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I put "band" in quotes because it's more a group of people I get together with on a weekly basis to play music. We're so awful that I can't imagine playing in front of people other than maybe some close friends. We don't even have a bass player, though they keep telling me their bass playing friend will show up one of these days. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to be in any serious / pro kind of group. And it's nice to have a place where I can go and play with a real drummer and be able to turn up my amp without pissing people off. BUT, we've been playing together for almost a year, and during that time there has been very little improvement. The sad thing is these guys seem to think we're pretty good and keep threatening to set up gigs. I insist that until we get a bass player I'm not doing it. Honestly, even if we did get a bass player I'm still not sure I'd be comfortable playing out -- we're that bad!
The drummer decided he wanted to play drums about 3 years ago, and he's no spring chicken. While it's admirable he'd try and pick up an instrument at his age, I just don't think it's working out for him. To put it frankly, the guy couldn't hold a beat if his life depended on it. With almost every attempt at a fill, he will cut the measure short. Since there's no bassist to keep the song driving, it basically f*cks the entire song. I gave him my drum machine to practice along with, but I don't think he's used it even once. I have tried getting everyone to play along with a click track / drum machine beat to hopefully fix the rythme issues, but they can't seem to appreciate the need to practice like that regularly.
The singers are almost always off key. One of them can sing really well, but only on boring chick songs. Anything more agressive and she sends the family pets running for cover. Singing is something I don't do well at all either, so I'm reluctant to criticize. Plus I'm not sure it would really accomplish anything. The drummer is actually a reasonable singer and does backup vocals pretty well, unfortunately it makes his awful drumming even worse when he tries to drum and sing at the same time. Sigh.
Another member can't seem to decide whether she's a singer, electric guitarist, acoustic guitarist, or keyboardist, and ends up doing all of them rather badly. Too bad, she'd probably be reasonable if she stuck with acoustic guitar, but she doesn't seem to want to do that.
I guess the good news is they are all interesting people and I enjoy hanging with them, drinking a few drinks, playing a few songs. We're all busy with families and careers, so I can't really expect they dedicate that much time at getting better. But still, at some point I gotta wonder whether I'd be better off hanging out in my studio and doing some solo recording!
Oh well, just had to vent. I hope this amuses some of you!
The drummer decided he wanted to play drums about 3 years ago, and he's no spring chicken. While it's admirable he'd try and pick up an instrument at his age, I just don't think it's working out for him. To put it frankly, the guy couldn't hold a beat if his life depended on it. With almost every attempt at a fill, he will cut the measure short. Since there's no bassist to keep the song driving, it basically f*cks the entire song. I gave him my drum machine to practice along with, but I don't think he's used it even once. I have tried getting everyone to play along with a click track / drum machine beat to hopefully fix the rythme issues, but they can't seem to appreciate the need to practice like that regularly.
The singers are almost always off key. One of them can sing really well, but only on boring chick songs. Anything more agressive and she sends the family pets running for cover. Singing is something I don't do well at all either, so I'm reluctant to criticize. Plus I'm not sure it would really accomplish anything. The drummer is actually a reasonable singer and does backup vocals pretty well, unfortunately it makes his awful drumming even worse when he tries to drum and sing at the same time. Sigh.
Another member can't seem to decide whether she's a singer, electric guitarist, acoustic guitarist, or keyboardist, and ends up doing all of them rather badly. Too bad, she'd probably be reasonable if she stuck with acoustic guitar, but she doesn't seem to want to do that.
I guess the good news is they are all interesting people and I enjoy hanging with them, drinking a few drinks, playing a few songs. We're all busy with families and careers, so I can't really expect they dedicate that much time at getting better. But still, at some point I gotta wonder whether I'd be better off hanging out in my studio and doing some solo recording!
Oh well, just had to vent. I hope this amuses some of you!
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