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How to not suck as a band?

#41
play some songs together, get to know each other (if you dont already know them) if you dont click together, or if you dont all enjoy the music, then its not gonna work out. make sure all of your bandmates are like your best friends and that you all enjoy playing the music that you play, whatever style it may be. second, you gotta put in a LOT of work. practice individually to hone your skills at your instrument, and practice together with your band to learn to work together. above all, work hard and have fun with it. i agree with TheVoiceless also. dont buy into the cliches. all theyll do is hold you back. hope this helps :)
 
#42
How not to suck?
1- Take pride in what you do. Most young high school/college bands just wanna party or get use the band to get laid.
2- Serve no wine before it's time. Meaning don't play out until the band is ready.
3- Don't play for free. or showcase. A nicely done promo package will let potential venues see what you look and sound like. If you are willing to play for free, That's like painting a big "WE SUCK" sign on your foreheads.
4- What ever you do, do NOT pay to play. That's like painting a big "WE SUCK AND WE'RE STUPID TOO" sign on your foreheads.
5- Always record yourselves at rehearsals and critique your performances in constructive ways. This also helps you to remember the way you have arranged the songs.
6- Rehearse the way you will perform on stage (or want to perform) The things you do at rehearsals WILL come out when you play live. The annoying things you do at rehearsals will annoy your audience too.
7- Always refer to rules 1 & 2
 
#43
Heres a few things

1) You all have to have a high level of dedication. No ones saying you should blow off school work or disown friends and family, but theres gonna be times where you have to decide between hanging out any watching movies, and practicing. You need to know that at least most of the time, practice comes first for everyone

2) Be multi dimensional. Listen to, and play lots of music

3) Be perfectionists. No matter how many times you play a song, it can still groove harder and sound tighter

4) Have fun!
 
#44
michaelgilleran said:
Heres a few things

1) You all have to have a high level of dedication. No ones saying you should blow off school work or disown friends and family, but theres gonna be times where you have to decide between hanging out any watching movies, and practicing. You need to know that at least most of the time, practice comes first for everyone
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i love it! :D
dedication is HUGE, cuz the last thing you want is an indecisive guitarist who chickens out the day before a gig :)
 
#46
Never be an musical elitist.

Learn to transcribe music by ear (it will make you an amazing player).

Be able to admit when something you have written sucks. My band (which is signed) has over 100 songs that we have left as sketches because they suck. Out of 100 songs we keep 10.

Not everything you write will be gold even if you are good.
 
#48
absolutely. unique is style. so if you want to make a name for yourselves, just be yourselves. go out there and make music that is totally you. when people cant label your band with a genre, you stick into their mind as a unique band. thats not to say you must write death metal songs with 4 trombone parts and a kazoo solo, but just that you need to be creative and have fun :)
 
#49
YL_Bass said:
Never be an musical elitist.

Learn to transcribe music by ear (it will make you an amazing player).

Be able to admit when something you have written sucks. My band (which is signed) has over 100 songs that we have left as sketches because they suck. Out of 100 songs we keep 10.

Not everything you write will be gold even if you are good.
Click to expand...

That 10:1 ratio is about what I consider normal, or even a little optimistic. If you want to fill out a disc with 15 songs, that means you need to have about 150 that are done & ready. 90% of your (as well as mine, at least) songs are crap.

I always try to imagine how many boxcar-loads of absolute, total crap people like Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Prince, Barry Manilow, etc. must have that will never see the light of day! I have no doubt that the "10% Rule" applies to them as well as me!
 
#50
YL_Bass said:
Be able to admit when something you have written sucks. My band (which is signed) has over 100 songs that we have left as sketches because they suck. Out of 100 songs we keep 10.

Not everything you write will be gold even if you are good.
Click to expand...

Very good advice, and there's much truth in it. Too many terrible originals bands won't reject songs due to ego. If you write 15 songs, that doesn't mean that you do 15.

For example, take the Beatles' Rubber Soul album. It's a classic album, for some a quintessential one.
The hits from the album are
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
You Won't See Me
Michelle
Girl
I'm Looking Through You
In My Life

There's lots of hits on the album, but there's 12 songs. Which means there are 6 that not enough folks cared enough about to make it a hit single. And this is the Beatles, and one of their essential albums. Why should some original garage band think that all their songs are good?
 
#51
Here's two guiding principles that have worked for me.

- The great thing about music is that you are never great at it. Even if you master something, there's always something new to learn and ways to improve. You may now Jazz, but can you also play Funk? You can slap and pop like a mutha, but can you also play 32nd notes fingerstyle? You know how to pick up things by ear, now can you transcribe it? The great thing about never being great at something is that you never get bored. That's why I love music, why it's a lifelong endeavor.

- Music is a two way street. As an art, it takes a creator and a consumer so create something worthy of consumption. Music as communication requires a transmitter and receiver, so transmit something that can be received and understood by others. If you don't have something worthy of consumption, or unable to be received, you are only getting 1/2 the experience.
 
