Upcoming Music-school gig

With only one week left until my upcoming music-school gig, I think it's better to start a new thread, considering how confusing things are starting to get... As it is right now, the general plan involves me playing on three occasions, while practically everyone else gets to go on-stage only once. I'm not entirely sure how this happened, but I don't really mind. I'm guessing my teacher believes that I'll be able to handle taking the stage three times. Two of the times I'll be going on-stage, I'll be playing Rhythm, though, while the third time will be me alone, playing "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" (and possibly more stuff, if they'll allow it, but the plan is that I'll only be playing "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"). It seems I'll still be jamming with the other guitarist (perhaps. I'll find out tomorrow), and I'll still be playing along to a singer (messed up that rehearsal today...), so it seems pretty much like everything is back to the original plan, only with the addition of me playing something myself.

If the guitarist is interested in trying something slightly more long-term, I might even have a second guitarist lined up for my own little band that I'm trying to put together. I've got a Drummer and Bassist I'll be jamming with soon, and I wouldn't mind having a second Guitarist. Then all that's left is a decent rock-singer. We'll see when the time comes. The Drummer and Bassist already seem enthusiastic enough, so that's a good start, if nothing else. For now, getting through the music-school gig alive (and without screwing up) is the most important thing.

Wow, this gig of yours seems to be ever changing.

If you have a line on a drummer and a bass player, you have the most difficult pieces in place. With a good bass player, you can get away with a single guitar. Having a second guitar can be helpful is some situations and allow you to do more songs.

Hopefully you don't have a hard time finding a singer. We are. Hopefully we find one soon.

You have to be careful having 2 guitar players. You want to coordinate parts, especially if you are both playing rhythm at the same time. Egos can become an issue too regarding solos and who is playing what. For now, we are just avoiding the situation by having a single guitar player.

So the countdown begins...best of luck!!! ...and keep us posted!

Yeah, it seems like whoever's in charge of the gig has trouble sticking to one plan :) Every week, it's changed, for better or worse. Let's hope it's not going to change again.

As for the drummer and bassist, keep in mind that we aren't officially a band yet. We've talked for a while, and I find them both to be some of the nicest guys I've talked to in my search for band members. There was one other, but he only wanted to do covers and was only in it for the money. Nice to talk to, very skilled, horrible mindset. I'm not certain on the guitarist yet either. It would be cool to have two guitars, but as you point out, there's the problem of egos. I'd rather go without a second guitarist, to start with, if that gives less ego-struggles :) The drummer has also pointed out that if we can just start out with Guitar, Bass and Drums, we have a trio, which is a good start (and hey, a trio works for some bands. Just look at ZZ Top. They're a trio, and they're doing just fine). I'm not too keen on having to do vocals, but if that's what it takes just to get a band up and running, I'll have to live with it for a while, until we find a dedicated singer :)

Add: We may have found a jam-date now. Saturday next week suits me and the bassist, and the drummer said it would be fine any time next week, so I take it he can do it on Saturday too :)

Plenty of power trios out there - let's not forget Rush!!! and The Police. The Who had a dedicated singer, so only 3 instruments there too.

Keep it simple, and add on as needed down the road!

I'm sure there are plenty of power trios out there :) ZZ Top is just the first one I think of when someone talks about trios :)

I agree that it's better to get the band rolling and then add the needed band members as we start to need them. There's no point in adding a second guitarist if we write music for a guitar with keys on Rhythm. Then it's better to see how things turn out.

Well, the upcoming gig is getting even closer, and the obligatory pre-gig nerves are starting to set in (even more so due to the utter and complete fiasco that was Wednesday's rehearsal with the singer I'll be backing for...). So far, the schedule is that I'll be arriving at 16:40 on Tuesday and warm up, have a last rehearsal with the other guitarist at 17:00, have a final rehearsal with the singer at 18:00, and then the show starts at 19:00. I should probably make sure to get dinner early, or I'll just collapse halfway through the gig (not cool)... I'm still scheduled to play three times, so collapsing before I'm done playing would really make me look unprofessional, and I was already planning on taking this gig as seriously as possible, to the point where I'll be wearing something I'd wear to a real gig and move around and if they'll allow it, I'll even be using my pedals! I've learned from jamming with others that it's important to wear something I'm comfortable with wearing, yet at the same time, not too comfortable or my creativity during solos seems to suffer a bit... I don't see this as a too serious gig, though. More like "a final exam before starting a band" :) If I can't play this gig, how can I ever hope to become a rock-star?

