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How many pieces should be in a band?

#62
There are no rules re that. you can do a 2 piece like the Black keys or do a six piece like Lynyrd Skynyrd. or have 20 people on stage like Frank Zappa and BB King

You need three elements musically to make any band work at least in our culture:
1. Melodic section - this can be a guitar or keyboard (eg edgar winter), a bassist can also do this role, though is less common in rock, its very common in reggae, funk, latin fusion or RNB etc.
2. Rythm section - Drummer, bass player typically. A keyboardist can sub for the bass player Example Led Zepplin on Stairway to heaven
3. Vocals - It sucks but no one wants to hear instrumentals, Americans especially in the south care ALOT about vocals. They practically ignore all the other parts of the music.

The typical basic rock config is
Melody - Guitar
Main Rythm - drums
Rythm 2 - Bass
Vocals

You can leave out the bass but its gonna sound thin. unless you have a badass guitarist. After that everything you add just makes the music more full and takes some work off the other players.

For example if you add a rythm guitarist then the lead guitarist no longer has to play rythm. Some guitarists like that others need to play rythm during the song to keep time, especially if they are singing. Jimi hendrix was a good example of this kind of player, chuck berry as well.

There are no rules though Ive seen bands with 1 vocalist and 1 keyboardist. The key board player played the rythm and melodic parts. The singer just sang. Case in poiont Ghostland Observatory.

As long as you have the three core music elements how you do it is up to you
 
#65
My main working band has 7 to 8 people...me, guitar, keys, drums, lead vocal/perc., trumpet, sax, (occasionally) trombone. My new recording band has one member...me singing, playing bass, and programming the drums. Here are my thoughts:

---As long as a bandmember is making a contribution, he or she is worth having.

---A lot of places pay you according to the amount of members you have, but some don't. In the case of original bands, it really doesn't matter as much because the money's not great unless your band takes off and you can control your own destiny more.

---If you find a singer who has a good voice and a way with an audience and someone in the band wants to kick him or her out because he or she doesn't play an instrument, kick that person in the band out instead. By far, good singers are the hardest thing to replace. Found this out the hard way.
 
#68
If you play paying gigs, the fewer the better. If you can do it as a trio with guitar, bass and drums with the guitar and bass singing it's great. If the drummer sings also that's a bonus. I've played with my trio fronting a name band recently. The take was split evenly between the two bands. We had three pieces, the other band had 7 with horns, keys and a singer. Do the math.
 
#69
Janzmeister said:
Hello, I'm kind of forming a new rock-ish band and I'm wondering how many guys should I tag along.

How many guitars? Should the lead vocalist be able to play an instrument? Is a keyboardist very important for the genre? Does five pieces sound good, or is that too many? Any suggestions?

Throw me your thoughts
Click to expand...

This decision should be determined, first by musical requirements, and secondly by business and/or logistical requirements. It's as valid and important a creative issue as any of the music you'll be creating. So sort out what will work for you.

MM
 
#70
valus said:
:eyebrow:

Paying attention to vocals is a regional thing now?!?!?!?! Hmmm... :confused:
Click to expand...

What he's getting at is that vocals-oriented music is generally considered more mainstream & conventional, even traditional, than is instrumental music. And that in the South, being a culturally traditional area of the country, such conventions are particularly expected - and generally observed. :eyebrow:

MM
 
#72
Janzmeister said:
Hello, I'm kind of forming a new rock-ish band and I'm wondering how many guys should I tag along.

How many guitars? Should the lead vocalist be able to play an instrument? Is a keyboardist very important for the genre? Does five pieces sound good, or is that too many? Any suggestions?

Throw me your thoughts
Click to expand...

For original project: Write the music and figure out what it needs in the studio. Then duplicate that band for live.

For covers: If you are just starting out, the smaller the band the better for cover gigs since most pub stages can barely hold a 4 piece.

If the sky's the limit on either type of projects, then two lead guitars, Hammond/Keys, Bass, Drums, perhaps percussionist. Three part harmony for your vocals is always a good idea.

A band with good backing vocals is always a plus.
 
#75
How many should be in a band?

However many it takes to make it happen.

I don't want to get into that endless circular argument about the math of money and music so I'll reserve my opinions on the school of thought regards the fewer the better.

I've seen some really good trio's and I've seen some crappy bands with a stage full of players/singers. I've also seen some really bad trio's and really good big bands.

Ultimately it's up to the BL and whatever vision they have, and of course the people they can convince to share that vision.
 
#77
The Sloth said:
This is as good as asking "what kind of picks should I use"? It's entirely up to you and your needs/intentions.
Click to expand...

this is good advice, I play in three projects, two are the standard skins, 2 guitars, bass , singer, the third we have three guitars, an 18 year old female skins player , me on the bass and trumpet, a percussionist (congas, timbales, Djembe and various other rhythm accoutrements) and a little person DJ (no joke, three foot tall mixmaster that can scratch and mix like a mofo) we do live song mashups and remixes ( we have our first gig dec 6 I will see if I can post some audio or video once we are done it) all in all a VERY creative crew.
when we were putting this all together we started off in the standard style but as we went along and the creative juices started flowing , we started bringing in other talented friends and family (drummer and dj are one rhythm guitar player/singer's cousins and one of the lead guitar players is my son , also 18 years old) all have bought into the concept we have envisioned and have brought ideas and complete remixes to the table, some stick and some do not. I guess in my long winded way , try a bunch of different configurations if you want , and see what fits and sounds best for what you are aiming for
 
#79
I like two guitars one keyboard one bass one drum.





You might like any other variation and that's fine too. I remember this band in the 90's, they were one bassist/singer one drummer. They didn't sound like they were lacking anything. All subjective.
 

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