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One more rant: Attitude
(22 Nov 02)
Working with your bandmates
Just a few short things about dealing with your bandmates. I recently wrote about critics in the forum, writing that I don't think that it's fair that some artists pour their heart into a new record and some critic just writes "A bunch of crap".
It's not about holding back your opinion, it's how you put it. I think it would be neat if some critics would instead write "Ít's not MY cup of tea, so that's why I don't really enjoy this record", instead of writing something like the above.
And the same applies to working with your band. If i.e. your bassist comes up with a cool new lick, but you don't like it, don't go "This sucks, man, I am not gonna play it."
Instead, try something like "Ok, I like the basic idea, let's work on it and see if we can make more out of it"
or "OK, lemme see, I can't really relate to it but let's see whether we can slightly alter it, or let's see whether I can add something on the guitar which fits to it". Do you know what I mean ?
How would you feel if you write a tune, and you really are proud of it and your bandmates would go "No, dude, that sucks!". So try to be nice about it, and most importantly, give it a chance!
Same goes for performances.
Imagine you play a show, and you think the performance of your drummer wasn't really up to par. Now, don't walk up to him and go "Dude, tonight you really sucked!".
Sure, most "pros" are able to play pretty decent every night, but... what if your drummer had some personal problem, like trouble with his girlfriend or his family, or had just experienced a really tragic experience without telling you yet?
Or what if his monitor isn't loud enough or his monitor-mix is bad? Stuff like that can really alter your ability to play good, and it's not helpful if after the show, your bandmates jump at you and go "Dude, that was horrible!"
Instead, walk up to the guy and say something like "Hey, are you ok? Is there anything wrong? Or did ya have any trouble out there?". You get the idea, I guess...
"Making it..."
OK, let's talk about a general attitude regarding your career.
First of all, yes, you should be optimistic and self-confident. You should be eager to "make it" (whatever that means). But you shouldn't be TOO eager. There's a difference.
"Being eager": You know what you want, and you won't let some problems stop you. You are going your way, working towards your goal.
"Being TOO eager": It's hard to draw a line here, I know. But if you're too eager, you're pretty much TOO focussed on what you wanna do, you're not willing to take a little detour, which might be necessary at times. Sure, if you wanna be a successful band / artist, it's helpful to have good musicians in the band, to have good songs, to play out a lot. But sometimes, that might not be enough. Sometimes (most times) it takes a lot of luck to get where you want to get.
Now, don't take this as an excuse (like "Ok, I just am not lucking out, so I might as well just wait for my big break..."). It takes a lot of hard work, you should be willing to invest that.
But, i.e., you should be careful about setting yourself some "dates", like "OK, it's a new year, by July we should be a step further" or "By the end of the year, we should have a deal". Cuz, sometimes things don't work out the way you want them too. So, once that "date" gets closer, the pressure will increase.
"Man, we figured that by June, we should have reached that and that goal, and it's May already and we're not any further"... Lots of pressure here, and if you don't achieve your goal, it will get depressing. Believe it or not, I saw a really good, talented band break up because of this stuff!!!
Which leads us to another point: chemistry.
This is a huge, and kinda difficult topic. What I mean by chemistry is not only that you get along with your bandmates (doesn't help if you get into fights with your drummer at every rehearsal), but that everyone in the band should be willing to go for the same things, to reach the same goals.
To give you an example:
My first actual band (or shall I say "band-like thing") was me and another young player from my hometown. We didn't know any drummers or bassists, so we decided to learn some songs and jam while looking for bassists and a drummer. But, when I finally had found a drummer and a rehearsal room, the other dude was like "Uhmm... you know, actually I think I don't really want to take that step".
He was actually lucky to meet up once a week and jam on some tunes. Which is fine. But we had a difference in goals here, and so we split. That is what I mean. Everyone in the band should have similar goals and attitude, should be willing to invest the same amount of work.
Because otherwise, it might get to the point where you are about to take some risky or big step, and all of a sudden one or more members of the band are like "Ok, I think it's a bit too risky for me".
Like, i.e. you wanna save up a bigger amount of money to get into an expensive studio and record a great sounding demo. Or you wanna book a club to play a big show ("pay to play").
Now, someone in the band might go "Hey, I don't wanna invest that much money, it's too risky. What's wrong with playing really small venues for another year?"
There's nothing wrong with that persons attitude, it's just different than the attitude and goals of the others. Either you have to find a compromise (which often is tough) or you have to split / replace that member (which isn't easy either, and can throw you back a whole lot).
So, to sum up this part of the article:
Be optimistic. Talk about and set your goals. But don't set them too specifically (The date-thing). If you have some success, if you climb up the ladder a bit, enjoy it, but don't take it for granted.
If it takes longer than you expected, don't let it depress you too much, don't let that break up the band or take away your "bite".
Don't be jealous of others (like "Man, those dudes in that boygroup never learned how to play an instrument, never spent hours wood-shedding, never broke their backs toading a 4X12" from the rehearsal room to the venue... and they're big stars and I ain't"), get used to the fact that it's a biz.
Try to be happy with what you're doing, try to be satisfied. Be professional and try to do a good job (mentioned above, the story about the keyboarder).
OK, after this rant, I'll skip back to some actual music-instruction next time. Hope you found this interesting anyway...
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Eric started playing the guitar at age 10. He attended GIT and studied with Scott Henderson, Brett Garsed, Dan Gilbert amo. Eric is involved in several bands and recording projects and his instrumental debut - Hidden Creek - plus his instructional book Talking Hands - A Guide To Contemporary Lead Guitar Techniques is available HERE
Visit his website at www.ericvandenberg.net
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