Just this: go for it and trust your instincts.
If you like the noise you’re making, someone else will too. Don’t try and be popular, don’t follow trends. Bring other people into the band only if they’re absolutely on the same page as you. You don’t need more than 2 unless they’re bringing something good to the party
That's how me and my friend started out. We both started on guitar but he could drum as well so we did guitars/vocals-drums until we ended up finding a bass player. We where huge Nirvana and Sonic Youth fans and just started making noise when getting back from school every single day and slowly started to sound like a proper band. Years later we both, in seperate bands, played as a support for Dinosaur Jr.
Exactly, write the music you want to listen to.
Sure, there can be some consideration of “they’re gonna go wild for that part”, but the focus should ultimately be on doing what feels right to you. Don’t just do what you think people want, do what you think would make you go wild.
Beyond that, practice practice practice. It can take a long time to get where you want, but it’ll take infinitely longer if you don’t put yourself out there. Everyone has those shows where you play to nobody, every actor gets rejected, it’s just part of it. Just keep trying your best and people will notice that you’re putting yourself into it.
Go to shows, meet people; networking is a huge part of it. You can be the most talented person but if nobody knows who you are it’s a lot harder to get anywhere.
From every dingy basement, on every dingy street
Every dragging handclap over every dragging beat
It's just the beat of time, the beat that must go on
If you've been trying for years, we've already heard your song
Death or glory
Becomes just another story
Death or glory
Just another story
The Clash "Death or Glory"
That's how my punk band started. Our first demo was so shit we still laugh at it. Not because we're embarrassed of it, but because of how much better we got in a few months. We still have half-assed vocals, but we're finding our sound.
I still have the first demo my best friends band made and it finds it’s way into every playlist for every small party that we go to or every happy playlist. Because it may be shit but it is still one of my favourite songs ever and puts a smile on my face over a decade later.
the huge problem with just playing to be playing is that in the 90's and first decade of the aughts there was a whole garageband scene of get togethers & shows for kids to perform for other teens. That kind of live experience doesn't exist for kids today. They don't even have Warped to see their heroes & inspirations perform. The community is so much smaller & fractured compared to 10 or 20 yrs ago.
Do those experiences not exist anymore or are we just too old to know about them? My parents would never hear of the concerts I went to in someone's house, or an art gallery basement, or outside a Wendy's... I only got to those shows because I made music and I was friends with people who made music. My gut tells me kids are still performing anywhere they're allowed to. Warped was definitely a loss though. That many bands for that price was magical. It's hard for me to tell if the scene is getting smaller but I do know that punk and hardcore shows are starting to turn into a family affair. Every show I go to now has some little kids in huge ear protection hanging out near the back. And some of those pits are a young man's game and they are alive and well there.
Sadly, I already have. I definitely miss those way too hot rooms filled with cig/weed smoke and BO. Seeing Tigersjaw in the biggest dust cloud ever, seeing Runaway Brother while swimming in a pool, watching my friend fall through a window during a Lakota De Kai set... it was a magical time.
That’s some insane shit, I saw arctic monkeys at a house party they had agreed way in advanced but right after whatever people say I am that’s what I’m not had come out and it was ridiculous.
Aging out of it is a good way to describe it. I used to do sound and road managing for The Ventures, at the height of the punk days. Played CBGB's the Mudd Club, the 9:30, etc. and had kids doing swan dives and backflips off the stage into the pit.
“Musicians should go to a yard sale and buy and old fucking drum set and get in their garage and just suck. And get their friends to come in and they’ll suck, too. And then they’ll fucking start playing and they’ll have the best time they’ve ever had in their lives and then all of a sudden they’ll become Nirvana. Because that’s exactly what happened with Nirvana. Just a bunch of guys that had some shitty old instruments and they got together and started playing some noisy-ass shit, and they became the biggest band in the world. That can happen again! You don’t need a fucking computer or the internet or The Voice or American Idol”.
- Dave Grohl
There's a lot to be said about the experience of friends learning to jam together and it being a few friends first that play music together, rather than a group of musicians getting together with their egos, and just being the same number of guys who thought they were the best for the job playing together.
^ what this person said.
Honestly IMO most imprtant part is start playing and having fun playing and writing music and jamming right now. **The moment it starts being fun, you're over the hump.** Enjoy playing music and the rest will follow.
Another point I'd like to chime in with.
**Use the tools you have, not the gear you think you need** or the super expensive gear your idols play.
There's always the idea of a magical pedal or guitar or amp or whatever, that we tell ourselves will make all the difference, and once you get that thing you'll sound like you want to. Mostly, this is a fallacy. Use the tools you have and get started today. Dont gatekeep yourself from making music.
Guitar that can hold a tune, amp that works. Drums that drum. OP and her friend will be fine.
Start today.
In 6 months or a year, ok maybe you do actually need some special thing to get the sound you want, but you'll know a lot better what you need by then.
Start now.
This is objective bullshit.
Grohl met Cobain after Nirvna already had an album and EP out. In fact, Cobain fired Chad Channing from the band and sought out a new drummer that I quote, “Could deliver the goods”, meaning he was looking for a pro level drummer (Grohl was already in the DC based band Scream). Cobain was essentially leveling up.
For him to pretend Nirvana was just a bunch of friends who goofed around and liked music and suddenly BECAME the most relevant band of a generation is a lie. I can’t figure it out. This is known information.
Side note, when the light when out on Nirvana it basically ended Rock music. Rock has sputtered around since. There have been some bands enjoying success, including Foo Fighters, but mostly it has declined into a niche. I hate admitting this and the contrarians will deny it. But rock music hasn’t been relevant since Nirvana ended.
Back to the original topics, one of the main takeaways I took from this is if you do want success with the band, take it serious. Align with people who have the same goals. If the goals are get girls (that’s what mine was in high school…some good results) then Grohls advice is spot on. But if you think this is something that you may be called to then don’t let your buddy’s bring you down. You can totally still be friends. But the band may be more important to you and you should treat it that way. Maybe have two bands. A friend band and a more serious one.
Nobody disputes the documented chronological details of Nirvana. Read the quote from Dave carefully. He didn’t say “we” started playing together. A bunch of friends started playing together and they sucked and after sucking for awhile they got better and things happened. Reading that as Grohl saying it was overnight success or that he was the beginning of it is a bad take man. The idea is that you don’t get into making music to make money or become famous. You do it for fun, you do it for passion, you do it to get a message out to hopeful potential listeners.
Nirvana worked. And wrote. And practiced. And advertised. But they DID at one point suck and play just as friends and it was just a series of fortunate events combined with a generational writing talent that did in fact make them suddenly just become relevant, not schemed manufactured success, and to think or misread anything else into that is stupid.
Some severe reading comprehension on your part. I never said that he claimed Nirvana was overnight success. Or that time was even brought up. And he did say that it was just friends playing in a band with old instruments. In fact, they already were a gigging band with multiple recordings selling and that he was brought in in order to take them to the next level.
His quote says they were just some friends that started playing together and became big. In fact Chad Channing was the friend that was playing with Krist and Kurt and figured out a few songs that could get them signed to a small label and some gigs on the scene. Kurt was bringing in Dave to make them ‘pro’ level.
And I am not critical of Kurt for that. Kurt wanted to be in a working band. His friend from the garage days wasn’t up to the task. He can always call him a friend but he needed someone better. Nothing wrong with doing that in what is essentially a small business. The product needed to be upgraded. Chad wasn’t on the same page as Kurt.
But I am bothered that Grohl is pretending it was organically grown group of buds that were messing around and spun it into a big success. It sounds better than Kurt kicked a friend out because he was that great and left my band looking for a better opportunity at being a rock star so I joined a band with multiple recordings, gigs, and about to sign a major label deal.
Some of the other posts make the great point that band might just be for fun. And maybe even evolve into some gigs and from there. Become something were you can get paid for it. Which is what Grohl is getting at as well.
But the reality of Grohls situation is that it was a business move. And nothing wrong with that, he just wasn’t being honest in that quote because it’s not so ‘rock n roll’ to talk like that.
My advice to the OP is to be honest about what you want to accomplish with flexibility to change to something more or less. But for it to be a ‘for fun’ band and to actually be fun you all need to be on the same page. And if you want to take it serious, you all need to be on the same page as well. Both are awesome experiences.
Discuss with your friend what musical interests you might have in common, then pick some songs to do as covers to develop chemistry. When you feel like writing your own music just jam, jam, and jam some more. Rome wasn't built in a night so practice together and feed off each other and have fun.
I’ve played in several bands and if you don’t have a good singer — get one. Nothing worse than musically gifted folks throwing away their talent with an egomaniac who’s off key.
I mean we’re mostly thinking of having a grunge/metal vibe, but i think it’d probab help finding someone that can do these kinds of vocals since I defo cant, and my friend kinda broke her voice trying to
In my opinion, it really helps to have a vocalist with a unique quality to their voice, whatever that may be. I’m a metalhead and all my favorite bands have vocalists who are instantly recognizable. Nobody wants to sound like every other singer.
See I don’t entirely agree. The best front men have amazing voices and magnetic stage presence. But there’s plenty who just have the stage presence and the bollocks to not care about the voice. Happy Mondays spring to mind. Lots of punk and grunge stuff. The personality is more important than the voice.
Yes! Back when I was your age, me and my friend had the same setup. We never actually did much other than jam. If I were 14 again, I’d start learning how to use a DAW like reaper and invest in some very basic recording/mixing equipment. The reason being - we never ever remembered the riffs we came up with, so a lot of what we played was lost the very next day.
Also: /r/wearethemusicmakers
1. Have fun
2. Be responsible
3. Ignore everything else
Throughout your teen years (and actually, way beyond that too) you'll get tons of people telling you how to do, what decisions to make, how to behave, etc. It's super important not to let any of those people pressure you into making music you don't feel like making.
AMAZING.
i used to be in a band at a similar age. If you and your friend have never made music before, try playing a cover of a song you both like together, just so you can get used to working with each other.
Also, if you have never written your own songs before, just know that most rock songs follow very similar song structures.
\- An intro
\- a Verse
\- a Chorus
\- Back to Verse
\- Chorus again
\- Maybe a bridge
\- Outro
For example you can listen to Nirvana - Smells like Teen Spirit and it pretty much follows that structure almost exactly.
Of course not all songs do this. Some songs have more. Some have even less. But its a good guide to start with if you ever get stuck writing.
if you're able to jam together, try recording as much of the session as you can! Sometimes you play something completely randomly that sounds awesome and its nice to be able to listen to it again and not forget what you came up with.
