How do you feel about people wanting to "sit in"?

[DirtySanchez]

I can see both sides of the coin, and here's how I feel.

I play originals, so if someone asks me, it's an awesome compliment that they know OUR music, so hell yes.
Secondly, it's rock n roll, I'm not a career musician, I sing /scream punk rock and Heavy metal for fun and enjoyment. Let people sit in and you'll have fans at every show. You have fans at every show, and I don't give a fuck how "professional" you are, you're gonna get gigs. Now people that invite themselves up and start banging on an instrument, that needs dealt with.

What jacks me is these popped collar frat boys asking for some Disturbed or something,so they can sing along to impress some drunken skank.
Just buy her 5 more Jager-bombs and date rape her like you would if there wasn't a band playing, douchebag.

"can you play some disturbed, I sing that one song really good?"

No, we don't do covers.

" Uh, Ok. How bout some Korn?"

Um, how bout you go buy that chick a drink. She's been Eyeing you up all night.

"Really? Fuck yeah dude, you're awesome. Play some Pantera."

[CHICKSINGA]

I was scheduled to do a fill-in gig for Trace and Blues Moon recently. I went out to take some notes (yes, notes) and have a few beers. They were kind enough to ask me to sit in. That could have also been out of self preservation, giving themselves time to find a last minute replacement if I sucked. Sitting in turned into playing the rest of the night with them, and it was fun. Thanks Trace. But I never went expecting to play at all.

Believe me, Bill, we were the beneficiaries of that evenin'! T'was a blast! And if you find yourself in our vicinity again, you will surely always be welcome!!

T

[songsmith]

You Blues players probably know this hated guy: The Hohner Owner. These are the most insidious of the wanna-bees. They chose an instrument so small that it can easily slip past the frisking at the door, and the declaration of concealed instruments. Then after several beers, they park themselves near the side of the stage and blow along with every song you play; "BLOW" being the important verb in that sentence. The Hohner Owner is sooo good, that they can play in every key with just ONE harmonica. Amazing really. They should be quietly buried under the stage between sets.

I'm very careful about this, as a harpoonist. There are a select few bands I'll ask to sit in with, and those are bands with whom I've played in the past, and know well. With the Hurricanes, it's kind of a given that I'm going to play... they were kind enough to allow me to sit in frequently long ago, and helped me grow as a player then, so they're familiar with what I'm about. I also know the meaning of the phrase, "laying back." I approach music as a team sport, and I want what's best for the song, not what makes me sound like John Popper. In most cases, I simply find a nice, tasteful vamp for most of the song, and when I get the nod, I take a quick second to determine what the song feels like... if it's soulful, you get long sustained notes from a hurting place in my heart; if it's groovy and jumpin', you'll hear me dance around the beat; if it's rockin', I'm gonna come at you like a tankerful of piss and vinegar. It's about the song, and I take a lot more satisfaction when someone says it's tasteful than when they say I'm good. Obviously, I'm not always humble about my ability on harp, but that's kind of the nature of the beast, we're competitive that way... but I HAVE been handed my ass as well (*cough*Barney*cough*).

I'm usually cool with people using my gear, as I generally use less expensive stuff overall, but definitely NOT my harps (that's ***king gross, dude), and not my Takamine acoustic (it developed an unexplained scratch on the top the first weekend I used it, it was expensive, and I worked very hard for it).
I'm WAY pickier about the guitars and stuff at work... it's my job to sell it to you, not set you up with a $2000 guitar to bang on for an hour. Note to junior-high boys: Bring a major credit card or a stack of cash to lay on the counter, and you can kick the sh*t out of that American Jackson all day long.------->JMS

[VENTGtr]

Hey VENT, can I sit in?

Oh, geez...well...you see the things is...um...we don't use in-ears and
I don't think it would be fair to you... 'Course Calv, yer always welcome.

We do actually drag a few people up when they're at shows.

One night we had up members from...geez, who all...G211, Kitty Whip,
Ratchet, Double Negative, Carl Road, $9 Porno, Room 15, at least one
other, PLUS we had Trav, from Plush, filling in. THAT being said, as
has been pointed out, it's a lot different when yo know who the people
are as opposed to a "Ya, I mess around with drums...lemme play
sum...erp...sum'fin...".

We have one guy who comes to a lot of shows and ALWAYS wants to
come up...he will NEVER be allowed.

[Brewwife]

I had this happen to me when we played for a "private party". The band took a break and some 9 year old kid comes up and says, "Drums are cool!!" Grabs my sticks and starts banging!! my jaw dropped. Then I saw his did sitting off to the side (with beer in hand) telling his kid "Bang 'em, Bang 'em, hit 'em hard!"

I grabbed sticks from kid and stick bag.

Funny, no kids/drunks go up and grab the Les Paul!!!

