How to audition

wild_eyed

we have first auditions for a guitarist this weekend, but how the hell should we audition them fairly, and what is the procedure.

Doctor J

Just book a room, or if you have a space to rehearse, give the guy/girl a time to show up and the time you'll be finishing up at. Don't do this "we'll give you an hour, then we've got another person to audition after you" crap, it's degrading and makes it more like a job interview. You're there hoping this person will click and make great music with you in the future. Take the pressure off, both you and them, maybe suggest a couple of tunes you both know to jam. You're not looking for them to be note-perfect straight away, just that the vibe is right, they aren't a waster, that even if they're not the best guitarist ever, the potential is there for them to improve, that you feel the person will put the time in to improve themselves.

Without wanting to get too Spinal Tap here, if it feels right, it is right. If you want to check out more than one person, say it to them striaght away, before they start playing. Give each applicant their own session. Be honest and open with them and yourself.

Have a laugh, have fun, rock out. That's why we all play music. Good Luck

miju

Originally posted by Doctor J
Just book a room, or if you have a space to rehearse, give the guy/girl a time to show up and the time you'll be finishing up at. Don't do this "we'll give you an hour, then we've got another person to audition after you" crap, it's degrading and makes it more like a job interview. You're there hoping this person will click and make great music with you in the future. Take the pressure off, both you and them, maybe suggest a couple of tunes you both know to jam. You're not looking for them to be note-perfect straight away, just that the vibe is right, they aren't a waster, that even if they're not the best guitarist ever, the potential is there for them to improve, that you feel the person will put the time in to improve themselves.

Have a laugh, have fun, rock out. That's why we all play music.

fair play to ya Doc TBH I hate bands that have the holier than though attitude of we'll give ya an audition. The ONLY time you should actively "audition" a potential band member is when your semi famous / famous.Shall I tell ya how I audition band members?

BRING EM TO A PUB and if ya get on socially then you try and play with em

I mean think about it say if your band "made it" what would you do if you picked the guitarist on pure playing ability the guy could be a knobendand your gonna be stuck on the road with him for god knows how long I could go on all day about this but best to stop this rant while it's short

D!ve^Bomb!

i dont think there is a ''procedure'' for it,, first of all, i'm a guitarist and the last thing i'd want if i was playin with a band for the first time is for them to be all ''professional'' bout it and treat it like a ****in job interview!!

some people do get nervous in these situations so treat the guy/girl as if he's a friend or somethin, this will make anybody feel more relaxed, but also leads you into a false sense of security so explain that theres other people interested to and not to expect anythin..

as for jammin, well you should and probably have sorted this out wot ur gonna play before hand,, if your playin a few covers then u decide on somethin that will show that he can actually play, nothin too complicated, and let him/her decide on somethin to play aswell,,, but u probably did all that already..

if ur playin ur own material then its always good to give him a copy of stuff so he can learn them, probably a week before hand, especially if he's a lead player then he can put some lead to it and u can definitely see wot kind of a contribution he can make to the band..

some players prefer not to improvise on the spot, so if ya come to a song he doesn't know it and you ask ''do ya wanna slip a lil solo in'', dont expect too much.. usually i have to know a song VERY well to put a solo to it, but i still prefer not to improvise.. alot of musicians think thats a bad thing, but i like to think about somethin first and maybe have a few different versions.. but alas, thats just me

after the session, if he's good then tell him that he has a good chance BUT tell him theres other people to ''audition'' also and that u'll let him know if he's in or not.. if he's not right for the part then TELL HIM, but be nice bout it,, dont let him go home thinkin he has a great chance and leave him sittin by the phone all week cos that is a pain in te ****in ass..

anyhoo, i hope i've some help, u most likely knew everythin i said but its worth sayin anyway.. i'm not a pro and i've only been in the siuation a couple of times so i'm not an expert, but all this seems fairly obvious..

cheers;)

Doctor J

Wild Eyed, does this mean you've put those new strings on the SG?

D!ve^Bomb!

oh yeah wot kinda music do ya's play. i wouldn't mind ''auditionin''.. i'm guitarist, 20yrs, into everythin thats good, blues, rock, heavy metal etc etc etc

wild_eyed

we the worlds most non-pretentious band ever, very good people. and will not make the people who come out feel inany way inordinary etc, anyone who is interested can txt me at 0879132011 and i can arange a night for ya
we are situated in and around dundalk,

and i have changed me strings and have noticed an improvment

tnx

wild_eyed

Originally posted by newband
oh yeah wot kinda music do ya's play. i wouldn't mind ''auditionin''.. i'm guitarist, 20yrs, into everythin thats good, blues, rock, heavy metal etc etc etc

we are into a lot of the new wave of music coming along but our individual influences are are wide. from mark lanegan to oasis.

but i suppose our sound has gone for a joydivision/ interpol/ smiths/ strokes sound. down strokes and the like.

