myself than anything else. If anyone else happens to listen to it, that's just a bonus. It feels very strange though - as it sinks in that I am done with the project.

The process was quite a grind, and a lot of fun as well. I think I got the production close to where I want it as well. While it might not be as pristine as Steven Wilson's work, I'm happy with the effort nonetheless.

I did have a blast doing the album art though:





If anyone desires to listen, the album can be found below:

https://avenuex.bandcamp.com/album/building-empires


Well, I figure that's enough of my ramblings, and now it is on to different projects. Not sure about anyone else, but after I complete a set of songs in a certain style, I find that writing a few songs in a completely different style is a refreshing change, almost a cleanser and refresher from the previous project. Definitely going to be trending more electronic for now, which means I can keep to one studio for a while instead of the bouncing back and forth between locations I've been doing over the past few months.

Mosh

Hey everyone. I'm doing some market research for a class and would appreciate it if anyone filled out this short survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVB-XVG5OOm-uyKNE9008olzBrn0-41i5PnhC42vM9GEl0tQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

Lax

So...I feel like I'm in a band that works like a gang, it's caricatural !

We rehearsed once (drum/bass/guitar/singer) and it went ok, but starting over (we cancelled gigs until the music day on june 21th)

Next rehearsal the drummer brought back a guitarist that played with them in the past but got fired because he was whiny and critic all the time.
The guy clearly didn't care about the guitar and wanted the lead singer role.
They got in some kind of fight over internet messenger and it settled down.

Last rehearsal the guy didn't show up and asked if he could arrive around 10pm (we stop around 10:30pm lol).
We discussed a little without him and he got fired.
He messaged us 48 hours to stay, mixing excuses and less nice things to read...
I clearly told the drummer that he had to manage his mistakes when he takes decisions alone.

So, back at 4 people, it works, I shine as the lone lead instrument, but songs are too slowly assimilated.
The singer has a nice voice and english accent, but she just began lessons and her ears aren't used to even check pitch (she sings at the original song's pitch whatever happens).

I didn't think joining the easiest kind of band would be so unproductive :)

Orbert

Quote from: Lax on April 17, 2019, 05:40:15 AM
I didn't think joining the easiest kind of band would be so unproductive :)

:lol I love the smiley there.

Just getting together and jamming with other musicians is good for you, I think.  Maybe not worth it to do all the time, but you gotta check things out, right?

The Walrus

Anybody else play classical music? Just curious. I don't work well with others and am very reclusive with my writings, so I'll probably never have a band or an album made, but I recently got back into playing classical piano after spending the last 5-6 years burnt out after getting my music degree. I've been pulling out works I haven't played in 7+ years over the last week. It's been really cathartic. I kind of lost interest after mastering several pieces I wanted to learn for a very long time. I'll probably be spending the weekend shaking more rust off my fingers and working on Bach two-and-three-part inventions.

Orbert

I play classical music badly.  I took less than a year of piano lessons a long time ago, learned to read and work the pedals, then quit.  I figured you took lessons to learn how to do something, and I'd learned how to play the piano, so I was done.  My sister, on the other hand, kept with it for years and years and ended up getting very, very good.  I now understand the value of studying something for years and years and getting better and better at it.  I didn't then, and I don't know if it would have made a difference.  I went self-taught from that point.

Back when I was in college, I decided to learn a couple of really impressive classical pieces, for the sole purpose of being able to fool people into thinking that I can actually play.  They wouldn't realize that I knew exactly two classical pieces and that's it.  So I learned Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu in C#m, and Debussey's Claire de Lune, which is in Db.  They make a terrific medley.  I'm not good enough to fool real musicians, but I can fool regular people.

Orbert

Double post because why not?

Every summer the church choir takes a break, so the more musically inclined amongst us and the rest of the congregation sign up for Special Music for some service during the summer.  Last week, my partner-in-crime Brian and I whipped out my latest creation, the gospel tune "Every Time I Feel the Spirit" arranged as a Duet for Soprano and Alto Saxophone.  It was a riot.  Got a round of applause, which some people still aren't sure if they can do or not in church, but some do anyway.

Orbert

Me and Brian last summer.  We did a thing for Alto and Tenor.  You get this because no one took pictures of us doing the Soprano and Alto thing.



In previous years, we've mostly done Alto duets, and once or twice I arranged a solo for Brian and I played the piano, but Brian is nuts and keeps buying more saxophones, so we keep doing different things.  I just have the Alto.

Lax

Long time no see !
Things are pretty bad in my band, I won't regret leaving if it happens.

We gigged on june 21th for national music day and it was roughly nice

1) the singer is years from doing the job, because she isn't a musician, pitch and english accent are nice, but she can't memorize or recognize songs structure...And songs often become a crash course when the voice is drifting anywhere.

2) the members are whiny princesses, for a punk band they are the less punk people I ever met. They are pretty silent on messenger, they don't search for any gig and not even for a new rehearsal place because we are leaving ours in august...I'm fed up doing everything

3) they wanted a second guitarist again and they hope to rehearse mid-week with him because I won't play outside weekends. I go to the next rehearsal with a guitarist I know, that I brieffed already.

Honestly, I think there are 80% chances that they are firing me but not face to face, they need me to play music, but we disagree about searching for gigs to get motivated.
I'm not throwing flowers around me, but I should be the frustrated one playing the same songs over and over for months without any band progress.

Am I wrong hating to rehearse just for rehearsing ? (my case is worse because they nearly learn songs at the rehearsal...)