I hope Tuesday's two rehearsals will be more successful than the two I've had this week. The one with the singer turned into a total catastrophe, to the point where I might as well just not have played (and it would probably have sounded better that way...). The room was just incredibly hot, so I could barely focus, and playing a song with tons of Barre Chords didn't make things better (we've avoided that problem with a Capo, though). Todays rehearsal with the guitarist went pretty well. We managed to get it pretty tight, but we played it a bit too fast, so our playing was a bit sloppy. If we just play it at 100BPM instead of 120, we'll be fine. It sounds better at 100 anyway :) When I get past the gig, I should really consider checking if either Rocksmith or Christopher has any advice for how to practice switching between Open and Barre Chords :) (Okay, just checked. At least Chris has some lessons on "practicing Barre Chords" and switching between the different Barre Chord Shapes... I'll have to go over those when I get a guitar in my hands!!!)

So in short, the plan is: Get in there, set up my gear (preferably including pedals) and rock off and play as many songs as they'll allow during my private slot :D

Well, I made it through the gig alive, even though my Lead playing was a bit sloppy during the Blues Jam, but that was only during a single lick. I did also get a single chord wrong during the song I played along to, but again, nobody noticed and I managed to save it.

I'm actually surprised that they somehow managed to change the plans one last time, only 5 minutes before it began. I lost my solo-segment, but at least I still got to play, so I'm happy. I also managed to find out exactly why the amplifier I've been using for the lessons (and my playing today) was an extremely bad guitar amp. It turns out it isn't even a guitar amp! It was a Bass Amp (the room used for guitar lessons is also used for Bass Guitar lessons, so I assume my teacher had been using the wrong amp). It does explain why the one I used had no Gain control, and had an overly Bass-heavy tone regardless of how I dialed the EQ. Starting from Thursday, I'll be using the other amp, which is actually a Guitar Amp :)

I talked to the other guitarist while we were carrying the amps back to the lesson-room, and our teacher suggested that we should continue playing together because it was really tight and we really did our best. I said that I've already got a scheduled jam with a bassist (sadly the drummer hasn't been responding at all), and I invited him to come jam with us, and gave him the time and date for the jam. He seemed pretty interested, so I'm hoping he'll be up for it. I could use a great guitarist to back me up, and since he also plays Lead, and we're pretty good at coordinating things, I could easily see us split the solos between us. He has a different tone than me, but that's okay. It wouldn't be fun any other way :) I'm hoping he'll let me know one of the next days before the jam-session, so I can know in advance, and so I can tell him to send some info to the venue we'll be borrowing a practice-space from, because they require all musicians using the practice-spaces to be in their system :)

Very cool!!! Congrats on your first gig in front of strangers!!! Glad to hear the nerves didn't get the better of you! If you didn't pay the bum chord and bad note any mind, your audience didn't either!

That's great that you now may have another guitar player to work with too. It's good that he has a different tone that you...adds variety!

Enjoy basking in the glow of your success!!!

Originally Posted by: maggiorVery cool!!! Congrats on your first gig in front of strangers!!! Glad to hear the nerves didn't get the better of you! If you didn't pay the bum chord and bad note any mind, your audience didn't either!

That's great that you now may have another guitar player to work with too. It's good that he has a different tone that you...adds variety!

Enjoy basking in the glow of your success!!!

I actually did pay the mistakes some attention... I was just about to play the wrong chord, and just immediately thought "wrong chord", then did a little kind of walk-in to the next chord. Luckily, my pick had only hit the Bass-Note, so it wasn't a big problem to save that mistake :)

I agree that it's good that the other guitarist has a different tone. It would get boring if we both played with the same gear and settings. As far as I know, he only has one guitar, a Fender Squier Telecaster with Single-coil pickups, so obviously that's gonna give a different tone than my three Epiphones, all of which are equipped with Alnico Humbucker pickups of different kinds. His style also seems to be heavily derived from the Blues, while mine is more Classic Rock-based.

