Tips To Starting A Working Band - How To Get Musicians To Work
After years of struggling to get a band together one tip from a seasoned pro turned it all around. I couldn't believe how simple his advice was and why it had never dawned on me.
At the time I was writing songs full time every day and had an inexhaustible supply of energy and felt plugged into the universe.
Musicians wanted to get in the studio with me but to get them to rehearse as a band so we could do some gigs seemed like a struggle. They would seldom show up to practice.
I started feeling like they didn't really want to be in a band with me so I just continued writing songs.
Then one night I was hanging out with a friend of mine named Garth Beckington who played in a band named MoFoCo. Garth is a seasoned pro who has played on many records on songs you would recognize.
I was as green as they come but could write songs so I got to hang with some pretty cool musicians. He kind of took me under his wing for a spell and got me in a studio.
One night during a break from a recording session I told him about my difficulty getting musicians to rehearse and he kind of chuckled and said, "If they need to rehearse they're not really musicians."
"What do you mean?", I asked.
"Go get the gig first. Once you have the gig, get the musicians to play it.", he said.
I thought about that for a while and asked him how we could play a gig without rehearsing. "What if we sound like shit?"
"If you sound like shit you got the wrong musicians"
He went on to add that real musicians don't need to rehearse for a rock gig. It's all 4/4 timing pretty much and you just pick a bunch of easy cover tunes or play some blues.
Rehearsals are a drag. Musicians just want a paying gig and to get laid. Give them that and they will be happy"
"What if you get the gig and they don't show up?", I asked.
"They will.They're pros.", he said.
I took him up on that advice and started a band by getting the gigs first.
Walking up to a club owner and getting a gig when you don't even have a band, let alone a set list, is an act of confidence I'll admit, but I have to say it worked.
Not only that but the musicians that will fill that gig will be confident as well and usually damn good at playing music.
This tip worked fine for finding musicians on the fly to play gigs but only when we played cover songs or standard songs.
Eventually, I started a band that played only original music and we did get signed and toured a lot. We also practiced a lot.
These were not standard cover songs. These were songs we were inventing and there was some showmanship and timing involved that had to be rehearsed.
Here are a couple tips that really helped us.
In the beginning, we didn't have gigs full time. Maybe 1 or 2 per week, but we wanted to sound like a band that played every night.
There was only one way to do that and that is to play every night so we did. We did our show every day whether we had a gig or not. Before long we were tight as can be and a fine tuned working machine. We lived and breathed those songs and you could hear it when we played.
We were so tight that there was no hesitation at any moment of the performance and we all knew exactly what to do next. It was a show.
That show eventually had us touring nationally almost all year. To learn more about that read, How I Booked 300 Shows Per Year For My Rock Band - Growing Your Music Into A Business --- by @luzcypher
The other tip is during rehearsal we would always try any idea any one of us had and if it didn't work we would not take it personally.
We could be honest if some piece of music didn't move us at the moment and not get all hung up about it. This is very important that everyone playing in the room is inspired by what they are playing right now.
Now here is a funny thing about that. Musicians have been known to have egos and no one like being rejected, right? Especially having your band mates not digging your new, brilliant, music idea.
What we learned is to never take it personally because music is so subjective. How someone reacts at any particular moment to a piece of music is dependent on so many factors that we do not control.
Their mood at the moment, they're hungry, or stoned, or just got in a fight with their girlfriend; all these things can affect someone's initial reaction to hearing a song.
Taking a negative reaction to your music personally is not helpful to the creative process and their reaction is not about your music.
How do I know that for sure?
I cannot count the times that I have presented a song to my band and received less than enthusiastic interest in developing it only to present the exact same song a month or two later and get high fives and excitement.
Sometimes I would change it around a little but many times I played it exactly the same way as before. They didn't even realize they had heard the song before.
What changed? They did.
Whenever an idea wasn't inspiring the band I just dropped it and picked another idea that did get their motors running. That way creativity could flourish and we walked away feeling like we accomplished something that day.
As a songwriter, I was always writing songs so had plenty of material to choose from.
Writing songs is kind of like raising a baby. You watch it grow from a melody to a lyric to a full fledged song and in the process, you can grow quite attached to it.
That's why some bands have ego struggles when the others in the band start to change the author's idea far from the original intent. It's easy to take it personally when they have other ideas for it.
Don't.
What I found is it's more conducive to the group creative process to think of your songs as a wardrobe you have hanging in your closet. Shirts and pants. Music and lyrics.
You can put together different combinations of a wardrobe to suit the occasion. Nothing to get personal about, they're just clothes.
