Most Important Instrument in the Band?

[lbpesq]

I thought this might be appreciated around here - not that it is accurate in any way, shape, or form! LOL

Bill, tgo

http://www.guitarplayer.com/artists/1013/study-finds-the-bass-guitarist-is-most-important-band-member/62019

[edwardofhuncote]

Hey, somebody's gotta' be responsible! 

[gtrguy]

I think it's pretty much the person who owns the PA!!! Of course, any singer will tell you they are most important.

[5a quilt top]

The singa' - !

Obviously...

This is nothing new, but it seems especially true in this era of "The Voice", "American Idol", karaoke, etc. Since everyone thinks they can sing and the number of people who have experience playing an instrument is dwindling, the vocal is becoming the only thing that most people can relate to when listening to music.

This was driven home again last night when a project I played with started a song with half the band in the key of F# and the other half in G (= train wreck to a trained musical ear) and, to my amazement, NO ONE in the audience noticed - at least no one I spoke with commented on it. However, the same people sure noticed that the singer repeated verses of some songs and sang both the male and female parts of duets.


BTW: the reason for the key discrepancy was...the singer...who couldn't decide if she wanted to sing it in F# or G, so we flip-flopped on it several times during rehearsals and apparently never reached consensus on the right key.

[lbpesq]

This supports the theory I've espoused for many years: 

For every 100 mistakes a player makes, the other musicians in the band notice 10, and the audience notices 1.

And the related concept that if you make a mistake, repeat it and everyone will think it's jazz!

Bill, tgo

[5a quilt top]

Which reminds me of a great band name I encountered a few years ago:


"Music By Accident"

[cozmik_cowboy]

This supports the theory I've espoused for many years: 

For every 100 mistakes a player makes, the other musicians in the band notice 10, and the audience notices 1.

And the related concept that if you make a mistake, repeat it and everyone will think it's jazz!

Bill, tgo

Related to a quote from Vladimir Horowitz (though I've seen it attributed to others, as well):
"If I don't practice one day, I notice.  If i don't practice 2 days, the critics notice.  If I don't practice for a week, the audience notices."

Peter

[pauldo]

Billy O'Neil: (apologies for not having his exact words, as his wording and delivery are priceless)
'When you make a mistake some people may notice, but everyone knows when you nail it'
“. . . an audience won’t necessarily know if you didn’t do something quite right, but they’ll know if you nailed it.”