Guitar Gear Forum

we had a thread about this before. in the old country.

but i am afraid the issue has resurfaced. any of you have people come up to you (other musicians) and give you criticism on shit? do you welcome it, etc.?

had a dude (drummer) come up to me and tell me all the things he wish my drummer did or to just let him drum for us.

It depends... If it is feedback you can make use of then try and take it on board. Maybe there is something in what they are saying, but then again it could well be just one perspective. Not everyone is going to like things you do/ how band members play.

If it's framed as helpful advice, I'm fine with it. Happened a few times when I was newer to the game and I appreciated it. I've never had anyone really criticize my playing or saying the band sucks or whatever or come across as dickish though. The dude you're talking about kinda sounds dickish.

we don't get much of that as much of "got damm that PA mix sucked! all we could hear was vocals and the snare drum! wish we coulda heard the full band, i bet it was great"
:facepalm:

All the time!

Guys would come up, to talk gear.

Then they'd give their opinion of a part I shredded over (well through ). Then of course they'd criticize some aspect of how I didn't play the recorded solo in the same position as the tab they know, that I played too fast when improvising lines. Really? You understand that the musical is meant to be challenging to play and listen to? I was never in a cock rock band!

This of course typically ended up with the drummer or lead singer talking to that guys GF while the bedroom wannabe was opining.

That's what I always hated about playing out. Everyone's a critic but never on stage.

Or when a friend of a member wants to hop on stage to sing/play an instrument and they can't, or another band's member that you're "friends" with comes on stage once and then expect to any/every time they're @ one of your shows?

Derek

Is it constructive criticism? I think an outside opinion can be advantageous if it's someone who knows about music and is legitimately trying to help.

I played in a band early in college where I remember getting criticism at two of our shows. One show went really well. My bassist later informed me that he was told our band was awesome but the second guitarist really sucked (me). That was a little demoralizing, especially considering what a retard our bassist was. The second criticism came after a terrible show that we did not fit into and should not have played. Afterward, I was drinking a beer with one of the other band's members and he just reminded me how as a musician it's important to be out playing for yourself and to stand by your work rather than being phased by whatever the audience thinks.

To be honest, I wish we got more advice. I think when we play live we're very confident on stage so people just assume that we're doing exactly what we want to do, even if in fact we're bumbling through train wreck after train wreck.

I don't mind it. At best, it's other musicians who I know and respect, saying, "Man, your treble was cutting my head off out there" or "Your backup vocals are louder than your lead vocals" or something similarly useful. At worst (and at worst it's usually some drunken basement rock star who can never seem to get his own band going, telling me what he would have played differently), I can just smile and say "thanks!" I try to be gracious either way.

I'm also not averse to giving advice to other bands, but unless it's someone I know well, I make sure to stick to the "two pieces of praise for each piece of criticism" ratio. For example: "Dude, your singer is really energetic! The chorus on that second song is going to be stuck in my head all week! Also, I think your intonation might be a little out, or maybe you knocked your guitar a little out of tune during the song, but those high position chords were pretty sour. I doubt many people even noticed, but I know I would want to know..."

Y0UNGBL00D wrote:we had a thread about this before. in the old country.

but i am afraid the issue has resurfaced. any of you have people come up to you (other musicians) and give you criticism on shit? do you welcome it, etc.?

had a dude (drummer) come up to me and tell me all the things he wish my drummer did or to just let him drum for us.

=;

Is your drummer actually having issues, or what?

I find you can normally tell the guys that are full of shit and the ones that are genuine.. I have some friends I would come right out and say...man WTF were you playing there in X part, it sounded out of place, out of tune, etc but I only do that with friends and if I'm familiar with their material... and most of them would approach me the same way... as far as cover bands go, unless someone asks my opinion I don't give it...

Devin wrote:Is your drummer actually having issues, or what?

no. solid, never messes up, on time all the time. the dude with the criticism though is a polyrythm post-rock super technical blah blah blah so anything thats not neil pert sucks. i know not to listen to it, this thread was just question the audacity for anyone to say anything at all. like if its their place at all to say anything unsolicited.

Cirrus wrote:To be honest, I wish we got more advice. I think when we play live we're very confident on stage so people just assume that we're doing exactly what we want to do, even if in fact we're bumbling through train wreck after train wreck.

this. cirrus, we are kindred spirits.

It is when people insist on comparing your bands song(s) to famous bands. And they seem to think/judge it like that- this sucks. We all know there is nothing original, but nobody want's to be compared to bands you know.

Elessar [Sly] wrote:It is when people insist on comparing your bands song(s) to famous bands. And they seem to think/judge it like that- this sucks. We all know there is nothing original, but nobody want's to be compared to bands you know.

We always get compared to bands I'm completely unfamiliar with, so I just kinda look blank and say "thanks, nice of you to say so."