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Ranmaru Mori

#1 March 23, 2009, 11:39:42 am

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Recently, myself and a few friends from college decided to start a band, nothing too serious, just a bit of fun.
However, none of us have been in a band before and we're a little lost in terms of what to do and when.

All of us can play at least one instrument to some extent and/or sing, so that's not the issue here, what is the issue is organization
and making sure we all have a great time.

Does anyone have any tips or advice to offer? They would be greatly appreciated. Also, sharing stories of your
own band's experiences and troubles faced along the way would be cool too.

http://www.indiegamingportal.net

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Eike

#2 March 23, 2009, 11:48:51 am

THE MANO F THE HOUR
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Remember to get together and play music occasionally.

This is where all my bands have fallen down.

Actually if it's 'nothing too serious', that's pretty much all you need! Just choose a couple of songs at first, maybe, and all go off and learn your bits in your own time, so you're actually alright at them by the time you meet up again.

Notes on the Second Mellynd War - A game what I made.

Sturdy-Looking Gramophone - The Notes on the Second Mellynd War devlog.

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FrostyPink

#3 March 23, 2009, 12:00:31 pm

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Do you have any intents of recording with these guys? Or is this literally just jamming about?

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Marge

#4 March 23, 2009, 02:32:35 pm

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At least around here a lot of bands have trouble finding a place to jam at. If that's covered, and you've got enough amps, you're half way there. Just try to keep playing frequently. It doesn't have to be often, but playing is something you need a routine for. After a month of not touching your instruments everybody's just going to be "umm, where we're we? I can't seem to remember the chords anymore."

Listen to your bandmates. That's surprisingly easy to forget when you're concentrating on your own part. For this reason, pick something very simple and easy for the first few songs.

Some band's are just learning cover song after cover song and can't improvise anything. My bands have been pretty much the opposite. We've had 6 hour practice sessions during which we play about two and a half songs. Half of the time we just chat, the other half we fool around making up ridiculous riffs and space rock epics. I can't decide which has been better, those prognoisejazz impros or the 48th time playing the same song and getting everything just right. The fact is, most of the time playing with a band is pretty damn fun.

Listen to your bandmates. Just checking you're getting this.

What kind of music are you going to be playing?

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bonzi_buddy

#5 March 23, 2009, 06:42:55 pm

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Yeah, what Marge said entirely. Being in a band is suprisingly lot about socializing so don't be too rigorous when it comes to playing in jam sessions. listen to other band members, don't be tyrannical or force your views over other's etc. you are a team!

what comes to sharing stories... heres one story: i was the singer, Marge was the drummer and _Guana was the guitarist. ways of the force are mysterious, ne?

Last Edit: March 23, 2009, 06:45:50 pm by bonzi_buddy

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Marge

#6 March 24, 2009, 01:55:28 pm

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First one to guess the bassist gets a

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Silver

#7 March 24, 2009, 03:12:26 pm

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A very good way to start out is compile a list of each members favourite songs, then randomly select a few and each learn your part.
Doing covers is a good way to see how each person plays their instrument and should bring you all a bit musically closer... Also from the covers you should be able to define the sort of sound you are going for.
Once you all feel comfortable together start writing songs... In generic bands its often the Guitarist of Bassist that will write the base tunes and so on!
Good luck to you, Music is much more fun when you play it with other people!

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Angroth

#8 April 28, 2009, 03:50:27 pm

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Quote from: Silver on March 24, 2009, 03:12:26 pm

A very good way to start out is compile a list of each members favourite songs, then randomly select a few and each learn your part.
Doing covers is a good way to see how each person plays their instrument and should bring you all a bit musically closer... Also from the covers you should be able to define the sort of sound you are going for.

I agree with this! In my first band we never played covers, just made our own material. I've always been a big advocate of that. But having watched many other people's bands, I highly value how covering some songs (particularly in early days) can aid everything. Bringing you together and your communication. Also notching everyone's skill levels up (if they are new to the instrument). Then when you're comfortable and know the kinds of music and direction you can all appreciate and enjoy together, you can start trading ideas of riffs and so forth, creating your own cool songs.

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Acid

#9 May 02, 2009, 05:27:03 am

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Don't let it become a chore. Covers are a good start, but don't fall into relying on them for your set list (if you intend to play gigs); Silver's suggestions gets each to determine their preferred style, which usually ends up having original songs a nice (or not so nice) mix of each and in turn, hopefully, create that unique sound you'd want to have.