The only rule about making music and being in a band is this: **have fun**.
Even if you never play a single show or sell a single CD, as long as you’re having fun you’re more successful than a lot of the “musicians” out here killing themselves to make it. The moment you stop enjoying being in a band, it feels like a job or a burden, etc is the moment that it’s all over.
So make music that’s in service to you and makes you happy. Make music that you want to listen to. Never try to satisfy others because it’ll never be enough. Be true to yourself 🤘
I know that last paragraph sounds very after school special-y, but believe it’s true. I’ve know some great musicians who ended up completely quitting and resenting music because they either didn’t know how to or forgot how to have fun making music and it makes me sad thinking about how that can happen to a person.
Prepare for the best memories you’ll have from childhood/teen years and life long friendships! Go for it! My biggest piece of advice is that you can and will sound bad trying to be someone else but no one (fucking no one!) will sound as good as you doing you.
I’m so stoked for you! You’re gonna develop so many life skills through this. Stay away from drugs.
I'd say, given your age, you're uniquely positioned to ignore everything on this sub and others about not going "all in." That's for people with bills and rent. Right now, ignore that, and go *all in.* You've got plenty of time before you need to decide how to pay the bills. Use that to your advantage. It's not that it's bad advice, it just doesn't apply to you yet, you're in on the ground floor.
Round out the band, and start making recordings. Save up for studio time, ask for studio time for birthdays and holidays and stuff, it really does make a difference. Having a studio produce your music is crucial, IMO. Anyone can crank out iPhone tracks, and they come across exactly what they are. Don't cut that corner. It's not cheap, but a few good studio tracks will make all the difference.
They're too young to be worrying about studios and recordings. They may not have any bills to worry about, but their parents do, and they're the ones that will have to pay for all of that.
They should just focus on having fun.
Never been in a band. But I have been 14. So this is what is tell my younger self.
Just have fun. Don't let it stress you out or turn into a chore.
Music is beautiful. Let your creatively flow, funny judge the result too harshly. And have fun.
You got plenty of love to look forward to and I won't lie adulthood its stressful af a lot of the time.
So f around and have fun while you can.
Be clear about what you want to do/achieve.
Be that writing new music or playing covers. Recording vs not recording. Be alligned. And have fun! My band of 6 years broke up this year. Was a blast. Enjoy it whilst you can
Think it’s important to understand how your band dynamic is going to work. Are you working on songs together, or are you writing most of song and then your band mate helps round it off. If they have a song is the same thing?
Are you open to their ideas or is it very much this is my baby and I’m a control freak.
That’s an important thing to work out and understand. You also sometimes just gotta let the reigns go, learn to work to together and find ways to share your creativity.
Most importantly, have fun and don’t put up with time wasters.
Just jam and have fun. Audacity is a decent free program to start recording. Dont get discouraged if your stuff sucks. You are still really young you dont need to make masterpieces. Just make something.
If the two of you know any of the same songs then start playing those together. Then screw around a little bit. Then go back to playing a song you both know or want to know and dialing it in. Then screw around a bit just having fun.
Over time try to pick songs you both want to learn. Practice those separate of each other and then try and get it tight when together. The best bands I were ever always started with having 3-4 covers that we got tight on before we really started to be able to play together. It doesn't really matter what they are. The old Batman TV show song was a pretty common starting song because it was easy any everyone knew it. Then we'd do tougher songs.
The biggest trick to sounding good is playing in the same key and on the same time. After you nail that then whatever you create will sound okay at the worst.
Play play play. Just play the intrustments together and get comfortable which each others timing and styles etc. But the most important thing honestly is to just have fun! My first band was around your age and it was some of the most fun I've ever had.
Try not to let social media pressure you either. You do you and eventually you'll find people who like it!
Good luck and enjoy!
Step 1. Listen to music voraciously. Start to pick apart what you're listening to, analyze it. It's important to find out what you like and DONT like.
Step 2. Research is important, from finding gear, to learning thought processes of your fave artists can be extremely helpful.
Step 3. Learn some basic music theory. Chords names, the pentatonic scale, the major scale make the whole process more expedient.
Step 4. Learn to find joy in repetition, getting your reps is important in whatever way you choose to do music. The only way to get good is to keep doing it
Start smoking cigarettes and kicking peoples butt you’ll be a great rock band lol
Na for reals just find your guys style find what make you wanna keep picking up that instrument and play it no matter if your good or bad as long as you know it’s what make you feel good, You got plenty of time to master it just got to find it first
Good for you that’s cool as hell.
Learn your major/minor scales. When you’re absolutely sure you know those, maybe try learning modes.
Don’t worry about taking yourselves too seriously, it’ll mostly just work itself out eventually.
Most importantly; listen to as much music as possible. As many genres as possible. You don’t have to like it all but you should really try to appreciate it.
And check this out it’s just two girls with keyboards https://youtu.be/XdVKCbwujp4?si=H6pyuCA0VE0mTLHF
Just play together for a while. The biggest regret I have from my time playing in a band is we rushed everything. We’d make a song then release it. If I could go back I would have make 1000 songs and never released them. Just work on getting better at making songs. After you get good at it then you start thinking about making music to release to the public.
The key to making good music is: Timing, harmony, and passion.
Work on your time first. Make sure you are playing in sync with your band mates. Use a metronome to be sure. If you find a good drummer hang on to them for dear life.
Harmony is important within and without the music. Make sure to talk with bandmates to ensure everyone is being heard. Sometimes you will disagree. Try to compromise. Also make sure to stay in tune when playing. Get an electronic tuner! If someone is out of tune it’s not gonna sound good.
And with passion it kinda comes and goes. You might not be passionate everyday. Sometimes you might wanna take a break. Don’t be afraid to pause for a bit. If you try to force passion it’s never going to work.
Good luck and remember to have fun. Music is not about being rich and famous. It’s about having fun and making people happy
> does and dont’s when making music?
As well as practicing your songs, also practice how you're going to walk out on stage, how you're going to move around, and interact with each other during the songs.
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy", of course, but even putting a small bit of practice into it makes you look super-goddamn-slick.
Sometimes a song can't be improved anymore, it just is what it is. You need to write like 50 songs to get 10 good ones at first.
Don't ever get frustrated if you make something good and no one notices. Do it for yourself first.
When you get big --not if, but \*when*-- make sure you get proper legal representation ASAP. Research a lawyer to help you navigate contracts with big labels.
Big tip. Don't listen to anyone else. Tap into your own channel and just go for it. Do what you want. Create how you want and tell anyone giving you this and that to go fuck em selves.
Good luck x
1. Have fun. If you have fun playing it, people will have fun listening to it.
2. Don't listen to "fashion" or "rules" about music. Play what you want, not what you think society will allow. If in doubt, see rule 1.
No gig is a bad gig, just experience. Some gigs down right suck! Stay focused ,and don't deviate. Pratice , practice,practice. Play for family,, make a name. Choose band mates wisely, with the same end goals!
Garage Band and Cakewalk are good free DAWs (digital audio workstations). Never used one to record drumkits, just E kits. Before you go to record, check what kind of interface you'll be using. I know some direct connect options don't play well with midi controlled ports, so the keyboard might give you a hassle.
Record everything you can and write down riffs/rhythms/ whatever. Never know when you guys are just screwing around you might just got gold with something cool sounding you can build off of and evolve.
Lastly, lyrics.... I'm not a song writer, so I can't help with that part. What kind of sound are you going for? Or are you not locking yourselves down?
Play as much as you possibly can. Avoid playing with anyone who holds you back. You two may progress at different rates. I had to leave behind basically ALL of my musical buddies because I wanted to play professionally. Just keep on going, and play what you love/enjoy and want others to love/enjoy. Decide if you want to make money or just make music, and decide early on. Most people need another source of income and a career besides music.
Having a part-time job when you're older will help a lot, even if it's 15 hours a week. When you're old enough to drive, that'll get you to shows and buy you food and strings and other stuff. For now, just play as much as possible. Make sure you picked the right instrument. Don't be afraid to switch. Stick to one instrument, and optionally singing. Focus on your instrument (or your singing) and don't try to do everything.
Download Bandlab for your phone or pc.
Start learning some songs about three sets ie. About thirty songs.
Get some gigs to hone your craft and play these sets.
Begin writing originals and get them out there.
It's a hard road to journey but you may get lucky.
We’re currently on the search for a vocalist! If making bass doesnt work on keyboard (my keyboard has a bass option), we will also start searching for a bassist
here's a key tip: write tons & tons of poetry! THIS is exactly how Conan Grey got his start. He would literally live-stream on blogtv or one of of those cam sites just reading his poems, sometimes strumming his uke, sometimes not. Zoomers connect through lyrics, so learn to craft songs that talk about you & your experiences. It doesn't have to be super edgy or philosophical or even wry. It just has to be authentic.
You guys are probably terrible. And that's fine leran what dousnt walk and what does. It's fine to admit that one song you really wanted to work just doesn't. And most importantly just have fun
What?! Anime is for life! I've been watching anime for...let me think...holy shit, I've been watching anime for 44 years. Since I was 5 years old to now. My username is from the anime me and my mom would watch together when I was 5.
Listen to as much material as possible, find the bands that inspired the people you enjoy listening to now and get lost down musical rabbit holes - I always find ‘What’s in my bag’ interviews are good for this
Most important thing: you are the best. You can do everything just as well as the pros. Maybe not now, maybe some may say otherwise, but that does not matter. Have fun, be brave enough to suck and never stop. Music is for all of us.
Reposting myself:
1. Get with guys you really extra well get along with. They don't need to seem talented now, that will come in time. Relationships are more important than musical skill... Except rhythm, some people just don't feel timing, don't feel the beat. Those people should not be in a band. I've had a bass player and a drummer with bad rhythm. It cannot work.
2. You'll need a practice space where you can leave the gear and where you can make a godawful loud nearly intolerable noise for hours, multiple days per week. Rotating locations helps. Moms can tolerate the noise for a month or two if they get a break for a month or two.
3. Don't stress. If a dude hates to practice, he doesn't have to. If a dude hates a song, don't play it. The stress will kill a band. Make a no-stress-allowed rule.
