Guitarist wanted for writing music (Crown Heights)
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Hello Craig,
Reaching out here (probably a bit prematurely) to start making music with people again. Had a loose band a ways back--we had written an album and played a few shows before COVID derailed things. Half of the members have since moved away and I spent the last couple years working on another friend's project. Other members are still around and looking to get back at it. I'm approaching things slowly though--first and foremost I need to find someone who can do some heavy lifting in a lead guitar/co-writer capacity. To give you a bit more lore about myself/the project:
-I'm early 30s
-Odd musical background, grew up playing woodwinds and piano, only recently getting into drums and guitar. Music technology education
-Love a wide range of genres, interested in writing full albums with the intent to record and eventually play shows
-I love bands with distinct part writing, being able to pick out the sound of each individual member
-original lineup was 2 guitarists, 1 bass, 1 keyboard/woodwinds/hand percussion, 2 drummers. Looking to match that eventually.
-band dynamics was a learning curve for me, figuring out how best to get my ideas across to others. But I did learn a lot about individual people's needs when writing the first album. I've since refined my processes, hoping things will be even smoother this time around.
-I'm trying to find a healthy balance between approaching people with complete ideas vs leaving ideas open ended and letting others fill in the gaps. I think a combination of the two is necessary to give the group a firm direction, while encouraging others to make the songs their own. I want this to be a collaborative process. My favorite moments in the first album came from writing as a group and jamming on ideas. That said, I need to make sure the material is fleshed out just enough for others to understand what I'm going for, while also leaving enough open to exploration. Also, if you have song ideas that fit the album's concept, bring them to the table and we will include them.
-I'm in a sticky situation where I write a lot of guitar music, but don't really play well enough to showcase my ideas. I'm looking for someone patient who wants to interpret the ideas I've already got, spice it up with their own ideas, and help me plan the second album before filling out the rest of the group.
-I've currently got the songs in various stages of completion and in various formats. Some is notated as sheet music/tab. Some are polished demos. Some are shitty ideas recorded in one evening. Tell me how you want to work and I'll try to prepare material accordingly.
The hope is that we find a common language, flesh out the ideas together in whatever format works for you, we leave enough open ended for other members to contribute, and then summon the others.
I'm looking for someone with an open mind. I'm not saying all my ideas are belters, but I try to keep the mindset that there's always a salvageable idea or element in there. We'll extract those good ideas and expand on them
As for sound, I like setting constraints per album--writing for specific instrumentation and with common themes throughout. First album had a sort of eastern krautrock flare (6 and 12 string electric guitars, vocals, bass, flute, organ/synths, hand percussion, two drum kits).
Second album is going to be 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars, electric guitar, bass, vocals, flute, clarinet, maybe sax, one or two drum kit, Latin hand percussion kit, harmonium. Sound is doing to be more folky--think space pirate shanty music.
Anyways, if you bothered reading this much, you likely already meet the "patience" requirement. Please respond to this with a bit of background info about yourself, maybe a link to some of your playing, and I can respond with some demos of my own and go from there.
FYI--I've got some gear and a basement, so I'm selfishly looking to do a lot of the writing at my place in Crown Heights. I have a cat and dog if allergies are an issue.
I like to pay people a bit when we actually record final product, but this is mostly a "looking for friends" post.