Kicking out our bassist

Oh yes - and I wish I could tell it all, but this bit might suffice......

I used to play with a person (let's call them "X") who was actually a very good musician, but after I while I got sick of hearing (from X) how good X was and how X should be playing with various jazz greats etc..... one day during a practice session X said that "if he had the money" he'd get a top class jazz drummer and bass player to play on his album.... (Oh now I've given away that "X" is male - o dear).....

Hmmm I thought.... as I was drumming and engineering (at the same time) and providing the studio to mix/master the album that didn't go down real well with me.......

When "X" said that he should be invited to play at the local jazz festival and wouldn't even go to audition (in fact, he wouldn't even go to watch!!) that was enough for me. "X" was politely advised that he should find another drummer.

- and it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.... ;-)


Yes, I have met a few people like "X" in my time. There always going on about how great "X" is, but then they repeatedly screw up a solo for weeks at a time and then "X is just having a bad day" or "X is really more of a rhythm guitarist than a soloist", even though that's the reason "X" was brought into the band in the first place.

Don't get me wrong: I make mistakes all the time, but I at least I own up to them and try not to repeat them. It's never "X's" fault.

Oh, and "X" has played with all these different bands over the years and could play with anyone in town right now, so you should feel privileged that "X" is playing with you. Hey "X", show don't tell....mmkay?
 
Can you tell that I'm going through this same situation with our lead guitar player right now? ;-)

Too bad he's actually a nice guy. It's easy to fire a jerk.
 
Can you tell that I'm going through this same situation with our lead guitar player right now? ;-)

Too bad he's actually a nice guy. It's easy to fire a jerk.

It's always hard giving someone the push - we drummers are just nice people who don't want conflict......

I'm surprised there aren't more "sack the lead git player" stories - aren't they the primadonnas of the music world?

;-)
 
That's why I think age makes a big difference. In my band, we are all between 45-55 years old, and we have no superegos because we think we are going to make it big. We all have our day jobs and careers, and the band is a way to have fun and earn some supplemental cash. All but one of us are in more than one band too. That does not mean we take it lightly - we practice long and hard. And we are all on the same page as far as direction for the band. But we realize the limitiation of what we are doing, and that we aren't going to be on the cover of Rolling Stone or going on tour across the world playing to sold out arenas. However, we can rock a couple hundred people at a time!

The youngest player in our band is 49. I'm 58 and the bass player is 59. The guys I speak of are in their 50s as well and still have ego problems.

Only one of those with the ego problem is still playing but he has to smoke his pot and drink his gin and by the end of the night, he can barely stand up, much less sing and play guitar. Sad really as he is as good as Eric Clapton or any other guitar player...when sober!

We play local VFW and country bar and grill, once a month, every month and for now I'm enjoying it. When the enjoyment stops, I'll quit and retire from it.

I tell folks that a band is only as good as the worst player in group. No matter what, you can't make a bad player sound good.
 
I'm surprised there aren't more "sack the lead git player" stories - aren't they the primadonnas of the music world?

you asked for it, you got it!

i had to fire our former lead guitarist a few months ago. what an idiot! when we first brought him in he was telling us all these stories about how he was a "pro" and knew every song ever written. i was thinking great, that's just what we need! but after a couple rehearsals it became clear that he was an idiot. i took him up on his claim to know all these songs, but it turned out that he didn't really know much of anything. his definition of knowing a song was more like he could play a few of the chords. he really didn't know the structure of any song. i'd tell him we all need to agree on a structure for a song, even a loose structure, and stick to it, but he wanted to wing everything. apparently that's what he did when he played his solo gigs, which in that situation doesn't matter that much, but in a band everyone has to agree on how the songs go. half the time he couldn't play the songs he suggested. for example, he suggested we play "dream on" and "sweet child of mine" because he "knew" those songs, but he couldn't play the intro to either of those songs to save his life, and he couldn't be bothered to learn them either. he never worked on anything at home. what finally pissed me off beyond the point of no return was the day he told me he couldn't come to practice unless we paid him because he was a "pro" and for him "time is money". i said ok, great, don't bother coming to practice. in fact, don't ever come again, you're fired! he got really mad and called me a bunch of names, but it was worth it! what an idiot!
 
Since you asked, here goes:

I have no trouble calling these guys hicks or hillbillies or whatever. Trying to put something back in the community by playing with some musicians at two nursing homes, I was invited to sit in with three guitar players, a bassist, and a piano player. The piano player I was - up until last week - a member of. her group More about that later.

After playing two weekend gigs with these guys, one of the guitar players - who was very good, and his obnoxious buddy a - AGAIN - bass player invited me over jam. Ok, sure. I'll jam with these two older guys and hope I can pick something up along the way. To make a very long story short, after about an hour with these guys I knew I wasn't going to jell at all. The guitar player was very good and very nice and accomodating. His short, fat obnoxious buddy who claimed to have toured with (insert any international C and W star here) was a complete jerk who did everything short of telling me how to hold the drum sticks.

I politely left after about an hour making the excuse I had to pick up my kids. The obnoxious jerk called the next day and said they were really exicted about the band and wanted to know when I can start gigging. I told him politely I wasn't interested and he rambled on for 30 minutes trying to convince me to join up and "make a lot of money".

And another story with the piano player...I spent two years in the band and after putting up with playing in nursing homes, shit houses, coffee bars and church venues and not so much as making or even being offered gas money, have decided to call it quits. They ain't goin' nowhere! So, it's in my own best interest to leave on good terms and take back 4 hours of my weekends I spent on rehearsals.
 
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