him, or even if they paid a lot of attention
to him. If the guy wanted to, he could whip
out odd time signatures, super-fast rolls,
intentionally off-kilter fills, and pretty much
any rock song you’d hear would be no
challenge for him. However, he didn’t really
care if you knew that.
Right away, when playing with Todd, one
thing became very clear. I was way too
loud. Todd didn’t seem concerned, almost
as if he knew I’d get the message simply by
how awkwardly loud my guitar was in the
context of our rehearsal room.
44
TONE TALK //
Almost every band I had played in before
all had one thing in common: VOLUME
WARS. The drummer would bash out a
beat, the guitarist would start playing and
feel like his guitar wasn’t loud enough to
be heard over the drummer. He’d turn up.
The bass player would immediately turn
up because now he couldn’t hear anything,
then I’d turn my guitar up because I
was positive that no one could hear me.
Eventually, as you’d expect, things would
turn to mush, tinnitus would set in, and
by the end of the night, all nuance and
Does Your Band Sound Terrible? This is Probably Why...