Right now, I'm just looking forward to jamming with that Bassist. I hope it'll go well, but if it doesn't, me and the other guitarist can always just find a place to jam, and find a bassist and a drummer to start with. The music school should have some who might be interested :)

Did somebody record it?

For years I only had a single guitar - my strat.

Well yeah, you have to pay the mistakes *some* mind :-). Sounds like you handled them well.

My band thing seems to be stalling. I'm getting fed up that we can't even decide on songs to work on... In the meantime I'm just going back to focus on skills I was working on before this whole band thing came up in January.

Originally Posted by: maggiorDid somebody record it?

For years I only had a single guitar - my strat.

Well yeah, you have to pay the mistakes *some* mind :-). Sounds like you handled them well.

My band thing seems to be stalling. I'm getting fed up that we can't even decide on songs to work on... In the meantime I'm just going back to focus on skills I was working on before this whole band thing came up in January.

I actually don't know if my sister got any good recording of it. She's the only one who had a phone out during the whole time, so if anyone got any recording, that would be her.

I'm not saying that it's a bad thing that I've only seen him with the Telecaster :) If it feels good to him and he likes the sound, I'm not complaining. My LP feels great in my hands, so obviously that's the one I use the most. My ES-345 is a close second, because of its tone (I got it at half price because the pickguard was missing, and it still cost more than my LP or SG). It doesn't feel quite as good, probably due to the larger body, which takes some getting used to, but the tone is just awesome. I think it's gonna be featured on my next recording once I actually get my sh*t together and go back in the studio/practice-room/guest-room... For some reason I just haven't been able to concentrate on doing anything remotely related to recording for the last week. I haven't even come up with any cool riffs in the last few days!

On the bright side, not going in the studio to record for the last few days has let me have some time to play Rocksmith again. I've almost got "Paint It Black" (The Rolling Stones), "My Generation" (The Who) and "Pour Some Sugar On Me" (Def Leppard, 2012-version) nailed down, and I started on a Rush-song and "Walk This Way" (Aerosmith) last week and both are coming along nicely :)

Sucks to hear that your band is stuck. I hope you guys can find a few songs you all want to work on. I know how hard it can be to find a few songs that multiple people want to play. Me and the bassist I'll be jamming with had to go through about 20 songs before we found one song ("Summer Of 69") we both liked, and the Drummer (who claimed he was up for playing almost anything, as long as it wasn't extreme metal) didn't like that song, so he decided to just cease all communication with us... So now I'm here without a Drummer... well, still without a Drummer :)

If the bassist doesn't work out, I'll keep in touch with the other guitarist, and we can try arranging something. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I could just tell today when we rehearsed before the gig, and when we jammed at the gig, that... it was there. There was this magical, musical connection that I've never noticed with any of the musicians I've gone through so far, in my search for band-mates. I know nothing about his style, influences or preferred genres, but the connection was there for the first time in my life!

Originally Posted by: KasperowI'm not sure how to describe it, but I could just tell today when we rehearsed before the gig, and when we jammed at the gig, that... it was there. There was this magical, musical connection that I've never noticed with any of the musicians I've gone through so far, in my search for band-mates. I know nothing about his style, influences or preferred genres, but the connection was there for the first time in my life!

That's cool!!! I would say definitely stay in touch with him! It doesn't matter about his style or influences, if there was a connection, pursue it!

Can't say I've experience that yet. One day...

Originally Posted by: maggiorThat's cool!!! I would say definitely stay in touch with him! It doesn't matter about his style or influences, if there was a connection, pursue it!

Can't say I've experience that yet. One day...

Yeah. The connection is more important than individual styles. One of the examples I know most about would be the classic GNR lineup. Slash, Duff and Steve joined the band a week before going on tour, and they had vastly different influences and styles, but as Slash says in one of the books I've read about them: "We had one day of rehearsal, and it was like a synergy. It was like we'd been playing together for years!" That's exactly how I felt today, jamming with this other guitarist! It doesn't matter who he's inspired by or what he wants to play. We can make it work. We've proven that today with 20 witnesses or something like that. We just need to keep in touch, find a few others to complete the lineup, and find a place to jam! And keeping in touch and finding a place to jam is easy enough.

