We won Battle of the bands

Jam10

About 3 weeks ago we had that battle of the bands that we won, now we have a full set list gig of about 30 songs coming up on June 15th. Once again I've got my work cut out for me. I have to learn about 25 more songs in the next week and a half. I'm sure a lot of you guys here have had to do this. It's a lot of work but all worth it in the end. What frusterates me is when everytime I suggest a song that I know and I want to play they say there is no time to learn new material but yet I'm learning about 35 songs in about a month. I am the new guy in the band so I obviously have to prove myself and work the hardest and once I learn all their stuff then things should become a little less hectic. We are a Portuguese based band out of London On. who play at festivals, and hopefully weddings. We play mostly portuguese, and brazilian songs but we also play a lot of english too. It depends on the crowd and the gig that we are playing. I suggested Betterman and Yellow Ledbetter and they are thinking about it, so hopefully they will want to play those 2 songs. Like I told them......it's only fair that they learn 2 songs that I want to play for this gig because I've had to learn about 35 in a month. We'll see what comes out of this.

MichaelMcKevin

Jam10 wrote:

About 3 weeks ago we had that battle of the bands that we won, now we have a full set list gig of about 30 songs coming up on June 15th. Once again I've got my work cut out for me. I have to learn about 25 more songs in the next week and a half. I'm sure a lot of you guys here have had to do this. It's a lot of work but all worth it in the end. What frusterates me is when everytime I suggest a song that I know and I want to play they say there is no time to learn new material but yet I'm learning about 35 songs in about a month. I am the new guy in the band so I obviously have to prove myself and work the hardest and once I learn all their stuff then things should become a little less hectic. We are a Portuguese based band out of London On. who play at festivals, and hopefully weddings. We play mostly portuguese, and brazilian songs but we also play a lot of english too. It depends on the crowd and the gig that we are playing. I suggested Betterman and Yellow Ledbetter and they are thinking about it, so hopefully they will want to play those 2 songs. Like I told them......it's only fair that they learn 2 songs that I want to play for this gig because I've had to learn about 35 in a month. We'll see what comes out of this.

Congrats! I know some people mentioned it wouldn't be a good idea for you to try to learn all those songs and play with the new band with short notice, but you showed it was doable and your hard work paid off. Not to mention, most importantly, I'm sure you had lots of fun. I'm sure the other members are pleased with your work ethic as well.

Jam10

Thanks for the compliment. I guess no matter what band your in it will always be hard work. I just love playing live so all the hard work is worth it. What aggrevates me is when they don't want to learn new material but they expect me to because I'm the new guy and I have to learn everything. I told them today that if they don't learn Betterman by next practice I might not be interested in pursuing things with this band. I feel this band is a great opportunity though because I am the only guitar player in it and like I said after I learn all their stuff I'll have a little bit more say and hopefully they will want to start playing songs that I want to play. I think by this point we should have an order of a set list, we should know the songs perfectly by now and we should just be rehearsing them not practicing them. But none of this is happening. We still don't have a complete set list, there is no order of a set list, and we are still practicing the songs. It might be an age thing. The other 3 members of the band are 18 and 19 years old while I'm the old guy at 28. 10 years is a pretty big difference especially at that age range. I try not let the age thing bother me because sometimes young guys want to practice more often and are more motivated but in this situation I feel like I'm the one who's more motivated, more organized and wants to practice more often and I'm the one who's married and has a daughter. I'm willing to work hard, I just wish they were on the same page as me.
Sorry to vent to you guys but I felt I needed to get that off my chest. Any thoughts or opinions would be great.

Thanks guys!

xtremehardy388

Rock on, bro, rock on!

Jam10

Thanks Xtremehardy388! I will continue to Rock On!

keeponrockin

keeponrockin says keep on rockin!

Anon

give yourself a pat on the back amigo! that's awesome! congrats

and as for your comments on the things that are bothering you...i can only offer a suggestion that you talk to them about what your expectations are as part of the band, and if they are not on the same page as you, and you don't feel like it's ever going to change, then maybe you might need to move on. there's nothing wrong with that, most people don't start off in one band and stay like that forever. everyone has different agendas and expectations and levels of committment.

hope it all works out for you!

Jam10

Thanks for the advice PJ Gurl!

Grasshopper

what kind of music does the band play...you might comprimise on something louder and more aggressive by PJ. Most young people I know who aren't into them really like do the evolution... also Ed can be extremely intimidating for a singer.