Being In A Band In Your Teens

Following on from my last article (Starting Guitar In Your Teens), which seems to have been a good sucess, I have decided to risk my reputation on this site by writing another article, this time about starting a band. Some of these tips may apply yo all ages, but since I ain't got to 30 yet, I'm not in a position if they do or not.

I bit about my band history. I have been in three bands, one where I played drums and did one gig at my school without practicing, another where I seem to have gone through everything possible in a band, and the third one which I have just started now. These tips are based on my sucesses and failures and the lessons I have learnt from them.

01. Don't Look Too Far For Bandmates

There appear to be loads of articles on recruiting bandmates on this site, but I've found that when your young and confounded to school for 6 hours a day, stick to the people within it. Starting a band with friends in the same school as you is much easier then being in a band with people outside your school, particularly if they live on the other side of town. Of course I'm sure loads of people can get around this, but if you can't, don't bother trying.

02. Your Bassist Doesn't Have To Be Good

Seriously. O.K. having a good bass player is great if you can get one, I mean, why not? But don't go being picky about your bassist. As long as they've got half a brain, do what you tell them and keep time, you'll be fine.

03. Your Drummer Should Be Good

Unless your band will do purely White Stripes covers, your drummer should be good. A riff will sound ten times better once you got a drummer wiv an inovative beat behind it. There are so many drummers which can't keep time, so keep a good eye out. Also, it's likely you will practice at the drummer's place, or a specially designated practice venue, so make sure they are open to visitors and don't have a schedule which will get in the way of practising.

04. Your Singer Can Be Anything

If your singers good, let his ahhhhs and his ooooohs ring out above everyone else. If he's crap, drown him out, at least slightly. Noone wants to hear a crap singer, particularly if he/she ( I just realised I'm being slightly sexist) is the focal point.

05. Do Not Practice Somewhere Near Crowds Of Outsiders

Lets face it, being in a band at 14/15 is cool, particularly if your good. Also, most teenagers run out of stuff to do. If you try and practice, say, in school at lunch time, you will be constantly be interupted, and his is one of the most annoying things ever. And one of the most difficult things ever is telling your friends to fuck off, so be somewhere locked or isolated.

06. Get Every Gig You Can

At this level, you are not a superstar. More often than not you will be asking o play, not being asked to play. If you think that you are too good for a gig, people will shun you and word will spread that your not worth asking etc. Get as many gigs as possible (within reason), so you can build up a reputation and get more gigs, maybe get some cash, record, and have fun.

07. Have Contacts

Advertise your band, get hold of possible organisers and it helps to have someone in your band who knows someone who knows someone etc, eventually getting you a few gigs.

08. Don't Trust Anyone

If you've got a good song which gets a good reaction, don't teach anyone how to play it, write it down and copyright it. There are articles on copyright on this site.

09. Don't Get An Ego

My second and most sucessful band was great. But my frontman had the biggest ego. After playing one gig he thought we were the greatest, took all the solos off me and has now taken all the money after he insisted on keeping it. In short, know your bandmates back to front, another reason to be in a band with friends. Even tough this guy was my friend, I didn't know him and he turned out to be a right dick to be in a band with. Be careful with who/what your dealing with.

10. If Your Not Happy, Leave

Even if your the biggest band in your town, you must realise that you started a band to have fun right? If your not happy, tell your bandmates and give them an ultimatum, saying unless they do this, that and the other, you will leave. That being said, a band is a team, so you can't have everything your own way. Keep a good balance. You will be respected too if you leave a band which looks like it's getting somewhere.

So there you have it, I could go on, but I have other things to do with my life. Also sorry bout some of the spelling and grammer etc. I hope this will help teens with starting a band.

-Dave Morris, Cardiff, Wales

Comments

[Danno13]

excellent article, bro. I definitely agree with only grouping with friends. and ...first?

[Hong Siah]

not bad stuff...like it

[Sanity]

very good article,well done ,some good advice in here

[GNR4EVER]

Excellent article, although I wouldn't exactly agree with being in a band with friends. 'Don't trust anyone' is SERIOUSLY something you want to do, NEVER trust people

[danno89]

hi.. First of all really glad to see sum1 else was sad enough to call themselves danno. Secondly i think this is a really good article and will print it if i can to show around the peeps i wanna start a band with cheers mate have fun all and remember if in doubt use backspin

[rock_the_casbah]

Pretty good... what's wrong with doing purely White Stripes covers? XD

[Pumpkins4Life]

yeah i joined a band with a friend but i didn't know any of her friends that were supposed to play as well, they were all so confident and it turned out i was the only one who actually owned and could play the instrument i picked to play. Good Advice make sure you know everyone in your band inside and out. Don't be afriad to kick people out either if the get too unreliable

[Super Llama]

great article. question: what do you do if you have a sweet bass but a bad guitar?

[rockinlewis]

thats a good article.

[Biggs]

I disagreed with some of the things on your last article, but I think you've done a superb job here. Well done.

