Questions about forming a new band

[Vito Corleone]

Sorry I sent a bad link. This link does work. Here is a open mic might performance of two guitar players and singer playing "Taking Care of Business" We did it without a drummer and a bass player . Be kind . What do you think of this performance?

 

Well.....

 

.....I would suggest that first and foremost the guitarists need to work on playing "rhythm" a bit more. The guy in the middle, especially, is just doing a 'down/up' strum thing. TCOB is defined by the very chunky groove of the guitar part. Almost all down strokes. With a bit of 'palm-muting' of to give the part a bit more groove. The guy on the left seems to be a BIT closer to understanding how to do it.

 

Listen to the recording and hear how sharp and 'chunky' the rhythm sounds and then compare that to the almost open-strumming style that you guys are playing it. See if you can hear the differences and see if you can make what you do sound a bit more like the recording.

 

Playing your bar chord rhythms in that manner is central to pretty much every 70s classic rock tune you guys are thinking about doing. It's the difference between making the songs 'rock' or not.

 

As far as the rest of the performance? Yeah...looking down at your guitar necks and reading the lyrics isn't going to excite anyone much, but at least you guys are getting up on stage and out in front of people a bit. But nobody looks like they are having much fun up there.

[thatsbunk]

It's a little raw, but would definitely sound better with a drummer & bass player to "fatten" it up a bit. Backing vocals in the chorus & would help too...

 

chord 123, after reading a lot of your earlier posts, my advice to you would be to play to have fun, & don't be so concerned about making this a money making proposition... Play with as many people as you can instead of "auditioning" people for your band... AND HAVE FUN! You're taking the right first step with playing open mic's... Hook up with other musicians there if you can & by all means keep playing in public- even for no $... if it's meant to be it's meant to be.

 

FWIW- I'm probably about the same age as you (mid 50's). I did make a little money playing in my early 20's but got discouraged at the bar scene & gave music up for 20 years or so. I got back into playing in my mid 40's with a different attitude... Enjoy it instead of looking at it as a business. 2 of the guys I play with regularly work on Wall street, one is an attorney & I own my own business, so money is not a motivator. I think we as a band have made about 1K playing out YTD. But when we first got together we made nothing, played a lot of open mic's, parties & whatnot.

 

Do it because you like to do it and everything else will follow.

[ski219]

I was thinking along the lines of thatsbunk above. I know people who play just for themselves and gig maybe once a year at a backyard party. These guys are all really good players and a few of them play in gigging band while others used to . They like playing and they don't like gigging.

I auditioned for a band that only gigged ever 6 months or so. They were good but I like to play out so we were not a fit.

 

The open mic song was OK. But it was obvious that none of you were comfortable in front of an audience. If you want to gig, maybe you guys should have a party and invite friends to play for just to help get you comfortable. And with 1 song to learn the singer should really ditch the lyric sheet.

[chord123]

We have found a drummer who we like. He lives about an hour away from where we practice. He has no problem coming up once a week. The drummer was filling in for other peoples bands drummers.before we met him last Wednesday night at a jam. First time we met him. We asked him to come back and jam with us tomorrow night Tuesday. Why ? Mostlly because we have a bass player who wants to jam with us. This bass player is currently in a 80's hair band play they play AC DC so forth. The bass player is also in original band. His hair band plays out once a month. He said he was looking for a more aggressive gigging schedule. I we think we should look at how well the drummer and bass player mesh together. Any questions we need to ask him to interview him.

 

In two weeks we have one other drummer to look at. This drummer is a singing drummer with his own vocal mike and ear monitors. He is in a 80's metal band that has 2000 facebook likes. His band is down for months. they lost the guitar player. The music is quite technical and will require months to train somebody to play that music. But he is still in the band they just will not be rehearsing for several months. So he got more skills apparently more than the OP. My fb friend was in a band with this singing drummer for 6 months and rehearsed in the basement of a house . They rehearsed 4 sets of music and tthe singing drummer told my fb friend band"We are ready to gig in October" Then the singing drummer left this band high and dry and went back to his main focus his more successful 80's metal band. My facebook friend wrote on his f b page "Never get involved with a bandmember who is in two bands at one time chances are you get screwed" I think he has done it before and he is pretty good at it"

 

So I like the fact that he is professional drummer and good singer .He probably is better drummer than this OP. I am afraid if he gets hooked with my band and his main focus is his 80's hair metal band. when this band starts up again in 5 months. He will make them his main focus and may want to leave our band. If this happens we would have wasted 5 months and have to start the search again for a drummer. I know some of these situations are hypothetical but this singing drummer has a history of screwing at least one band over. I will say to him when I meet him the qualities I look for are loyality and being in my band for the long run. I will ask him if his 80's hair metal band gets up and running in four months Will you still play drums in our band?

 

What do you think ? Anybody been in a band where the members are not loyal to each other?

