LearnGospelMusic.com Community

Please login or register.
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Playing with multiple musicians  (Read 3932 times)

Offline browntree

  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 496
  • Gender: Male
  • www.reverbnation.com/btree

Playing with multiple musicians
« on: November 29, 2004, 10:11:03 AM »
This Sunday, our church is having our Hanging of the Green Service.  I love this service because a lot of musicans participate.  I'll be the only bassist and will be playing with at least 4 different pianists.  Does anybody have any helpful hints on playing with multiple musicians? We are scheduling a musicians' practice, so I'm looking for any ideas/suggestions that can help me accomodate/compliment the styles of each.    All comments are welcome  :lol:
God Bless!

Offline godzgurl18

  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 95
    • http://

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2004, 03:35:34 PM »
I am not sure how much this will help, but I can tell you what I do when I play with other musicians.

When practicing with different songs, we first figure out who will lead the song. What I mean by that, is who will deteremine the changes in the song. My father plays the bass and one thing he says can get aggrivating is trying to follow five different keyboardists, who play ten different ways.

Usually, the way I do it is have one keyboardist as the lead keyboardist. This person usually plays some sort of piano sound or organ if there is no organist. After that, everyone else follows in WITH A DIFFERENT SOUND!!! If you have an organ, someone plays brass/winds/piano...ect.

If the bass leads the songs, then the bass determines the progression changes.  Whoever, leads the songs, doesn't have to lead the whole song. Musicians communicate with body language when the play. You gotta sort of read there body, and also listen to the the progressions and chords to guess where the lead musician is going.

Churchy songs are easy (Victory is mine, This is the day...), but it really gets hard when there is someone who is singing a worship solo. That can become really difficult with 5 keyboardist playing.

Playing with other is restictive because you can't really get your solo on, but it teaches how to work with others.

Hopefully, I gave you a little help.

Offline musmin7

  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 377
  • Gender: Male
  • Minister Burton Pryor
    • Musmin7 youtube page

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2004, 03:55:30 PM »
browntree,

The Key is to have one person that lead it all they make the final desision on what or how somthing is to be played that way there will be a cohesivness regardless of the diff styles. that is the job of a band leader or minister of music  Ichronicles 15: 22 states that "chenaniah leader of the levites, was intructor in charge of the music, because he was skillful"

this is where we get the position of minister of music from (even though most churches don't understand) it's about order in all we do for God.
I'm sure all the musicians were skillful but one had to be appointed as leader and the one that was most skillful was the obvious choice.
this verse also lets us know that we are called to be skillful in our offering to the Lord so suggest to all that in order for the very best offering to the Lord to go forth that you decide on a leader then it can not become about me or about you but we all go where the spirit leads and God receives the glory from and through our offering.

If the other musicians can not agree on a leader (children of Isreal) then point them to the word and leave it alone give God the glory and ask Him to move anything or one that's not like him make it a point to learn to play all styles of music to be able to mesh with other musicians and give the glory to God for all that He has done.
be blessed
Walk with the King and be a Blessing
Musmin7

Offline lildrummaboy_987

  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 169
    • http://

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2004, 05:31:56 PM »
the best thing you can do is STAY IN THE POCKET PLAY EVERYTHING STRAIGHT something i learned is that the more people there are the less you have to do the less people the more. this past sunday i played at a church we were a 3 man combo bass drums and keyboard. to make it a  little fuller i did more and more runs. i did a concert with a 11 piece band brass drums percussion 2 keyboards organs lead guitarand didnt have to do anything. another thing is that with alot of people it will sound to busy if u do alot of stuff

Offline Mysteryman

  • Moderator
  • LGM Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 7804
  • Gender: Male
  • The Jamaican breakfast patty created by me. :)
    • http://www.geocities.com/mysterymman1

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2004, 06:18:54 PM »
Im a keyboard player and really the keyboard play should really base their chord changes off the bass player. Unless the bass player cant play as good then I have to agree with some of the others. The keyboardist or some other musician has to lead. You hear certain instruments leading songs on different CDs but I would rather the priority go in this order for just a basic band.
1.Drummer keeps time.
2.Bass player tells other musicians what chords to play but the bass line. They can add their favor in between bass changes.
3.Organ holds the music together like a rhythmn guitar player holds it in a rock band.
4. The keyboard player sits on top of the others using fillers and padding.

If the organ player is playing like a keyboard player or the bass player is not holding the bottom there will be somethings missing.
Vision without action is just day dreaming. I miss practicing.

Offline browntree

  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 496
  • Gender: Male
  • www.reverbnation.com/btree

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2004, 10:35:01 PM »
Hey Mysteryman, it's interesting that you say that.  If I know we are doing a song in advance, I will learn it, but I'm often frustrated when the pianist/keyboardist shows up at practice and changes the song.  For example, I'll learn the song just as the bassist on the cd, and the pianist will skim the song and instead of following me, I'm forced to modify my changes to fit the piano.  After all, the pianist is always right right?  Our drummer also has an issue with staying in the pocket.  
So I often find myself very frustrated, because I work hard to learn a song, but the pianist (always the lead musician) will switch up notes.  So we wind up playing the same changes in almost every song!  So you can see how our growth as musicians could be limited.  Sometimes changing a few notes can change the entire song.  I have even argued with the pianist about  notes, and you can guess... I'm never right (even if I am, and most of the time I know because I really learned the song verbatim!)
So now, I show up knowing the song, and whatever the pianist plays I follow... and I don't say a word!