Orbert

Rehearsing "just for rehearsing" is worthwhile if you're making progress.  If you feel like you're getting better, tighter, whatever, then it's worth doing.  Then when you finally score some gigs, you're ready to rock.

Personally, I enjoy rehearsals because I like to play anyway.  I'm lucky to be in a band that I like with people I like, so just getting together every other Saturday to play is cool with me.  But we're always working on stuff, always aiming to improve.  Email goes out earlier in the week, or even the week before, of songs to work on, sometimes calling out specific spots that were rough the last time we played out.  So it's rehearsal with a purpose, not "just to rehearse".

Five years ago, I didn't feel the same way.  I'd been out of gigging since the 80's.  The closest I came to live performance was playing with the church praise band once a month (which was cool, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't quite "real gigging").  So five years ago, I was happy just to get my Yamaha POS out and play with others.  It was great rocking again, playing the old songs, and learning new ones.  Gigging was not even a goal at the time; we just wanted to play.

But once you've reached a certain point (which I think is what you're getting at), just playing the songs over and over isn't doing any good.  If you're not getting any better, not learning any new songs, and don't have any gigs on the books, then what's the point?  I mean sure, play the songs once in a while to make sure you don't get rusty, but if it's genuinely boring for at least one of you, it's not healthy.

Lax

Precisely, furthermore because we are talking about blink182 level covers, I could play them live without rehearsing !

I left this morning, the fact that they are pushing for 2 rehearsals a week, and the way they behave (pretty disrespectfully) showed me there is nothing to be done.

I have one holidays month to spend with my family and I'll check once back what I wanna do, personnal project or joining a metal band...No hurry, I feel even better right now.

Next gig for now is june 2020 for a wedding :D

Orbert

I think that as you get older, the whole deal with "the band" becomes different.  When you're young with stars in your eyes and your band is going to be playing in front of huge crowds someday, it's the most important thing in your life.  Blood, sweat, and tears go into keeping it going.  Later, the band is still important, and as before it lives or dies because of its members and how they work within it.  But priorities change.

Of course it's still great to get together and play music, but you're probably not willing to put up with as much shit in order for it to happen.  Maybe you have other opportunities, maybe your family and/or significant other and the balance you've struck between them and the band isn't working.  And so on.  There can be a million reasons why the band isn't the most important thing in your life anymore, all of them legit.

I'm glad I have a band to play with, but I also have many other interests, musical and otherwise.  But if it ever got to the point where "the band" was causing issues elsewhere in my life, it's still just my hobby.  You have one life to live.  Spend it doing what brings yourself and others joy.

Lax

I agree, but a minimum chemistry is needed in both cases, if there are internal issues, it will go wrong, whatever level of dedication you are.

I only talk about cover bands, we usually don't run after exposure and big money, only good venues and fun, money is a bonus :D

Orbert

Absolutely.  With the band I'm in now, the founder/leader/manager has always emphasized "fit".  People need to fit together.  Talent is important, but we'll take a slightly less talented person who isn't a pain to work with.  I think that's the chemistry you're talking about.  The band has to get along, and have reasonably aligned goals, or it's just not going to be any fun.  And since we're not making a ton of money doing this, it has to at least be fun or there's no point.

The Walrus

Quote from: Orbert on July 25, 2019, 07:07:59 PM
I play classical music badly.  I took less than a year of piano lessons a long time ago, learned to read and work the pedals, then quit.  I figured you took lessons to learn how to do something, and I'd learned how to play the piano, so I was done.  My sister, on the other hand, kept with it for years and years and ended up getting very, very good.  I now understand the value of studying something for years and years and getting better and better at it.  I didn't then, and I don't know if it would have made a difference.  I went self-taught from that point.

Back when I was in college, I decided to learn a couple of really impressive classical pieces, for the sole purpose of being able to fool people into thinking that I can actually play.  They wouldn't realize that I knew exactly two classical pieces and that's it.  So I learned Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu in C#m, and Debussey's Claire de Lune, which is in Db.  They make a terrific medley.  I'm not good enough to fool real musicians, but I can fool regular people.

That... is actually very impressive. The Fantasie Impromptu is a real bitch just to learn on one hand let alone two, and Claire de Lune is deceptively difficult, doesn't look like it, but trying to get the emotion and delicate tones out of the piano and knowing how to emphasize the dynamics properly is not a simple feat. That's really cool :)

Orbert

Thanks.  I'm stubborn.  The sixteenths in the right hand against the triplets in the left are nuts.  I literally had to learn each part separately and just mathematically fit them together.  At least that's how it works in my mind.  But basically, they're just patterns.  Practice them enough, and eventually muscle memory takes over and you can play it.  It's a technical bitch, but yeah, it's pretty impressive when you can do it.  It helps that I really do love that piece and wanted to learn it.  I had no idea how hard it was, but I can read, so it was just a matter of working it up.

The Db major arpeggio at the end leads perfectly into Claire de Lune so I just run them together.  Claire de Lune is like the opposite kind of challenge.  The arrangement is sparse, so everything is emotion, feeling, and timing.  Once again, the idea was "If I can pull this off, people will think I can actually play".  Maybe I can.  I guess it depends on your definition.

I think of that scene from the movie Curly Sue, where Jim Belushi is showing how smart the little girl is.  He has her spell "avalanche" or "anthropology" or whatever, some high-level words.  Then the lady asks her to spell "cat" and she can't.  She can't actually spell those big words; she just memorized the answers.  That's kind of where I am about playing the piano.  I can't sit down and whip out a Beethoven Sonata or even a Mozart Etude.  But I've got a couple of pieces I worked up that dazzle people and make them think I can play.  Kinda twisted, really.