Being A Band Leader

[santucci218]

It seems like some people just have what it takes. I play with a drummer and a guitarist and the guitarist just has that band leader feel about him and he gives us direction...what do you feel is necessary to become a well established band leader? what can i work on to practice this?

[waffle puzzle]

1. good communication skills
2. an open mind to ideas from bandmates
3. after stating an idea say "is that ok ?" or "what do you think ?"
4. a clear head (no major dope or drunkedness)
5. willingness to write a practice set list, and discuss openly strong and weak songs
6. ability to network with other bands and fans ie..a myspace account
7. take a managerial role by booking local shows
8. set an example by being on time, and encourage bandmates to be on time
9. most of all, be able to recognize what are the areas of weakness in a band and encourage everyone to work together for common goals.

I'm sure there's more, but that's just off the cuff

[santucci218]

would you happen to be a band leader?

[DocBop]

from my experience band leaders fall into two categories. One is the guy who takes care of business, gets the gigs, makes the contacts, deals with the club owners, makes sure everyone know when and where to be, gets the money and pays everyone, the stuff a manager would do if you were that far along. Sometimes they aren't the strongest player in the band, but they are good enough and handle stuff no one else wants to do.

Then there is the band leader who is strongest musically. They write a lot of the material, have good sense of arranging, maybe the musical front person. They usually have the respect of the others (at least at some point.) These sometimes are also the fake of the group so a group. Great player, writer, arranger, soloist, but seems to fall in holes all the time. So a group may have both types of leaders.

No matter what type of leader you are takes a strong personallity and thick skin.

[waffle puzzle]

If you are talking about me, then yes, I am a band leader....although, we have a very democratic process........and, no singer. (no offense to singers, we are simply into instrumental music)

[waffle puzzle]

thanks DocBop for that, I missed you're comment before posting mine....very well said.

In my band, the guitarist and I write all the material, but the drummer has valuable input as well. We tend to write our own parts to the new material presented.

I do deal with the managerial aspects of the band, am the one who recruited the members initially, and started the project with a handful of my songs. Now, (only 7 months later) we mostly play songs we've written as a band.

I suppose being an instrumental band is a good breeding ground for democratic decisions.
Or, we just got lucky with the band chemistry.