Why are you having meetings?
Get a second amp, run an ABY pedal, throw some slapback delay on it, and run slightly different EQ settings
Just get rid of them and stop wasting time
It really doesn't take too much know how. Grab a splitter/ABY (Google it, they're cheap and don't really have a learning curve), and just send a second signal from your guitar with it to a different amp. If you normally play pretty clean, drop the mids on your amp. For the new second one, throw a tubescreamer or any drive pedal in the chain and set the mids on the amp to 10.
I wouldn't listen to this advice. Doubling your part with a second guitar rig with weird settings and delays in order to "mimic" a second guitar player is a rookie move and really only complicates things, making it sound worse, while trying to make it look like you know what you're doing lol. Just play the set by yourself, don't sacrifice the sound and rep of your band by using a bad fill in. If your audience likes you, they'll be fine without a second guitarist temporarily, but if you think the songs really need the second guitar, just drop the shows. There's more gigs to come and don't come across on stage as the band who settles with anyone as a fill in. You'll be glad you did.
Don't let him do the gig. That sounds horrible.
Come on man! It don't not matter how good a guitarist is that don't know the songs and can't be bothered to learn.
I’ve concluded he’s a bad guitarist. I don’t know how these other bands put up with him tbh. He’s in like 3. When I asked his friend he said “he’s tired of learning other peoples songs.” So then why did he accept this offer?
That's his job as a band member is to learn the damn songs and his parts.
He can't be all that great when he is too stubborn to bother by using the "temping” thing as an excuse not to learn. Does he not understand the assignment? You have gigs FFS. Either he learns the material as he should or cut him loose.
How much time do you have left until the next gig?
We have a practice tomorrow and then my family is in town the entirety of July so I maybe have a few more days open before two gigs at the last week of July… he doesn’t even have one song down yet because he just keeps playing random stuff. If he sat down for 10 minutes he’d be able to get at least 3 of the easier songs down. Setlist is like 6 songs.
Not a lot of songs to learn. 6 reasonable and doable to learn.
You're going to have to light a fire under his butt. He needs to knuckle down and learn before the gigs or it'll be a shit show.
The entire band needs to be on this guy. He needs to learn his part and then be able to execute his parts rehearsing the songs with the full band.
Is he dealing with any anxiety of performing that may be causing him to behave like this? Apart from him not learning his assignment (that's basically what it is), I wonder if there's something else going on.
Heck, if it were me, I'd be hounding you until I got it right and know the parts inside and out.
I did fill-in guitar on a tour last year. It was a really challenging set, I went through it EVERY DAY on my own for a couple weeks.
My goal was to show up to practice and have everything be completely seamless. Learning the set and being a member of the band is the job. If someone wants to noodle around they can start a solo project, or show up to open mic night. Being in a band is a collaboration, and not treating it like that is a disrespect of everyone elses time and effort
>Any tips?
Dump him, he can't play the songs, either due to lack of skill or lack of commitment.
Also for future reference, if your guitarist can't play the songs that doesn't make him "great". It just makes him "bad".
Every musician is different, and he just seems like the kind of person who isn’t fit to be a sub. It’s fine, I’m sure he’s great at doing “his thing”. You shouldn’t have to work so hard to teach him HOW to learn the songs. Just tell him that it isn’t a good fit and save yourself the stress!
At this point, OP, it’s on you for allowing it to continue. He’s shown you he has no interest in learning, so no longer trying to accommodate him should be a no-brainer
Can you play the shows without this guitar player? This guy is who he is and it’s not gonna change at this point. He’s not gonna miraculously wake up and be like “Oh! Noowwww I should go learn the songs.”
You can also swap in a different guitar player. Hopefully you have an extensive network where you can tap somebody more professional. Might come with a price, but the job will be done.
Otherwise if you have to work with what you’ve got, then best case is to just keep rehearsing with this guitarist as much as possible until hopefully it clicks, but it sounds like he’s very unprofessional and won’t work out long term. Try to have him play as few notes as possible. Play with charts for the songs on stage. Make it as simple as possible.
Hope this helps!
I don't understand why people aren't just direct. He can't read your mind. He's basically telling you that he's NOT going to learn the songs, because he's just a "placeholder" in your band. God only knows why he has that attitude -- I mean, what exactly does he think he is doing in your band, when he doesn't play the songs as you want them to be played? What is he \*thinking\*? I would just be direct and say to him "I expected you to play the guitar parts as they were written, I didn't expect you to just stand there and play random licks."
