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Setting up first band - what should I do?

S

st00f

Jan 30, 2012
34
0
#1
Well, me and my friend have just decided to start a band, we have all the required players (Keyboardist, guitarist, bassist is me) other than a drummer. I just started out bass, although I am practicing ridiculously often, and the guitarist and keyboardist don't really care when we start. I need to find a good, cheap set of drums for my drummer, and some resources for him to learn (His parents can pay for lessons, but lessons aren't exactly the fastest way ever to learn) also, any tips to making a band would be nice. All of the players are close friends, and it seems like it'd be really fun, although we don't plan on playing gigs and such, seeing as we're all in our early teens and not all that great anyway. Any help would be appreciated! I really don't want this band to fall apart before it even started! I hope to get it all into place by this summer, where we could get some good playtime in. :)
 
#2
Without structure, it will suck.

My first band we had a single drummer play with us one time from an hour away, and his dad decided he was going to stay the whole time unannounced and watch the game with my parents while he waited for us to be done. We had a singer for a total of one practice. We practiced 4 or 5 times a week for 6 to 8 hours and spent almost all of that arguing about what we were going to do. I swear we learned roughly a minute from 20 to 30 different songs.

I have moved on now, and I'm leading my own band that's relatively successful.


Are you planning on being instrumental, or will there be a vocalist? If there is a vocalist, a decent vocal PA is something you will also have to consider.

Check your local Craigslist for drums. The teacher he is going to get lessons from? Ask him if he knows anybody who is selling a decent starter kit.

If you guys are just starting, unless you're super dedicated, don't expect to play a full song even for a couple of months. What I will say is that playing in a band skyrocketed my planing abilities.

When you're not practicing with them, practice to a drum machine if you can. It's hard to show the importance of locking into a beat and being able to play with a band. Before that, I'd pretty much just played to recordings. After playing with a solid drummer, I can feel the beat in almost anything.

Have fun. Don't expect it to go anywhere huge, but just maybe you'll get hooked and inspire you to get there on your own.
 
#4
Drum machine is an option - easiest first step would be to just download some random free drum loops, put them on a computer, hit play, and practice over those. Also consider a cajon instead of a drum kit, just as a temporary substitute. It's smaller, cheaper and not so loud.
 
#6
mikegug said:
What kind of music? Classic rock, pop, jazz, etc? What artists do you expect to cover, if at all?
Click to expand...

I plan on covering some TV show and movie songs, as well as some others from bands like Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Coldplay, all types of music really. "Whatever we want to play", as my friend said as we were planning it. :P


oniman7 said:
Without structure, it will suck.

My first band we had a single drummer play with us one time from an hour away, and his dad decided he was going to stay the whole time unannounced and watch the game with my parents while he waited for us to be done. We had a singer for a total of one practice. We practiced 4 or 5 times a week for 6 to 8 hours and spent almost all of that arguing about what we were going to do. I swear we learned roughly a minute from 20 to 30 different songs.

I have moved on now, and I'm leading my own band that's relatively successful.


Are you planning on being instrumental, or will there be a vocalist? If there is a vocalist, a decent vocal PA is something you will also have to consider.

Check your local Craigslist for drums. The teacher he is going to get lessons from? Ask him if he knows anybody who is selling a decent starter kit.

If you guys are just starting, unless you're super dedicated, don't expect to play a full song even for a couple of months. What I will say is that playing in a band skyrocketed my planing abilities.

When you're not practicing with them, practice to a drum machine if you can. It's hard to show the importance of locking into a beat and being able to play with a band. Before that, I'd pretty much just played to recordings. After playing with a solid drummer, I can feel the beat in almost anything.

Have fun. Don't expect it to go anywhere huge, but just maybe you'll get hooked and inspire you to get there on your own.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I don't expect to go anywhere huge, but it seems pretty fun. Thanks for the tips! :)
 
#7
First off, I tell my teen band that I manage that there is a difference between "practice" and "band rehearsal". You practice a song by yourself at home so you can learn your parts and become intimately familiar with the song structure (Intro, V, Chorus, V2, C, C, Bridge, Chorus). Then you bring your knowledge of that song(s) to "band rehearsal". It'll be obvious who didn't practice before band rehearsal. Band rehearsal becomes MUCH MUCH less frustrating when everyone knows their parts. Magically, the song appears right out of your amps. It's pretty cool when it happens.

Rehearsal time is hard to come by, as you add members (ie. more people = more schedules to work around), so start good habits now.
 
