Very first band...........

[DWBass]

How old were you when you joined your very first band? And how good was that band?

1973. I was 14. The band REALLY sucked. Drummer was a beginner. Guitarist consistently played the wrong chords and would get mad when I would point it out to him. Keyboardist just wasn't really interested. He had potential but wasn't interested in being a musician. Go figure. I was WAY ahead of them skill wise but I had no other outlet........until I got the call for band #2.....a real band. Only played 2 gigs before I got the call for band #3.....an even better band that lasted 2 years.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

First band?

I was drumming then, about 17, and boy we were terrible. I have a VHS somewhere of of a gig after we'd been playing a couple years and thought we were really something. We were something alright, just not something good. I don't have a clue what the guitarists were using to tune with but the two of them and the bassist should have discussed a unifying source before we started playing.

For all the horrors of what we sounded like, back at the time the drinking age was 18, no smoking ban, the bars were always full and we had a lot of fun times. A completely different world than what's out there now for bands to choose from.

 

[dbase]

I was 18 and we did all instrumentals, Ventures etc. We were called "The Tensions" and won the battle of the bands in Lambertville NJ ... then broke up which is what bands did or still do nowadays.

 

[Nashrakh]

My first band didn't last very long. I was around 18 at the time, played for about a year. I saw an ad for a Thrash Metal band looking for a bassist. That was at the height of my metal phase, so I was all-in on that. The music itself was decent, the drummer and singer/RG were alright, the new guitarist couldn't hold a groove if his entire body was made of pockets. Sloppy af.

Then our rehearsal space burned down. We split up shortly after, and I moved on to another band that was acoustic covers. I met my best friend in that band, even though we were all just semicompetent at the beginning.

 

[FlatThumb]

I played in the jazz band in school, does that count?

 

[StyleOverShow]

Thirteen years old, on guitar. Not much of a band. We got together over the summer break between middle and high school. I borrowed an electric guitar, Silvertone, with amp in the HSC. We played two afternoon parties that summer, both times parents asked us to turn everything off. We knew half a dozen songs and played them over and over to an appreciative audience. Pipeline was our big hit and Louie Louie.
That fall Of 1963 I would enter high school, two bus rides away from my NE Los Angeles neighborhood. It was the school with the most popular bands including Blue Velvet and The Midnighters. I joined the woodwinds playing clarinet, my parents banishing me to my bedroom with that foul sounding stick in my mouth. The school band director, Bill Taggert, pulled a bunch of us aside and put together a band, guitar bass, drums, trumpet and sax. I was still on guitar. We played for football rallies and school assemblies. We used the school logo, the Mustangs and called the band The Etalons. We did quite well in the following year playing high school dances. It was a lot of fun and I was hooked. Stevie Wonders I Wish plays in my head....

 

[andawun]

18 yrs old. Got to work with a really good drummer, guitarist and female singer. We did Rush, Heart, Triumph and Judas Priest covers. Our obstacles were finding/ keeping rehearsal space and getting a gig worthy PA system. Also I was the only one with a car!

 

[bajaandy]

13 years old, 1977. Garage band. All of us about the same age. 2 guitars (one a phenom) and a pretty good drummer. Played together for a couple years at schools and city events and what not. Stayed with the good guitarist all through high school (even though we went to different high schools) and for a few years after.

 

[RustyAxe]

1967 ... I was 13 years old. I had less than a year on bass, but had 7 years of piano by then. Guitar, bass, keys (an old Farfisa!), and drums. We were just kids, and the female drummer's mom was our manager/agent. First gig was St. Joseph School dance. We knew a dozen songs, maybe. My bass amp blew a fuse and of course, being a kid, I didn't pack any spares, so ran the bass through a guitar amp along with the guitar. That was also our last gig.

 

[Jebberz]

13 years, we were trying to do covers from Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Metallica. Not very goodd, but not awefull untill I switched from bass to vocals

They kicked me out, but I went back a few years later as the bass player. I still play 30 years later with the lead guitar, an my current rythm guitar was our singer when I came back.

 

[dave64o]

I call myself an old beginner because I'm 55 and only had my first real gig this past August. That's basically the truth, but not quite...

I actually played my first gig in 1985 when I was 21 and in my senior year of college, playing rhythm guitar as well as doing lead vocals. I was just starting to mess around with an acoustic guitar at the time and a few guys who lived in my house were also in the school's jazz band. They wanted to start a band and said they'd teach me some guitar if I'd sing. I had no experience or ability but I thought it could be fun so I agreed. I didn't really know what I was doing at that point, but I could strum chords and bang out power chords so I got by while the others did the heavy lifting musically - I was there mostly because they wanted someone to sing. We played an occasional on campus party for free beer and I had a blast, but then I graduated and real life took over.

Over the next 30 years or so I still remembered the fun I had and that prompted me to get serious about starting to play bass once circumstances finally allowed me the free time to do it. After taking lessons for a while and then working up the nerve to take my first step out in the world playing in some basement jams, I finally joined a gigging band a few months ago.

Wish I started when I was younger like most people, but I'm having tons of fun making up for lost time now.

