Is there anything more tedious than training a new band member?

[dkerwood]

As much as I love the fun of hiring a new band member (in our case, a new drummer) and integrating their personal style into the band...

...How tiring is it to have to spend all the time to re-learn all the material? Gah! We really do like the new guy, but I *HATE* learning old music. Some of these songs have been on our set list for three or four years.

Then, of course, there's the temptation to tell the new drummer to play licks exactly like the old drummer.

Ah, well. Nice problem to have, I suppose.

[caddywumpus]

It's simple. If you hired someone worth their snot, all you need to do is give them a copy of your charts and recordings of your songs. If they can't work those up in a week (of course, assuming you have less than 50 songs), search for someone new.

As for more tedious things than training new band members...watching paint dry, hand-picking grains of sand out of a large area of carpet, flat-mudding a room, cleaning a car with a toothbrush, having to work for a living....

[elliotdrummer7227]

Originally Posted by caddywumpus

It's simple. If you hired someone worth their snot, all you need to do is give them a copy of your charts and recordings of your songs. If they can't work those up in a week (of course, assuming you have less than 50 songs), search for someone new.

As for more tedious things than training new band members...watching paint dry, hand-picking grains of sand out of a large area of carpet, flat-mudding a room, cleaning a car with a toothbrush, having to work for a living....

ha ha! "having to work for a living...."lol

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i don't know anything about hiring or firing band members because i am only 11 and no one in my school is any good at guitar:( but hopefully when i go to high school i will meet a band!(fingers crossed) but dkerwood do you play the drums? because you said you hired a drummer?

elliot

[Vipercussionist]

Originally Posted by dkerwood

As much as I love the fun of hiring a new band member (in our case, a new drummer) and integrating their personal style into the band...

...How tiring is it to have to spend all the time to re-learn all the material? Gah! We really do like the new guy, but I *HATE* learning old music. Some of these songs have been on our set list for three or four years.

Then, of course, there's the temptation to tell the new drummer to play licks exactly like the old drummer.

Ah, well. Nice problem to have, I suppose.

Think of it as a chance to tighten and freshen the arrangements, take the staleness out of the same old tunes.

That way you're not just rehashing it for the new guy, you're adding a few things to make everyone have a new outlook on it.
.
__________________
I'd rather simmer for life than be a flash in the pan.
-Bermuda

[Leadfoot]

Is there anything more tedious than training a new band member?
Yes, trying to work with an old one who just doesn't get it.

[dkerwood]

Originally Posted by elliotdrummer7227

ha ha! "having to work for a living...."lol

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i don't know anything about hiring or firing band members because i am only 11 and no one in my school is any good at guitar:( but hopefully when i go to high school i will meet a band!(fingers crossed) but dkerwood do you play the drums? because you said you hired a drummer?

elliot

Yeah, I do play drums. 17 years behind the sticks at this point. In middle school, though, I picked up guitar so that I could front a band, so now I do both. I'm also a bass player and have some basic rock piano skills. In the band I'm talking about, I play guitar and sing.

[dkerwood]

Originally Posted by caddywumpus

It's simple. If you hired someone worth their snot, all you need to do is give them a copy of your charts and recordings of your songs. If they can't work those up in a week (of course, assuming you have less than 50 songs), search for someone new.

Hmm, charts and recordings... I knew I was missing something! :-) I had intended to have this all ready by the first practice, but had a darned middle school concert I had to help with first. I had forgotten about it. We've got a catalog of about 20-24 original tunes. Of those, we have 8 finished recordings and another half dozen demos on tape. That should certainly help.

I'll have that stuff ready to go for him by the next practice (and heck, charts for us, too; we haven't played most of this stuff in months). With luck, the new guy likes to practice. I sure hope so, anyway. Our last drummer took over a year to get to the point where he was really comfortable with the material.

[NUTHA JASON]

Is there anything more tedious than training a new band member?

yes

training an old band member. darn bassist. LEARN THE SONG

[DestinationDrumming]

Originally Posted by NUTHA JASON

Is there anything more tedious than training a new band member?

yes

training an old band member. darn bassist. LEARN THE SONG

Amen!

20 characters

[Ethan01]

If the drummer is into your band he'll have no problem getting it from the recordings. During my last tryout for the band im in now, i learned their 4 songs they had on myspace and they said i was the most prepared drummer they tried out. After getting their CD with 10 more demos I pretty much was in a groove with them after 4 2-hour practice sessions. The reason i learnt it fast wasn't any skill... it was cause i loved playing that type of rock music and just played to it for a couple days before the tryout.