# My band sucks, feedback?



## kylendm (May 26, 2012)

Alright. So my band has been practicing for 2-3 months now and we have 3 songs down. That's it. They are all my own songs so I already know them but 3 months to learn 3 songs that are 3.5m or less is pretty pathetic. 

Here's a list of what sucks about my band.

Our drummer doesn't ever seem motivated and only practices at band. He has nothing at home or anything. I doubt he even listens to the songs I have recorded for him. 

My other guitarist is good. We have a different approach at music though so it's kind of weird and we don't mingle. His setup SUCKS though. It's pretty terrible, even people we bring over hate his sound. 

Our bassist can't keep up.

Our vocalist is probably the only good thing about the band. He's keeping up and he sounds decent. Still the drummer is best friends with the vocalist and there aren't many other drummers out where I am, same with bassist. Not sure what to do about the other guitarist. 

Thinking about quitting but I can't find people who want to play, this band took forever to get together.


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## Jazzamatazz (May 28, 2012)

Quit, do a solo project


Or.....

Work with them and hopefully the will develop


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## Thep (May 28, 2012)

Ive been in the same situation alot. Just try not to take it too seriously and let it run its course. More than likely, nothing will become of it and you'll hate yourself for wasting all that time, money and effort...but such is the nature of music


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## VBCheeseGrater (May 28, 2012)

Join another band, but you can still play in that one too. Then you wont be bothered by it so much. It's worked for me in a similar situation


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## MrPepperoniNipples (May 28, 2012)

dump the drummer

if it's not worth his time to work towards a band than it's not worth your time to work with him

and work with the guys

do some recordings and what not
if the bassist is motivated he'll develop

and if you do recordings, maybe the other guy will start to change his setup a bit


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## sage (May 30, 2012)

Success comes from preparation, practice, and teamwork. 

Imagine that you are a hockey player. Your preparation is your conditioning, consisting of nutrition, strength training, cardio training, and flexibility training. Your practice is in acquiring and maintaining technical skills like stick handling, shot placement, skating drills, etc. Your teamwork is your ability to work with your teammates through passing, screening the goalie, blocking shots, team defence, etc. If any member of your hockey team hasn't prepared and practiced, the entire team suffers.

Now imagine that you are a musician. Your preparation is your equipment. As a guitarist you are expected to have your guitars in playable condition and have your amplification set up in such a way that you don't sound crappy. This is every bit as important to a guitarist and not quite as difficult, time consuming, and discipline heavy as the physical preparation an athlete does, but still a lot of work. Your practice is, again, the acquisition of skills and techniques: in this case tapping, palm muting, sweeps, legato runs, whatever floats your boat. Your teamwork is your ability to write and perform songs with your bandmates. Any of your bandmates that hasn't prepared and practiced is causing the band to suffer. If your band was a hockey team, your guitarist would be the big fat bastard who gets winded early and can't keep up with the pace of the game even though he's got the ability to rifle a slapshot past the goalie, your drummer would be in pretty good shape, but the puck would bounce off of his stick because he hasn't practiced taking a pass, and your bassist would be flopping on the ice like a fish. 

If you feel like you are being a better teammate because your preparation and practice levels are higher than those around you, you have a couple of options. 

1: You can abandon the team and join a new team. In doing this, I would recommend focusing on your own practice and preparation for a period long enough to increase your abilities so you are desirable to a better team.

2: You can work on your leadership skills and motivate your existing team to increase their preparation and practice to a level where the team is no longer suffering as a result of their lack of commitment. This can be difficult. You will probably not be able to do this without coming off as a dick, which is going to suck if any of the bandmates are your friends also.

3: You can ignore the problem. I don't really recommend this. You will resent your bandmates.


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## sage (May 30, 2012)

Oh, and if you want more options, move to a bigger city. If I had a do over, I would have moved to a bigger city than Vancouver. There are smalltown success stories, but those guys all picked up their instruments at roughly the same time and were all driven to get better at an equal pace.


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## McBonez (Jun 13, 2012)

You sound like you're taking it too seriously. Relax, have some fun with it, don't be a Lars Ulrich when you really want to be a Kirk Hammett


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## Leuchty (Jun 13, 2012)

Have a meeting. Talk to the guys and tell them how you feel.

Ask them how they feel about the whole thing. Do they want to evolve to something?

Work with the bassist alone. be patient and help him as much as you can.

Drummers are drummers. Finding a motivated one is LUCKY  find out what he REALLY likes to listen to and incorporate some of that style into the songs.

Let the other guitarist use your gear for a couple of practices and use his. Then switch back and see if he notices...

Good luck mate!


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## KingAenarion (Jun 14, 2012)

CYBERSYN said:


> Have a meeting. Talk to the guys and tell them how you feel.
> 
> Ask them how they feel about the whole thing. Do they want to evolve to something?
> 
> ...



+1 to this


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## USMarine75 (Jun 14, 2012)

Dump the drummer... you should audition this guy I hear he's pretty good and everyone uses him:


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## mcd (Jun 18, 2012)

i had the same problem a few months back, i was playing bass in a band that had two guitarist that weren't that great, the only catch was they were good guys, and the music was catchy enough. The band fell apart when the singer had to move back home, and the guy that started the band is now paying me in pbr 30 racks to cut solo's for him. I guess if you get along with the guys stick it out and try to work with them, be mature when you are criticizing people's abilities, and they should be able to take it with a grain of salt. 

If after you try to help, and approach it with a mature "EGO-less" attitude they still show no want or drive, leave! there's no point in giving yourself a headache. Just remember MATURE and EGO-less. I was on the receiving end of a you suck I'm better situation when i was a young just starting player, and all i could afford was an aria pro II the cat from a pawn shop, and a crappy old bandit 112.


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## klinic (Jun 23, 2012)

You have more of a band then I have. :/ Look for something else, try to do some solo stuff and just have fun with what you have for what it is then if you find something else, move to that.


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## supercolio (Jun 23, 2012)

Dump the drummer.

Now, I want to say that 3 months for 3 songs isn't so bad. Our band practiced ~7 cover songs in 6 months. It's all about do you guys enjoy it (we did)! How often do you practice together?


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