 

[TerribleTim68]

I was 17 when I joined my first band, Quick Fixx. We were an all original metal band. It started out as literally 3 high school buddies who wanted to start a band; my best friend on guitar, our good friend on drums and me on bass. They both already knew how to play their instruments, so I bought a bass and started learning. I was in that band for about 5 years, we made some decent music. After the band fizzled out (I think everyone just got tired of going nowhere) I hopped around a lot between about 3 different bands for the next year before I just hung it up. As for that first band, you can be the judge on if it was good or not. This is circa 1990 and the only real recorded history I have of my gigging days. Different times back then, not everything was live streamed, or even recorded. -
]

 

[lionsdenblog]

How old were you when you joined your very first band? And how good was that band?

1973. I was 14. The band REALLY sucked. Drummer was a beginner. Guitarist consistently played the wrong chords and would get mad when I would point it out to him. Keyboardist just wasn't really interested. He had potential but wasn't interested in being a musician. Go figure. I was WAY ahead of them skill wise but I had no other outlet........until I got the call for band #2.....a real band. Only played 2 gigs before I got the call for band #3.....an even better band that lasted 2 years.

Yep... 1976. I was 14, right after my Dad died of a heart attack at 51. Bought a Fender Musicmaster from our keyboardist’s cousin for $60. Originally, I was gonna be the rhythm guitarist, but... I became a bassist. Three of us were already in a quartet in 8th grade, so our harmonies were excellent. Always been in bands with tight harmonies, superb vocals.

 

[two fingers]

Very first band (if you don't count the high school jazz band) was called "Grinder". It was maybe 1985? We did rock covers. My big brother was on rhythm guitar (sadly, the only gig we've ever played together). We had a female singer and a male singer. Average age was in the twenties. I was 15. We covered Europe and Poison and stuff like that.

And we did exactly one gig. We opened for a band called Sidewinder that was a regional hit in the Mid Atlantic region. (That band had Audley Freed.. known guitar side man who has played with everyone from Black Crowes to currently Sheryl Crow... and Robert Kearns.... known bass side man who has toured with several Nashville acts and is also currently with Sheryl Crow. Both were also in Cry of Love, a one hit wonder from the 90s.)

A few weeks after that gig I got tapped to play in a steadily-booked weekend band with a bunch of guys in their thirties. They were ridiculously solid players and singers. I had to learn FAST! But they pointed me on the road to many good gigs moving forward.

 

[DWBass]

I was 17 when I joined my first band, Quick Fixx. We were an all original metal band. It started out as literally 3 high school buddies who wanted to start a band; my best friend on guitar, our good friend on drums and me on bass. They both already knew how to play their instruments, so I bought a bass and started learning. I was in that band for about 5 years, we made some decent music. After the band fizzled out (I think everyone just got tired of going nowhere) I hopped around a lot between about 3 different bands for the next year before I just hung it up. As for that first band, you can be the judge on if it was good or not. This is circa 1990 and the only real recorded history I have of my gigging days. Different times back then, not everything was live streamed, or even recorded. -
]

Used to be a Quik Fixx in my area. No metal though. Top40.

 

[TheReceder]

15. I Auditioned Saturday afternoon, they asked if I wanted to play that night. A local bar, called the Blue Moon Saloon. (My bet is that every state has one).

I was told it would be all easy stuff, and they'd just tell me what key it was in before the song started.

Got there, set up, and immediately was scared to death. Then we started playing.... it got worse.

They started lying to me about keys to songs that I'd never heard before. I played a little guitar so I watched their hands for chords and changes, but they caught on and started turning away from me.

Apparently the bar was mainly full of their friends, and part of the attraction was seeing if they could make the bass player completely cave. I didn't.

They ended out hiring me and from then on my then girlfriend, and now wife, has had to deal with G.A.S.

 

[gln1955]

Not a band, but a duo at age 12. I had just started playing guitar and was barely able to play some cowboy chords to accompany a friend of the same age who was a truly gifted guitarist. Our debut was the school talent show. It was many, many years before I played in front of anyone besides few friends.

 

[mrjim123]

I didn't join my first "band" until I was 21. One of my best friends played guitar and the guy who lived across the street from him played drums, so I decided to play bass. We sucked, and I think we only played one gig.

The next band I was in was not much better. We played a few gigs then disbanded.

My third band was where I really started learning my chops. We played a lot of gigs between '74 and '76, and then again between '78 and '80.

 

[Tommygun_ted]

I was 16, and we weren't terrible. The lead guitarist was a good player but not a good musician, his timing was garbage but he could play some cool stuff. Myself and the drummer both were in concert band so our rhythm section was solid. I think there is a video of our high school talent show on YouTube somewhere

 

[DWBass]

15. I Auditioned Saturday afternoon, they asked if I wanted to play that night. A local bar, called the Blue Moon Saloon. (My bet is that every state has one).

I was told it would be all easy stuff, and they'd just tell me what key it was in before the song started.

Got there, set up, and immediately was scared to death. Then we started playing.... it got worse.

They started lying to me about keys to songs that I'd never heard before. I played a little guitar so I watched their hands for chords and changes, but they caught on and started turning away from me.

Apparently the bar was mainly full of their friends, and part of the attraction was seeing if they could make the bass player completely cave. I didn't.

They ended out hiring me and from then on my then girlfriend, and now wife, has had to deal with G.A.S.

Ha! They couldn't do that to me. MY M.O. was that I already knew all the top songs. That's why I kept getting calls to join bands. All I did was sit by the radio and learn songs. The bass players I replaced never knew any of the songs or barely played them correctly. As for my very first real gig, on stage, in front of 100's.......I was nervous until the first note hit. Was hooked!