Found A Guitarist!

JustJames

Platinum Member
...and he wasn't even behind the couch.

My garage band has been emerging from the garage and into blinding light of parties.

At the same time, our (now previous) lead guitarist announced that he had too much going on in the rest of his world to allow him to carry on playing with us. That led me on the hunt for a lead guitarist. When band members' social networks failed to turn up a candidate, I turned to Gumtree and Bandmix (Tinder for musicians).

We're a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs, so I didn't see any point in having auditions that were bigger than Ben Hur, so I kept it limited to two guitarists. As it happened, they were both really good, but very different in their approach.

One guy had a very trick Fender Strat that is clever enough to mimic different tunings, and different types of guitars, and about a square meter of pedal array.

The other guy had a Squier Strat and an inexpensive Les Paul copy that he had spent some time and effort in setting up right, and used his amplifier (Vox VT) to manage tone.

They both played really nicely, but in the end I went with the guy with the simpler rig, largely because I was concerned that the guy with the awesome rig might get side tracked with rig set up rather than playing.

Moral to the story: If you try out for a band and don't get the gig, realise that having to tell you "no thanks" may be a shitty thing for the person to have to tell you.
 
Oh I AM pleased you've found somebody. I hope he's a good fit and that the Sharks are jumping again very soon :)
 
The other guy had a Squier Strat and an inexpensive Les Paul copy that he had spent some time and effort in setting up right, and used his amplifier (Vox VT) to manage tone.

Much like drums, an inexpensive piece of equipment in the right hands can be made to sound remarkable.

Glad you found someone to work with.

Peace and love.
 
On balance of probability, I think you're likely to have made the right choice.

Congratulations! - Now - video, or it didn't happen :)

& Yes, telling anyone they didn't get the job is never pleasant.
 
...and he wasn't even behind the couch.

My garage band has been emerging from the garage and into blinding light of parties.

At the same time, our (now previous) lead guitarist announced that he had too much going on in the rest of his world to allow him to carry on playing with us. That led me on the hunt for a lead guitarist. When band members' social networks failed to turn up a candidate, I turned to Gumtree and Bandmix (Tinder for musicians).

We're a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs, so I didn't see any point in having auditions that were bigger than Ben Hur, so I kept it limited to two guitarists. As it happened, they were both really good, but very different in their approach.

One guy had a very trick Fender Strat that is clever enough to mimic different tunings, and different types of guitars, and about a square meter of pedal array.

The other guy had a Squier Strat and an inexpensive Les Paul copy that he had spent some time and effort in setting up right, and used his amplifier (Vox VT) to manage tone.

They both played really nicely, but in the end I went with the guy with the simpler rig, largely because I was concerned that the guy with the awesome rig might get side tracked with rig set up rather than playing.

Moral to the story: If you try out for a band and don't get the gig, realise that having to tell you "no thanks" may be a shitty thing for the person to have to tell you.


Why can't you take both cause by definition its a band. Unless off course one of them thinks he is entitled to be treated like Hendrix. Essentially you will be hedging your risks of absenteeism and more critical commentary might add some value to the compositions.

revenue split issues?
 
Why can't you take both cause by definition its a band. Unless off course one of them thinks he is entitled to be treated like Hendrix. Essentially you will be hedging your risks of absenteeism and more critical commentary might add some value to the compositions.

revenue split issues?

Compositions aren't an issue, we're a covers band. Having 2 lead players in the band is overkill. Having a roster of lead players just adds complication.

Revenue sharing is not a concern, mostly because there is none and we are all professional people just not professional musicians.
 
An update...

Less than a week after joining, first choice guitarist mailed me to say "Erm...terribly sorry but I've joined another band".

So I got back in touch with second choice guitarist who has been playing with us for three weeks, fitting in nicely and playing nicely too.

As an added bonus, first choice guitarist called me last weekend to check if the position was still available because the band he'd joined hadn't worked out.
 
And he's still on board after three weeks? Great stuff!
 
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