I hate musicians...

[Constinator25]

Recently, I was in 2 bands. One 3 piece indie band and a prog metal band that needed members. The guitarist quit our indie band because of music conflicts which left me and the bassist. Me and him kept jamming and started writing some fantastic songs very quickly and easily, we got along fine. Recently my music tastes have begun to change, and Ive considered abandoning my metal band because weve been jamming almost a year and we never got anything done because the guitarist was a know it all and didnt know how to work with people musically.

Its the weirdest thing. I hang out with musicians all the time, and there usually pretty chill, but when it comes to music and writing, they become the most obnoxious and difficult people on the face of the planet. Its like the music adds another personality to them, a whole nother personality to have problems with. My guitarist was reaaalllyy good, he was just a know it all and was impossible to write with because he never accepted anyone else's ideas. My indie guitarist quit because we were writing all his parts and he "lost musical passion for the band" according to him. There were other reasons but theyre hard to explain.

It all comes down to an individual's ideals about music. They tell themselves, I dont like simple stuff, its boring, so they play ALL complex stuff. Or, I dont like complex stuff, so they play all simple and boring stuff. things like, I dont like metal, so any riff that sounds even remotely metal, I dont like. Its a trend among musicians my age that goes right along with the teenage personality. The I know it all and Im right thing.

This all seems really abstract and strange but Im pretty sure its true. My indie guitarist limited himself because he only liked simple stuff. I asked him why he never learned tapping and he said "its all complex and no feel". I told him that the least it would do is help him get better and he just said he didnt care. Now all he plays is chords in 4/4 with droning melodies and rhythms, but its "from the heart" and he thinks its good.

I think the reason me and my bassist friend are getting along so well is that we dont critique our music based on genre or complexity. If it sounds good, we use it. I recently wrote a song. Guitar, bass, keys, drums, everything. We decided to use it because it sounds good, even though Im just starting to learn guitar. My metal guitarist would have shunned it because Im not a guitarist and its kinda simple (youll hear it soon, its next on the recording list ).

So I quit the metal band, and Im now focusing only on the indie-prog rock project with my bassist. We seem to have the same goals, and we never have any conflict. Hes gonna get a job to get some recording equipment and Im saving for a drumset. Once we get a full band together, we might have a shot, at least locally. for now we'll just write and record. Its sad that I have to leave them all behind but Ive been dwadling in the teenage band thing for a long time now and Im pretty sure I know whats best. Get ready for some awesome music from yours truely. *que epic cinematic music and credits*

[drummer]

Const, your situation is quite common with musicians that age. Much of it will mellow as they get older but, yeah, I know it doesn't help your current situation. I think you should just find like-minded individuals like your bass player friend and make sure they're also humble. They can be hard to find sometimes but they're out there.

Gifts for Musicians

[Supraphonic]

Haw haw, welcome to the real world...


...you want to see some of the clowns I'm working with.

[steveplaysyamaha]

You're lucky enough to at least find musicians on the same playing field as you. (ie your bassist)

[Zeta]

lol I haven't experienced that yet, i've been with the same band for 2 years now.

But everyone seems to have stories like that. stick with the bass player and build around you two. craigslist has been a savior for my band, maybe try auditioning people from there.

[wolvie56]

Why is it that guitarists are statistically the member that usually is the cause for strife and grief and are usually hard to deal with? I don't get it.

[almostmatt1]

Mmm. Sick of people like that. A guy invited me into his band recently, and he's a really good guitarist, so i said ill jam a few times and see what i reckon. I asked once if i could jam with him one Sunday, and he said sorry im probably drinking the previous night. Hasnt contacted me at all since then, in the 5 weeks following.
In the meantime iv actually joined another band, and i don't even think he knows.

[rickthedrummer]

Mmm. Sick of people like that. A guy invited me into his band recently, and he's a really good guitarist, so i said ill jam a few times and see what i reckon. I asked once if i could jam with him one Sunday, and he said sorry im probably drinking the previous night. Hasnt contacted me at all since then, in the 5 weeks following.
In the meantime iv actually joined another band, and i don't even think he knows.

Guitarists have always had the same affect on me. Like cabbage and beer.

Can't cook them, can't eat them, have to deal with them.

I could write 3 pages of stories about guitar players I've had to deal with, and I don't even want to get started on singers.

If I thought that prison had the slightest chance to be fun, there would be several less guitarists and singers around.

[gonefishin]

Const, your situation is quite common with musicians that age. Much of it will mellow as they get older but, yeah, I know it doesn't help your current situation. I think you should just find like-minded individuals like your bass player friend and make sure they're also humble. They can be hard to find sometimes but they're out there.

So very true........one of the hardest things of putting together a band is picking the right personalities and not the tallents.

[bassist learning drums]

I think most musicians only wish to post ads on Craigslist. Half the time they do not return emails, and the other half cannot seem to practice the material.

[Drumbledore]

Why is it that guitarists are statistically the member that usually is the cause for strife and grief and are usually hard to deal with? I don't get it.

