Re: damn, I think I'm done. LONG
- From: The Chris <cabell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 11 Oct 2005 18:33:19 GMT
Steve K <smk17@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in news:smk17-D4CB2A.14170011102005
@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu:
> I've been playing guitar since 1985, the year I graduated high school.
I
> started playing out in bars in 1991, right after I got out of college.
> I've been playing in bars for 14 years. Right now it seems my desite to
> play guitar is the lowest it's ever been in all those years.
>
> I've been in many different types of bands. Heavy Metal, classic rock,
> KISS to country type band, dance band., etc. All were weekend type
> bands, nothing full-time.
>
> After 6 years of being with this one band, a band that played
everything
> from KISS to country, mostly songs to make people dance, I got sick of
> it. I got sick of seeing my pick hand go up and down (1 and 2 and 3 and
> 4) on the guitar strings while my left hand changed chords. I wasn't
> learning anything. Songs I used to like back then, I hate now. Move It
> On Over, Twist and Shout, Bad Case of Loving You, Tush, La Grange, Old
> Time Rock and Roll, Takin' Care of Business (PUKE) Twilight Zone,
> Breakup Song, etc., etc.
>
> I became completely sick of these songs (and still am). So I decided to
> quit and move on.
>
> I immediately moved into a band that had an awesome guitar player. All
> the other members were also burnt out on the typical bar band songs. So
> we decided to come up with a set list of songs that bar bands didn't
> typically do.
>
> This was in January 2001.
>
> To make a long story short. If you like seeing the dance floor packed,
> if you like getting asked to come back and play at that bar again, if
> you like people getting crazy at your shows, don't try this!!!
>
> The next 4 years were the most boring of all I had ever played before.
> It's hard to give you guys an idea of how good we were, but without
> getting egotistical, we were very good musicians. The songs we did
> choose to do sounded awesome. Our harmonies were right on, We were
> tight, there weren't many cover bands around "better" than us
musically.
>
> But we drew no following in 4 years. THE SET LIST WAS BORING. I tried
> and tried to convince the other guitar player to do more songs people
> wanted to hear. But his idea of a dance song, for example was an Allman
> brothers song, or a blues song. I kept saying "people do not want to
> dance to this type of music.." His reply was always "people just don't
> know they want to dance to this music." You couldn't move him. So I
gave
> him the benefit of the doubt. But gig after gig, I was right. Our set
> list had too many holes in it that killed whatever energetic mood we
got
> lucky enough to set. People left.
>
> I guess it all depends on what you want to happen when you get to the
> bar. I wanted the dance floor full after the first song until the last
> song. I wanted them jumpin up and down, cheering for more. He wanted
> people to be able to relax, sip on their beers, talk about their day
and
> enjoy four hours of "good" music. He didn't want to be a "music
whore."
>
> The drummer once suggested a song that was getting some play on Modern
> Rock radio and somehow it came to be that we thought it was to obscure
> of a song for us to do now. A week later the guitar player hints that
> he wants to try a new song off the new Hadden Sayers record. Which in
my
> eye was 20 times more obscure than the song we had just axed. Sure I
> loved the new Hadden Sayers album, but to play it out just doesn't
work.
>
> I take as much blame for not getting out when I saw his philosophy on
> gigging didn't even come close to matching mine. But luckily enough,
> before I beat him to it, he quit. It sucks wasting four years. But we
> had a blast at practices, THAT was fun. Gigs were depressing. People
> would clap after the first 2 or three songs, than nothing. I hated it.
> Driving 1.5 hours for this?
>
> Now I sit here, not having touched my guitar in 8 weeks, and I'm not
> even slightly interested in playing again.
>
> Has anyone ever been where I am right now?
>
> Some songs from our set list.
>
> 3am - Matchbox Twenty
> All For You - Sister Hazel
> All The Small Things - Blink 182
> American Girl - Tom Petty
> Boys of Summer - The Ataris
> China Grove - The Doobie Brothers
> Comedown - Bush
> Come Together - The Beatles
> Couldn't Stand the Weather - Stevie Ray Vaughn
> Creep - Radiohead
> Detroit Rock City - KISS
> Domino - KISS
> Do You Feel Like We Do -Peter Frampton
> Fire - Jimi Hendrix
> Fire On The Mountain - Grateful Dead
> Hard To Handle - Black Crowes
> Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers
> I Don't Wanna Be - Gavin DeGraw
> I Drink Alone - George Thorogood
> I Just Wanna Make Love To You - Foghat
> I Know A Little - Lynryd Skynyrd
> I'll Fall In Love Again - Sammy Hagar
> Keepaway - Godsmack
> Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down
> Learn To Fly - Foo Fighters
> Long Way Down - Goo Goo Dolls
> Love Song for No One - John Mayer
> Melissa - The Allman Brothers
> Minority - Green Day
> Pink Houses - John Mellencamp
> Ridin' The Storm Out - REO Speedwagon
> Rebecca - Pat McGee
> Roadhouse Blues - The Doors
> Rockin' In The Free World - Neil Young
> She Hates Me - Puddle of Mudd
> Shine - Collective Soul
> Show Me the Way - Peter Frampton
> Sister Luck - Black Crowes
> Slave Girl - Goo Goo Dolls
> Slide - Goo Goo Dolls
> Stormy Monday - Allman Brothers version
> Stuck In The Middle - Steelers Wheel/Jeff Healey
> Surrender - Cheap Trick
> Ten Inch Record - Aerosmith
> The Middle - Jimmy Eat World
> Tore Down - Eric Clapton
> Twilight Zone - Golden Earring
> Warning - Green Day
> What I Didn't Know - Athenaeum
> Wherever You Will Go - The Calling
> Whippin' Post - The Allman Brothers
> White Wedding - Billy Idol
> Wind Cries Mary - Jimi Hendrix
> Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who
> You Wreck Me - Tom Petty
> You've Got Another Thing Comin' - Judas Priest
>
I am (was). I've been playing longer, and STILL play Kiss tribute stuff
(I'm playing their convention in Baltimore on Sunday).
My conclusions.... I am fed up with playing cover tunes. The reason I
went into music is because I admired people who made albums. Somewhere
along the way, I got offtrack and was convinced that playing covers was
'cool' and would scratch that itch. It did here and there, but all these
years later, I have nothing to hang my hat on. Nobody will remember a guy
in a cover band.
So, earlier this year, I quit all my cover bands, and have focused my
energies on original acts - ones who RECORD and make CD's.
True, I'll be playing less - a far cry from my 450 shows in the last 3
years, but, I'll leave my mark so to speak, so I actually feel better
about myself.
I know that I will never stop being a guitar player - no matter how
pissed off I get - it's a part of me. But, it was time to stop doing
something so safe. And the gigs are better - you get to play festivals
and radio station events that wouldn't touch a cover band.
So, ask yourself if that's what's bothering you...
PS - I'll never give up playing Kiss stuff - that's just too much fun.
.
- References:
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- From: Steve K
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