more..band problems

[davidvanhalen]

dude, this band problems stuff is gettin' old, you must think, but i have a situation in my band that's just gettin' annoying. in my band ther are two guitar players, me being the most recent one to join the band 'cause the other one is the co-founder along with the bass player; i actually joined the band a month ago and the lead singer did 3 weeks ago. no one's lazy, we all do our work doing great covers but now we are starting to work on our on stuff doing arrengements but the other guitarist is, well, just damn sloppy, i mean he's an ok rithym player but although he has good speed doesn't have any knowledge on scales, theory and does not have improvisational skills at all (i know i'm sounding like a son of a bitxx, i'm not satch but i know when someone's not good) and he has no vibrato at all. with all thad said he wants to do the lead arrengements on the song we're workin' out.... and it's just not right. the drummer and the singer actually called me home tellin' me that i should do the lead arrengements and he should just stick to rithym but they want me to let him know that 'cause they think he'll be sensitive about it, but i don't really know how, i mean the guy owns the drumset, the bass, two of the amplifiers, and of course his guitar, and he's the one who started the band in the begining anyway.. so any help would be great :D

[Metal Dan]

Just sit him down and tell him what you told us. I always treat a band as a democracy kind of thing. I hate it when one guy claims his decision has more weight because he "started it" ... regardless of ability...

[Jergason]

Another thing that could work more in the long run is help him become a better player. I know for a while I wanted to keep all my advice and licks to myself, but then I realized that I was just doing that because I was afraid our other guitarist would "steal" the lead guitarist spot! And not helping someone who is in your band improve if you could is just keeping you from sounding better! So if you think he has no vibrato, explain to him what it is and how to use it! Try and help him along, till the day when you can have incredible guitar solo duels on stage!:D

[davidvanhalen]

Another thing that could work more in the long run is help him become a better player. I know for a while I wanted to keep all my advice and licks to myself, but then I realized that I was just doing that because I was afraid our other guitarist would "steal" the lead guitarist spot! And not helping someone who is in your band improve if you could is just keeping you from sounding better! So if you think he has no vibrato, explain to him what it is and how to use it! Try and help him along, till the day when you can have incredible guitar solo duels on stage!:D

well, i think anyone is a little afraid of that(sharing licks, techniques, etc) but its not the case, i actually gave him the name of this website and said to him, man get on that web site and check out eric vandenberg's articles just to beggin with, but he didn't payed too much attention.. so..

[UltimaRage]

Tell him that his leads are off, and also tell him that if he wants to have a sucessful band, he is going to have to learn to cooperate with everyone, and just get better, and accept suggestions on how to get better.

That's so weird. I just joined this one band, about a month and a half ago, and we've had a singer who has just joined about 2 weeks ago, but the only problems we had was a little bit of rhythm problems in my part. We have two guitarists, we're both lead guitarists, and the band was made by the drummer and guitarist. It's real great to have a band with two guitarists who can shred, and do awesome riffs, rhythms, and leads. :D He's quite a bit better than me when it comes to timing and rhythm though, but I'm gettin' the hang of it! We're recording in a studio on Sunday, so I might just have some stuff for you guys to listen to... :)

[adambum]

I think you have the same problem as SLAYER have... No one wants to tell Kerry to just let Jeff do the leads and for Kerry to just stick to rythm... IMO, Kerry is a great rythm guitarist than a lead guitarist... (sometimes, he really ruin the song's impact when he plays lead)

[UltimaRage]

Having two lead guitarists is great, and can be great if done correctly. :P How is that a problem? It is not. :P As long as it all sounds good, and the other guitarist and I know what sounds good.

[adambum]

well, it's a problem coz as you have said it, it should be done correctly and man, it does'nt sound good...

[Koala]

Well first of all, start by changing your user name, you can´t have any relation to vanhalen without automatically having band problems, (just wait till the singers start leaving) :D.

Second, just tell him straightfoward, with the rest of the band, i´m sure it´ll be no biggie.

[forgottenking2]

Yup, in the band I'm in most of us are multi intrumentalists and we've been switching the alignment (very much like a soccer team) and the guy who was the singer/lead guitarist is now the bass player, the rhythm guitarist is now the drummer, the bass player is singing and the drummer quit... but we have no problems and this alignment seems to work better... we're bringing in another guitarist to fill in the blanks and then we'll be set.

In a band just like in any relationship the key is comunication.

So just DO IT DO IT.

Regards,

[Sir Speedy]

Back to the origional question .

I would sit down with the Intire Band in the room ,Diplomaticly, band meeting style , and just go through who does what on which songs , who takes the first solo and the second solo , and see where this guy wants to go . Give him a couple of songs to do his thing even if it makes you cringe . Your audience are the one who will give the real deal opinion ,in the end , anyway.
I used to be in a cover band , where the rhythm guitarist , Managed the band also , so he naturally wanted to solos , because he could a little .He did some skynard tunes , and black crows , stones and stuff like that , so , anyway , he kind of had an additude about it , like he was good enough to do it all , and what did they need 2 GTRs for anyway .
What happened was , one night my car broke down , and i didn't make a Gig , and he did all the leads on everything , and the Jam didn't go over too well , alot of out of key stuff , i guss .The guy's in the band said alot of stuff sounded "Off" and some of the regulars , were wondering where , "the other guitar guy" was
What happened was , the rhythm guy ,was really sweating it ,to do all the SOLOing,Because, he really only knew ,A minor ,and E minor Pentatonics, so ,it knocked him down a couple of knotches , when he realized ,you have to know a couple of more keys ,too . And A doesn't work over , say, B Minor...:rolleyes: But , all and all ,Dave could play well, in E and A minor Boxes,and sometimes D major Pentatonic like on "Can't you see' and "Gimme Three Steps" .:cool:

[oRg]

I'm not sure what kind of music you make but I'll go ahead and give a suggestion anyways.

Why not just have both of you guys be lead guitar. For instance both of you can just harmonize over the same lead. That way if both of you are lead guitarists then one plays the normal lead and the other just plays like a 4th or a 5th above it. There are tons of bands out there that use this type of lead playing. In Flames, Shadows Fall, Children of Bodom, and others. Though some of them don't do that live they just use a pitch shifter or something. Either way both guitarists can do this and feel equally important. It's a common problem among rock/metal guitarists to want to be the center of attention on stage. That's kind of unhealthy for the band. Everyone needs the same amount of attention as everyone else in the band. Remember. having a crappy lead guitarist is better than not having one at all.

[Schooligo]

"Remember. having a crappy lead guitarist is better than not having one at all."

Sorry, but in general I don't agree with this statement. :confused:

Maybe as a band, if your only performing for girlfriends, etc. who will be inherently supportive. but:

It is important that if people are paying to see and hear you, then you have a RESPONSIBILITY to be at a certain level of Professionalism and competency, and that you "sound like" a rehearsed band. ie.that you have practiced together important issues such as dynamics, intro's, endings, when there is a break in the song the whole band breaks, etc.

If you have a lead guitarist that is "crappy", and I know that is a subjective description. Better to have him only solo on a particular part in a song that you know will sound good, then to have the lead guitarist improvise/solo over the entire song and affect the song in a negative way.

Remember the music and the song as a whole are the priority!!!