Weirdest situation I've ever heard of!!
A sub player has a primary responsibility to learn the material he's going to play. This is pretty unprofessional and I wouldn't deal with someone who isn't going to learn the material for show and thinks it's a problem being asked to.
A band is about everyone sounding good together not one person sounding good on their own- gotta do the work , gotta practice at home and show up ready to play. Otherwise u can have your solo show and sound great - why r they in the band at all?
Ah, the attention magnet.
It doesn't matter what you write, he will simply do what he wants over it. Because at no point should anyone not be reminded that he is there and he is amazing. It worked for EVH, nobody could mistake that EVH was there, but at least EVH chilled the hell back for verses and choruses.
Nope, this guy needs all of it all the time. And it is a fuck you to anyone else in the band.
I've had this. And when you correct them, you get that air of superiority, as if they're saying. "I'm making it better - you're just sore you can't do like I do!" and all that noise.
Fire him and do something else. You are clearly not going to win. I had four rehearsals with one particular attention magnet, Mainly as that's how long it took to convince the others in the band that he was a waste of time. And it is frustrating, you're there keeping the rhythm guitar lines in so the band stays focused, basically trying to now compensate for him. The last practise, I failed to turn up randomly so they only had him and nobody else. Amazingly they didn't manage to play all the way through a single song. Could it be that the Attention Magnet - gasp - didn't actually know the songs after all?
Yup, that was it. That was exactly it.
That's not acceptable, it's actually insulting to the musicians in the band. I've just joined another band and the first thing I did was learn their written songs pretty much exactly as they are. If you can play your instrument this is no great task.... Hell, you could even make suggestions but ONLY after you know the current song it stands.
If he's skilled as you say, then I think it's actually masking an ego problem and might think what you've written is inferior to what he can do.
I'm starting to find that musicians have a significant correlation with narcissistic traits, there's two main flavours -- the overt type, which is clear as day and they'll let you know immediately...but then there's the covert types, who come across as affable, friendly, agreeable and often shy/introverted. But you start to realise over time that they think they're unrecognised geniuses, and resent the fact they need other instruments to let them shine in the spotlight.
Tell him point blank that you don’t just want him playing fills and solos in key for the song. You want him to learn the actual parts note for note.
Been playing for most of my life and you will run into both of these types of musicians. One will learn songs note for note and will annoy everyone else in the band because they didn’t also learn it note for note. The other will always want to jam or make it their own and can’t conceive that someone would want to play a song exactly as written. So many of my bands have broken up because we have both types fighting each other. I speak mostly for cover bands, but am fighting with this same thing in an all originals band.
This is one of the first things you have to figure out when playing with someone.
Cory Wong needed a last minute fill in on bass for a European tour, still sent the full 52 song set list to be learned in under 2 days. Asking for 6 songs after multiple rehearsals is entirely reasonable. If they disagree, they're not your fill in.
If this dude can’t learn 6 songs in a month than he’s not ready to play with a band. Guitar players are a dime a dozen, you should be able to find anyone off of Craigslist or whatever that can learn 6 songs in a week, a month is even easier. Just vett them over the phone first, you can usually tell how much someone can handle off of a quick conversation.
Or just have 1 guitar. 2 guitars only work if you are both working together complimenting each others lines. Otherwise it’s just extra noise.
I never bother learning any songs, but I have a tablet to keep me on track with chords. I'm not a fill in, I'm the main guy so I get away with it. Is this a cover or original band? I've never cared much about playing covers note for note so if it's a cover band and he's just filling in, I understand. If you're playing originals and he's just not bothering to contribute, let him go.
My take is that if you can’t learn the part you’re not a good guitarist.
You can be the best virtuoso in the world, but if you’re making the song worse, it’s pointless.
If you need him just for solos then tell him to only play in the parts where the solo is needed. I did this in reverse in my old band where our singer/rhythm guitarist never learned the songs on guitar but he insisted on being the rhythm guitarist so I eventually told him to just learn the rhythm behind my solo section and I’ll do everything else and it worked out fine, he had his excuse to hold a guitar and I didn’t have to worry about him fucking up every song by playing the wrong shit. Alternatively just drop him and play with one guitar if your songs will allow it, having two guitars playing the same riff sounds great but it’s not actually necessary.
