Band member, to the songwriter: “Hey, why don’t you play ‘X’ on the bridge instead of ‘Y.’”
Is this preference, or a note?
“Notes” are to make the song better. “Preferences” are suggestions that make it more enjoyable to you, personally. There’s a difference.
I always want notes (kindly offered), but I don’t just ask anybody for them. I ask trusted friends/bandmates. I try to make sure my parts (preferences) are cool with the artist if I’m in a supporting role, and if I’m asking a bandmate to play something specific, I’ll ask if it offends their sensibility. Usually something can be figured out that serves the same purpose.
Anyway…notes/preferences. Who says which is which? That’s for you to figure out and negotiate with your collaborators, and for you to establish inside YOURSELF as it develops with experience.
Every contributor needs to find out what their own sensibility is, and establish for themselves if they can grow in a given project. If there are artistic dealbreakers, but you like “the hang,” you might ruin the hang when the music doesn’t get you there. Dig the tunes, but not the hang? Danger.
Speak up. Take the risk and find a way to be kind and direct. Being an artist means risking. Vulnerability. The more a group can tolerate trust-building, the better the music will be.
Often, people stay in musical relationships rather than “try the dating scene,” or conversely, accept that things are the way they are and skip the relational work.
Don’t. We need to see trust on display everywhere we can. It’s hard, but we need you being you!
Follow that feeling in your gut about preferences/notes. There’s a balance between generosity with others and denying the artistic Self that needs to be developed.
Timely post. Still working on organizing my first recording session for my next album, and rehearsals. On my first album I gave little to no direction to musicians coming in to play parts. This being my fourth I'm at a different place. I'm trying a little "trick" on my rhythm section. I'm going to record a cover song that's both super simple, but also has grand/ elaborate parts as well. Hoping to see how they react to that. I know this isn't quite what your talking about in your post but any thoughts on this approach?