Starting to put together a new band

[doggyd69b]

I'm currently there: collecting a pension, living off of accumulated investments and savings. Guess what? I bust ass every day! I spent my whole life working for the moment when I could kick back and do nothing. Now that I'm at that point, all I want to do is work! Go figure.

I won't go to to work (for an employer) but I will still have home projects, and things to learn (how to play piano, violin, guitar), a couple more languages, travel to places I haven't yet been (but want to be).... I thought I wanted to visit Israel... (No not because religion, I'm not religious at all, but that went to sh&t...)
I don't really have a bucket list, or I should say I have been fortunate enough to have been able to do all of those things I would even consider bucket list worthy, But I'm sure I will have plenty to "work" on while I am retired.

 

[doggyd69b]

I don't bust my butt anymore. I sleep in 'till about 06:30, take a good hour-long lunch almost every day and knock off somewhere about 17:30. But, on the flip side, I have too much to do, so I stay busy. Not Andy C. (@Keep it Simple) busy, but I'm always moving. (I retired July 2021 and haven't been fishing yet! )

Retired a second time, so we live on my army pension and social security. Don't need much, so all the retirement savings and investments are not needed at this time. Truth be told, I'm afraid to use it. I saved for "someday" for so long and I don't believe that "someday" is here yet. I didn't save it to give to my kids, but I know I'll need it "someday." I guess I'll wait for "someday." Hopefully I'll recognize it when it gets here.

See, that is the thing.. I didn't save much I spent my money on fun things that I wanted. I didn't want to be too old to enjoy them (for example the fast motorcycles and stuff like that). It was easier for me to do since I don't have kids but still. so now it is kind of time to save...I really don't need to because I have everything I want at this point and my retirement will pay for my current expenses... but at some point I will be old to the point of not being able or just plain not wanting to work so for that I want to have some $$ so I don't have to worry on my later years. I will have 2 retirements and social security (if that is still a thing in the next 14 years)....

 

[doggyd69b]

(guitar players especially) aren't good team players. When you get two of them together, neither wants to play a support role. They always want to be the front guy. Drummers and bassists are different. Our instruments require us to be in a support role and we tend to be more accepting of this. We "play for the song" and rarely try to upstage anyone. Again... These are generalizations, but I think there's some truth there.

Definitely for most guitar players, but I have seen a few bands where at least for a while, the supporting guitarist knew the other guy was a better player:

Testament, nobody can argue that Alex Skolnik was the superior player.
Queensriche (Operation Mindrcrime and before) again Chris Degarmo was better.
Slayer Everyone roots for Kerry king, but even he accepted that Jeff Hanneman was the creative force.
Whitesnake with John Sykes (no contest there)
Whitesnake with Steve vai (again no contest there) and holy smokes I don't think I have ever know of a band to have so many former members!

List of Whitesnake members - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The only band I can think of where both guitarists were evenly matched, and somehow shared about the same spotlight is Megadeth (when Marty Friedman was with them).

 

[2 hit wonder]

Guitar amps only increase in volume. There is no turning down unless forced, lol.
Not always, no. But usually.

I can't fault you for making that choice. You apparently have the talent, the good reputation and live in an area that supports a musical career path. No one can do what you do without being pretty good on drums, being easy to work with and have a solid work ethic. You can always go back to punching a time clock if you really need to. For now, you're doing what others simply dream of.

I won't be in contention for winning a local drumoff. There is a healthy enough music scene to support a frugal lifestyle though and the mortgage is manageable. Since depreciated cars have always been fine that was no lifestyle change. I used to spend the car payments on collecting stuff instead. THAT changed dramatically.

 

[GetAgrippa]

Retirement is not for the faint of heart. I retired 2013 but did some part time till 6 years ago. I think we tend to be driven by work and it often consumes us ( which I’m all for working but it shouldn’t consume your identity). Seems like we males often identify by our occupation- meet someone new “what ya do for a living?comes up”. Discuss work related topics. What I did was who I was. It has been a real evolution to switch gears. I spent a year being a couch tater watching movies on the tube a lot. That got boring real quick so I took to reading. I spent all my reading time work related so it has been a joy reading for fun or new knowledge and history. I still like to examine data so I find stuff related to all kinds of topics and analyze the data. I’m having fun harassing Ask AI and ChatGPT by asking it loaded questions it inevitably gives me a wrong answer. I correct it then it agrees and thanks me for the correction and a more complete response. I call bull crap on both. The AI image apps are cool.

