Auditions

Auditioned a guitar player last night. As requested, he supplied audio and video (hate to waste time). Seemed legit. We asked him to be ready to do 6 tunes. Dude shows up with all kinds of high end equipment (3 friggin' guitars). That should have been the first sign.

Immediately it's obvious he did not prepare. How the h*ll do you show up to an audition not knowing the songs you were asked to be prepared to do? Beyond me. I'd never, ever show up to an audition unprepared. Guy was 37 years old. Millennial Syndrome? I dunno.

At lease this guy showed up. Had one last week not show....no call, no nothing. Who else has had people show up to an audition unprepared?

We tried to get a fill in guitarist for a one time gig and he not only showed up with all his gear, he also showed up with a song list he wanted us to learn. Needless to say, he didn't work out.

We had a couple of guitarist try out years ago in a group I was in.
One guy showed up with food.
So we had to wait for him to finish eating?!

Back in the early '70's when we were putting our band together, a guitar player came to audition. He was prepared and, damn, he was good. Really good player AND singer.

We ran through 5-6 songs, no problems at all, until we sat down to talk. He started talking as if it was going to be HIS band.

Needless to say that didn't work out.

I can relate. We held several auditions a few months ago with guitarists and/or singers. Sent out a list with 10 fairly easy songs to learn to each of them a couple of weeks in advance. We auditioned about five or six of them. Only one singer came prepared. I think it's pretty much the norm these days. Cats want to play but not practice.

I can also relate to the musicians who show up with their own songs. I know that it's customary to try and accommodate vocalists because of range constraints and such but guitarists? I never really got that one ...

I’m no doubt the “odd man out” here....but If I’m looking for a long term guitarist, I’d rather he/she just show up and jam. (My opinion), I can get a better idea of their abilities, composure, talent, tempo, creativity and presence of mind on stage if we play our songs and let them do their thing. If they do a few of their own songs as well, it can give you a good idea of how well they can fall into a groove with others. A little structure is good, but a pre-conceived idea of EXACTLY how a song should be played (especially from a guitar player) can be a recipe for disaster. They need to be able to think on the fly, and adapt.

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Originally Posted by N2Bluz

I’m no doubt the “odd man out” here....but If I’m looking for a long term guitarist, I’d rather he/she just show up and jam. (My opinion), I can get a better idea of their abilities, composure, talent, tempo, creativity and presence of mind on stage if we play our songs and let them do their thing. If they do a few of their own songs as well, it can give you a good idea of how well they can fall into a groove with others. A little structure is good, but a pre-conceived idea of EXACTLY how a song should be played (especially from a guitar player) can be a recipe for disaster. They need to be able to think on the fly, and adapt.

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Brian, as usual, I agree with you (although the "maybe she's hot for you post) threw me a bit, but then I thought that maybe you farmed that post out.

I should have been more " in depth" with our audition requirements. We would give them several songs and they could choose what they wanted to do. Plus, they should have some songs that they wanted to do. We did not limit it to "songs we want you to do".

The great thing about where we were located was the amount of musicians that were available. I hate to say it like this, but we basically had "pick of the litter". There were probably more musicians within 25-30 miles of us than you have in all of Nebraska. (I don't mean that as a knock on Nebraska, but it's probably true). We had solid management that had managed the husband and wife "disaster waiting to happen" band and where I met our bass player and my best friend. We probably auditioned over 200 people to get a keyboard player, rhythm guitar, and lead guitar/singer.

Point being, everyone who auditioned had options. There was nothing carved in stone with us, and it was like that for 32 years. That's why we only had 2 personnel changes in all that time, and 1 was due to my friend's death of a massive heart attack at 41 years old. He took better care of himself than I did. I smoked 2 packs a day, lived on Burger King and pizza, and, at 1 hotel we stayed at a lot of times in New York, I would get up around 3, go out by the pool, 1 of the girls would ask if I wanted anything, and the 1st time, I asked if I could still get breakfast and she said "yes, what do you want"? I said 3 eggs easy, bacon and home fries and a Bud.

I'm still here and he's gone 27 years. Go figure.

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Originally Posted by N2Bluz

I’m no doubt the “odd man out” here....but If I’m looking for a long term guitarist, I’d rather he/she just show up and jam. (My opinion), I can get a better idea of their abilities, composure, talent, tempo, creativity and presence of mind on stage if we play our songs and let them do their thing. If they do a few of their own songs as well, it can give you a good idea of how well they can fall into a groove with others. A little structure is good, but a pre-conceived idea of EXACTLY how a song should be played (especially from a guitar player) can be a recipe for disaster. They need to be able to think on the fly, and adapt.

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Bingo

If musicians can't just jam together then how are you suppose to do the other more formal stuff? Basically, just go off on an E chord blues jam and you can get a sense of how creative and intuitive everybody is.

all the best...

Always found it hard to get minor chords from my drums. They do seem to like E5th (EBEBBE).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by N2Bluz

I’m no doubt the “odd man out” here....but If I’m looking for a long term guitarist, I’d rather he/she just show up and jam. (My opinion), I can get a better idea of their abilities, composure, talent, tempo, creativity and presence of mind on stage if we play our songs and let them do their thing. If they do a few of their own songs as well, it can give you a good idea of how well they can fall into a groove with others. A little structure is good, but a pre-conceived idea of EXACTLY how a song should be played (especially from a guitar player) can be a recipe for disaster. They need to be able to think on the fly, and adapt.

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I've done this many times as well. I guess for me, my expectations are usually dependent upon the audition format ...

Every band I’ve been in has played Blues/Jazz, old Country, Swing...stuff that has structure per the genre. I could see where Rock (especially more complicated stuff) would be a completely different ballgame. And, if you’re a cover band, you need to be pretty spot-on. We can take an old Country or Blues song and change it up as much as we want. As long as we’re good musically, no one cares. Heck, that’s what every British Rock band in the 60’s did. BUT...if you cover a popular Rock song and don’t do it “like the radio version”, someone’s gonna complain. It’s just the nature of the beast.

"BUT...if you cover a popular Rock song and don’t do it “like the radio version”, someone’s gonna complain. It’s just the nature of the beast".
-Brian

Over the years we had people say that we didn't play it "exactly" like it was played by (pick your group) but they were few and far between.

From my experience, people don't go out to listen to a band play songs "exactly" like it was done by (pick your group) when they know it would be a hell of a lot cheaper to buy the record/CD and stay home.

I know someone will say that people like to go out and see a band, I can't argue that point, BUT, I've/we had more people say they liked what we do then we ever had say," you don't play certain songs the "right" way so we are never coming to see you again".

You can't change a song beyond recognition, but you can "jiggle" it a little bit. If people didn't like what we did, we would have been stuck in bars and/or out of business by '75. After we pulled the plug in 2005, J., the part owner of our management company called me 1 night about a year later and said that there were clubs that still wanted to book us.

If a band is really good, you would be amazed at what you can "get away with".

I agree rick. I've experienced this phenomenon myself. Over the years playing to packed houses and dance floors with bands that didn't play the songs "like the record", I've learned that as long as the band is good, and can entertain the people and make them dance, they'll do just fine ...

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Originally Posted by dangermoney

I agree rick. I've experienced this phenomenon myself. Over the years playing to packed houses and dance floors with bands that didn't play the songs "like the record", I've learned that as long as the band is good, and can entertain the people and make them dance, they'll do just fine ...

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I've posted before that I lived by 2 rules when playing.

1) Listen to the music, it will always tell you what to do.

2) KEEP THE CUSTOMER SATISFIED.

Worked for me.

What,no Suzy Diamond stories?