Never mind guitarists.....sax players are worse.....well, at least this one I'm in a band with at the moment. The bassist and myself are waiting to see how one more rehearsal is going to turn out tomorrow before we make up our mind to jump ship or not.

[Martinez12]

You should see people around here, its even worse than your case

[Zeta]

Why is it that guitarists are statistically the member that usually is the cause for strife and grief and are usually hard to deal with? I don't get it.

that is truth right there lol. I had a guitarist just quit showing up for practice and 2 months later decided to tell us he was out of the band. and our current guitarist took on three jobs without thinking about the fact that we would never get to play with him if he did that....

[Tuggernaut]

Currently, It's me and my best friend that plays guitar and lives a few doors down from me. My other friend who plays bass comes over and jams sometimes too, but he goes in phases so I don't know how long it'll last. I'm still young (16) so finding dedication is hard. My other friend that plays guitar is pretty good, but all he plays is Led Zepplin kinda stuff so whenever we used to jam, he refused to play what the rest of us like, i.e metal. So at the moment it's just me and my guitarist friend, and the only problem is he doesn't have a good enough amp to jam with so that sucks. And since we both kinda just started playing (him almost a year, me 7 months) we're in no rush to go out and find more people.

[late8]

Its the weirdest thing. I hang out with musicians all the time, and there usually pretty chill, but when it comes to music and writing, they become the most obnoxious and difficult people on the face of the planet.

I found this statement to be so true it baffles my mind. Must be the ego thing. Some say that drummer's have the biggest ego, I disagree.

[Constinator25]

I found this statement to be so true it baffles my mind. Must be the ego thing. Some say that drummer's have the biggest ego, I disagree.

Yea most drummers I meet just sit and play drums lol

[yohin]

Yea most drummers I meet just sit and play drums lol

Yeah...guitarists are the ones with the big egos.

[Supraphonic]

Yeah...guitarists are the ones with the big egos.

Singers ie; frontmen aren't shy either

[jordison515]

Recently, I was in 2 bands. One 3 piece indie band and a prog metal band that needed members. The guitarist quit our indie band because of music conflicts which left me and the bassist. Me and him kept jamming and started writing some fantastic songs very quickly and easily, we got along fine. Recently my music tastes have begun to change, and Ive considered abandoning my metal band because weve been jamming almost a year and we never got anything done because the guitarist was a know it all and didnt know how to work with people musically.

Its the weirdest thing. I hang out with musicians all the time, and there usually pretty chill, but when it comes to music and writing, they become the most obnoxious and difficult people on the face of the planet. Its like the music adds another personality to them, a whole nother personality to have problems with. My guitarist was reaaalllyy good, he was just a know it all and was impossible to write with because he never accepted anyone else's ideas. My indie guitarist quit because we were writing all his parts and he "lost musical passion for the band" according to him. There were other reasons but theyre hard to explain.

It all comes down to an individual's ideals about music. They tell themselves, I dont like simple stuff, its boring, so they play ALL complex stuff. Or, I dont like complex stuff, so they play all simple and boring stuff. things like, I dont like metal, so any riff that sounds even remotely metal, I dont like. Its a trend among musicians my age that goes right along with the teenage personality. The I know it all and Im right thing.

This all seems really abstract and strange but Im pretty sure its true. My indie guitarist limited himself because he only liked simple stuff. I asked him why he never learned tapping and he said "its all complex and no feel". I told him that the least it would do is help him get better and he just said he didnt care. Now all he plays is chords in 4/4 with droning melodies and rhythms, but its "from the heart" and he thinks its good.

I think the reason me and my bassist friend are getting along so well is that we dont critique our music based on genre or complexity. If it sounds good, we use it. I recently wrote a song. Guitar, bass, keys, drums, everything. We decided to use it because it sounds good, even though Im just starting to learn guitar. My metal guitarist would have shunned it because Im not a guitarist and its kinda simple (youll hear it soon, its next on the recording list ).

So I quit the metal band, and Im now focusing only on the indie-prog rock project with my bassist. We seem to have the same goals, and we never have any conflict. Hes gonna get a job to get some recording equipment and Im saving for a drumset. Once we get a full band together, we might have a shot, at least locally. for now we'll just write and record. Its sad that I have to leave them all behind but Ive been dwadling in the teenage band thing for a long time now and Im pretty sure I know whats best. Get ready for some awesome music from yours truely. *que epic cinematic music and credits*

I haven't dipped into the teenage band thing other than with my own band, and I can kinda see where you're getting at based on my own personal experiences. My guitarists absolutely LOVE thrash metal (not today's "thrash" which are death metal bands who are too afraid to call themselves death metal, but rather the Metallica and Slayer bit of it), but I don't. Do you know how many thrash/death metal bands there are on Long Island? Too many. I didn't want to go unnoticed forever. I told them that, and they were like, okay, but we still want some thrash stuff in there. Which there always is, in any sort of metal.