[Mrmachine628]

one thing i saw that you missed out on, make sure that you and your bandmates agree on the musical direction of the band. if your guitarist is into death metal and your lead singer only wants to do beatles covers, you will have a problem. at least be willing to compromise. maybe mix up some beatles covers with some death metal songs (i am not sure this would work, most people going to death metal concerts don't like the beatles... you have to know your audience too.) , or maybe put a metalic sound to an old beatles song. basically just make sure you will be able to agree on what to play.

[`NeXxuS`]

HERES NEXXUS'S ADVICE FOR BEING IN A BAND IN YOUR TEENS

GET FUCKING DRUNK, HAVE FUN! DONT TAKE MUSIC SERIOUSLY AT ALL JUST HAVE FUN WITH SOME OTHER KIDS...

music gets serious after you get outta high school... dont try and create a stellar band in high school because other people tend not to have the maturity... and you shouldnt either... i had a blast just getting drunk and playing my guitar out of time with other people... lol

[slinks]

Great calls on the bass and drummer. Sadly, my "band" has a well below average drummer who only seems to know one beat. Guess we'll have to do those White Stripes covers.....

[thetragicflaw]

i liked the part about bassist. i laughed for minutes. lots of other usful stuff to, my band started all together, so weve bin playin in a band as long as weve bin playin, and now we fianly can play...

[punksk8er18241]

good but i think that a good singer is essential

[leijsa]

I'm not planning on being in a band any time soon, cause I have more important things to do, but it was a great article. Good job.

[Stagg_300]

Awsome! not the article...The fact that it's the first time I don't see bullshit in an article. Extremely helpful though you should have some close friends in the room while you practise, ask them for some constructive critisim. (sweet ass article)

[Stagg_300]

Super Llama:
great article. question: what do you do if you have a sweet bass but a bad guitar?

don't worry...try to get ur guitarrist to practise and DO start of with some white stripes covers for band practise

[UtBDan]

I disagreed with half the points. One star.

[Darkel]

Good stuff.

[punkrockdude2]

good stuff n1gga 5 stars..i really like the part about recuiting...my band needs a drummer...we got one but he goes to another school cuz he moved and we cant find one at our school who doenst think that slipknot is the greatest thing to walk the earth

[Screech]

I highly doubt I'm ready to start a band but this was a good article on how to get things moving. Good points all around...5 stars

[flamencogod]

having a bad bass player doesn't matter?
that's so wrong dude!
the drums and bass need to play together damn well if you want to be a good band.

[TeenBite]

Good article, but you're = you are. Your doesn't mean you are.

[DaleH]

A bass player is REALLY important to a good band, as is the vocalist! Just drowning out your vocalist if he's bad is horrible advice.

[Hosscat]

having a bad bass player doesn't matter?
that's so wrong dude!
the drums and bass need to play together damn well if you want to be a good band.

^^^***in a

Your whole band should be good, but that's easy to find. A good singer is priceless.

[Freepower]

Good article. And a bad bass player matters LEAST, not doesnt matter. Good singers ARE priceless.

Some splling and gmmr prblems, but nthn mjer!

[yertletheturtle]

The article was filled with bullshit.

Okay to have a crappy bassist, or singer but a good drummer?

My ass.

[Maet]

Good, but too many stereotypes.

[Unourrit01]

the whole bassist and drummer thing is so true. that is the exact situation i am in except for the part about the bassist having half a brain.

[altronataku]

pretty accurate article. dont quite agree with the doctrine about having a bassist who can play is enough. and you could have covered some more areas and insights but meh.

[titan metal]

Hmmm...hmmm...is there anything here that hasn't been posted before. Dude, i liked your other articles, but this one is bad.

[kirkII]

Ive seen this all somewhere else on UG. This article isnt advice, its common sense
one star

[AnnaPlaysGuitar]

Totally true about the whole bassist and drummer thing. A band that can't keep beat sounds like 4th graders, but a band with an excellent drummer and shitty everything else is considered a valid, gig-getting bunch.

And make sure your bassist puts his job in perspective. Many go into bass looking at it like lead guitar.. they will be just like Cliff Burton, etc.

#2 was complete crap, having a mediocre bass player cannot be good. 2 stars.

[axeslinger01]

good

[The_Next_Flea18]

Hm, I donno about that bassist thing...otherwise it sounds okay. Could have been a bit more indepth, but has good points.Not a bad article on the whole, i say 4 *.

[Mr. Clean]

okie doke

[Chris inman]

If you try and practice, say, in school at lunch time

what? that doesnt make since

[The_Next_Flea18]

This just hit me...crap bass, crap vocals, and a good drummer...blink182, anyone? I guess this guy actually does know what to do.

[Ataris212]

Nexxus:HERES NEXXUS'S ADVICE FOR BEING IN A BAND IN YOUR TEENS

GET FUCKING DRUNK, HAVE FUN! DONT TAKE MUSIC SERIOUSLY AT ALL JUST HAVE FUN WITH SOME OTHER KIDS...

music gets serious after you get outta high school... dont try and create a stellar band in high school because other people tend not to have the maturity... and you shouldnt either... i had a blast just getting drunk and playing my guitar out of time with other people... lol
[POSTED: 18 May 2005 - 11:59]|

idiot.