[mjb]

it's cool when somebody like this asked you to sit in


geezes





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSSCOtm3kX4

[bassist_25]

You Blues players probably know this hated guy: The Hohner Owner. These are the most insidious of the wanna-bees. They chose an instrument so small that it can easily slip past the frisking at the door, and the declaration of concealed instruments. Then after several beers, they park themselves near the side of the stage and blow along with every song you play; "BLOW" being the important verb in that sentence. The Hohner Owner is sooo good, that they can play in every key with just ONE harmonica. Amazing really. They should be quietly buried under the stage between sets.

Let me tell say that you haven't truly heard Push It by Static-X until you hear it with a mouth organ. And yes, I'm being serious.

[Banned]

As stated before, It all depends on who it is and if I know them. There are tons of RPr's that would always be welcome to Jam. A short list...

BDR
Kenny
Paul
JMS
Big Jim
Colton
Hurricaine
Trace
Moon Man Tom
Trucula
Toonarock Guy

Among others.

I have either Played with these folks before, or I've heard them play and I know that they respect their music/gear as much as I do. As far as having an unknown person sit in there's only 2 possible outcomes.

#1 They can be really terrible and make you look like shit.. or
#2 They can be totally awesome and smoke your ass and make you look like shit.

[HBSPro]

I would have to now him very well. But just anyone off the street Hell NO !!

[webmiztris]

#1 They can be really terrible and make you look like shit.. or
#2 They can be totally awesome and smoke your ass and make you look like shit.

LOL, that's exactly my thoughts also. Not only on people who want to 'sit in', but also on opening bands!!!

[Wiggus]

It's about the song, and I take a lot more satisfaction when someone says it's tasteful than when they say I'm good.

Thasss right...all in service of the song.

That's the way it should be, but it can be tough. You get praised if you walk all over everyone else, throw a fit and fall on the floor in convulsions. Invariably, when I'm having a bad night someone always comes up and says "You're awesome!". Are they even listening?

[VENTGtr]

You get praised if you walk all over everyone else,
throw a fit and fall on the floor in convulsions.

Ya....that was a good night. They liked me, they really liked me! Oh...yeah...and sorry about yer shoes Wig.

[orangekick]

I've only ever "sat in" with 2 other bands. Both times it was on vocals and it was a blast. I'd love to have someone sit in with us sometime. That would be sweet.

[Atomic Jim]

The usual answer is "no." Those of you who know us know that we don't have a drummer or a bass player and our whole show is preprogrammed. I can't even jam on guitar.

That said, I did have two interesting sit-ins with other bands I was in. The first was a 12-year old kid who came up to us at a wedding and asked to sit in on bass. We all sort of chuckled, but the bass player, (the late Pete Kane of the Esquires), was a good guy and said "why not." I don't remember what song we did, but the kid was an excellent bass player and we kept him on stage for a couple more songs, even though Pete's bass was almost as big as the kid.

Another time we had a harp player from Chicago come up and do some Blues Brothers. He was so good I tried to talk him in to moving to PA.

Then there was the time at Thunder in the Valley when my wife was playing drums. She had a brand new set of Tama's. The band that was to play ahead of us asked if they could use her drums as they had another gig to get to afterwards. When they were done her heads looked like they had been beaten with hammers. The guy walked off without so much as a "sorry about the heads," or "I'll buy you some new ones."

So, unless we know you very well, the answer is "NO!"

[BURK]

I had a girl come up on the stage at Glenn's Place the last time we played there and grabbed my sticks and said "Can I play the drums now?" ?

That happened to me once...

So...

I asked her what was in it for me???

She said whatever I wanted!!!

Our drummer was pissed off at me for weeks


-BURK (Guitar Player)

www.myspace.com/burk1

[Killjingle]

sit in vocalists? I can live with

sit in musicians? I can live without

at least for our musical journey that we are on

[randydrummer]

I've regretted letting a few "drummers" sit in on my kit. But, Wednesday night, I asked Steve Holtz (Hello Vixen drummer) to play a song. He was awesome as usual. I got three great things out of this: 1. I got to hear my kit from the outside. 2. He buys me shots. 3. I got to shake my ass with the crazy girls on the dance floor for a change!!

Still, I knew he could play and that made it cool for him to sit in. But he was very cool and waited for the invitation. Now, if I can get him to attend the next CPPS meeting...

Onle last thing... I agree about the worry of someone bashing your stuff. But, Bill (Hawk) brought out a cool drum he built. He wanted me to "test drive" it. Talk about brave, heheheh... Nice drum, by the way, Bill!

[nightcrawler_steve]

Bill (Hawk) brought out a cool drum he built. He wanted me to "test drive" it. Talk about brave, heheheh... Nice drum, by the way, Bill!

Hmmph....been wondering about that drum for months now Oh well.