#52
JohnMCA72 said:
That 10:1 ratio is about what I consider normal, or even a little optimistic. If you want to fill out a disc with 15 songs, that means you need to have about 150 that are done & ready. 90% of your (as well as mine, at least) songs are crap.

I always try to imagine how many boxcar-loads of absolute, total crap people like Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Prince, Barry Manilow, etc. must have that will never see the light of day! I have no doubt that the "10% Rule" applies to them as well as me!
Click to expand...

depends how you look at it...i would bet the "****" the artists above have dumped is maybe 100000000% better than what most people here think is good.. this 10% thing is a load of crap.at a guess i would say somebody famous said it once in a book and now people take it as "law"..dont belive such ********.music is very subjective just as the musicians playing it.if your song is not working change what your doing.most artist think their songs suck,
have you thought about the band image???for example the black t-shirt and denim jeans..99.9%of bands play in...never going to get ya noticed.. music is a package,you have to sound right and look right..classic example of being noticed is say slash from GnR with the hat! or randy rhoads with the polka-dot flying V..just something people will remember about ya..
 
#53
Beginner Bass said:
They usually only play what they want to play, and what they consider the best, and what they consider incredibly difficult, etc., while forgetting about what the audience came to hear.
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Yes. The difference between "we are here to play great music" and "we are here to entertain the audience by playing great music" is immense. And by that I don't mean everyone should play poppy, commercial music. It's a matter of being aware of your audience (your audience might hate poppy music) and their reactions, then adjusting accordingly.

A lot of bands are missing this badly, and will probably never get anywhere. I've worked with a singer who didn't even seem to notice anything in front of the stage. She actually had good stage presence and charisma, but would do things like call a song with practically no drums after some people started dancing, or ignore cameras pointed at her. I tried to make fun of her for the latter once, but she really didn't even notice them at all.

Now, not posing for cameras won't kill your band, but playing the same set in front of a large festival audience that you would play in a club where most people already know you? That's a terrible idea.

I wouldn't say this is the biggest factor, though. I'd say the single biggest reason bands fail is insufficiently broad skills. People either don't practice enough, or practice a narrow range of skills and then can't play a C# major scale or a rudimentary bossa nova bassline.
 
#55
Good bands-

-Start and end every song at the same time, with authority and confidence. This is the hallmark of well rehearsed bands, and well practiced musicians.

-Deal with clams and mistakes well. If you put five human beings on a task, one of them is going to make a mistake. It is the law of nature. A good band knows it and can deal with it. A great band laughs it off. A fantastic band never lets the audience on to the mistake.

-Has fun, and it is evident in their music and stage presence. Move your ass and smile.
 
#57
kevingr said:
There is a lot of great of advice in this thread I would particularly look at what has been said ego and a certain amount of naivety.

On the hand it is not necessarily a bad thing. When I was a teenager and my friends and I were creating bands and writing songs we thought we were great and our friends told us we were great when in reality we sucked. But here is the important bit, because we thought we were great we carried on doing it until we really did become quite good. That ego and false boosting of it gave us the encouragement to keep playing and keep practicing.
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+1 "Success" begins with "Sucks". That's not a coincidence.

You have to either be oblivious to your sucktastical abilities or determined to overcome it to get good at ANYTHING.

There's a fine line where you stop working because you think you're already great that must be avoided, so you can go too far with the obliviousness towards one's sucktaphonicality, as American Idol has painfully demonstrated.

Randy
 
#58
to be able to play most styles of music.. and to be able to blend in the band without standing out...

as a bass player you should know the role, which is to support, the rythm section and the backbone of the band..

also the thing between a supportive bassist and a soloist is well most guitarists and drummers would prefer a supportive one rather than a soloist who would compete them..
 
#59
Trying to be "original" requires actually doing something special. Many are not doing anything special, which makes them so forgettable. Take a good, hard listen and look at what you are playing and your performances - are you really doing something special? What makes your band something to see and hear?

Not sucking is a different issue - one can be original and still suck and one can be totally unorginal and not suck at all. Not sucking requires you to work hard at what you are doing. Don't accept shortcuts, don't make excuses - make sure that you are working at a professional level, and you probably already know how to do that. The key is discipline and professionalism.
 
#60
alexwittscheck said:
Blood, sweat, and tears, from every member of the band.
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+1.

It's all about work. You have to work to get better at your instrument. You have to work together as a band to get the songs tight. You have to work to be on the same page and get along well enough for long enough to get to a point where you're playing gigs... and playing well at those gigs.

It's work to promote the band, it's work to entertain people, and it's work to see the big picture.

I'd also like to add humility. Sometimes you have to eat sh!t. Sometimes your ideas will get shot down and you have to just roll with it and accept it and move on. Be an adult.

At the same time though, it has to be fun and it should fun most of the time. Good luck
 

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