Starting Your First Band

Starting a band can be a lot of fun. Since you could be starting an original band or a cover band, I’ll discuss the points that relate to both. Use the information that relates to your scene. Basically, you get a bunch of musicians together with similar goals, get your material together and go at it; you rehearse and do what you’re going to do. Sometimes it’s just that simple. Putting a band together to jam every week can be pretty straight-ahead. If you have goals that involve getting paid gigs or live in small town with a scarcity of musician’s, things can be little more involved.
Deciding on Material
The material your group is going to do is determined by what kind of music you want to play, modified by the types of gigs you want. If you’re doing original music, well... there’s your material. You write it yourself or as a group effort. If you’re getting together just to jam and have fun, your mate­rial could change every week. If the goal is getting paid work, you need to play the kind of music people want to hear—that is the main thing that creates a demand for your group. If this is the goal, you need to decide what style(s) of music to play that you can make money with. Getting gigs is fully covered in other articles but keep this in mind: Immediate income means cover music. Unless specifically going to an original music club or restaurant to see new artists, people like to hear music they are familiar with and that’s what they will pay for. (Original artists make money by selling their CD’s at gigs but that’s a topic of different article.)
Getting Band Members
Elements that bring people together or hold something already established together are: friendship, future potential, similar goals,and money. In the long run the main thing that keeps a working-group going is money. When you make a living playing music, either you’re eating and paying the bills or not.

You generally find band mates from:
  • Friends
  • Friends of friends
  • Students of your instructor (if you have a teacher)
  • Musician contact agencies
  • Magazine ads
  • Newspaper ads
  • Music school referrals
  • Bulletin boards at music stores, rehearsal studios and the like.
The idea is to get the word out that you either want to start a group or get in an already established one. It can be more hassle-free to get in an established band than to start one and throughout time you might do both.
To get in an already established group you promote a lot, find one who needs what you do, audition, then get the gig or not. If it doesn’t work out you find other bands to checkout and keep looking till you find something.

To find musicians or a band to join:
1. Contact all of your friends and let them know what you’re looking for. Inquire about musi­cians, gigs and auditions.
2. Follow up what happens and ask them if they know of anyone else you can call. Always ask for referrals. If appropriate ask them to spread the word around for you.
3. Register with any musicians’ contact agencies in your area and stay on top of your phone calls and any Internet contacts. (Gig listings can come and go pretty fast!) [musicianscontact.com and craigslist.com are good places to start.]
4. Look in your local papers and magazines for musicians wanted, bands wanted, etc.
5. Place ads in the papers yourself, e.g., “Group seeks guitarist to start working rock band. Call Joe at (555) 555–5555” or “Drummer seeks musicians to jam with,” etc. If you’ve been around for a while, place a more serious ad like, “Experienced keyboardist looking for seasoned players to start a group—have demo and résumé.” Find listings like these to see how they are worded and write something appropriate for your scene.
6. Call any music and performing arts schools to see if you can get any referrals.
7. Check out all the music stores and any place that has a bulletin board. Leave an ad stating what you’re looking for as well as seeing what’s already there.
8. Go to clubs, meet musicians, give out business cards and sit in if possible. Go to as many jam sessions as you can.

By repeating steps 1 – 8 above it’s just a matter of time before you start finding people.

______________________

That was a taste of "Starting Your First Band"!

Click here to get the full text. Getting the full text will enable you to complete this project!

 Some of the additional chapter headings are:
 

Qualifying Prospects
Having a Band Leader
Game Plan and Policy
Having a Band
Getting Gigs
And here is the conclusion:


Everything is relative to what you want to do. As you adventure into the band-starting game, keep in mind that other people have their ideas about things too. Someone having their own ideas doesn’t necessarily make them right or wrong—you could just have a different take on what’s happening. Different experience levels enter the equation as well. Maybe you’re starting your first band and one of the musicians has done it before—fine. Let him/her contribute what they know and maybe have that person be the band leader. If they’re too pushy and won’t let things go in the direction you want to go—handle them or replace them.

Keep it simple, have fun, and go for your dreams.

* * *

Click here to get all the data, and get your show on the road!


Marty Buttwinick
Email
Buttwinick Teaching Studio
Musician – MySpace
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