Members elsongs Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 Anyone here in a band with more than 5 members? Who are you? What genre? Instrumentation? How do you get everyone together?
Members ThumpThumpTwang Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 I was, it was a Southern Rock band, heavy Skynyrd influence. Singer/songwriter, 3 guitars, bass, drums. They added a keyboard player after I left in '93. I worked with the singer, he had an old horse barn that he converted, no wait, before that, we got together at one of the rhythm guitarist's home 2-3 times a week. edit: er, unedit. I can't count. Ask our drummer....
Members ThumpThumpTwang Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 BTW, checked out your site, nice energy. Sounds great.
Moderators MrKnobs Posted March 9, 2006 Moderators Posted March 9, 2006 Originally posted by elsongs Anyone here in a band with more than 5 members? Who are you? What genre? Instrumentation? How do you get everyone together? We are six, sometimes gusting to 10. Tonight we did a video shoot for South by Southwest, using the minimum six. Came out surprisingly good, I thought. Still like the horns and strings, though. Terry D.
Members elbow Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 6 for us. 3 guitars, bass, drummer, and backup/harmony singer. We play mostly rock and some country. It works out pretty well, but with the 3 guitars we have to be creative with arrangements at times so we aren't all chuggin the same thing all the time.
Members BlueStrat Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 I was in a band that had bass, drums, keyboard, guitar, a percussionist and 3 horn players. We generally made 50 or 60 bucks apiece a night . Big whoop. But the sound was sure big...
Members Outkaster Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 We are 7 people normally but a five piece as of late. We are auditioning some people. Our breakdown is as follows;Two girl singers. Guitar, bass, two keyboard players and drums. We like the band large because we have more options, can demand more, and the sound is so much better. It looks better on stage. 3 and 4 piece bands get to be really boring on stage and can sound really empty. I have done it both ways but it depends on the music you are playing.
Members JacieFB Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 We played with a touring band last night that has 6 members called Coke Dick Motorcycle Awesome. Their sound was huge. 3 guitars, bass, drums, lead vocalist. The scheduling and logistics of getting 6 people moving in the right direction gives me nightmares. (I play in a 3-piece.)
Members jackcheez Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 We're an 8 piece group. 5 core members (singer, guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards) and we bring a 3 piece horn section when $ and space allow. We do 60s soul and Motown. We'd like to always have 8 guys at every gig and rehearsal but we're not there yet. When we don't have the horn players we have the parts recorded and the drummer plays to a click (God bless him). The more people you have the harder it is to get everybody together. This becomes compounded with older players who have full time jobs, wives, other bands...Another thing is that 8 guys at a rehearsal can be a hand full. Keeping everybody focused. In the end, it's worth it. http://www.stonesoul.com/
Members Singin' Dave Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 One of my bands, Seers Poncho, is an 8-piece jam band. 3 guitars, bass, drums, sax, hand drummer and a percussionist/clarinet player. Often we play with the first 6 though. We like the winding tapestries of rhythm and group improvisition element this gives us, and everyone is really close friends. However, as you can imagine, we don't get booked much
Members Burgess Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 We were 6 but then I was fired from the band, it's a long story... We only rehearsed once a week so it wasn't difficult getting together. We were 2 guitars, bas, drums, keys and vox. Anyway, ended up with the better players in the band hooking up with me and replacing the guys that fired me with a kickass bass and a kickass keys. Now we're 5 and we give thanks to those guys that fired me at every rehearsal!
Members way2fat Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 We're a six-piece that plays New Orleans stuff, mostly Prof. Longhair, Dr. John, Meters, with a little Paul Simon, Billy Preston, Steely Dan, and Joe Cocker thrown in. guitar, Bass, drums, piano and two saxes. We practice Thursdays 7-10 p.m. Guitar player keeps practice moving. Ages 25, 26, 29, 44, 48, & 51. You know you're getting old when two of your bandmates dads are younger than you. We have a blast. Google Chickenfoot Gumbo for a sample, but the mp3's are 3 years old. Got get the drummer to change those.
Members archiemax Posted March 9, 2006 Members Posted March 9, 2006 Three female singers, me (guitar & guitar synth), bass, drums, violin. Modern & original Country.