[FenderGrl88]

nice article

[joelm]

BE PROFESSIONAL!! HAVE A BACKUP FOR EVERYTHING. it's that simple. Start now when it doesn't really matter the fun,$$$ etc will come with it. You can gig your way through college, pay tuitionor at least have food $$$ now i'll go a little more indepth. HAVE BACKUPS. for gigs guitar players should have 1 spare guitar it can be cheap and ugly, 3 sets of strings, 12 picks, if you play real amps get a pod or vamp off ebay for a backup they're lite and cheap if you have a pod get another one. Extra guitar cable. strap locks, a comfortable strap it may be on 3hours, a good tuner, hard shell case

Drummers have extra heads for each

bass players 1 set of strings , bass vamp or pod for spare

Know a singer thats better than yours, that will help keep your singers ego at bay.

I'm 26 by the way.

[joelm]

Don't expect your high school band to become something more than a time to work the bugs out of yourself.

[joelm]

Don't be a dick or control freak either

[Ambelight]

^^^ LMAO! I don't hate blink 182, but that was a clever comparison.

[jpf418]

Thanks for the tips...Im doin bass in a band and we have a show tommorrow at our school ( 500-600 people )

Also, to the people who keep criticising the bassist, drummer, and singer stuff, remember, Im at the age. I understand what he talkin bout, youre not really trying to get serious, but to just have fun. ( But I look at bass as lead guit )

[ac/guns n zep]

more than 90% of the audience cant tell a bad drummer or bad bassist. They can usually tell if the guitarist and singer is good. So as long as you have a good guitarist and singer youre alright as long as your drummer and bassist arent terrible

[tremontifan]

i like the article. i'm the singer in with a group of people who are trying to start really becoming a band, and ive been lucky to find some amazing musicians, all of whom are influenced by dream theater. all total shredders.

[BassBeats098]

I think a bass player can be in a band when he can do simple 16th notes (mark hoppus from blink 182)

[UtBDan]

more than 90% of the audience cant tell a bad drummer or bad bassist. They can usually tell if the guitarist and singer is good. So as long as you have a good guitarist and singer youre alright as long as your drummer and bassist arent terrible

no, 90% of the audience doesn't think the drummer or bassist stand out. Everyone can tell when there's a bad either. This article is worthless.

[)Eric(Draven]

I think this is kinda bullshit.

[MetalBoy]

good article.. thanks fo rthe tips lol

[GNRobsessed013]

Great article it thought.

[wheresmymonkey]

I absolutely love this article, it's quite insightful, especially for people out there who are just starting to get interested in starting a band... one other thing, your first band will never make it big, guaranteed, it'll take a couple of bands to get the hang of it and some good chemistry, so don't use up all your good riffs and things right away, save them! or tell your band mates you intend to reuse them if this band fails. Thanks for posting this man, really good

[texican]

ok ok i had to sign up to put in my 2 cents
I am a bassist. I am not great, BUT I don't think being able to play hard solos on a intsrument not made for solos is neccesary. A good song needs a good guitar riff, and a good guitar riff cannot be appreciated if you are distracting people with a pointless bass line that could be summed up in about 3 notes(not saying a 3 note bass line is the way to go here, but you get the point). Seriously, simple is the way to go.

[3thumbs]

great article

[DaveGilmour1189]

titan metal:
Hmmm...hmmm...is there anything here that hasn't been posted before. Dude, i liked your other articles, but this one is bad.

Titan, I think you're the last person who can comment on writing bad articles that have been done before.

[wanna_lick_me?]

prety nice article, although nothing new really. i dunno if i agree so much with the bassplayer bit...im constantly having to tell my bass player what the f.uck to play, its bloody annoying. but im soon to find someone else. tahnkfully however, the drummer in my band is an absolute and complete genius! maybe a bit loud and megalomaniacal (is that even a word??lol) at times, but nonetheless the ***er's great

[faithplusone01]

This is exactly what we did too (im 14...in a band called Death to the Radio) it seems like we've made all the right choices...we started our bass player when we started the band, our drummer kicks ass, and me and the other guitarist rule! only problem is we cant really find a good singer, but lucky for us the drummer kicks so much ass that he sings for us.

problem is the drummer can be a major pain sometimes especially when it comes to learning Megadeth covers...he hates Megadeth for some stupid freaking reason

other than that this is what needs to be told to the wannabe bands out there who think they're so great at 14...great article!

[Blink_mark]

great article great tips. Its great bein in a high school band

[Blink_mark]

and me and the other guitarist rule!

LMAO, cant fit through the door dur to expanding head megadeath urr who wants to listen to a bloke screaming??

[FlyingFuc!<]

You will be respected too if you leave a band which looks like it's getting somewhere

huh? wtf?