Offline BigDaddyBass

  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12
  • Gender: Male

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2004, 07:56:01 AM »
That's true Man. My pianist at least listens to what I got to say. But he  rarely changes the notes for the song if I'm the one to tell him. But the best way to go about it is to add whatever you could to make the song sound better. Be sure to put your input as far add-ons. And you have to have a humble spirit when it comes to situations like that or else you are playing for the wrong reasons. It's very hard to stay under submission when it comes to things like that. But the only option that I could think of recommending you is to contribute to it as much as you can.

What I think pianist fail to realize, especially the ones who don't read music, is that when you change a song, it should only sound better, not worse or degraded. When a pianist changes a song, it only takes away from the groove or the song. Cause there is always a great reason why the person who wrote the song, wrote it the way they did. Cause most gospel songs are written just to assist the singer or choir, and follow what they are saying. When you a pianist changes that, it takes away from the purpose of the musicians playing, which sucks. And especially if they don't read music, the only reason why they would change the song is because they don't know how to play it correctly. So I sort of find them changing the song as an excuse.

The director for one of the choirs I play for at my church, loves changing the keys for the song. He usually does it to go easy on the choir. When in the back of my head I'm saying, "Make the choir strain to hit those notes". Cause if you change the key to go easy on them, when it comes time for them to sing a song that you can't change the key to or it won't sound right, you are lucked out cause you have physically lowered their vocal range. So, as a bass player noticing the falling of a band or choir is a very sad view, cause if they don't budge, you going down with them. You feel me?

Anyways, just do what they pianist say if you want to stay away from controversy!

                                                                           -  Big Dad-E Bass

Offline browntree

  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 496
  • Gender: Male
  • www.reverbnation.com/btree

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #7 on: December 02, 2004, 02:55:24 PM »
It feels good to know others "feel me".  I love playing, and I'm grateful to God for that.  It's a relief to know that other bassists deal with this kind of situation.  It's not just me!!

Offline browntree

  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 496
  • Gender: Male
  • www.reverbnation.com/btree

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2004, 07:23:43 PM »
I just wanted to say thanks for all the advice I received.  The service was amazing.  God showed up and showed out!  I was really blessed by the service and God truly had his way.  To God be the glory!!!   :lol:

Offline B3Wannabe

  • LGM Royalty
  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9331
  • Gender: Male

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #9 on: December 11, 2004, 07:37:04 PM »
I know that I'm late, but I had ot step in here for a second, since I play more than one instrument....

As a pianist/keyboardist/organist (I'll just say boardists), I feel that if you're not leading the song you should follow. It doesn't matter which instrument you're playing on. Boardist can follow bassists as easy as bassists can follow boardists. Some boardists just like to show off their chords. It's true what the drummer said, if there are more people then you HAVE to do less. It's not an option. It will sound messy. Plus you can't do all your crazy changes without first practicing it with the whole group, even the voices. You can even throw them off, if they aren't expecting you to go a certain way.

As a bassist, even though I'm a beginner, I feel that you should always try to learn the bass lines as they are on the cd. However, if the boardists changes the song--which I also don't like that much, especially if they do it because they don't want to listen to you or don't want/didn't take time to learn the song--you can't help but change your bass line. A good bassist can do this easily though, I feel. Also, I have a problem with people that don't want to learn a song from someone they feel can't play as well as them or feel the song is too simple for them or don't want to learn it because it isn't gospel enough.

I have more experience playing in bands than I do playing by myself, so I tend to like playing in bands more. I don't like working with someone that hasn't played in a band before, unless they're humble. It is liberating sometimes to play by yourself with a drummer though....but rarely. You have a lot more pressure (in the wrong church) to play well and are usually expected to learn more songs and do it as fast, which is also not as easy.

Offline browntree

  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 496
  • Gender: Male
  • www.reverbnation.com/btree

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #10 on: December 13, 2004, 07:17:24 PM »
B3Wannabe, it's not about the ease of changing a bass line.  It's about the fact the changes the pianists sometimes make, change the entire flow of the song for a bassist.  Typically the changes that make the song so tight, give you as a bassist the chance to have musical freedeom are the ones that are taken out.  Changing the key and sometimes the notes of songs can completely alter the bass line.  And you know this becase sometimes just the key of a song can make all the difference in the world.  Sometimes when I'm learning a song (in the same key as the cd), its as if I can understand what the writer had in mind for the bass.  
To sum it all up, any musician can fall into the habbit of playing the same notes and transitions, but when the pianist (typically the lead musicain) becomes manotinous, it's bad news for the entire band.

Offline drummerboyy01

  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 124
    • http://www.drummerboyy01@.yahoo.com

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #11 on: December 14, 2004, 06:56:35 AM »
Quote from: Mysteryman

1.Drummer keeps time.
2.Bass player tells other musicians what chords to play but the bass line. They can add their favor in between bass changes.
3.Organ holds the music together like a rhythmn guitar player holds it in a rock band.
4. The keyboard player sits on top of the others using fillers and padding.

Well said!

Offline browntree

  • LGM Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 496
  • Gender: Male
  • www.reverbnation.com/btree

Playing with multiple musicians
« Reply #12 on: December 14, 2004, 02:22:15 PM »
Well said indeed!   :wink:
Pages: [1]   Go Up