I sing in a rocker covers band. Pub jukebox stuff like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, etc.
Gave up on trying to become a famous rock star a long time ago. Now we just play gigs in bars for drinking money.
I was in a band or two in high school. For the most part I just jammed with friends. I played bass guitar. My dad played string bass and electric bass in a band years ago. They did weddings and other parties.
My son is a 3rd generation bass player and he’s in two bands. The other band he plays the drums. Both bands write their own music but do a few covers here and there.
[quote]pat wrote:
Ug, I cannot wait for the current state of music to change. I want people who know how to actually play music on instruments and singers who know how to sing and know when not to sing. The caterwauling pervasive in current music is painful to listen to.
[/quote]
Interestingly enough, my girlfriend (a classically trained opera singer and professor of vocal performance) and I talk about this a lot while watching shows like The Voice. She will often be frustrated by kids on the show (some that actually have decent voices) who try way too hard to put extra ornaments on songs to be showy. Some of them are doing it to cover up the fact that they just aren’t enough of a vocal power house to pull it off, while some that actually DO have enough voice are doing it because, presumably, they think it’s impressive or that it looks cool.
Here’s a good example:
This girl absolutely has the voice to sing, and sing very well, on the radio and on tour. The note she hits from 1:20-1:30 is fucking strong. But the rest of the song was littered with too much fluttery stuff to try to show off.
(For the record, I like this girl and think she should advance on the show, just using her as an example of what I’m talking about - someone that has a voice and potential, if she stops fucking around and sings)
I used to sing and play rhythm guitar in a few bands. Then I got sick of band mates having drug and alcohol problems and getting too smashed to practice or perform so I quit playing with other people and started doing one man band gigs at restaurants and coffee shops and stuff. Then I recorded a solo album with Mindquake that never got released because my producer magically disappeared only to resurface 3 years later and claim that he had to leave because he was being stalked telepathically (whatever the hell that means). There are some crazy-ass people in the music business lol. Now I just play at home because I enjoy it.