[atc228]

great, keep it up! 5 stars,
oh and i have an excellent bass player and a really bad bass player (yup two of them, the bad bass player also puts in some keyboard stuff, sounds pretty good)
ill definetly use parts of this article, thanks a bunch dude!

[FlyingFuc!<]

bass players aren't really necessary. good drummers and singers are. everything in this article was common sense. and to all those people who say high school bands don't make it, i'll let you know if we do.

[AcDcizzle]

few spelling errors but otherwise great stuff!

[Tim_5150]

a few spelling errors but besides that:
(apply english accent, reverb, and echo.) The Force is strong with this one!

[#_of_the_beast]

I completly agree with pretty much everything u said

[SRX700]

more than 90% of the audience cant tell a bad drummer or bad bassist. They can usually tell if the guitarist and singer is good. So as long as you have a good guitarist and singer youre alright as long as your drummer and bassist arent terrible

That is true. Most non-musicians can't tell, but a good drummer and bassist improve the song by a lot but people don't realize it consciously.

[ZEROSKATER]

*** u bass is important

[ZEROSKATER]

oh yea think of nirvana mainly bass ass hole

[stratguy08]

hahaha....im my recent band experiences all that happened.....great article

[just some guy]

main thing is the drummer has to have had several years in real practice and constant lessons, or he'll probably think Lars is the greatest drummer on earth and flat out suck. The most irritating thinng is when a drummer is following the guitarist. It should be the other way around.

[stratguy08]

its also true about if you dont like the way it's going, in my most recent band they were heading into more metal , and me more blues rock....at the moment im doing just as good as them in gig perspective....but everything helps...rock on

[monkeyspks]

that was great. love the part about the ego. this kid at my school thinks he's the "guitar god of our school". it's sickening really.

[DaveGilmour1189]

bass is alright, it just depends on how you use it. If you just want someone to lay a bass, just get someone with good rythum. I've always liked it when a bassist can really tear it up with some tricky stuff, just as long as he doesn't outdo me.

[mikeyjoe]

The_next_flea18----
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[eastern_riffs]

Yeah not a bad article..

But it's very difficult to get gigs these days..I only get once every two weeks..good thing that's fixed at least..

[eastern_riffs]

Oh well here's an example..

ZEROSKATER:
*** u bass is important

You have to compromise..Just because (probably) you play bass,doesnt mean everyone agrees it is important.Even though I only partly agree that it isn't important,I partly agree that bass is important too.

[oldschoolrock23]

I agree that the bass isnt the most important part of a band, and the truth is they dont have to be that good, the drummer however must be good to help keep the rhythm, and thats exactly wat this guy said in this article. Nice.

[oldschoolrock23]

oh yea think of nirvana mainly bass ass hole

^^^ that is true, but Nirvana just happened to have one of the better bass players out there, chill out this was a good article..... and also Mudvayne has a good bassist too.

[mangablade]

it was mostly good except for the bassist and singer parts. singer's have got to have some natural talent, if you cant find one thats good enough, dont have a singer, its better to have no singing then crappy singing (its like a death metal band with a saxaphonist, it would sound better without the saxophone alltogether). anyways, ppl have got the wrong idea of bassists, mostly becuz of punk rock bands (if you play bass you know wat i mean) they mostly just play root notes from chords of guitarists and thats it. although you could have a band with a bassist that can only do that, that is a bare minimum. i would only take a punk rock bassist into my band if there were no other bassists i knew of near my near my age. i'd rather take a bassist that played jazz, alternative, funk, classical, anything other than punk rock, becuz that genre has made bassists into lazy assholes. with few exceptions (that bass player in greenday i heard has some talent, just dosnt show it apperently, or something like that)

[underpressure]

nice perfect article. but i think that when you were talking about the singer you didnt really have to mention the she part. NOW IM NOT BEING SEXIST IN ANYWAY BUUU..T whens the last time a band with a chick singer has been known as the best band ever? honestly? only a chick singer if your not so serious about the band or your music.

[oldschoolrock23]

nice perfect article. but i think that when you were talking about the singer you didnt really have to mention the she part. NOW IM NOT BEING SEXIST IN ANYWAY BUUU..T whens the last time a band with a chick singer has been known as the best band ever? honestly? only a chick singer if your not so serious about the band or your music.

^^^^ hahahahaha that made me laugh, but hes right.

[MANNY13]

"underpressure" what kind of punk rock do you listen to? punk rock bassists are good and Green Day is so not Punk!

[applax]

if you are gonna have a crappy bassist you might as well just get another guitarist instead. But having a good bassist is awsome i love hearing a good bass solo

[DRA0330]

Great article

[VelvetÆnema33]

texican:
ok ok i had to sign up to put in my 2 cents
I am a bassist. I am not great, BUT I don't think being able to play hard solos on a intsrument not made for solos is neccesary. A good song needs a good guitar riff, and a good guitar riff cannot be appreciated if you are distracting people with a pointless bass line that could be summed up in about 3 notes(not saying a 3 note bass line is the way to go here, but you get the point). Seriously, simple is the way to go.

