Show time...

C

Christ-Hammer

Guest
My band has a show on Saturday, we are opening for like 2-3 other bands and I personally think the musicianship in my band is far more technical than the other bands cause I have heard their stuff and it lacks. Anyway the point is, we only have 1 song done and 2 that are almost done, but we still get confused with certain parts every once in a while. So the question is, do we cancel if we can't pull the songs off in time, or do we take the show regardless of how we sound? Personally I am extremely nervous because this will be our first show and my first show playing drums, and also we don't have the material completed that we want to present. So any pointers will help.
 
Don't pass on the show!
Learn the songs and do the show.
Learn the songs, there's no good reason why you can't get them together in time.
 
I agree. Do the show!!

Learn the other 2 songs asap. If you are all fuzzy in spots, can you not play those measures? Have someone do a solo instead? Or do a round-robin of solos showcasing everyone in the band? You may blow people away by doing that.

Play the show and use this as a learning experience. You will probably sound a lot better than you think. Also, someone in the audience might hear you and want to hire your band. How many national acts have been in the very same place you are now? You have to start somewhere.

PLAY THE GIG AND HAVE FUN!!!!
 
This might be a little off topic- but I wanted to hand down a little advice....

You stated that the other bands werent up to much? However your band only has 3 songs- 1 of which none of you can get through?

Just to let you know that you might want to check your ego a little- Having just sat through a 6 hour type gig with 35+ songs Believe me- nothing spreads faster then a band with a bad attitude.

The only way to get beyond this is to actually back up that attitude with talent- otherwise your band will deffinately be 'black-listed'

Always remember- most local scenes are very small and everybody will play with someone who you have played with etc etc.


Do the show enjoy the experience of being up infront of the people entertaining them but for your own sake lose the idea that you are better then someone else.

There is always someone out there better- which means you just need to work harder to get to their level.

This wasnt meant as negative post- however I am trying to help you not burn bridges with your very first show!!!!!

Remember life is a wheel and always comes back to bite you in the ass!- Makesure it comes back and kisses you instead ; ) !!!

Take the show and have fun
 
This might be a little off topic- but I wanted to hand down a little advice....

You stated that the other bands weren't up to much? However your band only has 3 songs- 1 of which none of you can get through?

Just to let you know that you might want to check your ego a little- Having just sat through a 6 hour type gig with 35+ songs Believe me- nothing spreads faster then a band with a bad attitude.

The only way to get beyond this is to actually back up that attitude with talent- otherwise your band will definitely be 'black-listed'

Always remember- most local scenes are very small and everybody will play with someone who you have played with etc etc.


Do the show enjoy the experience of being up in front of the people entertaining them but for your own sake lose the idea that you are better then someone else.

There is always someone out there better- which means you just need to work harder to get to their level.

This wasnt meant as negative post- however I am trying to help you not burn bridges with your very first show!!!!!

Remember life is a wheel and always comes back to bite you in the ass!- Make sure it comes back and kisses you instead ; ) !!!

Take the show and have fun

+1 brother!!

Sounds like the fact that they are "more technical" is a downside, whereas the simple ACDC style band will keep it going and have the people eating out of their hands.

Who wins THEN?? Eh Mr. Technical??
 
Your audience isn't going to care how "technical" your playing is...but they will care if you sound like you're trying to overplay something and can't pull it off. Simplify what you can to get it playable/listenable by Saturday...and then go out there and rock it!
 
Anyway the point is, we only have 1 song done and 2 that are almost done.

So do I understand correctly that your band has...three songs? That sounds like a pretty slim set, unless each song is around ten minutes long.
Of course I guess it depends on the gig.
 
Technical schmechnical.................if its not done correct and tight nobody will want to hear it. I would rather hear a drummer play what makes me tap my foot while doing good minimal fills then a guys that's trying to pull off stuff thats way over his head and can't. For a first gig, Impress yourself first before you try and impress others and fail.
We have all been where where you are at. Take your time and play at YOUR level, not the level of the other drummers playing that night. Oh yeah, chew gum. It helped me breath while i played in the beginning. Good luck!
 
