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Anybody else getting tired of guitar bands?


The Real MC

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Way too many local bands in my area have the guitar as the dominant instrument. No keyboard or other harmony instrument.

 

I just got out of an up and coming band. When song requests came up, my songs almost always got voted down and the ones that make it are guitar songs.

 

They did submit a couple of keyboard songs - their idea of "keyboard songs" are those with an eight bar piano intro, followed by smothering mesa-boogie-rectifier-fueled guitar chunka-chunka-chunka the rest of the song with no room at all for keyboards.

 

I didn't waste too much time with them.

 

Rant over.

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Question: When was the last time you heard a really good keyboard solo in popular music?

 

Seems most music these days is either guitar-oriented, or dance/electronica if synths predominate.

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Guitar bands get the gigs around here. The only two bands that are guaranteed to pack a club locally are tribute bands for AC/DC and Guns n Roses. I've seen several very good bands with keys in them that only draw 1/2 a room. It's just the way things work.

 

I'm getting tired of tribute bands myself.

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Well, remember that the big keyboard songs in today's popular music are coming from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and the like, so maybe you need to look at a younger band maybe?

 

Lots of bands here play that stuff...they're also under 30, and if I wanted to play that music, I could work 15 gigs a week.

Hitting "Play" does NOT constitute live performance. -Me.
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Don't get me started... although, you just did. :)

 

My experience is similar:

 

- cover suggestions get voted down a lot

 

- am asked "to cover the brass parts" or whatever instrument is otherwise missing from the band (note to self: learn trumpet)

 

- am asked to "make something up or play something cool or something" :rolleyes: ... which is fine, but they carry on with the guitar-only cover tune using the original arrangement. So, I suggest re-arranging the tune completely, and I get quizzical looks. I think some instrument-centric folks just don't hear where other instruments fit in an arrangement, and that's it.

 

I'm working with a new group--really nice folks who suffer from a bit of the above--and have been pretty up-front about this, and they may decide they want someone else as a result, in which case no one will be wasting any more of their time.

 

I offered Marillion as my uber-example of the role keyboards can play in a band. At times textural, at times really out front, but always in play, even with very active guitar bits going on. Mark Kelly is just too good at this. (I wanted to be Tony Banks when I grew up--NOT Billy Joel or Elton John.)

 

'Course, I don't play to eat, so I can be picky.

I make software noises.
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The lion's share of the current country top 40 has keys in it.

 

Real keys like Hammonds, pianos and wurlis and such.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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Me!

I`m very very tired of guitarists. I have started a band with two singers (male & female) and a drummer. We rehearsals in headphones and the drummer plays digital drums.

In this lineup, we could hear everything and it sounds nice!

I play keyboard and split it and play bass with my lefthand

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Just don´t fight the nature of the band members. Sometimes it´s inevitable that they go into that direction, if that´s the sounds that they like on their hearts. My former band started as a groove oriented jam band (my predilection in music), with plenty space to the keys and with everybody on the same vibe. Little by little, the members started to push things towards the sounds they always heard before, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, Rory Gallagher and harder stuff. I lost the interest when that kind of songs began to predominate and left for work reasons. But I think I would have left afterwards anyway.

 

Now I play in a Funk band and couldn´t be happier with my daily dose of clav, B3 and rhodes. And as far as I know, my old band is becoming a ZZ Top tribute. Or at least trying, as they are not the most active guys in the world... "rehearse this week!"... "yes, let´s rehearse..."... "oops, just remembered I have an appointment, let´s leave to the next one"... "what about now, rehearse?"... "yes... unless I have to work..."...

 

You know that kind of thing, dontcha? :D

 

Sound apart, I wouldn´t stand up too much to this kind of things... To each its own.

 

Think this way:

 

Try to start a band and form a niche where your keys really make a difference. "Oh, XYZ, that band with the cool keys?"... Of course you can´t please everybody and would be a matter of love or hate to the audience... If you like vintage stuff, Bluesy Funk or Hard Prog (think Uriah Heep) would be great starting points. I think it would stand out on that sea of ACDC wanabees you are describing.

 

 

My drawbars go to eleven.