Anyways physically I work more now than at my job ( which I was stuck in a lab or classroom) I just don’t get paid. I really enjoy outdoor related labor- love yard landscaping and got a real knack of fixing peoples drainage issues. No one calls me Doctor no mo and I don’t miss it a bit. I’m a lot nicer and feel more well rounded.I have to admit i’ve had anger issues , being demanding/obsessive and been mean spirited. I still do geek and nerd out on some things chasing rabbits down holes on here,but I’m just having fun and generally expect to be wrong LOL.

Good luck on putting a new band together. Been awhile now for me, but I've had two offers last couple of months I've declined. I just want to play to stuff that thrills me now instead of thrilling others.

 

[BruceW]

i'll sadly never be able to retire, as i'm beginning to see many friends our age doing nowadays. i had a decent retirement in the previous company I worked for, and when it went belly -up, so did my retirement. Partially my fault, as I could have moved some of it before it collapsed, but I was a good company man, sigh.

So i'll be that guy greeting you at Wal-Mart when I'm 80. Unless I win the lottery

 

[A J]

i'll sadly never be able to retire, as i'm beginning to see many friends our age doing nowadays. i had a decent retirement in the previous company I worked for, and when it went belly -up, so did my retirement. Partially my fault, as I could have moved some of it before it collapsed, but I was a good company man, sigh.

So i'll be that guy greeting you at Wal-Mart when I'm 80. Unless I win the lottery

Sorry to hear that. Not knowing all the details of your situation, I'd say your former employer who went bankrupt most likely did you wrong. It almost happened to me.

I was working for a small manufacturing company. We were growing very rapidly and money was pouring in. The CEO got greedy and accepted huge jobs with huge companies we weren't able to complete. It essentially killed the company. We died from growing too quickly.

During the growth period, the mood was over exuberance. Everybody was excited. We were all going to get rich. We were on the ground floor of what was going to be a great big company. The CEO started offering employees to "buy in" to the company. I was skeptical but brought the idea to my wife. She immediately shot it down. Good thing. Because one guy basically gambled all that he owned and essentially lost most of it.

In the last year of the company, I saw what was going on and was privy to many of the financials. I could see we were in a death spiral with no hope of recovery. The CEO, however outright lied to the workers all the way until the bitter end, assuring them that all was well. I warned other employees. Some listened. Some didn't.

 

[2 hit wonder]

My grandfather and an in-law both got jobbed out of retirements after or at retirement by companies folding. It was probably planned to fold them.

Gigging is my Walmart Greeter job. I've always been able to pull in income from side hustles.

 

[Bozozoid]

i'll sadly never be able to retire, as i'm beginning to see many friends our age doing nowadays. i had a decent retirement in the previous company I worked for, and when it went belly -up, so did my retirement. Partially my fault, as I could have moved some of it before it collapsed, but I was a good company man, sigh.

So i'll be that guy greeting you at Wal-Mart when I'm 80. Unless I win the lottery

 

[Bozozoid]

To many of my friends passed after retiring. I'm scared now. You reach an age and it's use it or lose it.

 

[BruceW]

Sorry to hear that. Not knowing all the details of your situation, I'd say your former employer who went bankrupt most likely did you wrong. It almost happened to me.

I was working for a small manufacturing company. We were growing very rapidly and money was pouring in. The CEO got greedy and accepted huge jobs with huge companies we weren't able to complete. It essentially killed the company. We died from growing too quickly.

During the growth period, the mood was over exuberance. Everybody was excited. We were all going to get rich. We were on the ground floor of what was going to be a great big company. The CEO started offering employees to "buy in" to the company. I was skeptical but brought the idea to my wife. She immediately shot it down. Good thing. Because one guy basically gambled all that he owned and essentially lost most of it.

In the last year of the company, I saw what was going on and was privy to many of the financials. I could see we were in a death spiral with no hope of recovery. The CEO, however outright lied to the workers all the way until the bitter end, assuring them that all was well. I warned other employees. Some listened. Some didn't.

