I guess I've been with the Mad Laugh for almost a month now. Not quite, but almost. And up till now my enthusiasm about being a part of the band has been adrenaline-fueled and constant. My excitement over playing with these guys has been the impetus for the time, energy, effort and money that I've invested in the band. My respect for the songs themselves has made it easy to learn their material, and I've been under the impression that I was free to "make them my own", insomuch as mixing my playing style into the overall sound of the band.

So I was somewhat taken aback at rehearsal yesterday when our vocalist suggested I was "playing too many notes" in one of the songs. Apparently the groove I was feeling in the song and laying down was too "bouncy" for his tastes (and the drummer took his position as well, despite the fact that I generally take my cues from the drum line and thought I was locking in pretty solid with him).

Okay...I can take constructive criticism, and it's not as if I had a hand in writing the song. If the groove I was laying down doesn't appeal to the person who wrote the song, then who am I to suggest that perhaps the song NEEDED a more interesting groove? I mean, I have always made a point to check myself for "overplaying", which I admit is a serious problem for most bassists. And I don't think I was overplaying in this instance, the guy just didn't like the feel of the song the way I was walking the bass lines in the final section.

And hey, that's okay. 100% agree that it's his right to have the song played stylistically as close to the way he hears it in his head as possible. So the whole "too many notes" comment would probably have been processed and acted upon without any hard feelings (after all, Mozart's critics had the same problem with his music...ha ha...).

But he couldn't leave it at that.

Next thing I know he's telling me that he insists that I play the song EXACTLY like the bass player I'm replacing played it.

That's where he pissed me off.

First of all, let it be known that the reason their original bass player quit the band was because he could not get along with the vocalist, so it's somewhat ironic that our singer is instructing me to mimic him. Part of me thinks, "well if you were so fond of his specific bass playing technique perhaps you should have gone that extra mile to nurture the relationship you had with him so he might have remained in the band".

But that's not the issue. That's not what bothers me. The thing that irks me is that I thought it was understood when I joined this group that my playing style would add a new dimension to the material. I, for one, was looking forward to seeing just how people would react to the new dynamic, and from all I'd heard from those who have commented, it seemed as if they liked it.

Now I'm being instructed to play songs exactly the way the previous bass player played them, and I gotta admit that it rubs me very wrong. This particular song is not one that they have given me a recording of, and it's not as if I have had any kind of opportunity to really listen to what the previous bass player was doing with it... Maybe that's what irks me so much, not so much that he expects me to co-opt another player's style but that he demands that I play exactly like the last guy even though I don't really have the template for what he did with it in my head. I was just doing with the song what my own sensibilities and taste would have done with it had it been brand new to me.

Yeah, that may be the main reason it gets under my skin like it does, but I gotta say, I find it insulting to be told to play like someone else. I'd rather be told that my style isn't right for the band and be asked to leave than to be expected to conform to another musician's form. That's just insulting, as far as I'm concerned.

So we'll just have to see where this all leads.