4. Start a band. It will suck at first. It might break up. Start another band after that. Keep going. Rock out.
5. You might need a small PA for vocals. That will cost you some dough. Figure it out.
6. Drums are the big challenge. Where to set up, leaving them there, moving them around, and how hugely loud they are. Find a drummer with a drum kit. That's the difficult one.
7. Take any gig possible. Expect to suck, set that expectation, play out anyway. When you play out, everything changes. Go for it.
Biggest mistake I made was that I was so afraid of the other guys in the band thinking I was a dick that I wasn’t strict about practicing. When you read about bands that are successful (and you really should) they practiced just about every single day for hours. They didn’t just get together the day before the gig and run through the setlist once or (God forbid Matt) twice.
Nirvana for instance practiced 10 hours a day before they went in to record Nevermind.
I’m not saying you have to have that level of dedication, but if you live by the tired old principle of “Well, you don’t want to sound OVER-REHEARSED” you will fail.
But remember don’t just practice the same stuff over and over. Challenge yourselves to learn or write a new song every day. If it sucks that’s fine, the point is to build those creative muscles.
Also record yourself and listen back to it. You might think you sound awesome while playing but when you listen back you’ll hear why that song felt kind of “meh” when you were playing it or why another sounded amazing.
Do it for FUN, and getting all the angst out, dont go into it thinking you'll be rock stars, rich, famous or even cool. Dont spend a lotta money on fancy big name stuff - learn, play, and love what you got, at least til you outgrow them. Vocalist needs to buy a decent mic (shure 58) for shows, vocalist always helps carry shit in and out of gigs- no primadonnas. Nothing wrong with learning covers til you got some of yer own. Do it for FUN!
Scales and modes every day. Steal heavily from your idols at first. Add bass digitally if you must. Same goes for drums. Record all your playing so you can rework any ideas you find interesting. Get good before you try to play shows anywhere, and make a repertoire of several popular songs, covers etc to fill out a set.
Local H, NIN, The Dodos, and Black Cobra are all two man bands that got big, maybe read up on how they fill their sound out. Hang tough and good luck
You'll start getting an audience reaction if you have a mix of cover versions of stuff they already know, along with other stuff that's golden classics that they didn't realise they ought to know. As the musicians, being a couple of steps ahead of what your audience needs to discover will get you a lot of respect. You can discover potential material by scouring end-of-year charts, along with lists compiled by websites and magazines like Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Billboard, etc. At your ages, even something fairly recent like a White Stripes track could be totally unfamiliar to lots of your buddies, but if you go back as far as the 1960s you might uncover bands like The Sonics. A strong groove and a fast tempo gets people dancing.
At some point you'll probably want to begin writing your own songs too. Just snag a few ideas from other stuff you've already learnt, then rearrange it and add different words. Keep playing the cover versions, and just gradually start performing one or two originals.
Be aware that you'll not always agree about everything. Don't get sidetracked by the mundane and petty aspects of rehearsals and schedules. Enjoy the fun parts.
Don't waste your time in school band stuff if you are going into metal. It will only get in your way and set you back years. Go hard, stay original, fuck the trends, and move people!
Im not a musician but my brother is and has been in a gazillion bands. I personally have been to well over 1000 concerts of all sizes and venues. What I can say with 100% confidence ia that most musicians regardless of talent have a dogshit business plan. This is my background. Im in sales and consulting.
Being good at your craft is one thing but if you want to go somewhere with this and try to treat it as more than a hobby you need to hustle and build relationships with every venue possible. Network and sell yourself. Being a professional like showing up on time and having a tight routine of set up and tear down goes a long way.
* Don't stop playing during a song. if you make a mistake, you fall down, etc. Don't stop playing and don't point out the mistake afterward in crowd banter.
* Dynamics are important. at a basic level quiet during verses, louder during choruses. this is a very basic explanation, cause its far more complicated than that
* leave space for each other. you are in a band not x number of solo artists. sometime just playing a single quarter note on the 1 can be enough for your part. the song is the total and the individual instruments need room to breathe / coalesce amongst each other.
* remember that your practice room / home tone settings are not going to work in a club. most people turn up the mids at home and roll off the highs cause you are so close to the amp/ sound bounce, etc. in a club the audience's bodies absorb the sound and there are a lot of obstacles to bounce, you have to turn up the highs, much more than you normally would. a sound check is always a good idea.
* Be redundant with your equipment make sure you have extra cables, picks , strings, sticks, etc. organize your shit so that things go in bags / containers. like with like and make sure you put tags with your name or write your name on EVERYTHING you own.
* You are in a band. you help the drummer take down his drums, you help wrap cables. load the car/van, unload the car/van, buy your bass player a sandwich, etc. see "organize your shit" above... dont be those guys that take forever to set up and tear down.
\-not a musician, am a music addict.
There aren't any real "do's and don't's" in music. Look at Primus. Play music you love, and followers will come. Music aficionados can tell when the artists are into their own music.If trying to write and you have music already in your head, write it down, sit on it for a few days, try it out then edit if needed.
if your still trying to finding your sound: get on what music engine you use and find a few songs from each era/genre. After you make a list of songs both you and your friend both enjoy, you can tease out themes that both you and your friend vibe with. I could be you both love 2000's skater rock like sum 41, some classic rock like bob dylan or new-age political rock like grandson.
Being able to play your instrument is a different skill than writing good songs, which is different from putting up a good show (being a good and entertaining stage act), which is different from putting yourself out and making yourself known to the public (building fans and followers, making promoters invite you to play shows.
You need neither of these to enjoy making music and being in a band.
But if, at some point, you want to be "successful"
(in the old fashioned, "getting big") way, you need to put effort in all of the above.
I have spent my first years in bands focusing on the first and third, neglecting second and fourth, wondering why we didn't become a success.
Even though they are fun, you don't need expensive instruments. Ask experienced musicians about a proper setup of your instruments, it makes a huge difference in the fun you have playing them.
get on stage as soon as possible and as often as possible. play anywhere, anytime, for anyone. start writing songs even if you think they are bad, keep writing every day, keep lyrics or song ideas on your phone in Notes or record yourself singing/ melodies, beats, etc into Voice Memos to listen to later. Your style and skills will just come naturally if you do these things (oh, and practice practice practice)
I love this. I was 15 when I was in my first. We had so much fun. I miss that feeling. Savor it. Have fun. Don't make the mistake of only loving one type of music. Stay open to different influences. Practice just as hard at home as you do when you're together.
Just go for it. Make music and have fun. There is no "right way" to start a band. Wish you the world. If that is not feasible, then a very good time and the cool memories. That is all I got from my teen band, 35 years ago.
Nobody said it better than Dave Grohl:
“When I think about kids watching a TV show like American Idol or The Voice, then they think, "Oh, OK, that's how you become a musician, you stand in line for eight ******* hours with 800 people at a convention center and... then you sing your heart out for someone and then they tell you it's not ******* good enough." Can you imagine?" he implores. "It's destroying the next generation of musicians! Musicians should go to a yard sale and buy and old ******** drum set and get in their garage and just suck. And get their friends to come in and they'll suck, too. And then they'll ******** start playing and they'll have the best time they've ever had in their lives and then all of a sudden they'll become Nirvana. Because that's exactly what happened with Nirvana. Just a bunch of guys that had some ****** old instruments and they got together and started playing some noisy-ass ****, and they became the biggest band in the world. That can happen again! You don't need a ******* computer or the internet or The Voice or American Idol."
Have fun, don't take it too seriously. If you have ambitions to keep playing music in your 20s and 30s, DON'T get stuck at the level of your band mates.. keep practicing, keep learning, keep exploring and experimenting.
Before you can write the great songs you have to write the shitty songs. You can’t skip that stage, so embrace it. Write as many songs as you can. The worst song you ever write is still a creative process that you will learn something from (even if you don’t know what it is).
Make noise, have fun. Write it down or record it because you will forget.
The world needs more girls in bands so all power to you both!
If you want to make money now (or really when you're a little bit older), learn a bunch of covers of popular songs. Obviously, there's a limit to what you can do playing other peoples music. But if you want to get paid (not great, but decent beer money) as an amateur, it's the only way to go.
But even if you don't want to go that route, learning the guts of how other people have written music across a wide variety of styles can also be invaluable in learning how to write music and figuring out the theory behind whats happening in music.
A lot of great song writers and bands didn't really do any of that, wouldn't know a 13 chord from a hole in the ground and just played whatever sounded good.
Listen to a lot of music. Even if you don't learn it. Listen to it closely. Pay attention to what the drums are doing. The guitars. The bass. Keyboards. How are they playing together? How are they setting themselves apart?
When playing a song, finish what you are playing. Learn how to keep playing a song when you've fucked it up. Don't start and stop and start over.
If you want to write your own songs, be prepared to never make any money. Like ever.
When it comes to writing songs, don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid to repurpose stuff that has failed. To come back to idea you couldn't get right before later on with a fresh perspective. Be prepared to write a lot of bad songs.
Don't be afraid to improvise together as musicians. Badly. And not like just jam band style noodling around in myxolydian improv. Don't be afraid to try and stretch and do new things that may not sound good. Sometimes some of the best ideas can happen spontaneously in a jam session like that.
Play together. A lot. Songs. Jamming. Try and get together several times a week for 2 or 3 hours. Play some more. Play at home by yourself. Play with recordings of music. Of yourself. Of others. Play alone. Play acoustic. Play electric. 4 track songs. Write songs that are just chords and a melody. Play. Play. Play. Write. Write. Write.
If you get big enough, get yourself a manager who has your best interests at heart and ALWAYS take any contract to a solicitor/lawyer.
SAVE. YOUR. MONEY
if it’s your first band, do a cover of a few songs to get the ball rolling, learn maybe 10 songs with e.g guitar, drums and vocals so you can always call out a song to play together and get used to it, if you start out just trying to make new music it won’t go well because you won’t have anything you can actually play together, learn those 10 songs and then decide which of those songs you two do the best, when you write your music it should be written more in the style of the songs you do the best job at, it’ll make life so much easier. If you don’t, then in your own time both of you need to play very very well to a metronome, nothing worse than playing out of time, keep improving on your instruments, learn some simple theory (sorry if you find this boring) it’s good to know about keys, it’ll make being able to improv and write songs a lot easier, most of all, have fun, play songs together you actually like and want to play, don’t play songs you don’t want to for the sake of it, make every single song choice a good one.
Not sure but my first suggestion is to go watch the music video....Tips for Teens by Sparks. I really think it will answer a lot of your questions about being a band.
Also Sparks is like your musician's musicians.