I don't think Dream Theater would be where they were/are or Led Zepplin or Rush or Pink Floyd for that mater.

Play with musicians with close to equal talent as you. That's how I look at it, if you want to be a simple band? Expect to only get simple feedback. You have to try to be more than you are when doing a band. It takes work, you can't just sit back and play Greenday Covers all day and expect to hit a big record deal.

[Metallica78]

MANNY13:
"underpressure" what kind of punk rock do you listen to? punk rock bassists are good and Green Day is so not Punk!

yes Green Gay is about on a pop level.

but back on topic. Great article il definitly use it when im in a band.

[LeoKhenir]

Actually, it's quite important that:
a) the guitarist and the bassist play in the same tune
b) the bassist and the drummer play the same beat

A guitarist CANNOT rule unless he/she is supported by a decent bassist - the bassist CANNOT rule if he/she doesn't get good timekeeping from the drummer - the drummer CANNOT rule if the singer destroys every song - the singer CANNOT rule if he/she doesn't get good backing from the guitarist.

See my point? In a band every single member is dependent on the others.

"Your bassist does not need to be good" BS.
"Your drummer must be good" True.
"Your singer does not need to be good" BS.

Luckily, I drum for a band with two excellent guitarists, one bass genius and we have a talented singer... And I'm no drum n00b either.

[LeoKhenir]

Green day - punk?
WTF?

Never.
Not Blink either.

Go die, you numetal kids.

Listen to THE RAMONES!

[agreth_3rd]

not bad
agree mostly

[mesaboogieman]

great article!

[erling]

pretty obvius stuff imo

[demonic_fishie]

To all the idiots above who posted something to the effect of "this article is crap cos you need a good bassist and singer."

Remember... this is about being in a band in your teens.

Not about being the next big thing.

[armadillo]

you dont tell a bassist wat to do

the bassist tell everyone what to do actually

[joelm]

what do you call a guy who hangs out with musicians.....a drummer

[joelm]

aren't bass players the guys who couldn't run the lights.

[dandesmond]

Awesome article. I agree with him totally, I know a lot of local bands who have simple basslines. My band just decided to have mates in it and its working out well good.

[LucysRightHand]

Brilliant article!

I've gotta try out some of this stuff. I'm in a band, and in my opinion, from what we've done so far, we're pretty decent. Compared to most people, we are crap, but I mean, come on, we've only had 3 or 4 practices so far and made 2 songs!

I must say though, Phillip (Bassist) does like to tell everyone what to do too much, Matt complains too much, Dan does his own thing and I'm in the middle with Sam and Sam. :|

I think I need a bit more confidence than to just agree with everything.

But yeah, its a pretty decent article you have there Dave.

[Mrmachine628]

your band doesn't need to have any talent. get a crap guitar player, a singer that sounds worse than a cat in heat, and a drummer with spaz syndrome (i.e. just beats the hell out of the drums with no rythym). all you need is some flashy strobe light thingys and enought distortion and volume to blow out all the windows and everyone's eardrums. oh yeah can't forget the techno keyboard effects. they really make the band! (note the hint of sarcasm...)

[clwy87]

not bad....

[monkey_xxx2003]

This article is crappy sh.it. Its all been posted on ug before. One fu.cking star

[HendrixFan434]

I could use some better/more solos

[the_cheat22]

there shouldn't be one band member better than another (well probably so, but they all have equal parts to make a BAND) if some consider each other to be more important, it will only lead to fighting within the band

[linkin-muse]

joelm:
what do you call a guy who hangs out with musicians.....a drummer
[POSTED: 19 May 2005 - 097]|

joelm:
aren't bass players the guys who couldn't run the lights.
[POSTED: 19 May 2005 - 09:10]

not reli,loser.ok,id like to see one guitarist,or 3 or 4,get into the charts by themselves. remind u of anyone?if ur english,or ukish, ud remember busted and mcfly.GUITAR GROUPS R RUBBISH.
i play guitar/vox in a band and drum 4 another band.in my indie i play using a mix of lyla patterns muse style) with 16th notes on high hats to snare wid bass drums instead of ur average slow boring 'bum tsh bang' wid a snare,high hat and bass drum roll. wid a good drummer,it improves the band loads. also,on that band, we have an amazing bassist.he makes it loads better.we wudnt b as good if it wernt 4 him.but then it a mix of a kik-ass and admitly beta guitarist than me(hes like been playing his whole life)and an amazing singer,ive never known anyone wid a better voice and a keyboardist wid...not that big a part reli.
White Stripes covers ha ha ha NO.
i can do white stripes but u recon u can play seven nation army?try it.bass and floor time in sequanation.easy.then do the timing.harder than u think.

[simon15]

great article, talking about teen bands, it would be appreciated if some of you could check out my bands latest demos? dont worry, we are not the next green day! http://www.musicv2.com/artist/for76 if u can guys, cheerz

[donkeymaster44]

Nice article. Really insightful.