Doctor J

Originally posted by wild_eyed
we the worlds most non-pretentious band ever, very good people. and will not make the people who come out feel inany way inordinary etc,
tnx

Should be easy-peasy so

Good Luck!

D!ve^Bomb!

sorry, not my kinda thing but good luck anyway

Shane Smith

"How to audition"

Some of u mentioned that it is not a good idea to give everyone a hour each and have them coming in right after each other. I'm sorry to say I'd have to disagree in one sense, when we have to try out people it costs us a f****** fortune in rehearsals and there's no way in hell we could afford to give everyone a whole sesssion each!

I know it's a bit harsh just flying thru people one after the other but if anyone has any better format I would sure love to hear it. Its also true that good people can feel very intimidated especially if there's an element of "get in and get out" kinda thing.

So hence we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place.

Suggestions welcome!

Giblet

I would invite them to our place, and have a jamming session, and play through a few songs. Thats it.

Shane Smith

Like anyone will travel out to Ballymun......:eek:

Nah, we just use that 1st rehearsal as an hour to "meet" these people and if they seem interested after that we would bring them back for a full session.

But in fairness, nobody should have serious trouble jamming blues in A should they? And if they did have trouble, how would they handle anything remotely complicated u were to throw at 'em?!

Usually u can tell straight away who's up to it and no it's not like a job interview but showing up 15mins late doesn't put yourself across very well in my book....

etc etc u get the idea mr wild-eyed

Heathen

were kinda lucky.. in the sence that we have our own rehersal studio.. we share it with another band but they hardly ever practice... when we "audition" or try out new musicians (cos we have gone thru 4 guitarists in 2 years:( ) we just get a bag of cans and chill with the new guy, bang out a few tunes and stay as long as they want to stay.. this works fine, we have had brutal guitarists show up, but we still had a few laughs and told them there and then if we thought they would suit the band.. and out if it we got 2 new guitarists a few months ago that were 100% happy with....

happy endin (we hope.... cans were costin too much )
Best o' luck wild_eyed

later
Macker

Doctor J

Shane,

Personally, I'd use that first hour in a pub somewhere (Maybe not the Towers ), talking to the person. Have a pint, talk to them about music, their influences etc. You can usually tell the people who know what they're doing fairly quickly and it gives you a chance to see if you click personality-wise without the pressure of "the audition" when sometimes people can find it hard to relax and be themselves.

When they tell you about their influences, you'll be able to tell fairly quickly just where they're at, so to speak. If they mention the typical ones and some more obscure but excellent players in different genres, you can be pretty sure they know their way around their instrument. For example, if you are audtioning a bassist for a rock band and he/she says Geezer Butler, Roger Glover, John Paul Jones, Jaco Patorius, Dave Holland, Nathan East, John Patitucci... you know what I mean.

Checking out new band members is more than just playing the right notes in order, and generally I find you can size up a player fairly well before you even hear them play. That way, you can give maybe one or two people a full session instead of six or seven an hour each

Just my opinion.

Shane Smith

Just my opinion.

And a mighty good one at that :cool:

miju

Originally posted by Doctor J
Shane,

Personally, I'd use that first hour in a pub somewhere (Maybe not the Towers ), talking to the person. Have a pint, talk to them about music, their influences etc. You can usually tell the people who know what they're doing fairly quickly and it gives you a chance to see if you click personality-wise without the pressure of "the audition" when sometimes people can find it hard to relax and be themselves.

When they tell you about their influences, you'll be able to tell fairly quickly just where they're at, so to speak. If they mention the typical ones and some more obscure but excellent players in different genres, you can be pretty sure they know their way around their instrument. For example, if you are audtioning a bassist for a rock band and he/she says Geezer Butler, Roger Glover, John Paul Jones, Jaco Patorius, Dave Holland, Nathan East, John Patitucci... you know what I mean.

Checking out new band members is more than just playing the right notes in order, and generally I find you can size up a player fairly well before you even hear them play. That way, you can give maybe one or two people a full session instead of six or seven an hour each

Just my opinion.

Thats what I was trying to hint at but alaws you put it so elequently together Doctor J

Doctor J

Originally posted by _raptor_
Thats what I was trying to hint at but alaws you put it so elequently together Doctor J

Thanks

It took me a while, though