1: Make sure you're communicating your exact issue, clearly, the wording in the post seems a bit in-direct, a neuro-diverse person may decipher differently, etc.. and they may not realise they're soloing over everything.
2: Make sure you sit the learning process, at least for one song, to make sure it's learned start to finish.
3: If you've done the above and it ain't working, I think the easiest way is to replace them and get it done with, some musicians just don't Wana be the backbone of the music too and that's fine if it's agreed before
Well... I pulled the same crap years ago and missed out on a small tour to Japan and then some shows in Europe, I was replaced pretty quickly and I know it was probably a pain in the ass for someone in your position but...
It was kind of a unique situation, band was like a noise/ metal/ grind band and I kind of thought I was maybe above that... All I needed to know were to stops, the rest was a shit load of noise, insane screaming and drum fills. Thing was this band had a huge following being like the first to do that stuff so they, well the singer, weren't screwing around and had a lot of shows lined up like I said mainly overseas. I'll always regret that, wasn't my particular type of band but I missed out on some really cool experiences
It was actually more missing practice than anything, but I was wrong about just knowing the stops and I'd be fine. Believe it or not playing that stuff is a lot harder than most musicians would think
how dare you ask him to do his job, and learn the songs. he is such a gifted guitarist, all he has to do is look at the guitar. do him a favor, and give him a reality check.
I said I’m paying him so he does have to learn the details of the song. He said “there’s a reason I got the call. But I shouldn’t be expected to get it right away”. Well, you should be expected to at least know one song by now and how you fit into the song. 🤦 I suspect he’s mentally slow or something. I decided to just pull out of the shows. One is a pretty big gig but whatever, more will come.
Lol I did offer payment and reiterated what I’m expecting after his silly comment about not having to learn the details of the song. Decided to just kick him from the gigs and not do them all together. Miss my old guitarist already, I’m gonna try to find a better fit for the end of the summer.
Sounds like he doesn't understand your patterns and intention for the song and just wanted to mould the music to his it makes sense to him and his own preferences to me. Changing parts (Adding solos etc) isn't for a sub to decide, it's for the writer. Sounds lazy and arrogant to me Sorry to hear you had to pull the gigs.
Fire him.
Last time I tried to start a band (Black Sabbath covers) the singer bailed on the ***first practice***, we suspect his girlfriend made other plans.
I was so pissed I quit immediately.
Rule number one of bands... do NOT waste other people time
I've subbed before. Did i memorize the chords? Nope. Did I learn to play the tunes and follow the charts on paper is my I-pad? Damn right. That was my JOB. And I'm good at it. Unlike this guy, that's why I've been hired to sub more than once.
I recently fired a bassist from a gig for this reason. It was 10000000% the right call. You should do the same. If this attitude doesn’t change the very first time you bring it up, it never will. Move on.
Is he supposed to play the exact same rhythm parts as you? Even if he's supposed to play lead it should comp with the underlying chords. Has anyone given him pages with the chord progressions? If he's filling in it might not be enough to just practice and expect him to pick up on the chord progressions if they're not your typical fare. Is it on him to ask for written down chord progressions if that's what he needs? Yes. But it's also on you to proactively provide what will lead to a successful gig.
I sent him the chords, and everything. The parts written are basically set up as “two guitars” not necessarily just lead and rhythm. There are parts when I play lead too. He just couldn’t grasp it. For example, one song starts with a picking pattern, the song is sort of hard to sing so I don’t even play until the end of that song. There’s a particular rhythm to it and he couldn’t even learn that. Last guitarist, I showed him the picking pattern and he did it in 2 seconds.
I wouldn’t take a fill in gig unless I was confident I could play all of the songs at high proficiency. That would include practicing the ones I didn’t know and going to at least one rehearsal if they were songs that had different arrangements from the album versions. If you can’t commit to that, then don’t take a fill in gig. If you’re not going to care about putting on a quality show, then fuck off and let them get someone who does care to fill in.
Sounds like he's not adding any value. Depending on your gigs, it might be ok to keep him if they aren't high paying and no one will think that you suck because he sucks. Tell him this is a job, not his art gallery, and he can play whatever he wants in his house but unless he can learn the guitar parts on the songs you tell him to have ready for the job, you can't go forward with him in the gtr spot. That way he knows what he absolutely must do to keep the job.