[ArbolHru]

Yeah, well what do you do when your bassist (who is your best friend) wants to sing but can't, your lead singer (who is the only talented person available at your school) wants to play lead but only knows three riffs and interrupts practice the whole time going to drop d so he can play one of them? We've considered kicking him out but then we would have no one to sing.

[wanksta]

get a good guitarist and have your lead singer as sole singer, great article. I think hes made a good point about having a good drummer. A song consists of 2 main things, a good guitar riff and drumm fillings, what would system of a down be without the tom fillings. The bass is important to keep the overall key signature and create disharmonics which are then resolved by guitar chords or riffs. Great article...

[Cone 21]

since when can people practice at school lunch time?

[birdheadfeet]

nice, enjoyed it. short, sweet and to the point, 4 stars (one star was taken away just for the fun of it)

[spitfire89]

Your drummer should be willing to leran songs too, I have a friend who is a drummer and he sucks, I'll give him tabs and he blows them off and makes his own (and they suck)

[mr.lame]

nice article. but i disagree with you when you said that a not-so-good bassist will do. as a bassist im so hurt. lol just kidding. i mean is that every member of a band should be good. not that you expect them to be good at the very beginning. takes lots of practice to be a good musician. and a lot of booze. lol. every member is important. the guitarist, masterbasser, drummer, and singer should all be good. no one should be average and the other be good. i was once a sucky bassist and my other mates wer good. it made our band suck. but as i had more practice and stuff, i was better than before. i still screw up. lol

[head_case]

Totally sweet article!I liked the last one 2(described me a bit 2 much!!!)helps a lot, wasn't 2 sure about being in a band.

[mr.lame]

mangablade:
anything other than punk rock, becuz that genre has made bassists into lazy assholes. with few exceptions (that bass player in greenday i heard has some talent, just dosnt show it apperently, or something like that)

[Nelsean]

ughh i hate the band im in...i want to quit it but theres like no bands for miles....n every one in my school thinks they can rap (since i live in brooklyn, NY) no one in my school really has a band..n even if there is a band in my school they play heavy death metal n im not really into that.

[mr.lame]

^^^not all punk rock bassists suck. it doesnt mean just because they play simple notes on bass, they suck ass. some punk rock bassists or whatever genre u call them got some skills yea like mike of greenday. as a bassist, i play different kinds of music styles. and ive learnt to appreciate this kind of styles. its how they play it and we can't do anything to let them change it. so we just gotta respect the way they play their music.

[javaCat]

BLA BLA BLA

[texican]

VelvetÆnema33:

I don't think Dream Theater would be where they were/are or Led Zepplin or Rush or Pink Floyd for that mater.

Play with musicians with close to equal talent as you. That's how I look at it, if you want to be a simple band? Expect to only get simple feedback. You have to try to be more than you are when doing a band. It takes work, you can't just sit back and play Greenday Covers all day and expect to hit a big redcord deal.

An excellent point, I retract my previous statement and plan on practicing right... now.

[Tedrick]

Awesome article. Green Day is the best. Though you did dis the bass playa's out there...
Well doesnt offend me. Rock on everyone!

[texican]

oh and:
Hate Greenday
Wish i could write like floyd

[Lord_Xian]

wow its like i took what i know about my band and put it up there....new bassist, cool drummer, drowing out singers, practises at lunchtimes with dicks hanging round.....

[Lord_Xian]

^dicks as in people not genitalia, except for my own

[cantshreddave]

yeh thought the bassist/drummer thing would be controversial, o well, just what ive learnt from experience

[JC 2K3]

lol, the bassist/drummer thing is so true, a good drummer is the difference between a good teen band and a bad one. Just get the kid who's been plaing for 3 months and can play simple powerchord songs on guitar to get a bass and get them to play the root notes of the chords you play, you don't need bass solos at this level.

[PeaceSells814]

LeoKhenir:
Green day - punk?
WTF?

Never.
Not Blink either.

Go die, you numetal kids.

Listen to THE RAMONES!
[POSTED: 19 May 2005 - 02:57]

u gott be ***in kiddin me hahaha, wut else would green day or blink be besides pop or punk, dipshit!

[PeaceSells814]

METAL UP YOUR ASS!!

[misfits385]

nice article...

[Bassplayer17]

Your bassist comment was shiit.

[Zero528]

If I was in a band and the singer tried to keep all the money I would have beat the shit out of him

[VelvetÆnema33]

texican:
oh and:
Hate Greenday
Wish i could write like floyd

Takes work : Just work your ass off then you could write as good. Theory helps a shit load, i suggest you check alot of it out.

[RideTheLighting]

very cool arti

[codyatkin]

very good art. great job i just started a band about 3 months ago

[bassgod]

good advice but the bass thing is shit

[loserkid013]

I seriously hope you're not right about the whole bassist/drummer thing. I have a great bassist but I can't find a decent drummer. According to this, that means I'm screwed.

