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So last night my band played our first show after 6 months (2-3 times per month) of practicing and I wanted to share my thoughts about the aftermath.
First off, the sound was terrible. Every band last night complained about the sound guy not knowing what he was doing. None of us could hear each other which made it difficult. It was clear the other bands faced the same problem because normally they are really tight and so are we.
We had a large problem with organization. We only had one practice that we could consider a "dress rehersal" where we run through the tunes in order of our set with all the guitar changes, talking between songs, and anything else we are doing from start to finish.
It was clear to me we were unorganized as heck. I am not trying to blame anyone because I know I made mistakes during the songs but our singers ranted on about nothing between songs, the drummer started tunes while the other guitarist was SWITCHING GUITARS, and overall it seemed very unorganized. I also know for a fact that the singers (one does keys and backup vocals) and drummer did not spend a lot of time outside of practice working on anything despite being asked nicely to do so while the other guitarist and I got together A LOT and worked on our stuff. We had our tunes done left, right, up, down, and every which way. So much so that if one of us breaks a string, the other can keep going.
I am hoping that is because it was our first gig and we needed to work out the jitters and that it will only get better from here but I am a little concerned.
The other guys in the band are not taking it as seriously in my opinion. Someone will screw up, not learn a part, or do something that is just plain wrong and the others will try to justify it. Now I am not doing this to be famous and I don't want to babysit/tell people what to do but unless I am mistaken there is a certain level of professionalism and musicianship that EVERY band needs to have in order for anyone to take it seriously.
Someone once told me you should take your music seriously but not to the point where you are not having fun and you should have fun but not to the point where you are not taking your music seriously.
I guess I am most upset because I harped on those guys to make sure they know what they are doing. The singers would come to practice without their lyrics memorized (one of them claiming he was only doing backup vocals and he does not need to memorize the timing or anything because he can watch the lead singer) and the drummer would have to look at me when we changed parts in a song instead of just playing by ear. I know some musicians in orchestras need to look at sheet music but come on. I think that regardless of what we play, whether we sing, play guitar, or drum, we should all know our parts well enough to play them based on what we hear without having to watch each other. I know we need to be able to communicate onstage but seriously.. learn your friggin parts already.
I think I am done ranting but has anyone experienced anything like this or does anyone have any words of encouragement? We have another show on friday and I am hoping that goes better...
First off, the sound was terrible. Every band last night complained about the sound guy not knowing what he was doing. None of us could hear each other which made it difficult. It was clear the other bands faced the same problem because normally they are really tight and so are we.
We had a large problem with organization. We only had one practice that we could consider a "dress rehersal" where we run through the tunes in order of our set with all the guitar changes, talking between songs, and anything else we are doing from start to finish.
It was clear to me we were unorganized as heck. I am not trying to blame anyone because I know I made mistakes during the songs but our singers ranted on about nothing between songs, the drummer started tunes while the other guitarist was SWITCHING GUITARS, and overall it seemed very unorganized. I also know for a fact that the singers (one does keys and backup vocals) and drummer did not spend a lot of time outside of practice working on anything despite being asked nicely to do so while the other guitarist and I got together A LOT and worked on our stuff. We had our tunes done left, right, up, down, and every which way. So much so that if one of us breaks a string, the other can keep going.
I am hoping that is because it was our first gig and we needed to work out the jitters and that it will only get better from here but I am a little concerned.
The other guys in the band are not taking it as seriously in my opinion. Someone will screw up, not learn a part, or do something that is just plain wrong and the others will try to justify it. Now I am not doing this to be famous and I don't want to babysit/tell people what to do but unless I am mistaken there is a certain level of professionalism and musicianship that EVERY band needs to have in order for anyone to take it seriously.
Someone once told me you should take your music seriously but not to the point where you are not having fun and you should have fun but not to the point where you are not taking your music seriously.
I guess I am most upset because I harped on those guys to make sure they know what they are doing. The singers would come to practice without their lyrics memorized (one of them claiming he was only doing backup vocals and he does not need to memorize the timing or anything because he can watch the lead singer) and the drummer would have to look at me when we changed parts in a song instead of just playing by ear. I know some musicians in orchestras need to look at sheet music but come on. I think that regardless of what we play, whether we sing, play guitar, or drum, we should all know our parts well enough to play them based on what we hear without having to watch each other. I know we need to be able to communicate onstage but seriously.. learn your friggin parts already.
I think I am done ranting but has anyone experienced anything like this or does anyone have any words of encouragement? We have another show on friday and I am hoping that goes better...
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