Right and the unfortunate thing around my area is that there are a lot of bands that get out there and do a half-assed job of it, but I truly do not think they realize it. The market is so saturated with mediocre bands, that trying to put a truly great band together and get it noticed is difficult. I take no joy in being critical, but I cannot tell you how often I go out to see bands and the mistakes (that may not even be noticeable to the average person) stand out like a sore thumb to me. Not even necessarily mistakes, but not playing something the right way. An example, albeit not a great one: on Metal Health, in the verse - bass rides the A. Guitars play A, B/A, C/A, B/A. Just before the chorus, they go A5, B5, C5, D5. Bass goes A-A-C-D. When bassists go A-B-C-D, it makes me nuts.
That's a very small thing and some would say "What's the big deal?" Actually, I imagine lots of people would say "what's the big deal". The big deal is play the song correctly and make it the best recreation of the original that you are capable of delivering. I do my best to make my part of what we do the best that it can be. When "good enough" is good enough for everyone else, my experience has been that "good enough" is musician-speak for "I don't want to go out of my way to learn this song any differently than I already think I know it".
I seriously wanted to float the idea of being the band's musical director. Like how Waddy Wachtel is for Stevie Nicks. Overseeing everything and making sure it is up to snuff, for lack of a better term. The problem is, while most bands could actually benefit from someone taking on that kind of role, it will almost never fly, especially in local bands, because it makes everyone else's ego hurt. And I totally get that. Plus then you become the bad guy, that nothing's ever good enough for, etc. But I still think that a band could benefit form it, especially when it's someone who has a very good ear and understanding of music in the theoretical sense.
I get that beggars can't be choosers. It's supposed to be fun and it's supposed to be part time. This isn't our livelihood. I just have never been in agreement that if you play an instrument and you want to be in a band, even on a part time basis, that having fun AND delivering a tight and accurate representation of the material cannot exist hand-in-hand. My bass player has told me a number of times that he can't just hear things on a recording and pick them out. Like in "Panama", there's a short little bass fill the measure before the verse. He will never hear it and therefore will never play it. I recognize that I am VERY lucky to be able to hear things like this, but I sometimes feel like it's a curse, because I'm wishing for all these little things that I hear to happen in the music when we play it and in reality, they're probably never going to happen, unless I point them out and show it to someone. Then not only am I "doing the work" for someone else, I (again) fear becoming the guy who nothing is good enough for.
I'm rambling, really. I just want to play part time in a band where everybody "gets it" and pulls off everything the way it should be done. There are SOOOOOOO many musicians in my area, that this can't be an impossibility. Yet I fear that it kinda is.
I'm way too particular about music and the people that I play with. I readily admit that. I want any band I'm in to come across like a lion, when usually, they're equipped to come across like a very menacing house cat. I wish there was a way to turn off that switch in my head that makes me so particular, that makes me hear another band perform and in my head notice all the glaring issues, that makes me always want to push my bandmates to be better and better when they may not have it in them. I don't think I can.
Topic: All musicians unite! - The Musicians Chat Thread (Read 302770 times)