[Snipe]

Good article, and I agree (somewhat) with Nexus, dont take it too seriously. Too bad my band mates aren't like that though

[fenderman1011]

good. article. im the bass player in a band. and you are right about the drummer thing

[cpt_pimp]

great except for the fact that you should have other people who hang out during band practices. This is great because you have friends who will tell you the truth whether you think your songs are great. Girls are the most common, at least in my band. And they are great groadies (groupies/roadies). Yeah, i made that up.

[ridcullylives]

Something else people forming a band should know...

Ordinary people (i.e. non-musicians) tend not to care about amazing guitar solos. They care much more about the music. Even if you're the best guitarist in the world, you need to actually perform songs...my school is filled with jam bands who just jam over Santana progressions for like 2 hours. They're all ***ing amazing, but noone wants to hear that. My advice...get a damn good rythym guitarist, singer and drummer and you'll be good. Lead guitar is great, but rythym guitar holds the song together. You need a singer if you wanna actually get anywhere...people wanna hear singing. And a drummer...they hold the band together.

Bass players....sorry, but you have to be a bass player to know if a bass player's good or not.

[bassmonkey16]

hey i'm a bassist, i have half a brain at least i think i do, so what did you mean by that in that section?

[the nil]

hey you know while i was reading my mouth was in a smiling shape and that's because nowadays i'm trying to form a band. good informatin about what i was looking for. thx

[buckethead101]

our singer and i met as classmates and i met the drummer as my another classmate's brother. Our bass player is my childhood friend. Now, he didn't play with us because he's f***.. busy with his fraternity and the singer is far away from us [me and the drummer] but we were sending text messages with one another.

[buckethead101]

yeah that don't trust anyone advice is great. I should have known.

[benjiboy89]

nice article. but i disagree with you when you said that a not-so-good bassist will do. as a bassist im so hurt. lol just kidding.

haha, i liked that one

And I also agree with everything you said mr.lame
Well lets go to the topic;
You had great advices and Im a lazy guy, so I wont type more *5stars*

(and by the f*cking way, dont flame my ass because my nick is Benjiboy, its not becuz of the guy from GoodCharlotte My name is Benjamin)

Funk out

[Feel_Good_Inc.]

Ataris212:
Nexxus:HERES NEXXUS'S ADVICE FOR BEING IN A BAND IN YOUR TEENS

GET FUCKING DRUNK, HAVE FUN! DONT TAKE MUSIC SERIOUSLY AT ALL JUST HAVE FUN WITH SOME OTHER KIDS...

music gets serious after you get outta high school... dont try and create a stellar band in high school because other people tend not to have the maturity... and you shouldnt either... i had a blast just getting drunk and playing my guitar out of time with other people... lol
[POSTED: 18 May 2005 - 11:59]|


idiot.

lol this made me laugh for ages

[Feel_Good_Inc.]

oh great article by the way, some good advice in here but as someone posted before it's mostly common sense.
i think i'll recommend this to my band members...
4 stars

[Bu||eT]

bass is pretty important if you ask me. Without bass a band sucks. Every band needs some good bass solos or so.

[howaceisjoe]

drummer needs to be good

bassist needs to be consistant

guitarist needs to be imaginative

singer needs to have his/her own sound wether that be good or bad as long as they have confidence and are not afraid to take the reigns live then your fine.

[zipperhead23]

Not a bad article, I agree with the advice for the most part. My only disagreement is, that the singer has got to good! Being confident and original and all that crap only goes so far. If you don't have a good voice, I personally dont want to hear you.

[lacey_the_crazy]

Not a particularly bad article...some good points. plus you raised a lot of hell wit that bassist comment. Three stars.
Although...you can't underappreciate any member of the band. Having a crappy bassist is about as bad as having a crappy drummer-the only reason a bad drummer will be more noticeable is because a bass line can be masked by the guitars...Drums, however, are difficult to ignore. Especially if they aren't in time.

[lacey_the_crazy]

^^Sorry, I just realized that I pretty much restated zipperhead's comment. Whoops. Sorry.

[ianian]

being in a band with friends can destroy a friendship so know what you are getting into or you will have much more to deal with.

[turn_it_upto_11]

There's this open mic thing at my school and I have had people ask me to play. The only things are that 1) my band isn't complete (we need a drummer and singer) and 2) I could get up there and just bull s*** a solo, but if I go on stage, I really want to play. I mean, not play this soft rock power chord crap I hear everyone else play, I mean go up a leave my mark as a musician, play something that leaves people speechless. So, at least I have some fans. (That hopefully won't turn their back on me). Next year I hope to have a band together and some material ready for open mic. Maybe my "fans" won't be harsh on me for not playing this year.

[joyful womble]

man, i jammed with my drummer and bassist (who is really good) mates today. we got a nice groove going - nothing complicated but some good music and good times - yeah.