Enjoy.
just make things you like with your friends. its truly magical when it works right with the right group of people.
and dont be afraid to push yourself!
Learn about the gear. Cables, connections, why an xlr is different that a guitar cable, what TRS means, details of how to sound good (mic position on amps, drums, etc, ew standards for vocals, guitar, etc).
Know why a certain mic is used, why you have the treble turned up in this room, why you mic a kick drum in that room without overheads.... learn what overheads are!
Clean up after yourself.
Take care of the gear. Don't pull, bend cables, connections, etc.
Learn what TONE is. Guitar amps, modulators, whatever makes you sound good.
Drums have TONE as well, and... you TUNE drums!
Jam with each other, even if you're not a jam band. Lay a groove, let someone just doodle over the top, switch until everyone is comfy doodling.
Listen to each other while playing.
When something goes sideways mid song, these two things done well let's you get back on track or lend the plane without crashing.
Often times, if you go out of bounds, just stop and find yourself.
Complement each other.
Support others, if you're talented, share it with those that need it.
Make bars, store owners, cities, schools, corporations, etc pay.
Play for free for the young couple who's baby has cancer or the local charity fundraiser, etc. Do this often.
Find a couple of serious causes that you believe in so you can continue to use your talent for good when you become big, but have to turn most down. If you guys are known to care about the humane society and habitat for humanity because you played all of their fundraisers and helped them raise $50k or something, you can be too busy to play the smaller charitable events. Otherwise, play the small gigs. Choose early though and mean it.
Just take it seriously, and make CERTAIN everyone else has the same dedication. You CANNOT be in relationships, the outside world will then affect and encroach the band dynamic. This HAS to be ALL of your goal. You HAVE to all want it and be DISCIPLINED about rehearsing and writing. Then re-writing the same song.
REHEARSE A LOT, way more than you can imagine. To the point where you can recognize a song of yours is good, but you don't even need to look at your instrument, even remotely, to play it.
DO NOT give up if you get criticized... just write a better song than you have before. Build your craft.
REHEARSE AGAIN.
and... you know what?? rehearse. When you are on a stage, you will realize this. I wish SO much that I had been given this advice in 1992. We were not all on the same page and somehow got 'quantity and quality' mixed up WAY too much, we had 2 hours of OK rehearsed material, that we would f**k up playing live, instead of 45 minutes of REALLY tight and solid material. I wish I could go back and do it again. :( :(
BEST of luck !!!!!
Be you and do you. Don’t change your style because some people don’t like it, because for every single genre there’s always a fanbase of people who like it
Anything you want, you have to make happen for yourselves. Don't wait to be discovered or offered a gig. Go out and find gigs. Look for any opportunities! I've played some weird venues as has any number of my musician friends (in the storage room in the back of a Japanese market for about 50 people comes to mind). Make flyers, get friendly with other bands, get stickers made, and most importantly, don't play music you're not into. If you write a song you're not feeling, tuck it away for another time and start again.
Start learning how to do social media marketing. Your success is strongly tied to being able to successfully marketing your brand. Which is also your band :)
Alpine MusicSafe Pro - High fidelity earplugs for musicians. Get used to using ear protection from the start. Always have extras on hand. You only get one pair of ears.
Enjoy the ride and try everyone’s ideas.
I was in a band with three people over 10 years and we managed to never fight because we all were keen to try each other’s ideas. This would be my key advice. No idea is stupid so just have a go and play it 😂
Just try to have fun. Don’t think about being big rock stars or “making it”. Just make some music that you like. Just start jamming. Eventually you end up with some licks or melodies that you like. Eventually you can use those building blocks to make a song. Do it again. Don’t worry if your first or tenth or fiftieth song isn’t amazing or well-received. Just have fun. You have to make some bad music before you make good music. Just don’t put too much pressure on yourselves.
Covers are always great for building confidence and learning each other's styles! Have fun and don't put too much pressure on it. Let any writing come naturally.
Just want to say, that as a former band kid and music nerd, I'm proud of you all and you should totally do it!! I think playing an instrument is one of the best things you can do in life.
Be reasonable and respectful with the hours yall jam. Neighbors didn’t sign up to hear your band play, but I found most are cool with it if you communicate and are respectful.
You will get people banging on the door yelling at you to shut up, and when you do you should, but if y’all get decent what you don’t expect is people coming by saying how much they enjoy there being music in the neighborhood.
1. Ear plugs. Not even joking. Guitar center has reusable musicians ear plugs for ten bucks. Buy a pair and keep them in your guitar case. Buy another pair and keep them in your backpack. Buy a third and keep them in your moms car. Use them always.
2. Have fun! Until your selling out clubs, it’s really the only thing that matters
3. Write a ton of songs; it’s how you get better at writing songs.
4. Play a ton of songs; it’s how you get better at playing songs.
5. Singer dictates the key. Singer helps the drummer load in.
Do: Practice, practice, practice. It's okay to suck as bad as Bill and Ted in the "Bill and Ted" movies at first. The important thing is to get better.
Do: Make sure you don't mind looking at one another for hours, days, or weeks at a time.
Don't: Get the police called on you for noise ordinance violations or get your family evicted due to too many noise complaints lol.
Now find a kid in school that wants to be your booking agent. Parties, Bar Mitzvahs, school dances, under age clubs, etc. I know kids that started out playing a few sets in the mall on Saturdays.
Someone else may have said this but my biggest tip is that when you are doing laying covers (which usually is most of the time for new, young bands) it does NOT have to sound just like the original.
It sounds much better and is much more productive to have a drum part that might not have the fills but is able to stay on time or to not play every single lead guitar line.
Start simple and practice just playing together before you try to complicate things! :))
I started playing music with friends around the same time you are so I hope it works out for you!!
Oh also compromise on what songs to play. Not every song will be your favorite but also not every some will be someone else’s favorite. It’s better to play something that you are just fine with than nothing at all :))
Jam and jam and jam..
use the voice memo app one your phones to capture riffs and ideas when you are alone.
Girls will happen, don’t they them get in the way of jams with the band and rehearsals.
If it sounds decent recorded on a cheap pair of mics running into a cheap recording device - it will sound great when you record it properly
The first gig….
Take spares of everything you can - picking up a a spare already tuned guitar is better than stopping to change a string
Label your cables - a bit of blue electrical tape on everything will make reclaiming your stuff easy
Don’t gig until you can run through the set together with your eyes closed, the aim is to worry about performing not worry about playing the songs.
Get the singer to practice some inter song talking “scream for me smithson village hall” always gets a laugh.
Just find a space, plug in and make noise. You will suck and that's totally ok, it's important to suck. After a while you'll suck less, but who cares? The most important thing is to love what you do. Keep at it. Don't let anyone tell you what you can or can't do.
Play for yourselves, not someone else.
You're gonna be awesome!
My tip is to practice together as much as you can. Create a bond with your musical companions. Don’t be afraid to try things together and find what works and what doesn’t. Be open with one and others choices and opinions. Keep having fun!
Btw - I find it awesome that you’re making your first steps into starting your band. Music brings people together, and it really excites me that there are still teens getting together to create musical fusion together the same way I did starting out.
My biggest suggestion is to make some music and get it recorded. It doesn't have to be perfect, just get a proof of concept of what you guys want to do.
Covers are a great place to start. Don’t have to swing for the fences right away, jam jam jam, and keep jamming. It will come !! The energy, the style, it will come with time. Gotta put in those practices even when you’re not sure you’re feeling it ! Band chemistry is important, listen to music together and enjoy each others company. First band is a rush, wishing you all the best !
Not really a “need” but more of “it will make it better” (depending on what genre you play) a bassist. They really fill in that low frequency that no other instrument can do adequately in my opinion.
This was all really helpful! My son is 16 and looking to join w some other teens. He plays guitar and likes rock, metal and goes to a lot of music shows. He has a bass and a plays guitar and looking to join a band. West LA.
Just this: go for it and trust your instincts. If you like the noise you’re making, someone else will too. Don’t try and be popular, don’t follow trends. Bring other people into the band only if they’re absolutely on the same page as you. You don’t need more than 2 unless they’re bringing something good to the party
That's how me and my friend started out. We both started on guitar but he could drum as well so we did guitars/vocals-drums until we ended up finding a bass player. We where huge Nirvana and Sonic Youth fans and just started making noise when getting back from school every single day and slowly started to sound like a proper band. Years later we both, in seperate bands, played as a support for Dinosaur Jr.
Exactly, write the music you want to listen to. Sure, there can be some consideration of “they’re gonna go wild for that part”, but the focus should ultimately be on doing what feels right to you. Don’t just do what you think people want, do what you think would make you go wild. Beyond that, practice practice practice. It can take a long time to get where you want, but it’ll take infinitely longer if you don’t put yourself out there. Everyone has those shows where you play to nobody, every actor gets rejected, it’s just part of it. Just keep trying your best and people will notice that you’re putting yourself into it. Go to shows, meet people; networking is a huge part of it. You can be the most talented person but if nobody knows who you are it’s a lot harder to get anywhere.
This is great advice.
30 years of hard earned experience mate 😂
Teens with a drummer a guitar player and no one who can sing? Sounds like it's time to start a punk band.
a time honored tradition, next step play at the local skate park!
*VFW hall
God I used to go to so many VFW concerts. Definitely a staple for punk/hardcore bands.
yeah this tracks, ours was called the legion hut for whatever reason
Yep I cut my teeth on hardcore punk back in the day at shows at my town’s local American Legion hall.
*Dennys
From every dingy basement, on every dingy street Every dragging handclap over every dragging beat It's just the beat of time, the beat that must go on If you've been trying for years, we've already heard your song Death or glory Becomes just another story Death or glory Just another story The Clash "Death or Glory"
That's how my punk band started. Our first demo was so shit we still laugh at it. Not because we're embarrassed of it, but because of how much better we got in a few months. We still have half-assed vocals, but we're finding our sound.
I still have the first demo my best friends band made and it finds it’s way into every playlist for every small party that we go to or every happy playlist. Because it may be shit but it is still one of my favourite songs ever and puts a smile on my face over a decade later.
the huge problem with just playing to be playing is that in the 90's and first decade of the aughts there was a whole garageband scene of get togethers & shows for kids to perform for other teens. That kind of live experience doesn't exist for kids today. They don't even have Warped to see their heroes & inspirations perform. The community is so much smaller & fractured compared to 10 or 20 yrs ago.
