Players skills deteriorating

eamesuser

Silver Member
Could use some insight and advice here.

First a little background.

A few years back I hooked up with a weekend warrior cover band,they were not very good,but were nice people and were actually booking gigs so I stuck with it.

The best player in the band was a lead guitarist,he was one of those people that came to playing in a band later in life age 40 or so and this was the only band he had played with.He was a good solid G player sang solid lead on 30 percent of the tunes,and did all the harmony vocals and did a good job with that also.He also took over as the MD and improved the band greatly.

Recently another friend called with a gig and we put together a band to play it with the old bass player and this guitarist.We rehearsed once before the gig and when he played he was really pitchy and sour on his leads,even sounded bad on some of the chords, and I think his guitar was in tune.We played the gig,got another and have rehearsed a couple times since,and has sounded a little better or worse,but I don't remember him ever playing this badly overall.We also taped a rehearsal and it confirmed what I thought I was hearing.

I know a player can get real rusty with a long layoff,but I don't think he put down the guitar entirely over the last couple years.

I also have experienced this with players that are developing a drug or alcohol problem,he is not a heavy drinker,but he is 4 20 friendly.

I have heard illness can cause this too.Don't know if there is any health issues here.

First question, any insights on how this happens and can the situation be righted? I like this person and became and stayed friends with him.

Next question,in this case would you,and how, would you approach the situation? I am at a crossroads on either dealing with it,because he is a good guy and a friend,or just quietly and politely removing myself from the project.
 
If he is a good guy and a friend why not just approach him and say you've noticed he's been a bit off lately and ask him what's going on? Maybe he's going through something, or maybe he's slacking on the practice...either way I think if it sounds as though you're just showing concern and not accusing him of sucking then it should be a productive conversation.
 
If you don't practice you slowly lose the chops, dexterity and timing you once had. If you don't practice much for a year or so you will be no where near gig ready, the muscle memory etc has gone. That's how it works.
 
Agree with a soft approach, after all he's a friend. People going through a rough patch in life can be affected in different ways, and his time to practice or quality and motivation could be impacted. He may welcome the conversation, or you'll know if he's not interested in hearing you out soon enough. This is what friends do. You'll know when / if it's time to move on.
 
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Show him the recording.. You might get away with saying nothing. Otherwise you might have to drop a hint.
 
If you don't practice you slowly lose the chops, dexterity and timing you once had. If you don't practice much for a year or so you will be no where near gig ready, the muscle memory etc has gone. That's how it works.

I don't agree with this statement. The amount of "chops" you lose from not playing and practicing depends on a lot of factors.
It is really amazing how much you don't lose when you stop playing for long periods of time.

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It's amazing how much is left after 15 years of not touching the drums.
It's amazing how much is lost after 3 weeks.
 
It's amazing how much is left after 15 years of not touching the drums.
It's amazing how much is lost after 3 weeks.

Spot on. I was talking about playing guitar in my earlier post, not drumming. I think drumming is different from the guitar, If you have an innate sense of rhythm its easier to pick up drumming again. I played lead guitar in bands for years, then changed back to drums for the last 12 years or so. I pick up the guitar once or twice a week but I have lost most of the fretboard skills I had and would struggle badly to play in a band without months of diligent practice. For me drumming is in the hard drive, playing guitar has to be worked at every day.
 
Could use some insight and advice here.

First a little background.

A few years back I hooked up with a weekend warrior cover band,they were not very good,but were nice people and were actually booking gigs so I stuck with it.

The best player in the band was a lead guitarist,he was one of those people that came to playing in a band later in life age 40 or so and this was the only band he had played with.He was a good solid G player sang solid lead on 30 percent of the tunes,and did all the harmony vocals and did a good job with that also.He also took over as the MD and improved the band greatly.

Recently another friend called with a gig and we put together a band to play it with the old bass player and this guitarist.We rehearsed once before the gig and when he played he was really pitchy and sour on his leads,even sounded bad on some of the chords, and I think his guitar was in tune.We played the gig,got another and have rehearsed a couple times since,and has sounded a little better or worse,but I don't remember him ever playing this badly overall.We also taped a rehearsal and it confirmed what I thought I was hearing.

I know a player can get real rusty with a long layoff,but I don't think he put down the guitar entirely over the last couple years.

I also have experienced this with players that are developing a drug or alcohol problem,he is not a heavy drinker,but he is 4 20 friendly.

I have heard illness can cause this too.Don't know if there is any health issues here.

First question, any insights on how this happens and can the situation be righted? I like this person and became and stayed friends with him.

Next question,in this case would you,and how, would you approach the situation? I am at a crossroads on either dealing with it,because he is a good guy and a friend,or just quietly and politely removing myself from the project.

They don't call it medicine because it's good for you. I know someone at work going through cancer treatments the general ability drop off is scary. I don't know how to deal with it myself, people tend to see themselves in their best light even if that was behind them, yet they keep their metaphorical crutch front and center to shield themselves from criticism. The person is still well connected, but their reputation starts to go south pretty quickly, because they repeatedly lie about their status and what they are doing. Today they are perfectly fine, but doing less than ever kind of thing, and making up things for why they failed. They really aren't up to learning new things, but learning new things is required. Not to mention their filter starts to go and they really say what is on their mind, and it's like, really that's what you think about me? Makes me want to get things done now while I'm in my prime and we're all dying after all, but this furthers the rift because they want to do progressively less.
 
Are you playing different material with the newer band? I'm wondering if the problem is that he hasn't had time to nail down his parts in this new situation. If he's getting worse at songs he used to do well,then something is up. If that's the case, I would talk to him as a friend.
 
Spot on. I was talking about playing guitar in my earlier post, not drumming. I think drumming is different from the guitar, If you have an innate sense of rhythm its easier to pick up drumming again. I played lead guitar in bands for years, then changed back to drums for the last 12 years or so. I pick up the guitar once or twice a week but I have lost most of the fretboard skills I had and would struggle badly to play in a band without months of diligent practice. For me drumming is in the hard drive, playing guitar has to be worked at every day.

OK, this makes sense.


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