Topic:

If I know someone, sure....its fun. If I dont know someone, its a flat, but polite, no.

[BDR]

sit in vocalists? I can live with

sit in musicians? I can live without

Grrrr ... nevermind.

r:>)

[moxham123]

This is our job and people seem to think that since they go do karaoke that bands should let them get up and sing or play with a band even if they have never done it before. I have heard this line - "Can my friend sing with you guys. She sings karaoke and is really good." My answer is that we are not karaoke.

You don't go to somebody else's job that you have never done and ask to "sit in". Gee, do you think a surgeon would let me sit in on an operation just because I always wanted to do it?

Seriously, unless we are playing for a jam night where people are invited to sit in or if a musician we know shows up for a gig, we politely say no. It is a pleasure to invite our colleagues up to do a few tunes and they invite us to play with them as well. It is out of mutual respect and admiration. Letting total strangers come up usually ends in disaster and opens the door for everybody in the place to want to follow suit.

[bassist_25]

I hate it when people think that your microphone is communal property. This is one reason I prefer playing venues with a stage, as people are less likely to invade your space.

This happened to me a few weeks ago. I was playing a gig (where we're set up on the floor, so I don't have the segregation that a stage provides) and while going into a song, a drunken woman asks me if she can sing. The conversation goes something like:

Drunken Woman: Can I sing on this?

Me: I have to do vocals on this song.

DW: Can I sing?

Me (louder): I have backing vocals to do in this song

DW: Is it alright if I sing?

Me (loudest, because the most ideal time to have a conversation with me is in the middle of a song with a busy bass line, when I have 1600 watts hanging in my bass rack, my guitarist has 200 tube watts in his rack, there's almost a 1000 watts going through the PA, and the room is very live so my drummer's kick is thumping): I have to sing in this song!!!

DW then procedes to take my mic out of its stand and sing horribly out of key. We're running our on sound this night, so there's no engineer at the board to pull the fader down on my channel. After the song is over, I rush to the board to pull my channel out of the mix just encase she decides to do an encore.

[moxham123]

I hate it when people think that your microphone is communal property. This is one reason I prefer playing venues with a stage, as people are less likely to invade your space.

Our tongue-in-cheek thought to this is we call it invading our aura.

[Banned]

DW then procedes to take my mic out of its stand and sing horribly out of key. We're running our on sound this night, so there's no engineer at the board to pull the fader down on my channel. After the song is over, I rush to the board to pull my channel out of the mix just encase she decides to do an encore.

My old band used to play a place where this happened pretty frequently.
We started putting an extra straight mike stand on stage with a cheap assed $19.00 Nady mike on it. We had it brought up through the monitors but not the main mix. Mr./Mrs. Drunk person never knew the difference.
It didn't aleviate the "Pain In The Ass", but it did rescue the song.

[stratobastard27]

I'll concur that respected known musicians, sure, but leave the "rockstar wannabes" on the other side of the monitors. No matter how much they plead. Unless she's got REALLY big boobs.

On a side note, Jeff/Phil from Hairforce probably hates seeing me show up at a gig. I love those guys so much that I end up being a real pain in the ass, even though I don't mean to. 'Course, the 11 beers I just drank probably doesn't help.

[XlifeNexus]

I'm going to direct this at guitarists because there are a few varieties. Feel free to mix and match to achieve the desired results:

• The Tenderfoot- Tenderfoot is quite talented, but this kid is scared shitless because he got the guitar part down and completely forgot about the stage part.
  
  The Shredalhead- The shredalhead looks at you like he's going to eat your kids when you tell him the song is in C. He only knows eleven.
  
  The Grownup- The Grownup hasn't touched his instrument in awhile. As soon as he closes his eyes on stage, look the f#ck out! He's either going to sleep or he's reliving his glory days!
  
  The Hipster- Shows up just to jam because he has to in order to survive- there's no other way.
  
  The Hustler- The unassuming musical genius. Blows the place away.
  
  The Jerk- The jerk turns his back on the band while jamming, and goes into his own world. It IS pretty cool on The Jerk's planet and all, but it takes soooo long to get there...

Some people just don't know when to quit. If someone sits in, a general rule of thumb (after the fact that they don't suck is established), should be to take TURNS with the already-performing band. It’s been established and it’s simple to follow. Don't be THAT dude.

I love it when someone sitting in with a band becomes a part of that band as soon as they start jamming along with them. They'll wait their turn, and their "turn" is not ALL the time! THAT's magic, and magic is what music is about. In my opinion, it’s not about self-gratifying, acrobatic display of chops that makes the club owner nervous about 20 minutes into the collaborator's opus-like journey. That gets old very quickly.

That is, unless said "jammee" is absolutely amazing at what he/she does then let loose- pros know when to wrap it up!