Do those experiences not exist anymore or are we just too old to know about them? My parents would never hear of the concerts I went to in someone's house, or an art gallery basement, or outside a Wendy's... I only got to those shows because I made music and I was friends with people who made music. My gut tells me kids are still performing anywhere they're allowed to. Warped was definitely a loss though. That many bands for that price was magical. It's hard for me to tell if the scene is getting smaller but I do know that punk and hardcore shows are starting to turn into a family affair. Every show I go to now has some little kids in huge ear protection hanging out near the back. And some of those pits are a young man's game and they are alive and well there.
There are definitely still kids out there playing backyard/basement shows. That scene won't disappear, but yes, you will definitely age out of it.
Sadly, I already have. I definitely miss those way too hot rooms filled with cig/weed smoke and BO. Seeing Tigersjaw in the biggest dust cloud ever, seeing Runaway Brother while swimming in a pool, watching my friend fall through a window during a Lakota De Kai set... it was a magical time.
[удалено]
That’s some insane shit, I saw arctic monkeys at a house party they had agreed way in advanced but right after whatever people say I am that’s what I’m not had come out and it was ridiculous.
Aging out of it is a good way to describe it. I used to do sound and road managing for The Ventures, at the height of the punk days. Played CBGB's the Mudd Club, the 9:30, etc. and had kids doing swan dives and backflips off the stage into the pit.
E.G. The Linda Lindas.
“Musicians should go to a yard sale and buy and old fucking drum set and get in their garage and just suck. And get their friends to come in and they’ll suck, too. And then they’ll fucking start playing and they’ll have the best time they’ve ever had in their lives and then all of a sudden they’ll become Nirvana. Because that’s exactly what happened with Nirvana. Just a bunch of guys that had some shitty old instruments and they got together and started playing some noisy-ass shit, and they became the biggest band in the world. That can happen again! You don’t need a fucking computer or the internet or The Voice or American Idol”. - Dave Grohl
There's a lot to be said about the experience of friends learning to jam together and it being a few friends first that play music together, rather than a group of musicians getting together with their egos, and just being the same number of guys who thought they were the best for the job playing together.
^ what this person said. Honestly IMO most imprtant part is start playing and having fun playing and writing music and jamming right now. **The moment it starts being fun, you're over the hump.** Enjoy playing music and the rest will follow. Another point I'd like to chime in with. **Use the tools you have, not the gear you think you need** or the super expensive gear your idols play. There's always the idea of a magical pedal or guitar or amp or whatever, that we tell ourselves will make all the difference, and once you get that thing you'll sound like you want to. Mostly, this is a fallacy. Use the tools you have and get started today. Dont gatekeep yourself from making music. Guitar that can hold a tune, amp that works. Drums that drum. OP and her friend will be fine. Start today. In 6 months or a year, ok maybe you do actually need some special thing to get the sound you want, but you'll know a lot better what you need by then. Start now.
This is objective bullshit. Grohl met Cobain after Nirvna already had an album and EP out. In fact, Cobain fired Chad Channing from the band and sought out a new drummer that I quote, “Could deliver the goods”, meaning he was looking for a pro level drummer (Grohl was already in the DC based band Scream). Cobain was essentially leveling up. For him to pretend Nirvana was just a bunch of friends who goofed around and liked music and suddenly BECAME the most relevant band of a generation is a lie. I can’t figure it out. This is known information. Side note, when the light when out on Nirvana it basically ended Rock music. Rock has sputtered around since. There have been some bands enjoying success, including Foo Fighters, but mostly it has declined into a niche. I hate admitting this and the contrarians will deny it. But rock music hasn’t been relevant since Nirvana ended. Back to the original topics, one of the main takeaways I took from this is if you do want success with the band, take it serious. Align with people who have the same goals. If the goals are get girls (that’s what mine was in high school…some good results) then Grohls advice is spot on. But if you think this is something that you may be called to then don’t let your buddy’s bring you down. You can totally still be friends. But the band may be more important to you and you should treat it that way. Maybe have two bands. A friend band and a more serious one.
Nobody disputes the documented chronological details of Nirvana. Read the quote from Dave carefully. He didn’t say “we” started playing together. A bunch of friends started playing together and they sucked and after sucking for awhile they got better and things happened. Reading that as Grohl saying it was overnight success or that he was the beginning of it is a bad take man. The idea is that you don’t get into making music to make money or become famous. You do it for fun, you do it for passion, you do it to get a message out to hopeful potential listeners. Nirvana worked. And wrote. And practiced. And advertised. But they DID at one point suck and play just as friends and it was just a series of fortunate events combined with a generational writing talent that did in fact make them suddenly just become relevant, not schemed manufactured success, and to think or misread anything else into that is stupid.
Some severe reading comprehension on your part. I never said that he claimed Nirvana was overnight success. Or that time was even brought up. And he did say that it was just friends playing in a band with old instruments. In fact, they already were a gigging band with multiple recordings selling and that he was brought in in order to take them to the next level. His quote says they were just some friends that started playing together and became big. In fact Chad Channing was the friend that was playing with Krist and Kurt and figured out a few songs that could get them signed to a small label and some gigs on the scene. Kurt was bringing in Dave to make them ‘pro’ level. And I am not critical of Kurt for that. Kurt wanted to be in a working band. His friend from the garage days wasn’t up to the task. He can always call him a friend but he needed someone better. Nothing wrong with doing that in what is essentially a small business. The product needed to be upgraded. Chad wasn’t on the same page as Kurt. But I am bothered that Grohl is pretending it was organically grown group of buds that were messing around and spun it into a big success. It sounds better than Kurt kicked a friend out because he was that great and left my band looking for a better opportunity at being a rock star so I joined a band with multiple recordings, gigs, and about to sign a major label deal. Some of the other posts make the great point that band might just be for fun. And maybe even evolve into some gigs and from there. Become something were you can get paid for it. Which is what Grohl is getting at as well. But the reality of Grohls situation is that it was a business move. And nothing wrong with that, he just wasn’t being honest in that quote because it’s not so ‘rock n roll’ to talk like that. My advice to the OP is to be honest about what you want to accomplish with flexibility to change to something more or less. But for it to be a ‘for fun’ band and to actually be fun you all need to be on the same page. And if you want to take it serious, you all need to be on the same page as well. Both are awesome experiences.
Discuss with your friend what musical interests you might have in common, then pick some songs to do as covers to develop chemistry. When you feel like writing your own music just jam, jam, and jam some more. Rome wasn't built in a night so practice together and feed off each other and have fun.
I’ve played in several bands and if you don’t have a good singer — get one. Nothing worse than musically gifted folks throwing away their talent with an egomaniac who’s off key.
Might look into that, cause neither my friend or I can sing xd
Every great singer had to learn how to sing. If you have a feel for melody and or songwriting who knows how good you could become.
Genre dependant tho. Many genres a shit/unusual voice goes a long way. Just not mainstream ones usually
I mean we’re mostly thinking of having a grunge/metal vibe, but i think it’d probab help finding someone that can do these kinds of vocals since I defo cant, and my friend kinda broke her voice trying to
In my opinion, it really helps to have a vocalist with a unique quality to their voice, whatever that may be. I’m a metalhead and all my favorite bands have vocalists who are instantly recognizable. Nobody wants to sound like every other singer.
I'd you start singing now think of how good you'll be in a year. Then 5 years. It's okay if you're not good right away. Just keep at it.
I only sing in my car but I always sing in my car and id call myself karaoke decent
Nice!--me, I can't even get showered with applause
See I don’t entirely agree. The best front men have amazing voices and magnetic stage presence. But there’s plenty who just have the stage presence and the bollocks to not care about the voice. Happy Mondays spring to mind. Lots of punk and grunge stuff. The personality is more important than the voice.
You can learn. Worth doing, it's such a bloody useful skill. Even if just to tell the actual singer what they should be doing.
It can also be very hard to find a singer, but don’t be discouraged. You could also find a keyboardist who also sings, that kind of thing.
No idea your financial situation, but you’re definitely young enough to get voice lessons as well if you wanted to sing.
Yes! Back when I was your age, me and my friend had the same setup. We never actually did much other than jam. If I were 14 again, I’d start learning how to use a DAW like reaper and invest in some very basic recording/mixing equipment. The reason being - we never ever remembered the riffs we came up with, so a lot of what we played was lost the very next day. Also: /r/wearethemusicmakers
Rock on!
1. Have fun 2. Be responsible 3. Ignore everything else Throughout your teen years (and actually, way beyond that too) you'll get tons of people telling you how to do, what decisions to make, how to behave, etc. It's super important not to let any of those people pressure you into making music you don't feel like making.
what genre are you thinking of exploring?
Metal/Grunge!
AMAZING. i used to be in a band at a similar age. If you and your friend have never made music before, try playing a cover of a song you both like together, just so you can get used to working with each other. Also, if you have never written your own songs before, just know that most rock songs follow very similar song structures. \- An intro \- a Verse \- a Chorus \- Back to Verse \- Chorus again \- Maybe a bridge \- Outro For example you can listen to Nirvana - Smells like Teen Spirit and it pretty much follows that structure almost exactly. Of course not all songs do this. Some songs have more. Some have even less. But its a good guide to start with if you ever get stuck writing. if you're able to jam together, try recording as much of the session as you can! Sometimes you play something completely randomly that sounds awesome and its nice to be able to listen to it again and not forget what you came up with.
The only rule about making music and being in a band is this: **have fun**. Even if you never play a single show or sell a single CD, as long as you’re having fun you’re more successful than a lot of the “musicians” out here killing themselves to make it. The moment you stop enjoying being in a band, it feels like a job or a burden, etc is the moment that it’s all over. So make music that’s in service to you and makes you happy. Make music that you want to listen to. Never try to satisfy others because it’ll never be enough. Be true to yourself 🤘 I know that last paragraph sounds very after school special-y, but believe it’s true. I’ve know some great musicians who ended up completely quitting and resenting music because they either didn’t know how to or forgot how to have fun making music and it makes me sad thinking about how that can happen to a person.
Prepare for the best memories you’ll have from childhood/teen years and life long friendships! Go for it! My biggest piece of advice is that you can and will sound bad trying to be someone else but no one (fucking no one!) will sound as good as you doing you. I’m so stoked for you! You’re gonna develop so many life skills through this. Stay away from drugs.