Gear: Roland VR-09, Nord Electro 2 61, Korg CX-3. Hear my music: facebook.com/smokestoneband

 

 

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Seems like a lot of bands around here have keyboardists, but there is a lot of blues and tribute bands. Salsa, electronica, reggae, funk bands also always have keyboards. However, I'm not up on the up-and-coming rocker scene but from what I can tell it's business as usual, ie, guitar-oriented bands. Jazz obviously a completely different animal, often has keys front and center.

 

 

Original Latin Jazz

CD Baby

 

"I am not certain how original my contribution to music is as I am obviously an amateur." Patti Smith

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I've been listening to mostly acoustic stuff lately. Stuff like the 'coffee house' on SIRIUS radio. I'm loving how piano, acoustic guitar, mandolin / violin, acoustic bass sound together. I'm growing weary of electric guitar even though I have played one for almost 40 years along with the piano. I would love to play in an all acoustic band with the exception of maybe some organ.

 

Unfortunately I have the same problem most of our stuff is guitar music. I'm only playing keyboard about 40% of the time.

Boards: Kurzweil SP-6, Roland FA-08, VR-09, DeepMind 12

Modules: Korg Radias, Roland D-05, Bk7-m & Sonic Cell

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If the songs are good and the production is strong, I really don't care what instruments were used to create a track. My tastes are pretty broad, but when it comes to keys, I generally like music that balances keys with real instruments (e.g. guitar, voice, etc.). Many years ago I was in a heavy prog phase and bought some keyboard-heavy music, and I really can't listen to it anymore. It just sounds like a bad keyboard demo.

 

Solos in popular music are not very common right now (for both guitar and keys), and that's fine. The wheel will turn again. I'd just like to hear some quality music in general (with innovative, pleasing melodies, and production that doesn't sound like a limiter on steroids). It seems hard to come by these days, but I think in many cases I'm not looking in the right places.

 

Todd

 

Sundown

 

Working on: The Jupiter Bluff; Driven Away

Main axes: Kawai MP11 and Kurz PC361

DAW Platform: Cubase

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If the songs are good and the production is strong, I really don't care what instruments were used to create a track. My tastes are pretty broad, but when it comes to keys, I generally like music that balances keys with real instruments (e.g. guitar, voice, etc.).

 

We have quite a bit in common here. :cool:

 

My favorite guitar-driven band here (Cigarette) has a distinctive sound - it's not typical rock music. They love to occupy the low end of the dynamic spectrum (soft over loud) which is really unusual for an electric guitar-driven band. Once in a while they'll bring out an electric piano for use on a couple of songs.

 

Another of my favorite local bands (Frau Eva) is led by a singer/songwriter/keyboardist. He strums an acoustic guitar for one song, and plays a mean flugelhorn on another, but otherwise his keys are the foundation of the band's sound. He admitted listening to a lot of Debussy when he was younger when I asked him about his songwriting influences, particularly the piano parts. Another attendee as one of their shows said they sounded like "Kurt Weill on acid".

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I don't have any probs with guitar bands. Keys just don't fit in alot of them, but I can find places in thier music where they could fit but not enough, so I don't get all indulgent about it, if that's the right word.

Triton Extreme 76, Kawai ES3, GEM-RPX, HX3/Drawbar control, MSI Z97

MPower/4790K, Lynx Aurora 8/MADI/AES16e, OP-X PRO, Ptec, Komplete.

Ashley MX-206. future MOTU M64 RME Digiface Dante for Mon./net

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Well, I guess I'm pretty lucky. My main gig these days is a Santana Tribute. It doesn't get much more "guitar band" than that, and yet at the same time, the keys are essential to the music.

 

For me it depends on my mood and what I'm doing. I can be into a ZZ Top meets GNR rock-fest when the mood strikes me. It's just that for me, that's better to listen to than to play in. :) Of course, at others times my listening tastes will run far away from all that. Just depends on where my head is at on a particular day, I guess.

 

For playing as opposed to listening, I generally try to avoid bands with two guitarists. There are exceptions, but in general when a band has two guitars, there isn't much room left for keys.

 

--Dave

Make my funk the P-funk.

I wants to get funked up.

 

My Funk/Jam originals project: http://www.thefunkery.com/

 

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Dave, like you, I am very lucky with my Journey trib act.

All instruments equally important.

 

I like guitar bands as well, as you said, depending on my mood.

 

Around these parts, the bands that draw the most are the AC/DC trib, the Bon Jovi Trib (lots of keys), and us (all keys, all night :) ).