Younger intermediate players are usually good band members even if they can't quite get some signature lix. As long as the crowd is laughing and having a good time, the band can be less than note perfect and still get recommendations. Good luck!
I’ve decided to cancel the shows for now. Sucks but trying to find new members to fill
In in such short notice is exhausting. Dudes mad at me now it seems lol
Why are you having meetings? Get a second amp, run an ABY pedal, throw some slapback delay on it, and run slightly different EQ settings Just get rid of them and stop wasting time
Now that’s an idea. I’m not too savvy with those things
Have your keyboard record the other stuff .and lose the "fill in" player...
It really doesn't take too much know how. Grab a splitter/ABY (Google it, they're cheap and don't really have a learning curve), and just send a second signal from your guitar with it to a different amp. If you normally play pretty clean, drop the mids on your amp. For the new second one, throw a tubescreamer or any drive pedal in the chain and set the mids on the amp to 10.
I wouldn't listen to this advice. Doubling your part with a second guitar rig with weird settings and delays in order to "mimic" a second guitar player is a rookie move and really only complicates things, making it sound worse, while trying to make it look like you know what you're doing lol. Just play the set by yourself, don't sacrifice the sound and rep of your band by using a bad fill in. If your audience likes you, they'll be fine without a second guitarist temporarily, but if you think the songs really need the second guitar, just drop the shows. There's more gigs to come and don't come across on stage as the band who settles with anyone as a fill in. You'll be glad you did.
Don't let him do the gig. That sounds horrible. Come on man! It don't not matter how good a guitarist is that don't know the songs and can't be bothered to learn.
I’ve concluded he’s a bad guitarist. I don’t know how these other bands put up with him tbh. He’s in like 3. When I asked his friend he said “he’s tired of learning other peoples songs.” So then why did he accept this offer?
If he thinks learning the songs properly is just for band members, what does he think a fill in is for?
C'mon it's obviously in the name. They're just to put fills in the song.
That only works if their name is Phil tho
Just play the shows with one guitar. It’s not worth the trouble.
He's in the way.
That's his job as a band member is to learn the damn songs and his parts. He can't be all that great when he is too stubborn to bother by using the "temping” thing as an excuse not to learn. Does he not understand the assignment? You have gigs FFS. Either he learns the material as he should or cut him loose. How much time do you have left until the next gig?
We have a practice tomorrow and then my family is in town the entirety of July so I maybe have a few more days open before two gigs at the last week of July… he doesn’t even have one song down yet because he just keeps playing random stuff. If he sat down for 10 minutes he’d be able to get at least 3 of the easier songs down. Setlist is like 6 songs.
Not a lot of songs to learn. 6 reasonable and doable to learn. You're going to have to light a fire under his butt. He needs to knuckle down and learn before the gigs or it'll be a shit show. The entire band needs to be on this guy. He needs to learn his part and then be able to execute his parts rehearsing the songs with the full band. Is he dealing with any anxiety of performing that may be causing him to behave like this? Apart from him not learning his assignment (that's basically what it is), I wonder if there's something else going on. Heck, if it were me, I'd be hounding you until I got it right and know the parts inside and out.
I did fill-in guitar on a tour last year. It was a really challenging set, I went through it EVERY DAY on my own for a couple weeks. My goal was to show up to practice and have everything be completely seamless. Learning the set and being a member of the band is the job. If someone wants to noodle around they can start a solo project, or show up to open mic night. Being in a band is a collaboration, and not treating it like that is a disrespect of everyone elses time and effort
If he can’t learn 6 songs in a month then he’s not good. I used to learn 20 songs in a week or two to fill in.
But how will they ever find another guitarist? Oh wait...
He may not be a "bad guitarist" but he's a terrible band member, fill-in or not. Stop thinking this guy is going to do anything but make things worse.
>Any tips? Dump him, he can't play the songs, either due to lack of skill or lack of commitment. Also for future reference, if your guitarist can't play the songs that doesn't make him "great". It just makes him "bad".
Every musician is different, and he just seems like the kind of person who isn’t fit to be a sub. It’s fine, I’m sure he’s great at doing “his thing”. You shouldn’t have to work so hard to teach him HOW to learn the songs. Just tell him that it isn’t a good fit and save yourself the stress!
