Do you learn more in a band?
 

Hello

I hope this is in the right forum, if it isn't then a mod can move it.

First, I play electric guitar, and have been playing for almost 5 years. I play in my bedroom but am considering finding people to start a cover band. I do have a teacher, and I have asked him this question, but would like your opinion on it.

Do you learn more ( better technique, better rhythm, overall better player) if you play in a band or play in front of people, than if you play at home?

I have no idea if you do learn more in a band, since I have never been in one. But if it will make me better music wise and will be fun, then I might do it.

Thanks
George Juggles

Yes. Very yes.

I find that playing with people is the best way to get better and enjoy yourself as you improve.

Yea, it does. Not by much, but for the most part.

Yes and yes and yes

Absolutely. There's a big difference between learning a song to play along with at home and learning a song to play fully, from memory, in front of people. Especially when you have to play with other people, correct mistakes, and adapt. It'll definitely help you improve.

You learn different usefull skills when you play music with other people.

I found that my rhythm definitely got better, and your learn the skills outside of playing music too. If you're in a covers band, you'll be able to figure out what you can/can't cover depending on what instruments you have and adapting covers of songs to fit your band. I found that my improvisation became better too when I started playing in bands. Hopefully you'll find some good musicians and get something together.

Okay, thanks for the replies. I have a friend that plays the drums, so we might get together and jam. I won't start a band yet, but will want to in the future.

Just to address these:

- Better technique? Not really, you can find reason to play more which improves your technique, or if you're in a band that gigs regularly you will also play more. However you can simply play more and improve your technique at home.

- Better rhythm? Yes definitely. You have to learn to play with other people, and keep in time, be sensitive to when you are speeding up/slowing down etc. The CD still sounds fine when you do this at home, however it sounds like trash if you screw up in a band.

- Overall better player? The difference between a bedroom guitarist and one who plays in bands is massive. Yes, it will make you a better player, and help you understand the role of your instrument in the grand scheme of things.

do i have to be the only person who says: it depends on the person

you know how you learn better than anybody. playing in a group helped me, of course, play with a group, but i'm an introvert and understand that the best way for me to work out my issues with playing is to sit and work on it alone, same with writing, same with math, same with exercise

not everyone is like that, and they do what works best for them, just like you should for yourself. if you plan on playing with other musicians, of course play with other musicians, but understand that you don't exclusively have to work with others if you don't feel comfortable doing so.

I was gonna say it.


Ok so it depends de quality of them also, because if your drummer can't keep time greatly, you might be better with a metronome. Technique, not that much, unless you're planning to play prog or something.

Well you could argue that playing in a band in itself is a skill, one that can only be developed by playing in a band. In this case it wouldn't depend on the person, they either have played in a band or haven't.

Personally I feel it is down to the people in the band.

Your progress is limited by those around you as much as it can help. For example, if you have a great bass player; you usually can take more risks on guitar or perhaps work off some progression he has in mind, however if he sticks to extremely simple bass lines, you may find yourself creatively limited. If you are working with a drummer that plays to the guitar instead of keeping a proper rhythm it can teach you bad habits about playing.

Personally I feel recording in a studio is much more beneficial in terms of technique growth than playing In a band in a live environment because you have to pay much closer attention to what you are doing and if your technique is as clean as you think it is and you will notice all the timing issues etc.

So in short it can help, but its not 100% guaranteed. I know many musicians who play in live bands that suffer in the studio due to bad technique and timing they picked up from compensating for band mates over the years.

but i did say that

that might not be the way, in a broader scope, to enhance your ability as an overall musician in the way people tend to say it will. that's not to say you shouldn't try to experience everything you can with as many people as you can, but if you know you're a solitary person, don't pretend taking all your time in your bedroom and putting it in a practice space will translate to you having better technique or whatever the other parameters were.

It helps technique in that it adds a sense of urgency. People will try to figure things out faster and be forced to switch chords and execute ideas where the stakes are a bit higher than in a bedroom where there is far too much freedom to make mistakes if your aim is to polish up everything you've already rehearsed. It's a mental aspect of technique that many bedroom players never put into their practice regime (though there are ways of doing that).

Im a solitary soul too.... but I also play once a week with a beer, shit'n'giggles crowd...and its massive fun.... and I've become a heaps better player because of it....

Funny though... our drummer broke his foot a few weeks ago...and Ive been relishing the alone-time again... I can play what I want as opposed to learning songs all the time... but am I looking forward to going back into learn-a-song-whether-you-want-to-or-not mode? For sure. Playing with other humans is cool... its different to playing with machines....

I wouldn't say that a guitarist in a band is a better guitarist than bedroom guitarist. I mean, you need to learn the technique at home (where you practice the songs). But what band makes is motivates you and forces you to learn the songs well. Also you become better at improvising and writing songs. I think that if you play in a band that plays AC/DC kind of rock music, your technique won't improve that much, but really you don't need any better technique because that's the music you want to play. So as a bedroom guitarist you might have a better technique but does it matter? When you play in a band, you find a way to apply these techniques.

Playing in a band is much more fun. That's where you really play music instead of boring exercises. So go and join a band.

idk, i've always been a dildo-and-DAW kinda guy

Thanks for all the replies!

I will start a band in the future, but for right now I'll just jam with people that play instuments.

well... theres nothing wrong with that either... if youre happy... and playing... then its all good bro