I can't believe it- i had one last night, the timing with this thread is spot on. I had been double booked with 2 gigs on same night , although I didn't want to, I got a dep drummer to do my jazz and blues gig- a twenty piece band called Middlesbrough jazz and blues orchestra. Then at 4 o clock my mate from my tribute band texted that gigs off, he said it's a long story and will ring later (and I still can't get in touch). Although I love the big band passionately there's never money to be made on these gigs. Which is ok cos I love it, it's just that I lost a decent bit of cash missing the other. Anyway now big band said they would like me to be there now as well as the other guy! My cars got a few things wrong with it and me and bandleader drive there along an awfull road. The gig was outside at a ( rare) beautifull small harbour. I know I'm going on a bit but the realy bad thing was that I used his drums and he didn't bring his stool, so I was siting realy low. so when my turn to play came I found it was a nightmare trying to hit the actual drums and not the rims as to my horror he had set up the snare tilting severely inwards and away from me. The next surprise came when the bass drum pedal just kept getting stuck and didn't work at all. This was at its worst when we played jazz funk number- chameleon. AND it got dark enough that I couldn't properly read the dots so I cocked it up especially at the ending. ALSO the dep bass player was speeding up and I couldn't hold it back. and I'm getting the look from the bandleader. Phew. Apart from all this we did actually play very well, but Me being me I do feel very susceptible to these sort of things, but I just absolutely love it when given chance to perform. Soap Box

Oh, and we very nearly didn't have a hi hat stand at all.

In one of the bands a drum for,the guitar player has never played any song at the same tempo EVER .I have to lay back to see where he goes.Kinda weird,,, to much wine or wacky tabbacky things tend to drag. The other guys are used to it,I have not. Throw in a knuckle-head sound guy and you have a long LONG nite in store....Even the Sex Pistols had a off nite now and then....Good Luck,Vati

Fill in`s are always a risk and will change the band sound hugely.They can be great players but the sound will alter.On the other hand...if they`re not competant,well you know the answer.Best of luck on the next gig when the whole band is back together-much more comfortable,i`m sure.

Wayne

Not good either when the fill in is so hot, that he handles the gig better than the regular guy... Can be uplifting on the night,, but the memory lingers on 'till whenever...

Cheers

John

Oh yea if the other guy is better...oh.. Agh! Anyway Last night was interesting I 'rehearsed ' with another big band who are all way more experienced than the one I've been in for the most time .I don't know how many of you have played in big bands. I consider myself competent enough when playing most average level numbers - mediumish tempos, not too complex music or parts and not many drum solos. (Unfortunately!?) I'm finding it more difficult when playing with the other big bands. I will try to explain.- when I'm at the regular one (sat morning) everything just feels comfortable right from the start (10 years I've been playing this sort of stuff mainly just with them) I just use a portable traps kit that belongs to the band but now bring my radio king snare and a 40 s trans stamp 22" ride. This cymbals nice but doesn't quite cut enough sometimes which doesn't help. The acoustics of the room are perfect AND all the brass are blowing their horns towards me so everything is well balanced sound wise and clear as a bell etc. though maybe a tad loud sometimes. To me it's perfect. Maybe to perfect which I will explain. The thing is we're usually playing the same parts regularly. So this is comfortable enough. When I'm at ( and less frequently) other big bands the acoustics of the room and the fact that I'm either sitting behind the brass or that my drums are quite a bit away from them makes it harder, - and these hardly play the same number twice and they can be faster and more complicated parts to play. But what really gets to me , is that I with these I now have to use my own kit- it's an early 80s pearl DX kit worse for wear the toms are also warped. Whereas the admittedly ' lower quality traps kit is what I'm totally used to ( I only realy use the pearl kit for rock gigs) iam just not into the feel and sound of this kit at all, one thing I've noticed is with the traps although they prob don't project when playing them with big band they feel comfortable for me, have a decent 'thud' and then the sound gets out of the way fast. With the my pearl kit when I attempt to go round the kit the toms resonance just seems to overwhelm me and contributes towards throwing me off the music, and I'm not into the sound of this kit, and I can not afford another kit. I can only practice at home on my Roland kit ( that's why I got it) so not to disturb anyone. Playing Solos on this is a doddle. Hardly any time at all is given in rehearsals for me to work out a good solo, most of the time is just that keeping the band swinging following the music whilst reading. So for example last night I had all these problems and we did a more difficult fast number and at some point i realised there was an eight bar solo! AND only managed to flay arms about Toms with no real technique . I can't work out what is the exact cause of problems like this, it's probably a combination!? Am I not that good? Is it more the feel and sound of the drums that's putting me off. Is it cos I don't dig the sound balance? I'm with bass and keys up on a stage and bit to far away from the brass for my liking. How can practice for this sort of thing? I'm not expecting any magical answers from you guys I just felt like talking about it.The members of the bands are a really nice bunch but they they just shrug these things off. Thanks if your still reading this - delving into dark waters here! Im thinking I could have made this a new thread. When I win the lottery I will get that radio king kit or something similar that would suit me for this kind of stuff! In the meantime maybe I find a cheap old traps kit to use for rehearsals . I'm not sure though.. Thank you for leading your ears!

Not meaning to imply that this was in any way 'terrible' , although maybe a bit of relevance to the o.p.'s original post.

I've never played in a big band or even with many horn players. The closest I got to that was playing to Gene Krupa records. I grew up playing with loud guitar players.

The bass player we used was a decent enough player, but he didn't do his homework, we had a nice rehearsal two days before the gig and he forgot most everything we played. We are currently using two different guitarist for different gigs, because we can't get one to commit to being a full time member. So, normally are regular bass player would help the two guitarist remember the chords and keys the songs were in, but when we used the fill in bass player, he was lost and couldn't help the guitarist through the songs. It just plain sucks that we can't find a permanent guitarist that will commit to playing and learn the music correctly. I don't know about you guys, but I feed off other players and when they are off it effects my playing, I lose interest and energy and my playing faulters. Why are musicians and especially guitar players, just a bunch of lame brains.DOH

I grew up playing in 'rock' bands too. But it was my mam that said " how would you like to learn the drums" when I was about 12 so I went to a drum lesson once a week with more or less a big band drummer/ teacher ( my mam used to sing in a couple of local night spots and maybe big bands) then did the semi pro working men's clubs) I only and quite by chance stumbled across a local community based big band 10 years ago ( I'm nearly 49) -hope you don't mind me 'introducing myself' a bit more here. Prior to this my main stuff is rock and pop. The 1st couple of bands I was in where awfull punk bands that didn't help with my playing a lot. But I know what you mean about not having regular enough players. My covers band is going to the dogs anyway, we used to have realy regular gigs but not now. Yes it does your head in when your at the mercy of the other players and for all I know my mate in the rock band who gets the gigs might not be wanting them anymore.