Pretty much my same experience. I did play in a four-horn R&B band once that had an ex-full-time musician who did our horn arrangements, so it was easy when I first stated playing with them, but it was more like a hobby for him. OF course, with multiple horns you need to know their arrangement. But other than that band, nada. I agree that with most blues, R&B, funk, soul bands I've played or sat in with, you kind of get to know what to play even if you don't know the tune.Blues, R&B, and the occasional pick-up gig for me in a variety of genres - rarely do I get music. If I'm lucky I get links to past performances or rehearsal files. The blues cats that can play usually expect you to show up and know the language.
Ask for more info - don't be upset if you don't get it. Many bands encourage you to add your own interpretation to the music. I dig that. Learning note for note is a very good starting point, but I wouldn't really want to play it that way if I can get away with putting my own spin on it. In the end it depends on the music and the band leader.
You might be replacing a guy who's playing the band didn't like.
I've quit bands like this scenario. If it's original material and they don't have written arrangements, obviously rehearsal takes FOREVER, and the horn line for a single horn player in the group becomes a process by committee, with input from people who I don't generally consider qualified to judge. Besides, I don't really like playing the same old simple stuff over and over. Plus, I like to write myself, and if the band can't read, it either doesn't get played or rehearsal takes FOREVER. If it's covers of material, I still don't want to play the recorded lines, because it's boring, and because I don't get to bring anything new. Stuff like that is for players who feel they're part of the venue staff, I never feel that way.
No offense intended, really. If I were still young and needed the gig, I'd probably just suck it up -- but I wouldn't really like it.
Yeah, life is too short to play a bunch of lousy 'original songs' that aren't remotely linked to the genre you enjoy playing. If otoh, it is music that speaks to you and you enjoy, that's a different matter. For me, it better be at least 70% blues in a variety of blues styles (including 'jazz blues'), with the other 30% being funky jazz or old school R&B. That's just my preference; everyone has to go with whatever they like.Well it turned out like I thought it would. Learn lots of bad original songs and 4 hour rehearsal and they never used me on the gig. A year later they broke up. It’s not a matter of what to play it’s just a matter of effective use of time.
I had a good experience with such a group for a time. It was an original ska band and the guitarist/singer wrote the tunes. When I joined them, it was just me with bass, drums and that one guitarist. There were absolutely no written parts for anything and I was given free range to add mine. So what we'd do is get together for practice. The guitarist would play his new tune one time through. Then we'd join him the second go round, and then record the third or fourth time through, keeping it as a sort of record to remember the arrangement and use it as a template for gigs. The last line of my signature (that I don't always include in my posts) has some of those rehearsal recordings, and some turned out rather well even though we were mostly just feeling the songs out. Almost coherent even: https://soundcloud.com/akagrumps/sets/dream-grenades.Yeah, life is too short to play a bunch of lousy 'original songs' that aren't remotely linked to the genre you enjoy playing. If otoh, it is music that speaks to you and you enjoy, that's a different matter.
Yeah, that can certainly work out well, again assuming you're into the style of the music. And I definitely like a certain amount of variety. But, as I said, I need a healthy dose of the blues...I had a good experience with such a group for a time. It was an original ska band and the guitarist/singer wrote the tunes. When I joined them, it was just me with bass, drums and that one guitarist. There were absolutely no written parts for anything and I was given free range to add mine. So what we'd do is get together for practice. The guitarist would play his new tune one time through. Then we'd join him the second go round, and then record the third or fourth time through, keeping it as a sort of record to remember the arrangement and use it as a template for gigs..