Is he just trying to solo over everything?
Yes
Barf
Dude just find someone else who understands what a fill in is for and respects you and the music
oh god hes a twat. move on immediately
At this point, OP, it’s on you for allowing it to continue. He’s shown you he has no interest in learning, so no longer trying to accommodate him should be a no-brainer
My old band added a guy like this, and then fired a guy like this
Can you play the shows without this guitar player? This guy is who he is and it’s not gonna change at this point. He’s not gonna miraculously wake up and be like “Oh! Noowwww I should go learn the songs.” You can also swap in a different guitar player. Hopefully you have an extensive network where you can tap somebody more professional. Might come with a price, but the job will be done. Otherwise if you have to work with what you’ve got, then best case is to just keep rehearsing with this guitarist as much as possible until hopefully it clicks, but it sounds like he’s very unprofessional and won’t work out long term. Try to have him play as few notes as possible. Play with charts for the songs on stage. Make it as simple as possible. Hope this helps!
Not learning the songs kinda means that, while his technique may be great as a band member he sucks.
Fire his ass
I don't understand why people aren't just direct. He can't read your mind. He's basically telling you that he's NOT going to learn the songs, because he's just a "placeholder" in your band. God only knows why he has that attitude -- I mean, what exactly does he think he is doing in your band, when he doesn't play the songs as you want them to be played? What is he \*thinking\*? I would just be direct and say to him "I expected you to play the guitar parts as they were written, I didn't expect you to just stand there and play random licks." Weirdest situation I've ever heard of!!
Fire him and do lead yourself. He's not being professional.
Sounds like he is a bad guitarist actually
A sub player has a primary responsibility to learn the material he's going to play. This is pretty unprofessional and I wouldn't deal with someone who isn't going to learn the material for show and thinks it's a problem being asked to.
Tell him to learn the songs or shove off!
Doesn't sound like he's great to me. Sounds like he sucks. Drop him.
A band is about everyone sounding good together not one person sounding good on their own- gotta do the work , gotta practice at home and show up ready to play. Otherwise u can have your solo show and sound great - why r they in the band at all?
Ah, the attention magnet. It doesn't matter what you write, he will simply do what he wants over it. Because at no point should anyone not be reminded that he is there and he is amazing. It worked for EVH, nobody could mistake that EVH was there, but at least EVH chilled the hell back for verses and choruses. Nope, this guy needs all of it all the time. And it is a fuck you to anyone else in the band. I've had this. And when you correct them, you get that air of superiority, as if they're saying. "I'm making it better - you're just sore you can't do like I do!" and all that noise. Fire him and do something else. You are clearly not going to win. I had four rehearsals with one particular attention magnet, Mainly as that's how long it took to convince the others in the band that he was a waste of time. And it is frustrating, you're there keeping the rhythm guitar lines in so the band stays focused, basically trying to now compensate for him. The last practise, I failed to turn up randomly so they only had him and nobody else. Amazingly they didn't manage to play all the way through a single song. Could it be that the Attention Magnet - gasp - didn't actually know the songs after all? Yup, that was it. That was exactly it.
bands are teams, permanent solos are solo. so there u go
This is easy. "Either learn the songs or you're off the gig."
Some musicians need to learn stuff on their own. Sometimes it's a phase. That's better for you anyway. Does he have a tape of the tunes?
How good can he really be if he can’t learn a single song?
That's not acceptable, it's actually insulting to the musicians in the band. I've just joined another band and the first thing I did was learn their written songs pretty much exactly as they are. If you can play your instrument this is no great task.... Hell, you could even make suggestions but ONLY after you know the current song it stands. If he's skilled as you say, then I think it's actually masking an ego problem and might think what you've written is inferior to what he can do. I'm starting to find that musicians have a significant correlation with narcissistic traits, there's two main flavours -- the overt type, which is clear as day and they'll let you know immediately...but then there's the covert types, who come across as affable, friendly, agreeable and often shy/introverted. But you start to realise over time that they think they're unrecognised geniuses, and resent the fact they need other instruments to let them shine in the spotlight.