I'd say, given your age, you're uniquely positioned to ignore everything on this sub and others about not going "all in." That's for people with bills and rent. Right now, ignore that, and go *all in.* You've got plenty of time before you need to decide how to pay the bills. Use that to your advantage. It's not that it's bad advice, it just doesn't apply to you yet, you're in on the ground floor. Round out the band, and start making recordings. Save up for studio time, ask for studio time for birthdays and holidays and stuff, it really does make a difference. Having a studio produce your music is crucial, IMO. Anyone can crank out iPhone tracks, and they come across exactly what they are. Don't cut that corner. It's not cheap, but a few good studio tracks will make all the difference.
They're too young to be worrying about studios and recordings. They may not have any bills to worry about, but their parents do, and they're the ones that will have to pay for all of that. They should just focus on having fun.
Never been in a band. But I have been 14. So this is what is tell my younger self. Just have fun. Don't let it stress you out or turn into a chore. Music is beautiful. Let your creatively flow, funny judge the result too harshly. And have fun. You got plenty of love to look forward to and I won't lie adulthood its stressful af a lot of the time. So f around and have fun while you can.
Wear earplugs. I am 50, jammed for 30 years without earplugs and now the ringing in my ears is terrible.
Be clear about what you want to do/achieve. Be that writing new music or playing covers. Recording vs not recording. Be alligned. And have fun! My band of 6 years broke up this year. Was a blast. Enjoy it whilst you can
Think it’s important to understand how your band dynamic is going to work. Are you working on songs together, or are you writing most of song and then your band mate helps round it off. If they have a song is the same thing? Are you open to their ideas or is it very much this is my baby and I’m a control freak. That’s an important thing to work out and understand. You also sometimes just gotta let the reigns go, learn to work to together and find ways to share your creativity. Most importantly, have fun and don’t put up with time wasters.
When starting out, try songs that are famous and easy to do. A lot of bands do them as "Cover songs"
Just jam and have fun. Audacity is a decent free program to start recording. Dont get discouraged if your stuff sucks. You are still really young you dont need to make masterpieces. Just make something.
Jam a lot. Spontaneity is the source of a lot of good things.
Have fun, and don’t let egos between you
If the two of you know any of the same songs then start playing those together. Then screw around a little bit. Then go back to playing a song you both know or want to know and dialing it in. Then screw around a bit just having fun. Over time try to pick songs you both want to learn. Practice those separate of each other and then try and get it tight when together. The best bands I were ever always started with having 3-4 covers that we got tight on before we really started to be able to play together. It doesn't really matter what they are. The old Batman TV show song was a pretty common starting song because it was easy any everyone knew it. Then we'd do tougher songs. The biggest trick to sounding good is playing in the same key and on the same time. After you nail that then whatever you create will sound okay at the worst.
Play play play. Just play the intrustments together and get comfortable which each others timing and styles etc. But the most important thing honestly is to just have fun! My first band was around your age and it was some of the most fun I've ever had. Try not to let social media pressure you either. You do you and eventually you'll find people who like it! Good luck and enjoy!
Step 1. Listen to music voraciously. Start to pick apart what you're listening to, analyze it. It's important to find out what you like and DONT like. Step 2. Research is important, from finding gear, to learning thought processes of your fave artists can be extremely helpful. Step 3. Learn some basic music theory. Chords names, the pentatonic scale, the major scale make the whole process more expedient. Step 4. Learn to find joy in repetition, getting your reps is important in whatever way you choose to do music. The only way to get good is to keep doing it
Start smoking cigarettes and kicking peoples butt you’ll be a great rock band lol Na for reals just find your guys style find what make you wanna keep picking up that instrument and play it no matter if your good or bad as long as you know it’s what make you feel good, You got plenty of time to master it just got to find it first
Good for you that’s cool as hell. Learn your major/minor scales. When you’re absolutely sure you know those, maybe try learning modes. Don’t worry about taking yourselves too seriously, it’ll mostly just work itself out eventually. Most importantly; listen to as much music as possible. As many genres as possible. You don’t have to like it all but you should really try to appreciate it. And check this out it’s just two girls with keyboards https://youtu.be/XdVKCbwujp4?si=H6pyuCA0VE0mTLHF
Work out what makes the greats so great, and then learn from it. Don’t compare yourself to the legends, study them instead.
Just play together for a while. The biggest regret I have from my time playing in a band is we rushed everything. We’d make a song then release it. If I could go back I would have make 1000 songs and never released them. Just work on getting better at making songs. After you get good at it then you start thinking about making music to release to the public. The key to making good music is: Timing, harmony, and passion. Work on your time first. Make sure you are playing in sync with your band mates. Use a metronome to be sure. If you find a good drummer hang on to them for dear life. Harmony is important within and without the music. Make sure to talk with bandmates to ensure everyone is being heard. Sometimes you will disagree. Try to compromise. Also make sure to stay in tune when playing. Get an electronic tuner! If someone is out of tune it’s not gonna sound good. And with passion it kinda comes and goes. You might not be passionate everyday. Sometimes you might wanna take a break. Don’t be afraid to pause for a bit. If you try to force passion it’s never going to work. Good luck and remember to have fun. Music is not about being rich and famous. It’s about having fun and making people happy
I have never been in a band but I did know someone who was and he basically said dont stop grinding, do it every day do it all the time.
Have fun and do things your way
> does and dont’s when making music? As well as practicing your songs, also practice how you're going to walk out on stage, how you're going to move around, and interact with each other during the songs. "No plan survives first contact with the enemy", of course, but even putting a small bit of practice into it makes you look super-goddamn-slick.
Sometimes a song can't be improved anymore, it just is what it is. You need to write like 50 songs to get 10 good ones at first. Don't ever get frustrated if you make something good and no one notices. Do it for yourself first.
When you get big --not if, but \*when*-- make sure you get proper legal representation ASAP. Research a lawyer to help you navigate contracts with big labels.
Big tip. Don't listen to anyone else. Tap into your own channel and just go for it. Do what you want. Create how you want and tell anyone giving you this and that to go fuck em selves. Good luck x
1. Have fun. If you have fun playing it, people will have fun listening to it. 2. Don't listen to "fashion" or "rules" about music. Play what you want, not what you think society will allow. If in doubt, see rule 1.
Play what you like. Have fun. If you can do this, grow as musicians, and hold the friendship together, you will be great.
Record yourself, but don't listen to it till the next day and be honest in your self critiques
No gig is a bad gig, just experience. Some gigs down right suck! Stay focused ,and don't deviate. Pratice , practice,practice. Play for family,, make a name. Choose band mates wisely, with the same end goals!
Garage Band and Cakewalk are good free DAWs (digital audio workstations). Never used one to record drumkits, just E kits. Before you go to record, check what kind of interface you'll be using. I know some direct connect options don't play well with midi controlled ports, so the keyboard might give you a hassle. Record everything you can and write down riffs/rhythms/ whatever. Never know when you guys are just screwing around you might just got gold with something cool sounding you can build off of and evolve. Lastly, lyrics.... I'm not a song writer, so I can't help with that part. What kind of sound are you going for? Or are you not locking yourselves down?
Play as much as you possibly can. Avoid playing with anyone who holds you back. You two may progress at different rates. I had to leave behind basically ALL of my musical buddies because I wanted to play professionally. Just keep on going, and play what you love/enjoy and want others to love/enjoy. Decide if you want to make money or just make music, and decide early on. Most people need another source of income and a career besides music. Having a part-time job when you're older will help a lot, even if it's 15 hours a week. When you're old enough to drive, that'll get you to shows and buy you food and strings and other stuff. For now, just play as much as possible. Make sure you picked the right instrument. Don't be afraid to switch. Stick to one instrument, and optionally singing. Focus on your instrument (or your singing) and don't try to do everything.
Write a song everyday. This will sharpen your musical sword. Practice often, and play live gigs when you can. Good luck.
Download Bandlab for your phone or pc. Start learning some songs about three sets ie. About thirty songs. Get some gigs to hone your craft and play these sets. Begin writing originals and get them out there. It's a hard road to journey but you may get lucky.
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We’re currently on the search for a vocalist! If making bass doesnt work on keyboard (my keyboard has a bass option), we will also start searching for a bassist
here's a key tip: write tons & tons of poetry! THIS is exactly how Conan Grey got his start. He would literally live-stream on blogtv or one of of those cam sites just reading his poems, sometimes strumming his uke, sometimes not. Zoomers connect through lyrics, so learn to craft songs that talk about you & your experiences. It doesn't have to be super edgy or philosophical or even wry. It just has to be authentic.
You guys are probably terrible. And that's fine leran what dousnt walk and what does. It's fine to admit that one song you really wanted to work just doesn't. And most importantly just have fun
Sounds like fun. Get someone to record a video of you playing and drop it on YT and TikTok. Be persistent and don't give up ;\].
I was about to link some bad ass all female rock/metal bands I listen too from Japan. But then I noticed your user name and figured you know them.
Old username that i dont know how to change, i dont watch anime anymore xd
What?! Anime is for life! I've been watching anime for...let me think...holy shit, I've been watching anime for 44 years. Since I was 5 years old to now. My username is from the anime me and my mom would watch together when I was 5.
I kinda grew out of it xd
lol...then you are definitely not watching the right ones. Not all animes are kids shows. Hell, most animes are adult shows.
Practice more.
Listen to as much material as possible, find the bands that inspired the people you enjoy listening to now and get lost down musical rabbit holes - I always find ‘What’s in my bag’ interviews are good for this
Always try to do things according to your own ideas. If you don't have any, start copying what you already like and see if that gives you any ideas.
Most important thing: you are the best. You can do everything just as well as the pros. Maybe not now, maybe some may say otherwise, but that does not matter. Have fun, be brave enough to suck and never stop. Music is for all of us.
Almost all popular music was stolen from someone else or, at the very least, heavily borrowed upon. Find a melody you love and make it your own
Be diffrent
Reposting myself: 1. Get with guys you really extra well get along with. They don't need to seem talented now, that will come in time. Relationships are more important than musical skill... Except rhythm, some people just don't feel timing, don't feel the beat. Those people should not be in a band. I've had a bass player and a drummer with bad rhythm. It cannot work. 2. You'll need a practice space where you can leave the gear and where you can make a godawful loud nearly intolerable noise for hours, multiple days per week. Rotating locations helps. Moms can tolerate the noise for a month or two if they get a break for a month or two. 3. Don't stress. If a dude hates to practice, he doesn't have to. If a dude hates a song, don't play it. The stress will kill a band. Make a no-stress-allowed rule. 4. Start a band. It will suck at first. It might break up. Start another band after that. Keep going. Rock out. 5. You might need a small PA for vocals. That will cost you some dough. Figure it out. 6. Drums are the big challenge. Where to set up, leaving them there, moving them around, and how hugely loud they are. Find a drummer with a drum kit. That's the difficult one. 7. Take any gig possible. Expect to suck, set that expectation, play out anyway. When you play out, everything changes. Go for it.
