what to do now?? need advice...

[musical]

hi guys,i am just letting go of my frustration here...

i have been jamming for a while with my guys now,and it seems to me that my band has not been improving at all...
we play very easy radio friendly songs,but still i find that our sound is too noisy...
i like a band that is tight and clean..
each time we play its like bang bang bang and thump thump thump from the start to the end,there is no dynamics at all...although these guys claims that they have experience here and there,but they play like a nubie..

is it really hard to find a musician that knows how to serve the song with a certain kind of energy,like when to go soft and when to go loud without skipping a beat..
when we jam,i can only hear drums cymbals and my percussionist trying to be louder than the other...and we sounds like crap!

i have been paying for all the jamming sessions since we start and hoping for them to improve in their peformance,and each sessions is for 3 hours,thats like 50bucks almost once a week.All i need in return is for them to listen to a song and play them with dicipline and dynamics,it doesnt have to be exactly the same note for note...but even that is difficult.

how do i explain to them the term 'less is more'? its really frustrating...and the worst thing is they love to play a paid gig...i mean who are we that needs to be paid to play gig? we sound like crap!! if we are good,the paid gig will soon come knocking on our doors..

i do vox and acoustic guitar,and i want to record originals song soon,but looking at the guys i am playing with,it doesnt look good,but they are a nice bunch of people...
i feel that sometimes they try to do a lot of things with their intrument that they forget the basics fundamental of being in a band

you see,as a band i believe you need to compliment each other,what sounds good to you might not sounds good to the band,you have to listen to all the instruments and feel the song,not showing off wat you can do with your rig,coz if every body is showing off,then the energy of the song will get lost and all you hear is noise...

my problem is how to tell these guys to listen to the song and play with dynamics,how to tell them to keep it simple and clean,how to keep it tight,how to leave their ego outside the jamming studio.....coz we got 2sets to play a paid gig this sun!!!

individualy,we are efficient,as a group,we sucks!! big time!!

thank you for reading.

 

[mel80]

Bring your band mates to more gigs and even pubs to watch more experienced/established bands. Let them see for themselves how other bands sound like and how they compliment each instrument's sound. Point out to them at the gigs that they should pay more attention to the overall sound rather than a single instrument (with examples of how the performing band attain that balance).

With more exposure like these, your band mates will develop a better understanding for music, sound dynamics and such. The key to it is for everyone to compromise and find a balance.

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[Antarctic1]

wow. seems like you are really upset at their playing. maybe you should quit? and form a new one. i'm just suggesting. dont know whether your bandmates know about it?

 

[jigsmarx]

hmmm, i don't know dude? but maybe yeah what mel80 made sense, bring them to some gigs with established bands? ohhh, hang out with your mates like outings and stayovers to have a sense of band bonding kinda thing? and this defenitly works! go through the song with them with guitars and bass like note for note and make sure everyone knows the song inside out and then go to the jamming studio to make some productive noise yo.

 

[ceing]

Maybe they are still not familiar with the peice and they are all concentrating hard to play the right note? This happened to my band when we had our first few jamming sessions, everyone was so engrossed in playing ther 'right notes' and has no more time to hear the song as a whole. Im not a very experienced player but just giving my 2 cents here. lol

 

[musical]

hmmm....i will try to bring them to watch other bands play,that is not a bad idea actually,how come i never thought of that...duh!thanks guys

to find a new band members will take time lah,that will be my last resort,maybe i will use a sessionist for my studio work,if i have the budget that is...thanks again folks.

 

[sage]

how do i explain to them the term 'less is more'?

buy them bikinis and tell them to wear during the sets... maybe it'll subconsciously influence something.. k kidding. :/ poor thing lah you, hope you feel better letting it out.

hope the band excursion idea works!

 

[metaldude]

dude why did u pay for the jamming?maybe u should have all members pay the same price..maybe that'll put pressure on them to try harder cuz if they don't practice they'll be wasting their own money

 

[AEnimic]

Solution:
Take me into your band. Haha! Just kidding!

I like the fact that you're paying for the jams. Cause if I were in that kinda band,I'll be more motivated to play better actually.

I suggest you to go and play one song per jam. So you can focus on the nitty gritty details of each song and find out what is wrong with your members or is it just your ears. If you have two guitars, check whether are they sounding similar to each other in terms of distortion and tone.

 

[RazrAsh]

i think one problem is that u need to eq the sound out first. likely the root of the problem is that the sound is not balanced, certain instruments are louder than others when they dont need to be.

try this : Rent the studio for an hour JUST to balance out the sound. Make sure you all keep using the same studio from then onwards and remember the settings of your amps, mixers and volume levels from then onwards. if anyone is using effects, ask them to use the same settings from then on.

u have to balance the sound out first before any good will come out of your jam.
Next thing to take note of, is to make sure that everyone (yes EVERYONE!!) in the band is aware of each other's playing. have the 2 guitarist stand in front of each other's amps to spot each others mistakes and to rectify mistakes in playing and volume level accordingly.
bassist and drummers should do the same. but u still have to be aware of what everyone else is playing.

This should help you solve the problem.

 

[pedialite]

Oh man, that really sucks.. I think your band will improve with time ...

 

[pf]

You can try to record down your one of your jamming session. After the session then do a debrief. Since you're doing covers, can play the covers once then compare with the jam session.

Somebody needs to call the shots at the arrangement. And your band has to agree to that person calling the shot and follow his/her instructions.

 

[pedialite]

Thats a start :/
Don't you just hate it when you practice so hard to learn all the songs and your bandmates never learn anything, go jamming 'empty-handed'?

Well, im the one who always goes 'empty-handed' HAHA! and i'm always late.

 

[screwlooose]

show them what uu just posted.! maybe it will wake them up abit. haa

 

[tim098]

^ agreed. haha. i had the exact same problem with a former band. but they were really nice ppl and then close friends so i didnt know what to do. so i just started making different excuses for each jam for like a year.. basically left the band over a reaaally stretched time. if nothing improves even after following the fellow softies advice, i d say leave the band.