[Vito Corleone]

We have found a drummer who we like. He lives about an hour away from where we practice. He has no problem coming up once a week. The drummer was filling in for other peoples bands drummers.before we met him last Wednesday night at a jam. First time we met him. We asked him to come back and jam with us tomorrow night Tuesday. Why ? Mostlly because we have a bass player who wants to jam with us. This bass player is currently in a 80's hair band play they play AC DC so forth. The bass player is also in original band. His hair band plays out once a month. He said he was looking for a more aggressive gigging schedule. I we think we should look at how well the drummer and bass player mesh together. Any questions we need to ask him to interview him.

 

In two weeks we have one other drummer to look at. This drummer is a singing drummer with his own vocal mike and ear monitors. He is in a 80's metal band that has 2000 facebook likes. His band is down for months. they lost the guitar player. The music is quite technical and will require months to train somebody to play that music. But he is still in the band they just will not be rehearsing for several months. So he got more skills apparently more than the OP. My fb friend was in a band with this singing drummer for 6 months and rehearsed in the basement of a house . They rehearsed 4 sets of music and tthe singing drummer told my fb friend band"We are ready to gig in October" Then the singing drummer left this band high and dry and went back to his main focus his more successful 80's metal band. My facebook friend wrote on his f b page "Never get involved with a bandmember who is in two bands at one time chances are you get screwed" I think he has done it before and he is pretty good at it"

 

So I like the fact that he is professional drummer and good singer .He probably is better drummer than this OP. I am afraid if he gets hooked with my band and his main focus is his 80's hair metal band. when this band starts up again in 5 months. He will make them his main focus and may want to leave our band. If this happens we would have wasted 5 months and have to start the search again for a drummer. I know some of these situations are hypothetical but this singing drummer has a history of screwing at least one band over. I will say to him when I meet him the qualities I look for are loyality and being in my band for the long run. I will ask him if his 80's hair metal band gets up and running in four months Will you still play drums in our band?

 

What do you think ? Anybody been in a band where the members are not loyal to each other?

 

Don't get so far ahead of yourself. Have them over for an audition/jam. See how it feels and how you all like each other. Remember that these guys are auditioning YOU as well. You don't get to call all the shots simply because three of you call yourselves "the band". You're not a band yet. You don't have any gigs. You're just three guys who hooked up hoping to put a band together. So, really, you don't have anything more to offer the drummers than they do you----simply the promise and hope that things will mesh and you can all take it a step further.

 

Asking for things like "loyalty"? Loyalty to what? Such things are earned as time goes on. You'll get loyalty out of people due to a common desire to make music together. (It's not like you're offering anyone a contract with a guaranteed salary, is it?)

 

Maybe it will work out with one of these guys and maybe it won't, but if someone leaves in a few months don't look at it as "wasted time". Look at it as what you will have learned---good, bad or otherwise---from the time together. Better, in my view, for you guys to be jamming with a drummer for the next 5 months that leaves you, then to not be playing with one while you wait for someone more 'loyal'.

 

By all means, get to know these people and their personal and musical situations and get a feel for how interested they really are or not. But asking for commitments right off the bat? Honestly---if anyone tells you "sure! I'll still play drums in your band in 4 months even if my other band gets up and running again" will be lying to you. Not because they definately won't play with your band 4 months from now, but because they really have no way of knowing. You don't even know if you'll have a bass player by then, let alone any gigs. How COULD anyone commit or predict the future?

 

 

[wesg]

What do you think ? Anybody been in a band where the members are not loyal to each other?

 

Sure. Most of the time, I am loyal to the guy handing out the paycheques. It's a band, not a marriage.

 

Find some people. Play with them. If they quit, replace them. Your NUMBER ONE goal should be getting experience under your belt, if you are serious about playing out.

 

The hardest thing to do is to get started. Once you have gotten the band working, you will have no problems finding players - BETTER players - if you want them. If my drummer or bass player quit today, I could still play my next gig (Jan 8). The show wouldn't be as good, but it would go on. This is because we are established enough for the local hired guns to do be willing to play with us -- and because I am constantly networking with other musicians. The lead guitar player would be much harder to replace, as we're not a jam band - there are a lot of guitar solos and tricky arrangements in our set listl. The singer is the face of the band, that would be the most difficult.

 

Wes

[RoadRanger]

IME anybody travelling over 30 minutes each way is gonna be open to something closer - it gets old fairly quickly unless good gig $$$ is rolling in. OTOH my two best projects are both 35 minutes away, one due north and one due south - mostly highway though. I'm perhaps an overly "loyal" guy, been screwed over for that more than once . I have no problem with anyone moving on from one of my projects to a better gig - I'm glad I had some part in helping them "get better" .

[Vito Corleone]

Re: loyalty.

 

The truth is that with most things in life---jobs, personal relationships, where you live---people are generally only "loyal" to the degree what they are doing is the best available thing for them to do. Something better comes along and you're usually outta there.

 

Same with bands. Few people are going to hang around and be "loyal" to a particular band if a better offer comes along. Perhaps if you've built up personal friendships with some of the band members, but otherwise? You play with the band who offers you the most enjoyment/rewards. That's just how life works.

 

You can't demand "loyalty" from anyone.