I guess my former company may have done me wrong at various points over 28 years, but the retirement thing isn't directly one of them. Everyone could see it failing. I could have moved some of my retirement stuff...but I hung in there. Frustrating

 

[plaid sabbath]

You are 100% correct. This drives me CRAZY! Guitar players do this all the time. And this happened last night as well. Their amp is blasting away at knee level at volume setting of 11. Whoever is standing across the room is getting blasted while the guitar player can't understand why he can't hear his amp. I don't get it.

Amps blasting at knee level combined with an inability to dial in a good sound. For some reason, lots of guitarists don’t understand how important mid range can be. Scooping out the eq and loading up on distortion will almost guarantee the guitar will be lost in the mix. Great recipe for a horrible sound.

 

[2 hit wonder]

We had our 3rd and final rehearsal with the new guitar player. It was suggested not to bring a half stack to the living room this time to save setup time (and ears).

His Line 6 fifty watt head has small speakers built in so it's plenty. He and the bass player were going with the high volume practice situation the 1st two rehearsals; antiquated. You gotta be able to bring your dynamics down when it fits the situation.

People aren't unteachable but they have to be flexible and willing to try. He didn't have any complaints yet. Our next gig is a lower volume room. Hope he doesn't cancel this time or we start the search for a replacement.

 

[Houndog1964]

I wouldn’t want to be in a band with either one of them . You can’t play with another guitarist you won’t play well with anyone; grow up …

 

[Houndog1964]

If you get told to turn down twice , I’m done with you also ……..
People don’t change …….

 

[A J]

I wouldn’t want to be in a band with either one of them . You can’t play with another guitarist you won’t play well with anyone; grow up …

If you get told to turn down twice , I’m done with you also ……..
People don’t change …….

I live in a rural area with not a lot going on in the way of musicians. In many ways, I've had to make compromises in order to play. But you are correct. Neither individual will change.

Incidentally, I'm staying with guitar player #1 in the 3-piece band. While the guitar player can be moody and stubborn, both the bassist and I have a long history of working with him and have figured out how to "manage" him. Guitar player #2 has just put together a new band with a different drummer. I like both guys. They just don't play well together.

 

[2 hit wonder]

I was in a band with 3 guitar players. Only 1 played lead. A keyboard player was trying to work his way into that band, lol.
Critical thinking wasn't his forte'.

 

[Drumolator]

I will be starting a new band soon. It will be me on drums and vocals, a guitar player who also sings well, and a keyboard player. The guitar player and the keyboard player have never met, so I hope all goes well. Peace and goodwill.

Well, we had our first practice last night...and.. it went GREAT. The other two had never met, but I had played with both of them at different times. I have not had such a good time musically for a very long time. Peace and goodwill.

 

[A J]

I just completed a 4-hour session with my current 3-piece rock cover band. It went well. We played for 2 hours and talked for 2. Good times. Updates:

- They like my backup vocals and want me to start singing leads. They want me to pick some songs.
- Lots of middle school, locker room talk.
- I told them our current guitar player is incapable of sharing the stage with another guitar player. They agreed. We need to stay 3-piece.
- Lots of "life stories". The practice was like therapy.

 

[Smoke]

I just completed a 4-hour session with my current 3-piece rock cover band. It went well. We played for 2 hours and talked for 2. Good times. Updates:

- They like my backup vocals and want me to start singing leads. They want me to pick some songs.
- Lots of middle school, locker room talk.
- I told them our current guitar player is incapable of sharing the stage with another guitar player. They agreed. We need to stay 3-piece.
- Lots of "life stories". The practice was like therapy.

I haven't heard you sing, A J, but go for it. In my opinion, singing is more therapeutic than drumming. It doesn't matter if you're good or not (but I'm guessing you are). I was a shower/car singer for 45 years. My brothers-in-law were attempting the Eagles Seven Bridges Road. And failing. I was just tipsy enough (alcohol!) that I stepped in, corrected them and did the high-part harmony. Since then, I sing full voice whenever/wherever I feel like.

Here's an eye-opener: keeping time on your drums while singing lead vocals out of meter. Takes four-limb independence to another level. I'm betting you can do it!