Alright you guys got a really raw impression of what I meant hahaha, I am not cocky at all. I was simply stating a fact, I know there are a lot of people that blow us out of the water as far as technicality, however... the bands we were going to play with are not nearly our level as far as how clean they play individually and how their instruments sound. Again I am not being cocky, that was just directed towards bands that we were going to play with, if we were going to play with some of these other big local bands I have heard I would say different. I just can't stress enough that I don't want to be seen as cocky because there is a difference with knowing your pretty good and just flaunting around that your good. I know I am pretty good, but I lack a lot of skills that makes a really technical drummer. In comparison to the bands we were going to play with I was saying we are more technical, understand?....
Now that that's out of the way, we didn't take the show because our keyboard player convinced our lead guitar player that we didn't want to be seen as a bad performance by our fellow bands because we didn't want to destroy our bridges to headlining bands and such. On top of the fact that we didn't take it, the guy who was hosting the show didn't even notify his grandma that he was hosting it in her backyard, and no one got to play and there was no party, and on top of that the guy who was hosting it never informed his band that they were supposed to play the show. So that's how that went down, and again I am in no way cocky, if you met me in real life you would see that I am one of the least cockiest people you have ever met, unless I just met you and I am being sarcastic, but my post wasn't meant to be sarcastic, and I think anyone could tell if they were better than someone else at something, I never addressed it to the other bands, but it's just one of those things. I don't know how to say I am better than someone without sounding cocky, it's just a fact, maybe they will be even better than me down the road, anyway if no one understands what I am trying to say, I don't know how else to say it, I explained it like 20 different ways.
 
Alright you guys got a really raw impression of what I meant hahaha, I am not cocky at all. I was simply stating a fact, I know there are a lot of people that blow us out of the water as far as technicality, however... the bands we were going to play with are not nearly our level as far as how clean they play individually and how their instruments sound. Again I am not being cocky, that was just directed towards bands that we were going to play with, if we were going to play with some of these other big local bands I have heard I would say different. I just can't stress enough that I don't want to be seen as cocky because there is a difference with knowing your pretty good and just flaunting around that your good. I know I am pretty good, but I lack a lot of skills that makes a really technical drummer. In comparison to the bands we were going to play with I was saying we are more technical, understand?....
Now that that's out of the way, we didn't take the show because our keyboard player convinced our lead guitar player that we didn't want to be seen as a bad performance by our fellow bands because we didn't want to destroy our bridges to headlining bands and such. On top of the fact that we didn't take it, the guy who was hosting the show didn't even notify his grandma that he was hosting it in her backyard, and no one got to play and there was no party, and on top of that the guy who was hosting it never informed his band that they were supposed to play the show. So that's how that went down, and again I am in no way cocky, if you met me in real life you would see that I am one of the least cockiest people you have ever met, unless I just met you and I am being sarcastic, but my post wasn't meant to be sarcastic, and I think anyone could tell if they were better than someone else at something, I never addressed it to the other bands, but it's just one of those things. I don't know how to say I am better than someone without sounding cocky, it's just a fact, maybe they will be even better than me down the road, anyway if no one understands what I am trying to say, I don't know how else to say it, I explained it like 20 different ways.

I think that you are proud of your band, which is cool...but it does come across as cocky when you say that the other bands there aren't as good as you guys, but you have 3 total songs, 1 of which you can't play. You may all be better musicians than the people in the other bands, but they have more than 3 songs, and can play all of their songs. I think that is why people were saying that stuff about what you said. It is a pretty horrible attitude, when you really think about it.
 
I don't understand how your band has only 2 songs that it can play completely. How long have you been playing together, a couple of jams? I would almost say, without being disrespectful, that you are not yet really a band.
 
The guitar player, keyboard player, and I have been together for about 7 months, and we have made over 10 songs, but going through so many band members and changing our style so much we got rid of all of the songs and we now have finally settled upon what we want to stick with for our musical time together. I see a lot of you commenting that I have a bad attitude or we aren't solid because we don't haver songs down, but I don't care what you think because I know I don't have a bad attitude in real life and I know that I am in a solid band now. We all plan on renting out a jam room and splitting the cost, plus we bought a van to transport our gear and we have all been contributing towards equipment and such. I know it takes more than that to be solid, but in doing that it proves that we are serious and we will be solid, plus everyone in the band are pretty good friends with eachother.
 
The guitar player, keyboard player, and I have been together for about 7 months, and we have made over 10 songs, but going through so many band members and changing our style so much we got rid of all of the songs and we now have finally settled upon what we want to stick with for our musical time together. I see a lot of you commenting that I have a bad attitude or we aren't solid because we don't haver songs down, but I don't care what you think because I know I don't have a bad attitude in real life and I know that I am in a solid band now. We all plan on renting out a jam room and splitting the cost, plus we bought a van to transport our gear and we have all been contributing towards equipment and such. I know it takes more than that to be solid, but in doing that it proves that we are serious and we will be solid, plus everyone in the band are pretty good friends with eachother.

