2nd Guitarist Problem

[Navarone]

I was wondering if any of you have dealt with this like I am:

In my band, the other guitarist is very stuck in his ways. He likes a certain band and wants to do, sound, and use all the same things they do.

It's almost to a completely ridiculous point. I mean, I remember being younger like he is wanting to sound kinda like someone else. But I did that at around 17-19 years old or something, but quickly learned that finding my own unique style and sound was very, very important to me, wherein I stopped acting like that and started playing and songwriting more maturely.

The band I am in is a progressive metal band (who prides themselves on being a bit out of the ordinary) in which speed, accuracy and technique is very important to me, but is mostly over shadowed but his quest to be "Brutal" and try to buy amps that the band he likes uses and even use their tuning, even down to the picks they use... (I know).

It's a constant battle between us over this.

Have any of you had this going on, and if so what advice do you have? Cause I'm a nice guy and don't want to just show up at rehearsal screaming at him about individuality and whatnot. And he is a really nice guy whom none of us would like to see leave, because he is a good player, but this almost seems like it's making him less than what he could be.

Hopefully all that made sense.

[JJEMMER777]

Anyone who's been in a few bands has faced this or similar problems. It's HARD getting / finding / keeping people who can gell with the chemistry of the band. That's why I won't have or be in a band anymore unless it's friends (that's the key)


Try to work it out and talk with him if you can. This may sound ~blunt~...but........probably best he goes. Sounds like it'd be better for both sides really. Also in this type of situation the sooner the better. Why waste precious time with someone that isn't going to work out

[Gino]

Originally Posted by JJEMMER777

Anyone who's been in a few bands has faced this or similar problems. It's HARD getting / finding / keeping people who can gell with the chemistry of the band. That's why I won't have or be in a band anymore unless it's friends (that's the key)


Try to work it out and talk with him if you can. This may sound ~blunt~...but........probably best he goes. Sounds like it'd be better for both sides really. Also in this type of situation the sooner the better. Why waste precious time with someone that isn't going to work out

I Agree. It's better to lose him as band-mate than a friend...

As soon as he realizes that he's got to find his own style, the better for him.

[Navarone]

Yea, I think first I will just try to politely bring it up and have a discussion about it with him, if that doesn't work. I am thinking the same thing you are, I don't like the idea of wasting time working with him so that we all have to backtrack and start over with someone else. It's kinda sad because around here it's hard to find a good guitar players with the same drive that we have that aren't already in a band.

[Darin]

Don't waste to much time with that project. If it doesn't work itself out soon, move on. You owe it to yourself to NOT be in a situation that you don't love. Playing guitar is your passion. Having another immature guitar player ruin it for you simply isn't worth it. It seems like one of you doesn't belong in that project. There doesn't have to be hard feeling or anything like that, it's just not the right place to be is all.

[waylay00]

One thing I've found out with a band is that everyone needs to have at least one artist in common that they like. Without this, there cannot be much chemistry, save for a few exceptions. Look at Dream Theater, for example. They all LOVE Rush. And their lineup has been stable for almost 20 years.

I tried forming a band with a drummer and "keyboardist" who love Blink 182/pop punk scene, a bassist who loves Phish and all the jambands, and another guitarist who loves all the Texas blues/SRV stuff.

It was a disaster. The bassist, other guitarist, and I could get along well for the most part (alot of our styles overlapped), but whenever we would try to play any jamband/fusion stuff, the drummer and keyboardist would dislike it. Likewise, whenever I tried to play anything heavier, the bassist disliked it...Whenever the keyboardist and drummer wished to play their pop-punk stuff, the bassist, other guitar player, and I disliked it...

Sure, we could have tried to fuse all the styles together, but there were just too many egos and conflicting styles standing in the way.

In your case, he probably needs to go.

[mi2tom]

I have a different problem, My 2nd guitarist is kinda egoistic and always wanting to beat me Technically....

[jono]

A band is like a marriage, but usually between 5 guys

and I think what's needed here is some marriage counselling.

It sounds to me like you guys need to communicate a bit more, go out for a pizza together, and find out what you all want from the band. It could be that the other members feel like you do and he's the odd one out, or it could be YOU're the odd one out so to speak.

Alternatively if you want to keep the band together you may just need to compromise and play a mix of tunes so that EVERYONE is happy or to play a certain style to try and make a go of it in the music business.