Hey Piano Guy! If You Want to...

I've played with that guy.
Didn't enjoy it.
We were newly acquainted and tossed into a band to play at a conference. I asked him to find a way to give me some room because I was bringing 6 strings to his 88 key artillery battery.
He nodded like he understood and continued the shelling.

When dweeedly dweeedly becomes tinkly, tinkly.

 

Step on that guy.... You don't even have to play anything melodic - some chuggy riff or a dive bomb will do.

 

Our current church band consists of
Drummer and Keyboard Player.
They both fill in all the gaps.
Even the ones you didn't know existed!

He uses the church's Yamaha rig
which gives him oodles of sound possibilities.
Including acoustic guitar!

What most piano players don't do well is
play like Wes Montgomery or Pat Metheny.

The key is to allow yourself to be heard.
Don't ask for permission to squeeze yourself
in a mix, but to be up front with the working chart
and command room on certain parts of a song
or equal volume levels with the keys person.

They don't know how to handle assertiveness
without being looked at as immature in their
inability to bend and sometimes take a backseat
to seasoned musicians.

Being humble doesn't mean being stepped on.
I know this might go against all that fake
church humility but we as musicians are trying to get
a job done, this like the audio crew and graphics
are trying to get the task at hand done.
Don't let a twinkly get in the way. Maybe that's
the way they learned and you have to dictate
to them when it's appropriate and when it's your turn.

Those two guitarists I mentioned played with some
fantastic musicians, piano players etc. Everyone
in those groups knew their place. Thanks.

Listen to Pat Metheny venture into keyboard territory:

 

Great post, @studio.
Being assertive is not necessarily mutually exclusive with humility, empathy and a smile help.

 

Maybe the rest of your group could pool your money and buy the piano player a late Christmas present?



Passive aggressive, yes, but effective.

 

At my church, “that guy” is the pastors wife; who doubles as the head of the music committee.

 

So...?

 

Oh boy

 

No win situation ahead - oh, you knew that already . . .

 

Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.......

 

So, the arm sling goes around the back.

 

"you can use ONLY 1 FINGER. When you've proven that you're responsible with that --- then you can use 2. But only on the right hand - so don't get excited. Don't be offended: we told the Bass Player the same thing...

...and the drummer can only use his left foot till christmas."

 

Every so often, I have to remind our music leader/pianist that she needs to leave space for the rest of us. I usually make that communication privately, unless she asks during practice.

 

Shout it from the rooftops!

 

I love it!

I have to admit that a few years ago I played at a church that had a talented classically trained pianist. She filled every gap, and played over top of the bass player, the acoustic guitar, and the electric. All the time. One weekend we were doing a song that had numerous prominent electric guitar leads and rhythm hooks, and a very high gain solo. There was no recognizable piano in the recorded version of the song. We were practicing and the piano player was playing over top of all the important rhythm parts that were supposed to be carried by the electric. When we got to the high gain solo, I just chunked along with a palm muted rhythm. The leader stopped us and asked if I could play the lead. I told him sure, I could play the lead but since the piano was playing all the guitar parts I just assumed that that the piano player would play the lead. She turned beet red, when I turned and asked her if she was going to play the lead or if she was going to sit out and let another instrument actually play its part. To her credit, she came up later and apologized. After that she asked me frequently whether she was playing too much. She still did, but it got better.

 

Obviously your problem is somewhat larger than mine....