Don't worry about failing. Every failure is a learning process. Keep trying and experimenting.
Rock on and know that we support you! If I was your mom I would absolutely have your back. Be smart and don’t do drugs. Make music you love.
have fun i had a sticker on my first bass guitar that said "if it's no fun, why do it" and i strive to live by those words
Biggest mistake I made was that I was so afraid of the other guys in the band thinking I was a dick that I wasn’t strict about practicing. When you read about bands that are successful (and you really should) they practiced just about every single day for hours. They didn’t just get together the day before the gig and run through the setlist once or (God forbid Matt) twice. Nirvana for instance practiced 10 hours a day before they went in to record Nevermind. I’m not saying you have to have that level of dedication, but if you live by the tired old principle of “Well, you don’t want to sound OVER-REHEARSED” you will fail. But remember don’t just practice the same stuff over and over. Challenge yourselves to learn or write a new song every day. If it sucks that’s fine, the point is to build those creative muscles. Also record yourself and listen back to it. You might think you sound awesome while playing but when you listen back you’ll hear why that song felt kind of “meh” when you were playing it or why another sounded amazing.
Do it for FUN, and getting all the angst out, dont go into it thinking you'll be rock stars, rich, famous or even cool. Dont spend a lotta money on fancy big name stuff - learn, play, and love what you got, at least til you outgrow them. Vocalist needs to buy a decent mic (shure 58) for shows, vocalist always helps carry shit in and out of gigs- no primadonnas. Nothing wrong with learning covers til you got some of yer own. Do it for FUN!
Scales and modes every day. Steal heavily from your idols at first. Add bass digitally if you must. Same goes for drums. Record all your playing so you can rework any ideas you find interesting. Get good before you try to play shows anywhere, and make a repertoire of several popular songs, covers etc to fill out a set. Local H, NIN, The Dodos, and Black Cobra are all two man bands that got big, maybe read up on how they fill their sound out. Hang tough and good luck
Get involved in band at school!
I have done some stuff like that before, thing is we cant really do that together since we live in different countries
How are you going to form a band and practice together if you live in different countries?
We do it online! Like we call eachother and we can make the music together through bandlab/other stuff that allows collaboration
Ha. Awesome. There are some big artists that basically work exactly like that these days.
You'll start getting an audience reaction if you have a mix of cover versions of stuff they already know, along with other stuff that's golden classics that they didn't realise they ought to know. As the musicians, being a couple of steps ahead of what your audience needs to discover will get you a lot of respect. You can discover potential material by scouring end-of-year charts, along with lists compiled by websites and magazines like Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Billboard, etc. At your ages, even something fairly recent like a White Stripes track could be totally unfamiliar to lots of your buddies, but if you go back as far as the 1960s you might uncover bands like The Sonics. A strong groove and a fast tempo gets people dancing. At some point you'll probably want to begin writing your own songs too. Just snag a few ideas from other stuff you've already learnt, then rearrange it and add different words. Keep playing the cover versions, and just gradually start performing one or two originals. Be aware that you'll not always agree about everything. Don't get sidetracked by the mundane and petty aspects of rehearsals and schedules. Enjoy the fun parts.
Drugs are bad, mmmmkay.
Don't waste your time in school band stuff if you are going into metal. It will only get in your way and set you back years. Go hard, stay original, fuck the trends, and move people!
Yeah unless you want to be good, all the great metal bands studied music and continue to study music
Im not a musician but my brother is and has been in a gazillion bands. I personally have been to well over 1000 concerts of all sizes and venues. What I can say with 100% confidence ia that most musicians regardless of talent have a dogshit business plan. This is my background. Im in sales and consulting. Being good at your craft is one thing but if you want to go somewhere with this and try to treat it as more than a hobby you need to hustle and build relationships with every venue possible. Network and sell yourself. Being a professional like showing up on time and having a tight routine of set up and tear down goes a long way.
Focus on the fun
Don’t do it
Get a job
Just have fun and don’t think too hard about it
Honestly? Don't worry. Don't doubt or second guess yourself. Don't fret about others. Do your thing.
* Don't stop playing during a song. if you make a mistake, you fall down, etc. Don't stop playing and don't point out the mistake afterward in crowd banter. * Dynamics are important. at a basic level quiet during verses, louder during choruses. this is a very basic explanation, cause its far more complicated than that * leave space for each other. you are in a band not x number of solo artists. sometime just playing a single quarter note on the 1 can be enough for your part. the song is the total and the individual instruments need room to breathe / coalesce amongst each other. * remember that your practice room / home tone settings are not going to work in a club. most people turn up the mids at home and roll off the highs cause you are so close to the amp/ sound bounce, etc. in a club the audience's bodies absorb the sound and there are a lot of obstacles to bounce, you have to turn up the highs, much more than you normally would. a sound check is always a good idea. * Be redundant with your equipment make sure you have extra cables, picks , strings, sticks, etc. organize your shit so that things go in bags / containers. like with like and make sure you put tags with your name or write your name on EVERYTHING you own. * You are in a band. you help the drummer take down his drums, you help wrap cables. load the car/van, unload the car/van, buy your bass player a sandwich, etc. see "organize your shit" above... dont be those guys that take forever to set up and tear down.
\-not a musician, am a music addict. There aren't any real "do's and don't's" in music. Look at Primus. Play music you love, and followers will come. Music aficionados can tell when the artists are into their own music.If trying to write and you have music already in your head, write it down, sit on it for a few days, try it out then edit if needed. if your still trying to finding your sound: get on what music engine you use and find a few songs from each era/genre. After you make a list of songs both you and your friend both enjoy, you can tease out themes that both you and your friend vibe with. I could be you both love 2000's skater rock like sum 41, some classic rock like bob dylan or new-age political rock like grandson.
If your music gets you going, it will get others going, too. Have fun, make noise, it will become a song. Just PLAY.
enjoy yourself.
Check out The Linda Lindas!
Being able to play your instrument is a different skill than writing good songs, which is different from putting up a good show (being a good and entertaining stage act), which is different from putting yourself out and making yourself known to the public (building fans and followers, making promoters invite you to play shows. You need neither of these to enjoy making music and being in a band. But if, at some point, you want to be "successful" (in the old fashioned, "getting big") way, you need to put effort in all of the above. I have spent my first years in bands focusing on the first and third, neglecting second and fourth, wondering why we didn't become a success. Even though they are fun, you don't need expensive instruments. Ask experienced musicians about a proper setup of your instruments, it makes a huge difference in the fun you have playing them.
Learn how to record your music
Garage band used to be a good recording app. I've heard of ableton. But find one and start recording
get on stage as soon as possible and as often as possible. play anywhere, anytime, for anyone. start writing songs even if you think they are bad, keep writing every day, keep lyrics or song ideas on your phone in Notes or record yourself singing/ melodies, beats, etc into Voice Memos to listen to later. Your style and skills will just come naturally if you do these things (oh, and practice practice practice)
Just do it. Record your stuff even if it's "bad". Good luck and have fun!
I love this. I was 15 when I was in my first. We had so much fun. I miss that feeling. Savor it. Have fun. Don't make the mistake of only loving one type of music. Stay open to different influences. Practice just as hard at home as you do when you're together.
Just go for it. Make music and have fun. There is no "right way" to start a band. Wish you the world. If that is not feasible, then a very good time and the cool memories. That is all I got from my teen band, 35 years ago.
Watch Rick Beato channel.
Nobody said it better than Dave Grohl: “When I think about kids watching a TV show like American Idol or The Voice, then they think, "Oh, OK, that's how you become a musician, you stand in line for eight ******* hours with 800 people at a convention center and... then you sing your heart out for someone and then they tell you it's not ******* good enough." Can you imagine?" he implores. "It's destroying the next generation of musicians! Musicians should go to a yard sale and buy and old ******** drum set and get in their garage and just suck. And get their friends to come in and they'll suck, too. And then they'll ******** start playing and they'll have the best time they've ever had in their lives and then all of a sudden they'll become Nirvana. Because that's exactly what happened with Nirvana. Just a bunch of guys that had some ****** old instruments and they got together and started playing some noisy-ass ****, and they became the biggest band in the world. That can happen again! You don't need a ******* computer or the internet or The Voice or American Idol."
Have fun, don't take it too seriously. If you have ambitions to keep playing music in your 20s and 30s, DON'T get stuck at the level of your band mates.. keep practicing, keep learning, keep exploring and experimenting.
Before you can write the great songs you have to write the shitty songs. You can’t skip that stage, so embrace it. Write as many songs as you can. The worst song you ever write is still a creative process that you will learn something from (even if you don’t know what it is). Make noise, have fun. Write it down or record it because you will forget. The world needs more girls in bands so all power to you both!
If you want to make money now (or really when you're a little bit older), learn a bunch of covers of popular songs. Obviously, there's a limit to what you can do playing other peoples music. But if you want to get paid (not great, but decent beer money) as an amateur, it's the only way to go. But even if you don't want to go that route, learning the guts of how other people have written music across a wide variety of styles can also be invaluable in learning how to write music and figuring out the theory behind whats happening in music. A lot of great song writers and bands didn't really do any of that, wouldn't know a 13 chord from a hole in the ground and just played whatever sounded good. Listen to a lot of music. Even if you don't learn it. Listen to it closely. Pay attention to what the drums are doing. The guitars. The bass. Keyboards. How are they playing together? How are they setting themselves apart? When playing a song, finish what you are playing. Learn how to keep playing a song when you've fucked it up. Don't start and stop and start over. If you want to write your own songs, be prepared to never make any money. Like ever. When it comes to writing songs, don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid to repurpose stuff that has failed. To come back to idea you couldn't get right before later on with a fresh perspective. Be prepared to write a lot of bad songs. Don't be afraid to improvise together as musicians. Badly. And not like just jam band style noodling around in myxolydian improv. Don't be afraid to try and stretch and do new things that may not sound good. Sometimes some of the best ideas can happen spontaneously in a jam session like that. Play together. A lot. Songs. Jamming. Try and get together several times a week for 2 or 3 hours. Play some more. Play at home by yourself. Play with recordings of music. Of yourself. Of others. Play alone. Play acoustic. Play electric. 4 track songs. Write songs that are just chords and a melody. Play. Play. Play. Write. Write. Write.