Again, I'm not trying to be a jerk here...but the attitude that you have put forth in your posts, including this one, is one that will likely hurt you in your career. I hope you have a lot of success, and I hope that your approach to how you say things doesn't cost you too many opportunities. Attitude matters far more than talent (once you reach a certain talent level, at least) in making it as a professional musician.
 
i think that day that a another band blows you guys off the stage will be a changing point in your musical career, I don't know how old you are, but you sound young, this might be good to happen to you soon, it will put you right for the rest of your musical days. it doesn't matter how good or bad you are, how techno-flash or solid, the guy sat behind those drums on the night is the guy who's out there, doing it... & probably enjoying it too. Everyone else there can only watch & wish they were up there or somewhere else! But wether he's doing a Neal Peart number or just keeping a great 4 on the floor - He's the guy, and thats all that matters. If your the guy who's lucky enough to play for a living, the guy who's up there doing it is the one with as much people skills as stick control skills, without it you'll be doing a lot of auditions!! No-one likes a big-head, so let your playing do the talking.
 
Alright you guys win, I'm done posting on this thread, no one understands what I'm saying even though you think you do.
 
My second favorite thread! What a week!


I thought you were 13, but apparently you're old enough to drive a van. Ok. But you haven't gleaned one thing from anything anyone here is trying to tell (ie HELP) you. So I'll guess you're 17.

My first thought from your very first post was "How is this guy's band better than the others? Do the other bands have just a chorus?" 1.5 songs does not a band make. I would say "Don't play any shows until you have a setlist longer than 3 songs".

Also, what was the point of your critique on the other bands? I'd be more worried about not having any frickin' songs to play.

There's nothing wrong with thinking "Our band is going to have the strongest set" or something like that, but there's a concern there (that others have expressed) when you don't really need to divulge what you think about those bands but offer it anyway...


Also - due to your back story of the show getting cancelled, please please please tell me that along with metal bands, this grandma's backyard also hosts wrestling.


Thank you in advance.
 
Here's how I have noticed its worked for us...techimusicalsongmalignantnarssisim...doesn't really work so well in bars, parties, events, even the larger outdoor venues... Our harder, more progressive stuff...that is harder for me anyway, people like.

HOWEVER one of the songs that I though upon presentation, by the one who wrote it, was the worst idea ever,,,,has turned out to be the one that people ASK for, love, get the most excited about, and will get you laid fast...is the most simple one we have! Bar gigs=K.I.S.S. if anyone knows where thats from.

But, I guess if your one of the death metal bunch...this doesn't apply......if your not, check the attitude, its sure good to have confidence, but as you have seen people take it the wrong way, or they take it the way your putting it out there. Good luck in writing, its a bit tedious at times.
 
I think you should have your songs down before performing. If you only have 3 songs it's probably easy to learn them all by heart in a few days. If not; the songs are to complicated and you should bring them down to your own level, so you can actually master them easier. When you've got the song down you can start adding little things to make it more complicated and technical, one thing at a time, so you finally reach the result you are working for. But take it easy, if you aren't able to learn three songs, the songs are just too hard for you.

Good luck with your career.
 
Here's how I have noticed its worked for us...techimusicalsongmalignantnarssisim...doesn't really work so well in bars, parties, events, even the larger outdoor venues... Our harder, more progressive stuff...that is harder for me anyway, people like.

HOWEVER one of the songs that I though upon presentation, by the one who wrote it, was the worst idea ever,,,,has turned out to be the one that people ASK for, love, get the most excited about, and will get you laid fast...is the most simple one we have! Bar gigs=K.I.S.S. if anyone knows where thats from.

But, I guess if your one of the death metal bunch...this doesn't apply......if your not, check the attitude, its sure good to have confidence, but as you have seen people take it the wrong way, or they take it the way your putting it out there. Good luck in writing, its a bit tedious at times.

Thank you for being the only person to understand what I was trying to say the whole time! I truly do not see how else I can put it to these people, they don't know me in real life so how can they judge me? Another thing though, I know it sounds like an ego thing but.... bear with me, when you listen to another drummer play, are you able to hear if they are better than you or worse in the sense of knowledge and playing drums, depending on the style of course. You can't put a death metal drummer next to a jazz drummer, but they are both good at different things, on the other hand when you listen to anyone and you can tell that they are making mistakes or their playing is off due to their lack of ability isn't it fair to be able to say you are better if you can do what they are trying to do, but cleanly? Vice versa if you listen to another drummer and they are doing stuff that you can't do plus can do cleanly wouldn't that make them the better drummer or at least the more versatile drummer. I have been a hypocrite in a lot of my posts by using the idea of being better than people, but truly no one is better than anyone unless you are matching people up side by side to do 1 technique to see who is better, I don't believe in doing that either because I think all music should be judged as art and not how technical everyone is. Although I totally believe in never judging a musician for what they play or how they do it, I can still listen to a drummer or a band for that matter and I can tell if they are playing sloppy or if they have great technique.
 
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