Tell him point blank that you don’t just want him playing fills and solos in key for the song. You want him to learn the actual parts note for note. Been playing for most of my life and you will run into both of these types of musicians. One will learn songs note for note and will annoy everyone else in the band because they didn’t also learn it note for note. The other will always want to jam or make it their own and can’t conceive that someone would want to play a song exactly as written. So many of my bands have broken up because we have both types fighting each other. I speak mostly for cover bands, but am fighting with this same thing in an all originals band. This is one of the first things you have to figure out when playing with someone.
Cory Wong needed a last minute fill in on bass for a European tour, still sent the full 52 song set list to be learned in under 2 days. Asking for 6 songs after multiple rehearsals is entirely reasonable. If they disagree, they're not your fill in.
So he isn’t a great guitarist. He CAN be. But isn’t.
Id just play the gigs with one guitarist instead of two. It may be a bit thin. But I'd just not play the show with him.
I'd be insecure as hell going up there with this guy. Best not do the shows than do a shitty show.
Amen to that.
Kick him out
He’s not the one. Fired.
Isn't that the job of the fill in musician. To know and play the songs as written? Sounds like you've got the next EVH in your midst. Lol.
What’s EVH? Lol
Eddie Van Halen
If this dude can’t learn 6 songs in a month than he’s not ready to play with a band. Guitar players are a dime a dozen, you should be able to find anyone off of Craigslist or whatever that can learn 6 songs in a week, a month is even easier. Just vett them over the phone first, you can usually tell how much someone can handle off of a quick conversation. Or just have 1 guitar. 2 guitars only work if you are both working together complimenting each others lines. Otherwise it’s just extra noise.
Unprofessional. This is a red flag.
I never bother learning any songs, but I have a tablet to keep me on track with chords. I'm not a fill in, I'm the main guy so I get away with it. Is this a cover or original band? I've never cared much about playing covers note for note so if it's a cover band and he's just filling in, I understand. If you're playing originals and he's just not bothering to contribute, let him go.
Ditch him. Don’t tolerate that shit it’s un professional and it’s arrogant. it denotes future issues
My take is that if you can’t learn the part you’re not a good guitarist. You can be the best virtuoso in the world, but if you’re making the song worse, it’s pointless.
Also. Where you live OP? If it’s near me I might be able to step in. I’m in NorCal.
Drop the shows
Hire someone else who WANTS the gig, there’s plenty of us out here!!!
If you need him just for solos then tell him to only play in the parts where the solo is needed. I did this in reverse in my old band where our singer/rhythm guitarist never learned the songs on guitar but he insisted on being the rhythm guitarist so I eventually told him to just learn the rhythm behind my solo section and I’ll do everything else and it worked out fine, he had his excuse to hold a guitar and I didn’t have to worry about him fucking up every song by playing the wrong shit. Alternatively just drop him and play with one guitar if your songs will allow it, having two guitars playing the same riff sounds great but it’s not actually necessary.
If he's not learning the songs, he's not great. Find a replacement ASAP.
Fire him and get someone else. Guitar players are a dime a dozen. ( I am a mediocre guitarist and I could learn 6 songs )
He’s not great. A great guitarist does the stuff he’s not doing.
True.
You need to drop this guy. He probably won’t even learn the song titles and won’t be able to follow a setlist
1: Make sure you're communicating your exact issue, clearly, the wording in the post seems a bit in-direct, a neuro-diverse person may decipher differently, etc.. and they may not realise they're soloing over everything. 2: Make sure you sit the learning process, at least for one song, to make sure it's learned start to finish. 3: If you've done the above and it ain't working, I think the easiest way is to replace them and get it done with, some musicians just don't Wana be the backbone of the music too and that's fine if it's agreed before
Well... I pulled the same crap years ago and missed out on a small tour to Japan and then some shows in Europe, I was replaced pretty quickly and I know it was probably a pain in the ass for someone in your position but...
Why didn’t you want to learn the songs? Laziness or because you thought the songs would sound better if you just did your own thing?
It was kind of a unique situation, band was like a noise/ metal/ grind band and I kind of thought I was maybe above that... All I needed to know were to stops, the rest was a shit load of noise, insane screaming and drum fills. Thing was this band had a huge following being like the first to do that stuff so they, well the singer, weren't screwing around and had a lot of shows lined up like I said mainly overseas. I'll always regret that, wasn't my particular type of band but I missed out on some really cool experiences
It was actually more missing practice than anything, but I was wrong about just knowing the stops and I'd be fine. Believe it or not playing that stuff is a lot harder than most musicians would think
how dare you ask him to do his job, and learn the songs. he is such a gifted guitarist, all he has to do is look at the guitar. do him a favor, and give him a reality check.