Well, I've got awesome news and bad news (and the awesome ones are exactly that; Awesome!):

The awesome news first: I just got a text from the other guitarist I've jammed with for some time now in preparation for that music-school gig, and he wants to continue playing together! We're playing really well together, and now I'm not the only one who wants to keep this musical team-work going! I'm not sure how much we can get done with just two guitarists at the moment, but since I've tried working a bit with Ableton to produce MIDI-tracks, I might be able to put some backing tracks together for us to jam along to :)

The bad news: He doesn't have time this weekend, so we'll have to find some time that fits into his plans. I suppose that's not really bad news after all, since I now have a nice guitar player, who's at a level close to my own (I think I have a bit more theoretical knowledge, but his playing is a bit more fluid than mine and his Phrasing is pretty good compared to mine).

Now we just need to find out when to meet, what to play and how to split the solos between us :) Ideally, in my opinion, we'd each get one half of the solos. I've seen local bands with two guitarists who do that, and it works pretty well (and the crowd usually likes those bands more than those who have a designated Lead Guitarist and a designated Rhythm Guitarist). It also makes things a bit more interesting, since we have different tones (obvious, since he uses single-coils in his Tele, while I use Humbuckers) :)

Let's see where this musical adventure will go...

Having a core meaning the two of would make it more attractive to a person thinking about joining. I the lead guitarist and vocalist always stayed together so we just had to look for a bass and drummer. We only had two drummers for the most part and 4 bass players. Well there was a lot more than that if you count all the auditions.

I'll enjoy dropping in and checking out this thread, following the adventure.

I've just come home from jamming with a Bassist, and I think it's pretty safe to say that this band I'm putting together is going to be the best band I'll ever play in! Me and the other guitarist play very well together, me and the Bassist play really well together... Next time, it'll be two guitarists and a Bassist (and a drummer if we find one in time), and with three members, it should become more attractive for drummers. We can always find a singer when we have the musicians gathered :)

Often the singer you choose will decide what key you play songs in. Most people have a certain range of notes they can sing, so the songs have to change to fit their key. Worth keeping in mind when choosing singers.

It's cool your getting to jam with other people and this band thing is falling in place for you.

Originally Posted by: haghj500Often the singer you choose will decide what key you play songs in. Most people have a certain range of notes they can sing, so the songs have to change to fit their key. Worth keeping in mind when choosing singers.

It's cool your getting to jam with other people and this band thing is falling in place for you.

Yeah. And I've got a new drummer lined up just a few hours after I got home yesterday. Which means? I've got Drums, Bass and two Guitars covered! So now I just need to find a time where all the other three guys have the time, and the Rock-Band will be complete.

As for a singer, we'll have to do auditions to find the right one. I know that people have certain vocal ranges. In my opinion, a singer with a wide vocal-range would be the best, but I don't expect the singer to be Freddie Mercury, Axl Rose or Myles Kennedy... That would just be too much to expect since we're all somewhat new. Out of the current "lineup", I'm the one who's been playing for longest, with the Bassist being the newest. Of course, I don't consider this "lineup" a band just yet. It needs to be tested by having everyone sit/stand in the room and jam for a few hours first. If that goes well and people like eachother, I'll conisder it a band :) But first, I'll have to find out when the next jam will be, and that seems to be harder than I thought it would be :)

Speaking of everyone getting together in one room, a place to practice needs to be on your list of things to figure out. If you all or parts of you all hit it off, you will want to practice more than once or twice a week.

Originally Posted by: haghj500Speaking of everyone getting together in one room, a place to practice needs to be on your list of things to figure out. If you all or parts of you all hit it off, you will want to practice more than once or twice a week.

That's probably easier said than done, considering that half the "lineup" has studies while the other half has a job, which in both cases takes up a certain amount of time :) Then there's the fact that both the Bassist and Drummer live over 50 kilometers away, but are willing to drive to jam with the band, which also takes time. So I'll actually be happy if we can meet every weekend and jam. I've already got a few places in town where we can jam, so that's less of a worry :) Aside from that, I've searched for some out-of-town options too, that might be good too. We really just need to get everyone together in the same room and see how things go :)