How to join or start the right band

duyinhao

Hey guitar forum community

Well I ve been playing guitar for some time now and i want to join or start a band but i dont want to join a band with people that are too skilled (Otherwise , I'l hold them back or i wont be able to play what the expect me to play) .I have no idea where to start looking for band members or where to go join a band.

Can you anyone give me suggestion on where I can find band members or join a band(not sure if this is important but i want to play in a punk band)

stu

Try gumtree, or post an advert on gumtree.

Gearhead

??? You want to play in a punk band with skilled people ? ?

The one thing I would say is I think people should be completely and utterly honest when starting or joining a band. It's so easy to think everyone's on the same page while meantime they're not... Whether it's their commitment, what they want out of it or just style of music, it is important to find matching muso's.

DonovanB

Gearhead wrote: ??? You want to play in a punk band with skilled people ? ?

The one thing I would say is I think people should be completely and utterly honest when starting or joining a band. It's so easy to think everyone's on the same page while meantime they're not... Whether it's their commitment, what they want out of it or just style of music, it is important to find matching muso's.

Ja, sometimes certain members practice more and improve a lot faster. Then it can feel like they are being held back by the rest of the band, enter politics.

I think the idea of the perfect band is a Utopian principle that we should aspire to, but not hold on to.

duyinhao

Oops , i think i wasnt exactly clear when i wrote the post my bad , i want to find people who aren't very skilled because i am not very skilled myself and I dont want to join a band where everyone is on a different level because if they are , il hold them back.

Banditman

Advice from a friend who teaches guitar at COPA? Hang out with better musos than yourself if you want to improve.

MIKA-the-better-one

thats about the most you will learn at COPA

Lethe

LOL!

Bob-Dubery

Banditman wrote: Advice from a friend who teaches guitar at COPA? Hang out with better musos than yourself if you want to improve.

+1

I recently played a gig with 4 other people. I'm used to playing solo, and the other guys were all better players than me.

BUT
A) They didn't give me an attitude, they had their egos on hold and were very constructive and supportive
B) It was a great experience for me in terms of learning and in terms of tightening up my own playing

I think attitude may be more important than chops. BB KIng was once asked how he picked players for his band, how important chops were. His reply was along the lines of "If he's 100% as a person and only 80% as a player then I can teach him that 20%, but if he's 100% as a player and 80% as a person then it's not going to work."

Byron

X-rated Bob wrote: BB KIng was once asked how he picked players for his band, how important chops were. His reply was along the lines of "If he's 100% as a person and only 80% as a player then I can teach him that 20%, but if he's 100% as a player and 80% as a person then it's not going to work."

That's an awesome awesome quote

Although I have hardly any experience to be able to post something here , I agree with Gearhead's statement about everyone being on the same page. In my opinion I think being on the same page regarding musical interests and tastes are important as I think band members can become despondent with those different tastes conflict. In my band I get a bit uptight when the rest of the guys have sometimes just blankly looked at me after Ive spent a long time thinking up a certain series of riffs etc because it doesn't fit their style.

I'm not just talking different musical tastes as in jazz ,metal, electronic. I think it can get really specific. E.g Thrash Metal , Hardcore, Death Metal musos collaborating

But on the other hand I rate that different musical tastes can intertwine and even conflict which could potentially result in something interesting or , dare I say it, original.

I don't know If I made any sense at all

Wizard

Humility goes a long way.
A humble person is open to learning.

singemonkey

duyinhao: If you're honest about your capabilities, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Just post an ad on gumtree saying where you're at and the kind of stuff you want to do. No one's going to complain that you're a beginner if you told them up front that you were.

It's also not likely that a jazz band with forty years in the business is going to ask you to join. You'll find people who are at a similar level. Even if they're better than you, if you practise a lot, you'll catch up to them in no time at all. As Bob's suggested, the only thing that's frustrating capability-wise, is when you see someone who's making no effort to improve on their flaws.

My buddy had a guy playing in his recent band who was much worse than he or his friends claimed. He began to irritate my friend. But not because he was a bad player. What irritated him was that this guy was completely content to stay bad for ever.

As long as you're trying to improve, people will cut you a lot of slack.

duyinhao

Thanks guys , il try out gumtree.