Keep the rights tonthe music,What ever you do.
Practice and have fun
Don't neglect the bass range with your keyboard playing, it makes a difference.
Enjoy
Play a lot and listen to early ween albums and see what a two man band is capable of!!
As Aldo The Apache would say, "you know how to get to Carnegie Hall? Practice." Practice. Play. Don't play for free.
You have to be different but also the same.
Don't try and copy your fave bands. Be influenced by them, sure but be unique, not a carbon copy.
Advice: play music because you love it, everything else will fall into place.
find a bass player and try to practice together twice a week
Wear earplugs when necessary
If you get big enough, get yourself a manager who has your best interests at heart and ALWAYS take any contract to a solicitor/lawyer. SAVE. YOUR. MONEY
if it’s your first band, do a cover of a few songs to get the ball rolling, learn maybe 10 songs with e.g guitar, drums and vocals so you can always call out a song to play together and get used to it, if you start out just trying to make new music it won’t go well because you won’t have anything you can actually play together, learn those 10 songs and then decide which of those songs you two do the best, when you write your music it should be written more in the style of the songs you do the best job at, it’ll make life so much easier. If you don’t, then in your own time both of you need to play very very well to a metronome, nothing worse than playing out of time, keep improving on your instruments, learn some simple theory (sorry if you find this boring) it’s good to know about keys, it’ll make being able to improv and write songs a lot easier, most of all, have fun, play songs together you actually like and want to play, don’t play songs you don’t want to for the sake of it, make every single song choice a good one.
Not sure but my first suggestion is to go watch the music video....Tips for Teens by Sparks. I really think it will answer a lot of your questions about being a band. Also Sparks is like your musician's musicians. Enjoy.
just make things you like with your friends. its truly magical when it works right with the right group of people. and dont be afraid to push yourself!
Learn about the gear. Cables, connections, why an xlr is different that a guitar cable, what TRS means, details of how to sound good (mic position on amps, drums, etc, ew standards for vocals, guitar, etc). Know why a certain mic is used, why you have the treble turned up in this room, why you mic a kick drum in that room without overheads.... learn what overheads are! Clean up after yourself. Take care of the gear. Don't pull, bend cables, connections, etc. Learn what TONE is. Guitar amps, modulators, whatever makes you sound good. Drums have TONE as well, and... you TUNE drums! Jam with each other, even if you're not a jam band. Lay a groove, let someone just doodle over the top, switch until everyone is comfy doodling. Listen to each other while playing. When something goes sideways mid song, these two things done well let's you get back on track or lend the plane without crashing. Often times, if you go out of bounds, just stop and find yourself. Complement each other. Support others, if you're talented, share it with those that need it. Make bars, store owners, cities, schools, corporations, etc pay. Play for free for the young couple who's baby has cancer or the local charity fundraiser, etc. Do this often. Find a couple of serious causes that you believe in so you can continue to use your talent for good when you become big, but have to turn most down. If you guys are known to care about the humane society and habitat for humanity because you played all of their fundraisers and helped them raise $50k or something, you can be too busy to play the smaller charitable events. Otherwise, play the small gigs. Choose early though and mean it.
Just take it seriously, and make CERTAIN everyone else has the same dedication. You CANNOT be in relationships, the outside world will then affect and encroach the band dynamic. This HAS to be ALL of your goal. You HAVE to all want it and be DISCIPLINED about rehearsing and writing. Then re-writing the same song. REHEARSE A LOT, way more than you can imagine. To the point where you can recognize a song of yours is good, but you don't even need to look at your instrument, even remotely, to play it. DO NOT give up if you get criticized... just write a better song than you have before. Build your craft. REHEARSE AGAIN. and... you know what?? rehearse. When you are on a stage, you will realize this. I wish SO much that I had been given this advice in 1992. We were not all on the same page and somehow got 'quantity and quality' mixed up WAY too much, we had 2 hours of OK rehearsed material, that we would f**k up playing live, instead of 45 minutes of REALLY tight and solid material. I wish I could go back and do it again. :( :( BEST of luck !!!!!
If it stops being fun it’s time to quit…
Just play. Play what you like and have fun!
Be you and do you. Don’t change your style because some people don’t like it, because for every single genre there’s always a fanbase of people who like it
Work, it's all about what you put in to get out.
Anything you want, you have to make happen for yourselves. Don't wait to be discovered or offered a gig. Go out and find gigs. Look for any opportunities! I've played some weird venues as has any number of my musician friends (in the storage room in the back of a Japanese market for about 50 people comes to mind). Make flyers, get friendly with other bands, get stickers made, and most importantly, don't play music you're not into. If you write a song you're not feeling, tuck it away for another time and start again.
Start learning how to do social media marketing. Your success is strongly tied to being able to successfully marketing your brand. Which is also your band :)
Alpine MusicSafe Pro - High fidelity earplugs for musicians. Get used to using ear protection from the start. Always have extras on hand. You only get one pair of ears.
Enjoy the ride and try everyone’s ideas. I was in a band with three people over 10 years and we managed to never fight because we all were keen to try each other’s ideas. This would be my key advice. No idea is stupid so just have a go and play it 😂
Play everywhere you can as often as you can with as many diverse musicians as you can
Just try to have fun. Don’t think about being big rock stars or “making it”. Just make some music that you like. Just start jamming. Eventually you end up with some licks or melodies that you like. Eventually you can use those building blocks to make a song. Do it again. Don’t worry if your first or tenth or fiftieth song isn’t amazing or well-received. Just have fun. You have to make some bad music before you make good music. Just don’t put too much pressure on yourselves.
Covers are always great for building confidence and learning each other's styles! Have fun and don't put too much pressure on it. Let any writing come naturally. Just want to say, that as a former band kid and music nerd, I'm proud of you all and you should totally do it!! I think playing an instrument is one of the best things you can do in life.
Be reasonable and respectful with the hours yall jam. Neighbors didn’t sign up to hear your band play, but I found most are cool with it if you communicate and are respectful. You will get people banging on the door yelling at you to shut up, and when you do you should, but if y’all get decent what you don’t expect is people coming by saying how much they enjoy there being music in the neighborhood.
1. Ear plugs. Not even joking. Guitar center has reusable musicians ear plugs for ten bucks. Buy a pair and keep them in your guitar case. Buy another pair and keep them in your backpack. Buy a third and keep them in your moms car. Use them always. 2. Have fun! Until your selling out clubs, it’s really the only thing that matters 3. Write a ton of songs; it’s how you get better at writing songs. 4. Play a ton of songs; it’s how you get better at playing songs. 5. Singer dictates the key. Singer helps the drummer load in.
Do: Practice, practice, practice. It's okay to suck as bad as Bill and Ted in the "Bill and Ted" movies at first. The important thing is to get better. Do: Make sure you don't mind looking at one another for hours, days, or weeks at a time. Don't: Get the police called on you for noise ordinance violations or get your family evicted due to too many noise complaints lol.
Now find a kid in school that wants to be your booking agent. Parties, Bar Mitzvahs, school dances, under age clubs, etc. I know kids that started out playing a few sets in the mall on Saturdays.
Just have fun. Cover songs you love. Write songs that sound good to you all. And again, have fun!
Don’t copy anyone, do like the floyd, just make music however you wanted it too sound
Just play! And keep playin
There are no rules! Bring the noise!
Rule 1: Have *fun.* Once it stops being fun, fix it or stop. The rest is just *Go For It.*
Someone else may have said this but my biggest tip is that when you are doing laying covers (which usually is most of the time for new, young bands) it does NOT have to sound just like the original. It sounds much better and is much more productive to have a drum part that might not have the fills but is able to stay on time or to not play every single lead guitar line. Start simple and practice just playing together before you try to complicate things! :)) I started playing music with friends around the same time you are so I hope it works out for you!! Oh also compromise on what songs to play. Not every song will be your favorite but also not every some will be someone else’s favorite. It’s better to play something that you are just fine with than nothing at all :))
My advice: Rock as hard as you can every day.
Jam and jam and jam.. use the voice memo app one your phones to capture riffs and ideas when you are alone. Girls will happen, don’t they them get in the way of jams with the band and rehearsals. If it sounds decent recorded on a cheap pair of mics running into a cheap recording device - it will sound great when you record it properly The first gig…. Take spares of everything you can - picking up a a spare already tuned guitar is better than stopping to change a string Label your cables - a bit of blue electrical tape on everything will make reclaiming your stuff easy Don’t gig until you can run through the set together with your eyes closed, the aim is to worry about performing not worry about playing the songs. Get the singer to practice some inter song talking “scream for me smithson village hall” always gets a laugh.
Just find a space, plug in and make noise. You will suck and that's totally ok, it's important to suck. After a while you'll suck less, but who cares? The most important thing is to love what you do. Keep at it. Don't let anyone tell you what you can or can't do. Play for yourselves, not someone else. You're gonna be awesome!
I'd say play covers, and try and play a range, as that will help you find a 'sound'
My tip is to practice together as much as you can. Create a bond with your musical companions. Don’t be afraid to try things together and find what works and what doesn’t. Be open with one and others choices and opinions. Keep having fun! Btw - I find it awesome that you’re making your first steps into starting your band. Music brings people together, and it really excites me that there are still teens getting together to create musical fusion together the same way I did starting out.
Don’t break up, keep trying when it gets hard.
My biggest suggestion is to make some music and get it recorded. It doesn't have to be perfect, just get a proof of concept of what you guys want to do.
Covers are a great place to start. Don’t have to swing for the fences right away, jam jam jam, and keep jamming. It will come !! The energy, the style, it will come with time. Gotta put in those practices even when you’re not sure you’re feeling it ! Band chemistry is important, listen to music together and enjoy each others company. First band is a rush, wishing you all the best !
Not really a “need” but more of “it will make it better” (depending on what genre you play) a bassist. They really fill in that low frequency that no other instrument can do adequately in my opinion.
Also, me and two other friends are starting a nu metal/alt rock band and bass is a must.
This was all really helpful! My son is 16 and looking to join w some other teens. He plays guitar and likes rock, metal and goes to a lot of music shows. He has a bass and a plays guitar and looking to join a band. West LA.