TWLL #51: Overplaying & Helping Your Band Play Simple

read time: 5 minutes 

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Let’s say you’ve got a solid band, where most musicians have a decent amount of skill and experience (yes, I know some of you are saying "if only it were true!"

But for some reason when everyone plays together, you get this big, slightly disorganized sound that sometimes feels a bit chaotic.

What’s going on?  It really could be multiple factors- but a prime suspect would be that your musicians are overplaying.

Today I want to unpack what overplaying looks like, and how you can steer your band towards simplicity and listening well to each other.

Unpacking Overplaying

Overplaying could be defined multiple ways.  To me, overplaying is when a musician is doing a bit too much given the overall musical context.

For example, a bassist throwing in several extra notes and movement, when the chords of the song aren’t changing that much.

Or a drummer doing lots of drum fills and extra crash cymbal hits when you’re only in the first chorus of the song.

Or an electric guitarist who seems to keep moving up and down the fretboard without locking into a chordal rhythmic pattern or melody pattern for more than a few seconds.

All of these could be considered examples of overplaying.  And if you're reading this and nodding your head like "yes this is our team!" keep reading.

Understanding Why

Before we get into what to do about overplaying, and how to steer your musicians in the right direction, I think it's helpful to understand some of the possibilities of why the overplaying might be happening.

This will allow you to give your band some direction in an honoring and understanding way.

One reason a musician might overplay is simply because they're excited.  They don't get to play their instrument as much as they'd like, and here's their chance!  Totally understandable.

Another reason might be that a musician is mostly listening to what they're playing and not what the rest of the team is playing.  And when you're mostly listening to your part, it may start to feel a bit dull or boring- so you start to spice it up by adding extra musical flourishes.  Again, totally understandable.

A last reason might be that they're mostly thinking about the music in general, and maybe not as much about the worship element.  If you're mostly thinking about the music, then the simple grooves and patterns of the song might get old and stale to you- so again, you start to spice things up a bit.

These examples should give us not just insight into why the overplaying might be happening, but also empathy for our musicians.  Instead of just getting frustrated that it's happening, we can try to get in their shoes and see it from their perspective- which is going to help us when it's time to give direction to help them simplify.

What To Do

If I'm leading a band that's overplaying a bit and I want to re-steer them towards simplicity, I'd probably start by taking a few minutes before or after a band practice and simply talk about it in a general way.  Not pointing any fingers- just putting the idea in front of them and talking about it.

I might start by talking about what overplaying looks like and about why we might overplay (using some of the examples and reasons already mentioned above).  Then I would pivot, and talk about what we as a band want to aim for instead.

Simplicity

The big idea that musicians need to understand when playing in a band context is simplicity.  So this is what I want to communicate to my musicians.  When multiple instruments play together in a live setting, it's all about simplicity.

Practically, this means locking into simple chord patterns, simple rhythm patterns, and simple melody patterns.  But not just any patterns- patterns that complement or blend with what the other instruments are playing.

For example, if there are two electric guitarists and I'm one of them, and the other guitarist is playing a lead/melody line, I'm going to not play a lead line myself because that's already happening.  Instead, I'm going to grab a chord-based rhythm pattern and lock in with that- because that will complement and support what the other guitarist is playing.

And this idea of locking into a simple pattern that complements or blends with what the other instruments are playing, brings up an important point to talk about with your band- the idea of listening.

As musicians playing in a multi-instrument setting, it's super important to listen to each other.  When a musician is listening well to the rest of the band, they're going to know what's already happening musically- and therefore what is musically needed in that moment from them.

When you talk with your band about locking into simple patterns, and listening and blending- you're not just telling them don't overplay, you're showing them what to do instead.

Conclusion

That's it for today!  Hopefully some helpful thoughts here today for understanding and addressing overplaying with your band.  One final thought I want to emphasize is something I mentioned earlier, but it's a big key- empathy.  

Really do your best to understand why your musicians might be overplaying, and validate the reasons why.  Doing this during a band conversation will help them feel understood, and gives you more room to help steer things towards simplicity.

It's not just about fixing a problem, it's about really connecting with, honoring, and encouraging the musicians you lead.

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