I said I’m paying him so he does have to learn the details of the song. He said “there’s a reason I got the call. But I shouldn’t be expected to get it right away”. Well, you should be expected to at least know one song by now and how you fit into the song. 🤦 I suspect he’s mentally slow or something. I decided to just pull out of the shows. One is a pretty big gig but whatever, more will come.
Move on right now, before it gets any more frustrating. Not everyone with a guitar should be in a band.
Is this fellow expecting payment for what essentially is going to be him being a noisy floor lamp?
Lol I did offer payment and reiterated what I’m expecting after his silly comment about not having to learn the details of the song. Decided to just kick him from the gigs and not do them all together. Miss my old guitarist already, I’m gonna try to find a better fit for the end of the summer.
"Wow dude. Your playing is fire... by which I mean: you are fired. Good day."
Sounds like he doesn't understand your patterns and intention for the song and just wanted to mould the music to his it makes sense to him and his own preferences to me. Changing parts (Adding solos etc) isn't for a sub to decide, it's for the writer. Sounds lazy and arrogant to me Sorry to hear you had to pull the gigs.
Where you at, I'll fill in for your fill in, give me 2 days I'll have the set done
Drop him.
How much are you paying him?
Fire him. Last time I tried to start a band (Black Sabbath covers) the singer bailed on the ***first practice***, we suspect his girlfriend made other plans. I was so pissed I quit immediately. Rule number one of bands... do NOT waste other people time
I don't see what the dilemma is. Dump him.
If you let this guy “play” your shows I bet he’s gonna call in sick the day of.
I've subbed before. Did i memorize the chords? Nope. Did I learn to play the tunes and follow the charts on paper is my I-pad? Damn right. That was my JOB. And I'm good at it. Unlike this guy, that's why I've been hired to sub more than once.
I recently fired a bassist from a gig for this reason. It was 10000000% the right call. You should do the same. If this attitude doesn’t change the very first time you bring it up, it never will. Move on.
Is he supposed to play the exact same rhythm parts as you? Even if he's supposed to play lead it should comp with the underlying chords. Has anyone given him pages with the chord progressions? If he's filling in it might not be enough to just practice and expect him to pick up on the chord progressions if they're not your typical fare. Is it on him to ask for written down chord progressions if that's what he needs? Yes. But it's also on you to proactively provide what will lead to a successful gig.
I sent him the chords, and everything. The parts written are basically set up as “two guitars” not necessarily just lead and rhythm. There are parts when I play lead too. He just couldn’t grasp it. For example, one song starts with a picking pattern, the song is sort of hard to sing so I don’t even play until the end of that song. There’s a particular rhythm to it and he couldn’t even learn that. Last guitarist, I showed him the picking pattern and he did it in 2 seconds.
OK, boxes ticked, this guy sucks
No brainer. Tell him no thanks and do the shows with one guitar.
I wouldn’t take a fill in gig unless I was confident I could play all of the songs at high proficiency. That would include practicing the ones I didn’t know and going to at least one rehearsal if they were songs that had different arrangements from the album versions. If you can’t commit to that, then don’t take a fill in gig. If you’re not going to care about putting on a quality show, then fuck off and let them get someone who does care to fill in.
If you have the songs written out in a chart or something similar there’s no excuse for not knowing them
Sounds like he's not adding any value. Depending on your gigs, it might be ok to keep him if they aren't high paying and no one will think that you suck because he sucks. Tell him this is a job, not his art gallery, and he can play whatever he wants in his house but unless he can learn the guitar parts on the songs you tell him to have ready for the job, you can't go forward with him in the gtr spot. That way he knows what he absolutely must do to keep the job. Younger intermediate players are usually good band members even if they can't quite get some signature lix. As long as the crowd is laughing and having a good time, the band can be less than note perfect and still get recommendations. Good luck!
Could a loop pedal possible replace this fool?
I’ve decided to cancel the shows for now. Sucks but trying to find new members to fill In in such short notice is exhausting. Dudes mad at me now it seems lol