I'm quitting my band
 

Because of the bass-player. He's a great guy but he's by far the most untalented muscisian I've ever met. He can't even play the easiest things without fucking up. The bad part is that there aren't any other bass players around here with the same musical interests. So how am I supposed to tell him this without making him pissed?

been there man, and fuckin done that. except swap the bass player with the drummer in my case, aint no easy way around it. i just went thru a band break up recently and i was the one who called the whole thing to a halt, the upshot of it is i am public enemy #1.
fuck it, i knew in my heart it wasnt going anywhere and so did the other members, except i was the one who stood up and said it, while they (not all of em now - dont get me wrong) just used me as the scapegoat.
i dont like been the friend that tells you yr breath stinks of that you reek of sweat and need a shower or that the top yr wearing really doesnt suit you but i am that person, and i do it cuz i would want to be told.

straight out with it Thrasher02, let em down gently if you can but aint no point in going on if you know in yr heart its not working.

It's as hard and as necessary as ending a bad romantic relationship.
I have been in the same position, and you can be as tactful as humanly possible and there will still be hurt feelings.
He will be either hurt or angry or both, but he's obviously not ready to play with other people just yet. I'm sorry you have to deal with this; it's painful for everyone.

Who needs bass players?

I do! Gotta love bass.

Maybe tell him you'd like to play with him again after he learns the bass better?

He leaves his bass at my house practically all the time. And I told him before that he was kinda rubbish but he hasn't improved since.

do him the favor and at least be honest about it. we just went through this big process of looking for a singer. we found the perfect girl - looks, voice, stage presence, etc. she agreed, was super excited. came to one practice - acted seriously enthusiastic. then last night she quit (we hired her saturday). unfortunately she quit after we told our second choice that we didn't pick her and found someone else. she says she's "looking to go in a different direction" and wants to sing more "blues" (even though she tried out for a rock band.) we all think it's some sort of outside influence, like her boyfriend, who probably told her being in a cover band won't enhance her career or something, but either way, none of us are buying her bullshit excuse. and it certainly doesn't help us. i'd rather have her say "because you suck" if it were true than the crap she threw at us. but we don't suck, we rule, so it's her loss. so there.

Why does your band only play covers?

I hate to say it, but don't be in a cover band! Come on!!!

i played in a cover band. original band all the fuckin bands.
ok i only did the covers for €€€€€'s but its still shitty when it hits the wall..
my piece of shit cover band hit the wall lately i was fuckin devistated - i'm only getting over it now.

we're not just a cover band, we are the only all-girl motley crue coverband in the world. honestly, i'm at an age where i'm not looking to record and write music and tour the country. if i'm going to do original music, i want to do it big and be the best, and that doesn't fit in with my lifestyle. i don't have to change my life to be in a cover band. we're going to play music that everyone can sing along to, and music that is fun to play. clubs are more willing to book a band that will draw a crowd than a band that nobody knows anything about, and we've already got a ton of clubs that want to book us without ever having heard us. we just can't play them til we get a singer. i know motley crue isn't the coolest band in these parts of the internet, but listen to shout at the devil and see if you don't find yourself shouting by the end of the song. i dare you...

wow.
fair play to ya. hope yee get that singer problem sorted.

get rid of him or leave the band, a good drummer and bassist are the foundation of your band, if they're shit musicians you'll always sound like shit live, nomatter how good your singer or guitarists are...just be honest about it, either you leave the band to join one with a good bassist instead of wasting your time with bad musicians or you talk about it with the other peeps in your band to see if they feel the same about it...it's tough..and let's face it...practice might make you a better musician..sure..but you need talent for just that extra bit ..and that's something that doesn't come with tons and tons of practice..you just have it or you don't, you need friendship in a band, but sympathy isn't going to get you gigs and stuff....playing in a band should be fun, but it should also be a challenge..else you're going to get bored..rehearsing but never doing gigs sucks ass.

and btw, covers are great when you're just starting out but challenge yourself a bit more..write your own songs ! way more fun too :-)

We're jamming with a bassplayer tomorrow to see how he fits. I said to him the other night that if he doesn't like the music and he's not that interested to tell me because I don't want him playing if he's not interested in the music. He was glad to hear that - I think most people are.

cool, thrasher new avartar.

talk to the other members of the band to see what they think and kick him out.

I quit a band recently- I was like, "these songs hurt my vocal chords and singing about women being cockteases and fucking the shit out of jenny jones isn't going to help me get out of my current situation of not getting any."

