Originally Posted by
Eric
It's a fair point. The way I like to frame it is that drums and bass are most important to a band sounding good, but the singer and guitarist are the most noticeable. You don't really want a weak person at any position, but I feel like you can get by with a much weaker guitarist (or occasionally vocalist -- look at Dream Theater) and still sound like a good band if your rhythm section is good. Ironic, since most people want to sing or play guitar because there's more glory there. I think I once heard a drummer say that drumming in a rock band is like being a rock plumber; I thought that was pretty funny.
I think an extension of that thought is that band members notice bad musicians at bass and drums far more than audience members will notice them.
True story. My wife's father played bass for years in a country western band (he played guitar for several years before switching to bass). My best friend played bass, mostly in praise and worship and some heavy rock. Once my friend said something about he's glad he doesn't play bass in C&W because it's just bum-bum, bum-bum. Not one week later my father-in-law said he was glad he didn't play bass in a rock band because it would just be bum-bum bum-bum. I about died it was so bizarre.
Guitars: Epiphone Les Paul Ultra; pretty red Squier Acoustic;
Amps: Vox VT30;
Pedals: Dunlop Fuzz Face; Dunlop Crybaby Wah
My kids have: Squier Affinity Stratocaster MII; Fender G-DEC; Squire Acoustic; Jay Turser Strat-copy, Roland Cube amp
"I am a sworn enemy of the saccharine, and a believer in grace over karma." Bono 2001
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