Lazy Guitar Player

W

Whitedrummer

Guest
We just recruited a new lead guitarist who is quite good, only thing is he does not come to rehearsal prepared, meaning, he has not worked on new material. To make things worse he sits down while playing. Our lead vocalist, (who is a female), is getting very frustated with him as well as the rhythm guitarist for not remembering lyrics. Our vocalist feels she is being bitchy because she points out these issues, she says she is trying to be careful not to bruise any fragile male egos. Can anyone offer any suggestions to remedy this problem? Thanks.
 
Yes, you give him the ultimatum to be prepared or take a hike. As harsh as that sounds, the music industry is VERY competetive as I'm sure you know. And if he is just going to waste the bands time, then he needs to go. If he can't or won't take the time to learn his parts then it's not fair to the rest of the band.

I don't always have much time to learn drum parts, so I keep the music were learning on cd's in the car and try to become so ingrained with the songs that they almost play without me..lol. So if he is serious He will shape up.....if not, well he needs to ship out.

My $0.02
 
That's the exact problem we had with one of our guitarists. Never practiced material, always goofed off and didn't seem very serious.

We held a "band meeting" and we told him that we'd give him one more chance to straighten up but he never did. So I met up with him and told him we wouldn't need him anymore. He's 18 and I'm 14 so when he got up all pissed off like, I got pretty scared but he didn't do anything.

I think it has done him more good than harm, the last I've heard he's trying harder to actually practice and getting serious. So I think no matter what you'll do, it'll benefit him if he chooses to improve.

I'm the same as drumsword except we can't make CDs. What I basically do is listen to the song a few times, get the jest of it, and improvise on it. Seems to work out fine
 
Sitting down while playing (in rehearsal) is not a crime. If that's his "stage presence", however.....might not be so good. But as far as not learning songs/being unprepared at rehearsal....that's gotta go. Give him the old talk "that he's got to shape up". He either comes prepared next time, or he's gone. Wasting everyone's time is just plain disrespectful.
 
why is your singer annoyed at your rhythm guitarist for not remembering lyrics? Does he do backing vocals?

He sings a few leads as well as harmonies. There is one song in particular that she feels he sings better than our bass player, but our bass player knows the lyrics so he is wanting to sing it, as you might guess it causes a bit of a conflict.
 
Not being prepared is plain BS and wastes everyones time. I can agree with the others. It's disrespectful. Give him the talk and give him 1 more chance to shape up or he's booted out. A band is only as good as its worst player.

Some egos just amaze me. They want to "be in a band" but not put forth the effort, which only slows everyone else down. Not being prepard can happen to anyone for any reason for a rehearsal or two, but if it's a pattern, then you have a problem that needs to be dealt with.
 
Have the discussion sooner rather than later. The longer you guys play together the harder it will be.
 
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