The difficulties of starting/being in a band

[action9000]

I have thought more than once about starting a band, just casually.  A couple of my friends (tobeysan and amethyst from the GoF, actually!) attempted it back in September to November of 2006, but we had countless problems getting off the ground.  The most obvious problems were:
1) None of us can really play an instrument
2) None of us can really sing

While that *should* complicate things considerably, we weren't really concerned about those.  Thanks to my computer, we could get away with not having to play a single note ourselves, and we never got far enough to worry about the singing.  I'll talk about these things in more detail later but I want to continue my train of thought.

The biggest things stopping us from getting anywhere as a band were:
1) Lack of time to actually work on it (this is apparently still a problem)
2) Deciding on music style
3) Deciding on lyrics and themes/ideas for songs
4) Perhaps different amounts of focus and dedication

We didn't even have a name for our band yet, and we have very little complete work from our band.  

I personally have little faith in our band trying again, for a number of reasons.  While it was very disappointing for me, I understand that not everyone thinks the same way.  I'd really like to try it again but it's just not looking promising.

I think our biggest downfall was lack of time and lack of coordination.  I understand that not everyone has as much free time as I do.  Even with my full-time job now I find myself sitting here quite often


I'm just diappointed.
I have another friend who kind of wanted to start a band too but we barely even see each other due to lack of time on his part.  I don't know how he'd ever fit a band project in there...I'm starting to wonder if I need to start meeting people who leave some time in their schedule for...seeing their friends

[Flathead770]

a couple of friends and i tried to start a band and thats why i started to try and learn the electric bass, but i haven't been over to my friends house to practice enough.

[NewOrder]

A friend of mine was in a band called Calvin's Scrizophenia (don't know how to spell it), he was the lead singer, they even played a gig but the bass player split so they put an end to the band.

I'm thinking of starting a band, that's why I'm learning how to play the guitar, the only problem is the cost of the equipment way to high for my budget, and for most of my friends. There are a couple of garages in Porto where bands can just go there and play, my friend's band played there. All you need is a good idea, a couple of friends and a good opportunity (mostly money)

[Petrie.]

Probably one of the biggest problems is creative differences and actual songwriting.  Did you ever reach that stage Tim on deciding what you would actually be singing?

[landbeforetimelover]

Now that it's summer, I have all day to do nothing but sit in my room on the compter.  I have 100% free time.  I would love to be part of a band, but I don't know how to play any instrument well and My voice isn't good enough either.  Talk about a depressing topic.

[Weather_lord_7]

I would love to be part of a band, but I don't know how to play any instrument well and My voice isn't good enough either.  Talk about a depressing topic.

Welcome to the club.

[NewOrder]

Ahahah Weather Lord you have a Calvin Gif

You don't need to play an instrument well, just play it be ear. Many great artists can't read a tab, they just play what sounds good, either way, what you should do is practise, if you have so much free time put it to use.

My voice isn't that great, depending on the type of song sometimes I can sing it well, but my longue capacity isn't that strong. One way to improve it is by taking up swimming. Here's an useful tip

[action9000]

I would love to be part of a band, but I don't know how to play any instrument well and My voice isn't good enough either. Talk about a depressing topic. 

That didn't stop us!

With the kind of money you have, if you really wanted to be in a band you could invest in a thousand or two into audio software, or learn to play an instrument.  My band couldn't really play any instruments but we had the beginning of some music written out and sounding pretty.

Probably one of the biggest problems is creative differences and actual songwriting.

I agree.  Such difficulties are difficult to avoid.  Getting past them is vital if the band is to succeed, however.

Did you ever reach that stage Tim on deciding what you would actually be singing?

The short answer is "almost, but not really".  We had a number of lyrics written up but our biggest problem was coming up with a topic or general theme to sing about.  We spent most of our time brainstorming themes and writing something about those themes.  We agreed on some lyrics but we just never seemed to finish a project.  We gave up too soon and overthought everything we did.  

Here are a few tips I think are useful for setting up a band, based on my experience.

1) Don't worry too much about the style of the music to start with.  Instead, focus on getting ideas for songs or series of songs.

2) Band members should work as comrades, as a family of sorts.

2) There are many ways to approach songwriting:
Music first, then lyrics.
Lyrics first, the music.
Write both simultaneously.
etc.
It depends on your personal style which works best, it seems.  I preferred this method:
Decide on a general theme/topic for the song.
Write out some lyrics until we get some we were happy with.
Work on setting the mood of the song with the music.
Write the song in sections as above until the song is complete.

3) Record vocals as you go, to get an idea of what your song actually sounds like so far.  Don't wait until you've written all of the lyrics and music before you start singing.

4) Your band will develop a sound.  Don't spend too much effort "forcing" a certain sound (unless you're an impersonation band or have a specific goal to imitate a certain sound).  Let your sound evolve from your songs, from your lyrics, from your music.