 

I do have to say, that most bands I see in the local clubs have keys players who get their share of the spotlight, so to speak.

 

Maybe it's a regional thing. Yes, there are some serious guitar bands around here, who are very good, and I love it.

David

Gig Rig:Casio Privia PX-5S | Yamaha MODX+ 6 | MacBook Pro 14" M1| Mainstage

 

 

 

 

 

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Question: When was the last time you heard a really good keyboard solo in popular music?

 

Seems most music these days is either guitar-oriented, or dance/electronica if synths predominate.

 

Personally, I'm of the opinion that the same question applies to guitar solos. Now, I'll grant you that I've heard lots of guitar solos in popular music ... but the question was about good solos. I've heard so many guitar solos that unless Gawd himself came down and played the heck out of something - I'm pretty much ready to yawn when the obligatory guitar solo comes along. Give me a band with some variety of sound over a guitar-centric band any day of the week.

The SpaceNorman :freak:
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I've been up in jamestown some nights at the town bar. It's all acustical blues and blugrass. Every one is drinking siompin their feet, hootin and howlin. Arm in arm singing and dancing, one hell of a place to enjoy the evening and not a keyboard for miles.

Triton Extreme 76, Kawai ES3, GEM-RPX, HX3/Drawbar control, MSI Z97

MPower/4790K, Lynx Aurora 8/MADI/AES16e, OP-X PRO, Ptec, Komplete.

Ashley MX-206. future MOTU M64 RME Digiface Dante for Mon./net

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I'm not familiar with Jamestown. I am a student of human behavior however, and wouldn't draw any conclusions based on your observations. I've seen folks dance arm in arm at events that didn't have ANY live entertainment at all other than a bunch of drunks singing "We are the Champions".
The SpaceNorman :freak:
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...I long, long ago lost interest in "rock" that was guitar based.

 

As a player, it took one (yes, one) band experience to confirm what I suspected

about working in multiple guitarist formats. I lasted about 6-weeks.

 

I've always felt closer to the keyboard than to any music genre, ergo-my listening choices simply migrated to jazz and classic rock/pop that featured keyboard parts and players...

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Yeah, I'm not "getting" tired... I've been tired of it for a long time :D

 

In fact I had a "no guitar" rule for a few years, though I was playing mostly jazz at the time so it was easy. I'm in 5 regular bands, and only one has a guitar, and none of them are rock bands. (The band with guitar is an African band, mostly Guinean.).

 

Lately I'm attracted to a certain nasty guitar sound in moderation, though. There's this 19 year-old kid that fills in on guitar with the Sunday soul band when the sax player can't make it, and he sounds awesome. When the bandleader emailed and said there would be guitar filling in for sax, and that I was "in for a treat", I thought "yeah right an unrehearsed guitar player isn't my idea of a treat," but I was pleasantly surprised. Now I request the guy :)

 

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I'm a proud guitarist, but I definitely would like to hear more keyboard solos and good parts on pop records.

I love to hear good guitar solos, of course, but if the guy's just going to play the same cliches I've heard for years, it's hard to get excited about it. Same goes for any instrument, of course.

Guitar and keyboard can work together well - it just takes listening and musical respect. I agree that with two guitars and bass a keyboard part can get lost in the shuffle, which is too bad if the person is a good player!

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Good guitar players are good. I tire of any band that has no sonic variety. Very rare do I find a trio that I would listen to for more than 20 minutes. Excluding Rush.

 

I love bluegrass for about the first 15 minutes. Same with most solo piano unless they are REALLY GOOD.

"It doesn't have to be difficult to be cool" - Mitch Towne

 

"A great musician can bring tears to your eyes!!!

So can a auto Mechanic." - Stokes Hunt

 

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I suppose in classic and somewhat in country your approach with possibly tie and jacket one would play according to pretty thorough rules and without much jazz or loose feeling, and for guitar players that is probably either a matter of professionalism or out of centre taste. For keyboard players I think it isn't too common to be able to play the way most guitar players like and not too easy either. Guitar players get bored of the same sound too I recall, but of course they have way other options to choose from. It would be a bit like being a nuisance to honestly compare with guitarists that way, as they will look for nuances and sound and harmonic and tone variations which honestly would send a lot of keyboardists running for cover. Of course I was mostly used to those issues in jazzy environments, but still.

 

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