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dark_crystalis

#10 May 02, 2009, 04:23:26 pm

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As everyone said, communication is key. However, unlike them, if you want to eventually have a more serious band, making space for socializing is important. When it's practice time it's practice time. Trust me, 5-10 minutes of talking between songs can get really fucking annoying and can be highly detrimental to your practice routine.
Besides that, start learning a few easy songs to see how everyone can play but also to try and have some chemistry going between you. If you want to be good at all, you'll need to click together.
Thirdly.... never sell out hahaha

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blood hell

#11 May 02, 2009, 05:01:11 pm

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just smoke some weed and jam on some covers to get started, get comfortable with eachother and then start jamming on your own songs and stuff. Just be cool and have a good time, dont get in anyones face too much if you dont like their playing

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Ryan

#12 May 02, 2009, 05:03:06 pm

thx ds k?
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Quote from: sweet head on May 02, 2009, 05:01:11 pm

just smoke some weed and jam on some covers to get started, get comfortable with eachother and then start jamming on your own songs and stuff. Just be cool and have a good time, dont get in anyones face too much if you dont like their playing

this. i'd learn and practice a few covers so you get comfortable playing with each other and know each others quirks before even attempting to do originals. bands who jump right in to writing their own stuff from the get-go typically fail imo

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dark_crystalis

#13 May 02, 2009, 05:51:15 pm

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Quote from: sweet head on May 02, 2009, 05:01:11 pm

just smoke some weed and jam on some covers to get started, get comfortable with eachother and then start jamming on your own songs and stuff. Just be cool and have a good time, dont get in anyones face too much if you dont like their playing

The smoking part is not recommended. Most people that start to smoke weed before playing music become extremely bad when it comes to timing etc. A band's whose tempo fluctuates constantly is probably a very bad band unless they can put that into their concept/style which I highly doubt. Smoke together after the practice if you want to smoke. And by the way, a drummer that's high is a TERRIBLE drummer in general.

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Ryan

#14 May 02, 2009, 05:54:02 pm

thx ds k?
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not really

in fact none of that is true at all!

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blood hell

#15 May 02, 2009, 06:43:22 pm

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Quote from: dark_crystalis on May 02, 2009, 05:51:15 pm

The smoking part is not recommended. Most people that start to smoke weed before playing music become extremely bad when it comes to timing etc. A band's whose tempo fluctuates constantly is probably a very bad band unless they can put that into their concept/style which I highly doubt. Smoke together after the practice if you want to smoke. And by the way, a drummer that's high is a TERRIBLE drummer in general.

yeah i guess omit the weed part if you dont smoke but I have never had trouble staying in time or anything. I'm not a huge phish fan but they are all great musicians and they used to always get high before playing. Like dont over due it but smoking a bowl wont make you sound terrible if you're a capable musician, especially if it's just for fun and jamming etc..

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hero_bash

#16 May 03, 2009, 03:02:22 am

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What' the band name?

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Shepperd

#17 May 03, 2009, 03:24:45 am

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with GaZZwa we didn't do covers.

mostly because I refuse to do covers. I don't like covers.

With G we just grab an instrument and start jamming from nowhere and in some point we would hook a riff. Then we just develop the idea.

Covers are phony.

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Artis Leon Ivey Jr

#18 May 03, 2009, 03:32:18 am

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im more than a little curious how many of you even are in bands that lasted longer than a week because the ones i know who could keep it up and probably did (ryan, shep) are definitely giving the right advice where as some of you are like HEH SCHEDULE TIMES and i wonder if you have any idea what you're talking about.

i have not been in a band but i've forgotten more local bands than most people here will meet thanks to my roommate and i will tell you the ones that succeeded were the ones that definitely focused on having a good time together and then discovered they made good music together as a result, not this kind of weird structure people are trying to push here like it's a business.

brian chemicals

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Artis Leon Ivey Jr

#19 May 03, 2009, 03:37:48 am

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then again the bulk of the advice is also MAKE SURE YOU PLAY YOUR INSTRUMENTS which leads me to believe your definition of band is actually looser than mine!

brian chemicals

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Ryan

#20 May 03, 2009, 03:38:12 am

thx ds k?
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Quote from: DJ Soup on May 03, 2009, 03:24:45 am

with GaZZwa we didn't do covers.

mostly because I refuse to do covers. I don't like covers.

With G we just grab an instrument and start jamming from nowhere and in some point we would hook a riff. Then we just develop the idea.

Covers are phony.

please shut up

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