[evvo_gc_fan]

CARDIFF!!! wooo... great article dude

[travislausch]

Finally, a good how-to article that doesn't preach the rules of bland, boring, "decent" songwriting... And about the bassist, what my band did was got an excellent keyboardist who can play a little bit of bass. So if he can't do a bass line, he can at least play some piano for a song.

[thrashing moles]

being in a band in your teens isnt about being good. Its about having some great times playing music with your friends.

[Green_Fox]

i agree, you dont need a great bassist
Awesome article!

[brakemyhart_13]

Man I know most of you think it is awesome to start a band with friends but I have ruined some great relationships I coulda kept strong if I hadnt started a band

[Radzkidfish]

Good Article im starting a band its gonna be fukina awesome

[snoozer]

dude ur article really helped me into decidin if i should join my friends band or not.. thanx that was chill

[lprophetsN8]

Green_Fox:
i agree, you dont need a great bassist
Awesome article!

justify that, please?

[guitarplaya1217]

great article. im thinkin of startin a band and now i know wut kind of bandmates to look for. keep it up

[Squier Fender]

Very good and useful article. Espacially the point about asking for gigs at first, not getting asked to.=)

[vampirephil]

Yo very cool article. im 15 myself and in my 3rd band n its the 1st band thats been successful. and it has everything that you said in it. were all good mates from skwl. were all good at what we do. n we now ppl :P.. tar for the help.

[Brendan DEwald]

what if your band as really s*&t because you are the only one that knows scalsguitaris and your singer can sing britney spears realy well but you want to play rock(van halen kind of stuff) and all they want to play is romance stuff(no affence(i cant spell) .And you want to write your own songs but nobody knows how. AN dlastly you started the band.(just need some help from good band members and guitaisys)

[Vansvil]

i agreed with what texican said.....and i think its kind of unprofessional when you say u dont have to get a good bassist cause i think the bass guitar brings the energy....and i think ur ryt bout the drummer thing cause ours is not that good to..lazyboy..we have to practice 3 song for a 5days cause he cant master the beat....but nywayz...."teens"....THE SALPICADOS

[azkonceptz]

not bad thanks for the heads up

[Guitar_Poet]

Bassplayer17:
Your bassist comment was shiit.

definitely.

honeslty, is you start playing guitar to get a girl(s)/boy(s), you are completely pathetic, so *** off and give your guitar away.

try to get the best players possible for your band, INCLUDING BASSIST. every player in your band is necessary, so you cant just have some who are good and say "screw that other guy, we dont need him/her to be good." its cool if theyre your friends or whatever, but its really hard to work with people who dont know what theyre doing. getting well-rounded players is very helpful. you were also very calm about the theory and stuff. theory is essential, dont ***ing blow it off. i dont understand why people take it so lightly. look into great music, and you see theory all over.

i also read your other article (sort of), and if greenday, blink 182 and nirvana are your inspiration? give it up! dont get me wrong, i do like nirvana, but i dont understand why youd look up to bands who play nothing but power chords (check out almost every greenday song.. you could learn them all in 5 minutes).. it just doesnt make sense! you need some good stuff, jimi hendrix, zeppelin, satriani, steve vai, some jazz, blues, and any other style. dont limit yourself to pop-punk bullshit: thats all nothing and its all worthless.

theres probably more i could say but ive wasted enough time as it is. i dont think id even give this article one star, for its complete innaccuracy.

[Guitar_Poet]

wow, they censor fu.ck and sh.it like that on this site? thats sad. note, i didnt put the fu.ck.ing ***'s in myself.

[punkrocker_336]

yea it was a pretty good article i'm surprised but the bass part was a little sorta i think the bass player should have some skill

[ryanbrogz]

doing the band thing is tough, i started one with my 2 best friends that i never fought with, and we all agree we liked eachother more before the band got started.

[ryanbrogz]

ahh, and a little add here...our bassist sucks too, i just work with him a little harder on it all, the bass player does not have to be as good as drummer or guitarist for some styles of music ie. pop punk, or punk in general.

[nickgraz]

`NeXxuS`:
HERES NEXXUS'S ADVICE FOR BEING IN A BAND IN YOUR TEENS

GET FUCKING DRUNK, HAVE FUN! DONT TAKE MUSIC SERIOUSLY AT ALL JUST HAVE FUN WITH SOME OTHER KIDS...



that ***ing rules

[BlackboxBassman]

i don't think that this article was at all thought out. from the sounds of it this article came from the point of view from someone who is heavily influenced by modern mainstream rock(nirvana, green day, blink 182, etc.) and did not even bother to consider other genres of music when writing this article. yes, if you're planning to start a pop-punk type band, many of these things are true(except for the singer part: i don't care what kind of music you play, if your vocalist is crap, then you will be crap. this was true for my previous band, who had a total of about 8 real fans. you're better off with no singer at all than a bad one.). but say you plan to start a funk, R&B, or jazz group instead. in any one of those type of bands, a bassist who knows what he/she is doing is absolutely ESSENTIAL as is every othe