So when the band played something that needed lyrics I could pull out some lyrics that were written for a completely different tune and try it on for size on this piece of music.
Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. If it didn't I'd try something else until I found a good fit. Bingo, we have a new song.
The added benefit is the group thought I was making this shit up on the fly like some kind of lyrical genius.
One other benefit to always trying every idea out that any one in the band had is they were never hesitant to bring an idea to the group for fear of rejection or ridicule so the ideas we plentiful.'
Keeping the ideas flowing is what the creative process is all about so creating an environment that welcomed ideas made ideas come to life.
Here are some of the tracks we recorded. See if you like it.
If you're in a band or trying to start one, try some of these ideas and see how they work for you. If you have other tips to help the creative process for musicians please share them in the comments below.
Related Posts
How I Booked 300 Shows Per Year For My Rock Band Growing Your Music Into A Business --- by @luzcypher
This article made me think of a personal experience. When I was much younger, and in need of more funds to support my growing family, I joined a gospel quartet group as the bass player. I did not need a lot of rehearsal as I was familiar with most of the music. After the first gig where we took in a few hundred dollars , the band went out for food. I didn't order anything because I did not hve money with me, I was just waiting for the split of the collection. Finally I asked when we would be splitting the offering. I was told that all of the money was used to buy meals and outfits and a new bus they were saving for. This did not sound like what I had in mind. I quit and started a work for pay band with some old friends.
Damn, that would suck. I always paid my bandmates right after the gig.
But this one time I had a drummer sit in who had a drinking problem and I had to babysit him all day to be sure he was sober for the gig.
We made about $400 each that night and I paid everyone right in front of each member but when I got to him and was just about to hand him his money, I pulled back my hand and said, "Wait a minute, I have to charge you for babysitting services."
He looked at me surprised as I tallied up the fees, adding 30% because I charge more to babysit adults. The total came out to his entire $400 cut.
Without missing a beat he said, "You want to buy some boots?", as he took them off his feet and showed them off. They were pretty cool boots and in my size to boot.
"How much?", I asked.
"$200.", he said.
I bought the boots and eventually his pants, belt, shirt, and everything he had on him save his underwear.
He walked out of the club with a case of cold beer a handful of cash and wearing only his underwear. Funny as hell.
I'm happy to say he is clean and sober now for many years and still is rocking the drums.
The process to deal the decisions in a variety group of people is aways hard. I had a friend that says "To have a band you need to master people and not music". I think that have the tasks distributed along the musicians (when you don't have a producer) is the best way to do. I think this turns the process more inparcial.
Your friend is very wise indeed.
The whole process involves people, even those not in the band. Each has their own motivations for being involved. The venue, the crowd, the publicist, the radio stations, have distinct reasons for working with you.
Finding the right buttons to push for each actor and orchestrating the whole play is a great idea for a post and I do go into that more in How I Booked 300 Shows Per Year For My Rock Band - Growing Your Music Into A Business.
The whole experience taught me so many lessons about dealing with people that serve me well to this day. Better than a degree in psychology at the university would have.
Working with people is the key to having a working band.
Great post,very interesting what you had to say about achieving things and all co-operating together in the band. I have no experience in the music industry but i can relate to the advice given on working things out and interacting with people,thanks for sharing.
The cool thing about being able to work with creative people is creative people can do anything. The same principles work in any creative process across any field because we are still working with creative people.
Years ago I managed a regional band and the one thing I found out was that musicians NEVER think they are ready to perform live. If left to their own devices, they will tweak and fine tune in the garage forever. I booked gigs for them, they complained, they played, and we never looked back.
Some musicians feel that way unless they have been playing for years already. Just keep the gigs coming and before you know it they are too busy to worry about it. As long as they're getting laid and paid they're happy.
@luzcypher chord progression often cures the ills of poor lyrics. Band members need to understand this.
Could you elaborate so we can understand this?
The problem I've run in to is that the other 2 members of our band are in other bands. Kinda hard to keep gigs around the other schedules!
True. It helped to have 100% commitment. When I started the original band the guys were in other bands and quit them to join mine. That is an interesting story. Thanks for reminding me of another great idea for a post.
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STOPI've done 4 posts in one day many times.
Useful tips for sure. Thanks.
In my band, which is not quite a collective nor led by a single band leader, we had a major level-up when we started delegating specific tasks, naming our goals specifically and having a single person take responsibility for each step of the way.
Seems obvious in hindsight, but it took us a while to get there, especially given that we are a passion project, and none of us is set on trying to make a living playing.
I'm no where near music but this advice covers so many areas in business and personal relationships. ReSteemed. Thanks!
Thanks for the resteem