One of my guitarists is completely like the "even though I'm actually wrong, I'm always right anyway so I'm going to neglect what you just said" type of person, in real life, but not so much in music. It's probably because it's a learning process for all of us, and none of us are excessively in control, and we all like to give what we think would work. Like this same guitarist suggested some really unique trick with the guitar during the planned solo during Fate, which eventually got scrapped because we scrapped the solo, but it was a good idea and he looked beyond the barrier of thrash into some classic rock and arena rock which meant to me that all of us were digging a little deeper to find what we wanted. I think with your metal band, no one but you wanted to dig that extra couple feet to get to the treasure but would rather scrape the surface to get a couple dinosaur bones and be content with that.

It all comes down to an individual's ideals about music. They tell themselves, I dont like simple stuff, its boring, so they play ALL complex stuff. Or, I dont like complex stuff, so they play all simple and boring stuff. things like, I dont like metal, so any riff that sounds even remotely metal, I dont like. Its a trend among musicians my age that goes right along with the teenage personality. The I know it all and Im right thing.

This is so true. My band likes the simple stuff, like Metallica, Slayer, Slipknot (who I still like lol but they are simple). I like complex stuff (like August Burns Red, KoRn [Yes, they are complex, in a sense of their creativity. It's not the hardest stuff to play but it's harder to pick up than say Slipknot because KoRn's style of music is still ORIGINAL, to this day. There are no KoRn copies because no one CAN copy them], Texas in July, and Stone Sour).

I think the key is to have like a comfort zone with your band. A median that everyone is comfortable and okay with playing that you can fall back on to build off of. Once you can evolve and grow from that comfort zone your band can be molded and shaped into whatever 3 headed monster you want to make it. In your case, you and your bassist share that comfort zone AND get along well which makes your music great, as evidenced by your lastest Skyline Memorial posts...

All in all, you made the choice that was best for you and for that, me and the smiley applaud your decision making skills.

-Jordison

On a side note... I guess this means no split demo? Haha it's all good Const

[Russ]

Guitar and bassists are kinda difficult sometimes. Still, nowhere near as bad as it can be with a lot of singers out there. Yet, singers end up getting the majority of the women. It's so unfair.

[Constinator25]

On a side note... I guess this means no split demo? Haha it's all good Const

Lol probably not. Sorry man,

[Constinator25]

Guitar and bassists are kinda difficult sometimes. Still, nowhere near as bad as it can be with a lot of singers out there. Yet, singers end up getting the majority of the women. It's so unfair.

Ive only had good experiences with bassists. Theyre a lot like drummers. Kinda just sit and play their instrument and dont bother anyone. Its only guitarists and vocals Ive had probs with.

[jordison515]

Lol probably not. Sorry man,

It's all good don't worry about it

[bongobro]

...Its the weirdest thing. I hang out with musicians all the time, and there usually pretty chill, but when it comes to music and writing, they become the most obnoxious and difficult people on the face of the planet. Its like the music adds another personality to them, a whole nother personality to have problems with. My guitarist was reaaalllyy good, he was just a know it all and was impossible to write with because he never accepted anyone else's ideas. My indie guitarist quit because we were writing all his parts and he "lost musical passion for the band" according to him. There were other reasons but theyre hard to explain.

It all comes down to an individual's ideals about music. They tell themselves, I dont like simple stuff, its boring, so they play ALL complex stuff. Or, I dont like complex stuff, so they play all simple and boring stuff. things like, I dont like metal, so any riff that sounds even remotely metal, I dont like. Its a trend among musicians my age that goes right along with the teenage personality. The I know it all and Im right thing...

So I quit the metal band, and Im now focusing only on the indie-prog rock project with my bassist. We seem to have the same goals, and we never have any conflict. Hes gonna get a job to get some recording equipment and Im saving for a drumset. Once we get a full band together, we might have a shot, at least locally. for now we'll just write and record. Its sad that I have to leave them all behind but Ive been dwadling in the teenage band thing for a long time now and Im pretty sure I know whats best. Get ready for some awesome music from yours truely. *que epic cinematic music and credits*

Sounds like you're growing and changing, constinator, and some of your former bandmates are not. One of the occupational hazards of being a creative type is having an overinflated ego. Creative types put themselves on the line each time they write or perform something, and frankly, many of them just can't get enough ego strokes. (I have fallen solidly in that category more than a few times myself!)

You have to have a certain amount of ego to put yourself on the line creatively, but at the same time you have to learn not to become a legend in your own mind. If you don't, you become obnoxious!

Truth be told, we all go through stages like that at one time or another. Not necessarily good or bad, it's just what it is, and it's part of your musical or other creative development. (Although I must admit some of my best non-percussive musical bro's are bassists!)

And if you need a tympanist for that dramatic theme music...

[Russ]

Ive only had good experiences with bassists. Theyre a lot like drummers. Kinda just sit and play their instrument and dont bother anyone. Its only guitarists and vocals Ive had probs with.

That's great news that you found some that are easy to work with. Some have the potential to be a pain, which is in itself one considering the bassist is(according to Mel Bay) the band member that the drummer works the closest with. The sync, the harmony between drummer and bass must be there no matter what, or disaster will follow.