I need to get a good drummer and bassist for the Spectral Presence. I'm tired of fricking programming drum machine parts for every fricking song and having to write guitar parts that can work without basslines because I can't keep a bassist more than a month or two because they have like no work ethic.

spectral, i so hear ya on the drum-programming crap..it's hell ! =P

Move to Minneapolis and I'll be your bass player, bud.

I don't even have a band to quit out of. I've hardly been playing guitar anymore because of it.

just kill him

HAHAHAHA!!! Oh, man!!! That's hilarious!!!!! I would love to see that. I hate Motley Crue, but I'd love to see women covering some of the most sexist, mysoginstic songs ever made. Iiiiiiironyyyyyy.

Whatrraya called? Girls,Girls,Girls: A Tribute To Motley Crue?

Post some clips sometime if you can! They were my faves in '85!

yes, that is exactly what we are called, though i usually throw after it "NYC'S best and only all-girl tribute to Motley Crue." here is our myspace shall you want to befriend us:
www.myspace.com/girlsgirlsgirlsnyc

I can already play Piece of Your Action but the rest of the band doesn't know it yet. I'm the only diehard in the band:) Have not met any of them... yet. I think you already know the lengths I go to to meet my idols! This will take off, and they indeed will know who we are in good time. No clips available yet. We did video our singer auditions, but the sound quality was really bad in the room we were in when we picked our Vixen Neil who just quit. Sound quality was better with the tryouts who didn't make it, but I would rather not put anything up where we don't sound as awesome as we are. Right now we're thinking of recording some instrumentals to help us in our search for a singer. We'll see what happens. As soon as we do, they'll be up on the page.

Patty, aka Nikita Seis

well Thrasher02, any advancements on the whole band breaking up thing?

I'm going to tell him today in person. It'll be our last rehearsal.
I wonder how he's going to react.



Pfff I'm nervous.

i know, its not easy. just say it straight out, you'll be amazed at how relived you'll feel afterwards - its for the best.

haha bands really are like a relationship. And its scary kicking someone out, because you fear "maybe ill never find someone else", but dont worry, plenty of other Rock fish in the sea.....get it...ROCK fish..BAHHAA :P

maybe you can put it to him that if he practices more, maybe eventually he can get back in. that puts the onus on him to sort of prove himself if he really wants it. maybe you just have different goals.

i hope that you're kicking him out vs. you quitting. if he's the one who's not putting the time in, you shouldn't have to quit. on the flip side, if you do quit and you start your own band, you're in more control over finding exactly what you're looking for.

Well, hopefully it works out... My consists of my friend's lil brother on drums and his friend on bass or gtr depending on what I'm playing... and we've practiced like 3 times, and not since oct because their in highschool and it's hard to work schedules out (and I was working heavy on my 4-track for to get my cd done0... but now we've decided to jam again, which should turn out awesome, I hope. All the other ones were.

Also-- has anyone ever had success with putting up a flyer asking for band members? I put one up saying I wanted to start a punk band and got 0 replies. What the hell people.

i get to jam bassicly everyday, its pretty rad, its more of a jam band though. My brother on drums, and Thor on bass and me on the geet and who ever singing.
I want to get this girl to come drum, but she is to shy,very annoying.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnntt aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnndddddddddddddd

oh noes ! you quit ?

join one of mine. ;-)

you'll have to travel back and forth tho, hehe


but seriously.. if you're looking for a band, try to join one where the other musicians are more experienced..you'll learn a lot, after my high school band split i did this audition for a semi-pro band, those guys were ten years older than me (some almost twenty years older) but all very experienced, i stayed in that band for a mere couple of months but i did learn more in those few months than in those three years with my high school band;

cant you just get a new bass player? or at just be a two piece?

Patty,

That's funny as hell.
Nikiti Seis?

HAHA.

Hayden

i've been thinking about doing the same thing. we recently drafted a friend of ours to play drums, mostly because i was juggling saxophone, drums, and electronics at the same time too often (and also because he has a truck), but he doesn't have a lick of music in his bones and can't play outside of a 4/4 rock rhythm and has no concept of tension or repose in music or anything like that. also, at times it feels like our singer is just keeping us for his back up band or something like that when his singing and same method of guitar playing may be what scares people away from us. everyone says that i'm wasting my time with this and that i should focus on doing solo work or working with someone different. i don't know.

the moral of the story? take his bass and kill him.

So, are you gonna update us on how it went down or are you gonna leave us hanging?