Members elsongs Posted March 10, 2006 Author Members Posted March 10, 2006 Wow, interesting to note that those in the >5 member bands are either in southern/Country rock outfits or R&B-type groups with horns and such. My band (Elson and the Soul Barkada - yep weI fall in the R&B category) ranges from 6 to 8 people. The constants are me (lead vocals and keyboards), bass, drums, guitar and 2 background singers. 80% of the time we have a percussionist and 30% of the time we have a sax player as well. I quit doing live music 8 years ago because I was stressed out by having a large band but this time it's different (I formed this band 2 years ago by hand-picking friends or aquaintances whom I had met over the years that I felt could do this sort of thing), I guess I've grown up and so have everyone else (none of the people in my band were people in my previous band, though our original bassist was). I basically run the show, write the songs and make most of the decisions, but at the same time I give everyone some creative space (I don't become a note Nazi), patience and a whole lot of respect. We all seem to learn stuff pretty quickly too. For rehearsals, I communicate with bandmembers through a small listserv I created and even made a priovate webpage just for the band to find out rehearsal schedules and download recorded rehearsal song mp3s, original demo or cover song MP3s or charts.
Members Scafeets Posted March 11, 2006 Members Posted March 11, 2006 7: Singer, Singer/Sax, 2 Guitars, Keys, Bass, DrumsClassic Rock + New Cover TunesSeems easy after the 9-piece with horns and backup singers...
Members HuskerDude Posted March 11, 2006 Members Posted March 11, 2006 I used to play organ in a reggae band, it was: 2 guitars, bass, 2 vocals, organ, drums, percussion, and sometimes a 3 piece horn section. So 11 people crammed onto a very small stage. Good band tho.
Members elsongs Posted March 11, 2006 Author Members Posted March 11, 2006 Another comment - on slow nights, doesn't it just suck to have more people in the band than in the audience?
Members srsfallriver Posted March 11, 2006 Members Posted March 11, 2006 six piece: rhythm guitar/lead male vocal, female lead vocal, lead guitar, bass, keys, drums. Once in a while (for a small club or party) we'll play as a four or five piece but we prefer doing the six piece. www.the-return.net We're a wedding/function band for the most part so drawing a crowd is almost never our problem. We used to have problems getting together for rehearsals. Our two furthest members live over two hours away from eachother and everyone is pretty well spread out geographically. We decided to do the work at home and e-mail eachother about new songs (chord changes, harmonies, form, etc.). The new system works well because it forces everyone to really work out their parts or risk looking stupid on stage.
Members BlueStrat Posted March 11, 2006 Members Posted March 11, 2006 Originally posted by elsongs Another comment - on slow nights, doesn't it just suck to have more people in the band than in the audience? Yup. Especially when you're a trio!
Members srsfallriver Posted March 12, 2006 Members Posted March 12, 2006 Ok, if nobody else will............ .........or a solo act.......... There! Its done!
Members spdolan Posted March 12, 2006 Members Posted March 12, 2006 My band was a 6 piece - instrumentation loosely based on the Grateful Dead (no Donna) - 2 guitars, bass, keys, kit, hand drums - but we are down to 5. Vocal duties shared by guitars and bass. We lost our kit guy, and our percussionist is sitting on the set now. We also sometimes have a mandolin or fiddle player sit in with us - at our last gig, we still had our drummer, and our fiddlin buddy sat in, making us a 7 piece. Logistics can be a real pain in the ass, I'm not gonna lie to you. Everybody has different schedules and full-time jobs, so we dont get to practice or gig as much as I'd like. But anyway, check us out, www.offwagon.com We are currently in transition to originals, but the mp3's on the site are all covers. Check out the Down By The River by Neil Young - I think its the best we ever played that tune. Dolan
Members srsfallriver Posted March 13, 2006 Members Posted March 13, 2006 Originally posted by spdolan My band was a 6 piece - instrumentation loosely based on the Grateful Dead (no Donna) - 2 guitars, bass, keys, kit, hand drums - but we are down to 5. Vocal duties shared by guitars and bass. We lost our kit guy, and our percussionist is sitting on the set now. We also sometimes have a mandolin or fiddle player sit in with us - at our last gig, we still had our drummer, and our fiddlin buddy sat in, making us a 7 piece. Logistics can be a real pain in the ass, I'm not gonna lie to you. Everybody has different schedules and full-time jobs, so we dont get to practice or gig as much as I'd like. But anyway, check us out, www.offwagon.com We are currently in transition to originals, but the mp3's on the site are all covers. Check out the Down By The River by Neil Young - I think its the best we ever played that tune.Dolan Dude, I checked out your site. Pretty cool. Nice pics!
Members spdolan Posted March 13, 2006 Members Posted March 13, 2006 thanks - we scored a lucky gig at the 930 club down in DC
Members The Hiryuu Posted March 13, 2006 Members Posted March 13, 2006 At one point, my former band was 3 guitarists, a bassist, a keyboardist, and a drummer. 3rd guitarist quit, bassist took up vocal duties (Which also resulted in a change in vocal styles, from power metal vocals to growls), played a couple shows, drummer and second guitarist started acting like doucherags, band disintegrates.
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