Having played with quite a few musicians to date, I find that playing regularly in a band can give you insights into how your fellow band members think in real life. Bands that play good music tend to have people who think in synch with each other. Now this does not mean that they all think alike, as much like music, there is always room for discussion. It means there is healthy respect for each other to begin with and like a good conversation, you see past any petty differences to look at the overall shape, colour and content of things.
I think there is a distinct generation gap and of all the various types, i find Gen Z the most self-conceited me-first people, so playing in a band with them presents its challenges. An insight into this can be found by asking the question: "So whose responsibility is it to keep time in a band?"
Their answers tend to gravitate along the not-me line of answer and i'm pretty sure the usual answer would be "the drummer", which is flawed, because it is in fact everyone's responsibility (not my words but that of bassist extrodinaire Victor Wooten), and everyone brings a bit to the song in various ways, not just the tradition beats, bass, rhythm and melody. I had a chance to listen to one of the songs one of my bands once, the same band where we are pretty good friends (even travelling overseas together), and hearing us play, i can hear/feel us taking turns to share the limelight. The changes in melody (and sometimes rhythm) can be heard being played by various instruments throughout the song.
Another example is when a guitarist of this generation asked me: "Can you teach me to play the keyboards/piano? I can know the chords" and while i watched, he showed me what he knew. So by noticing that he only played chords in the root position, i suggested that he practice arpeggios. He asked how many chords and how many octaves? When i replied that all of the chords and about 3-4 octaves should be sufficient, he made a face and looked like he wasn't going to carry on with his quest to learn keyboards. He persisted that I could just "teach him what he needs to play, just the basics, pointers really" but i told him it is not possible. He should learn that just like knowing all the notes and chords on the guitar's fretboard (doubt he knows), this also applies to keyboards. Which is the main reason why i haven't learned guitar because as much as i enjoy music, i know i cannot devote the time required to learning the guitar properly and i respect all my fellow guitar friends too much to want to embarrass them with bad guitar playing. There is no instant solution or "pointers only" quick fix, learning a music instrument takes commitment, time and hard work.
No real purpose to this post, aside from ranting about the younger generation and their attitude towards music.
ps as an epilogue to my post, at mass i saw a score with the words "slightly slower than 4/4 rock" scribbled on by someone and I started chuckling immediately. While it may mean something to the person, the only thing it tells me is that the person is seriously confused, mixing up the style of the beat with the tempo. Afterall, there is such a thing as slow rock, and rock 'n roll, which are two different versions of rock with vastly different tempo. And how slightly slow are we talking about anyways? LOL
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