#8
mikegug said:
First off, I tell my teen band that I manage that there is a difference between "practice" and "band rehearsal". You practice a song by yourself at home so you can learn your parts and become intimately familiar with the song structure (Intro, V, Chorus, V2, C, C, Bridge, Chorus). Then you bring your knowledge of that song(s) to "band rehearsal". It'll be obvious who didn't practice before band rehearsal. Band rehearsal becomes MUCH MUCH less frustrating when everyone knows their parts. Magically, the song appears right out of your amps. It's pretty cool when it happens.

Rehearsal time is hard to come by, as you add members (ie. more people = more schedules to work around), so start good habits now.
Click to expand...
+1 All good advice.In shopping for drums,steer clear of Pearl stuff.In the high end of their line you'll find good quality,but the cheaper models are not good at all.Try Yamaha or Gretsch used kits,on CL often.
 
#9
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#11
sevdog said:
My recomendation is to start by getting some really good pyrotechnics and working on your image first. Good music won't get you anywhere in this business
:hiding:
Click to expand...

Haha, Nobody is going to sell gunpowder to a bunch of 13 year olds. :P Anyway, we only plan on playing at local events like talent shows in our schools and such. No monetizing for us.
 
#12
There's a difference between just being able to play, and being able to play with other people. It's never to early to start learning that, and the more you play with a group the better off you'll be in the future.

But, if there are four of you forming a band and all of you are new to music, you can end up in a "blind leading the blind" situation. Many if not most beginning bands waste a lot of time and energy focusing on the wrong things and don't get their act together, despite this being the time in your life when you'll probably have the most opportunity to spend a lot of time on music.

I highly recommend finding somebody with some band experience to come by, listen to what you're doing, and give you tips. If one of you has a bass/guitar/drum/keys teacher you like and respect, that would be a good place to start. Or if you know somebody who's in a working band.

Often it's easier to accept a comment like "the guitar is too loud" or "that riff is wrong" from a disinterested outside observer than a bandmate.

Also, it is likely that as you develop, you will either (a) develop at different rates, or (b) develop in different directions. It's great to be in a band with people who are also your pals, but don't get too heavily emotionally invested in this particular project, because within a year or two you may well be facing the prospect of either quitting, or kicking one of your friends out, or at least having one or more of them quit. If you're serious and have talent, you will almost certainly be in LOTS of bands over the course of your life. Make the best of this situation, but if it becomes apparent that the other people want different things out of it (or aren't willing to do what's necessary to achieve what they say they want), be prepared to move on. Maybe your group is the exception and you'll be together for the long haul, and if so great, but it doesn't usually work out that way with first bands.

That point is related to another common issue in new bands: if any of you are going to sing, you will need a PA of some sort. DON'T jointly buy a PA. It may seem like a good way to get the money for one, but it almost inevitably leads to bad situations and bad feelings down the road. There are threads about that here, but it's best for one person who can scrape the resources together to get a PA, or if that is impossible, have each member buy discreet components, i.e., one person buys some mics, one person buys a mixer, other people buy wedges, etc. The singer or keyboard player would be the ones with the biggest interest in the PA at this point, so they would be the obvious ones to get it if they can, but it will never hurt anybody to own a PA. Also, I think it is quite reasonable to require everybody to provide their own powered speaker to use as their own monitor, although it may be easier to find a powered mixer and unpowered cabinets.
 
#15
Hell, watch "This Is Spinal Tap" and the entire K-On anime series. Spinal Tap is exactly what your bands will be like when you're 45, and K-On is exactly what your band will be like next year if you are all Japanese girls. Which you probably aren't, but...
 
#17
gfaulkner said:
+1 All good advice.In shopping for drums,steer clear of Pearl stuff.In the high end of their line you'll find good quality,but the cheaper models are not good at all.Try Yamaha or Gretsch used kits,on CL often.
Click to expand...

I would counter that pearl makes some decent low end stuff. I've been playing my pearl drums since the late 90's (either 98 or 99) i have a pearl export kit (it is a poplar wood kit) which I have used for recording and gigs. When I play drums I still use that kit today. All it takes to make most drums sound and play well are good heads and proper tuning. I am not saying that Yamaha and Gretsch do not make good drums, because they do, but I would not be so quick to write off pearl.

Now back to the original poster's concerns. I learned how to play drums by taking lessons in school and by jamming with friends. I have been in a band with the same guy since we were 12 years old. The original band broke up but I just joined his new band (this time on bass rather than drums). Have fun, play songs you like, and maybe some time down the road, you can play gigs. Until then remember the most important part is having fun.
 

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