Forming a Band

“So You Want to Form a Band”

A word about the Author.   Howard Smith has been a professional musician for most of his life.
He has toured Australia and New Zealand as bass player for many international entertainers, and has also acquired years of experience as a session musician. He has been the band leader and musical director at several major clubs in NSW and Queensland such as Twin Towns Services Club and the QEII Sports Club in Brisbane.

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So you’ve got a couple of mates that play instruments (with varying degrees of ability), and you think it would be a bit of fun if you all got together in your garage one Sunday afternoon and tried to play a couple of songs that you are all familiar with.

Basically, that’s the way nearly all bands start out. And quite often it can be just that – a bit of fun together.

After a while however, things progress. You’re making some half-decent music, and you think you’d like to move to the next level. In fact you might do some gigs in public and, (perish the thought), maybe even get paid?  Wow!

It’s about this point in your exciting new career that you and all the others involved, need to learn and understand a few facts about bands – how they work, some of the pitfalls, and how to get to a reasonable level quickly if you expect to stay together and get serious about your music.

Starting Out:
A basic band usually consists of guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. One or two of the players usually do the singing, or if none of them can, you will need to search for a vocalist.

Most bands are what is generally termed “covers” bands. That is, they play songs that have been written and recorded by other artists, as opposed to “original” bands – those that write and play all their own material.

Goals:
In the early days, all members should get together (and preferably somewhere away from their instruments), to discuss and then agree upon just what it is that you all want to achieve out of this. Remember - it's a long road ahead! Many bands put in months of work, practicing and rehearsing, only to later break up because they failed to look ahead and agree on a plan for the future.

Firstly, you will need to decide what style of music the band is going to play – country; jazz; rock; commercial; religious; there are many types.

You'll also need to decide on what your target market is going to be – pubs; clubs; (both very different from each other) corporate functions; restaurants, church gatherings, etc. This in turn, will lead you to the next decision to be made – what are your financial goals?

Do you want to play six nights a week and try to make a living out of music, or do most of the group have day jobs, and just want to work one or two nights a week to augment your current incomes? Alternatively, you may just want to do it for the musical satisfaction and pleasure you derive from a team effort. Nothing wrong with that at all!

The Band Leader:
A band is just like any other team, whether it be sporting, sales, etc. - it needs a captain or a leader. This person does not necessarily have to be the best musician in the group .....  just the one that has the respect of all the others.

Once you have total agreement on your goals and decided who is going to take on that position, part of the job is to ensure that you all stick to that course.

There will be times when a particular player will attempt to draw the band in another direction, usually towards their personal taste in music. This is the time when the leader must stand strong and stick to the direction that was initially agreed upon, unless of course, there is a general agreement on a change of course.

There have been many times in my career when, because of this problem, I have had to replace a player (and quite often, a really good musician) and take on someone of lesser ability but who is compatible and fully accepting of the style and direction of the band.

Dealing with Ego’s in the Band:
Being part of a band is always a compromise - music wise, personality wise, and commitment wise. There has to be give and take by all players if you are to get along together, and there will always be differences of opinion. Being able to resolve these differences quickly and amicably goes a long way towards bonding the band and ensuring it’s longevity.

Sometimes however, you find one or two members will put themselves above the others in the band, not realising that some players of a lesser musical talent are just as important in a band as the so-called “stars”. A successful band needs a blend of talent, experience and dependability. Whilst the soloists are usually looked upon as the stars, they can only perform at their best when they are supported by a solid foundation of bass, drums, and rhythm instruments. 

Generally speaking, most of the players in a band are happy to have an open discussion on the selection of material, and the way an individual song should be played, and then go along with the majority.

However there will be times when one player with strong views will virtually demand that the song be done in a certain way, throw a tantrum, and become very vocal if it doesn’t happen. This attitude usually upsets the other members of the band, and if not quickly addressed, can lead to serious rifts in the group.

It's at this time that the band leader must accept the more undesirable aspect of their role, put on the “Band Leader's” cap, and exercise their authority. It’s an unpleasant task, but it has to be done, and the sooner the better.

During or after rehearsal however, is not the right time!

I prefer to go and visit the person the next day, when tempers have cooled and he or she is in a more receptive mood, but while the issues are still clear.

I usually just calmly explain the differing opinions of the other players; their varying levels of musicianship and experience; the need for unity and compromise in the band. I then ask him or her to give consideration to being more flexible in their attitude and demands on the other players.

Providing each musician is giving the best they can, this is all we can ask.

Trying to force musicians to perform beyond the limits of their current ability is only going to place them under pressure, and make them more nervous & self-conscious. Continued pressure like this will eventually cause them to quit!

Naturally we should always be striving for the best possible output from individuals as well as the whole band. So each band member (and in particular, the band leader) should be encouraging the others to constantly push their personal limits, in order to further their musical skills.

However we also need to be realistic in the assessment of our pool of resources and use them to the best effect.

If, after several meetings, there is no change in the attitude of the “Prima-Donna”, then the band leader must make the decision to let that person go, in the interests of band
unity.  Otherwise there will just be ongoing friction.

Let me assure you - once the decision has been made, the others in the band will be more relaxed, they’ll increase their effort, and in no time at all the band will be sounding as good or better than it was before. Plus .... you may find a replacement who is better than the old one, anyway.

What’s the difference between Practice and Rehearsal?
Musicians often get confused between practice and rehearsal, so lets clarify this ….

Practice is what you do in private, in your bedroom or garage, either listening to and learning a new song or working on improving your skill & dexterity on your instrument. (this task includes vocalists too). Rehearsal is what you do when the whole group gets together and performs the material you have previously decided to learn. This is when all the pieces of the jigsaw come together. So lets look at them individually ....

Practice:
A common problem is that some members of the band will always have an excuse for not knowing their songs. They'll shove the rehearsal CD into the car stereo on the way to rehearsal, have a quick listen, and then hope to fake their way through it without anyone hearing their mistakes. Those of you who have put in the effort at home will quickly pick this up.

This attitude shows a lack of commitment to the band, and should be looked at most seriously by the band leader.

It is imperative that each member spends as long as it takes through the week, going over and over his part until he knows it “note perfect” before showing up at rehearsal.

I believe that on a scale of 1 to 10 in musical ability, a group of musicians with an average ability of 6, can come together and sound like an 8 band - it all comes back to how much effort each player is prepared to put in at home!

Whilst on the subject of learning your songs, tape decks have become almost obsolete these days, however they are still a musician’s best friend when it comes to learning your songs. You can flick back just a couple of bars, and go over and over it while you listen closely to the particular lyric, chord, or bass note is being played in the song.

Here’s a good tip …… if you’re having trouble in defining a particular passage, take the CD or tape out of your stereo and play it through another device – maybe in your car or on a cheap portable player. Different amplifiers pick up different frequencies, and you’ll be amazed at how easily you can pick out the unrecognizable bit straight away!

Of course, you can always resort to looking on the Internet for the chords to a particular song, however a word of warning!

Don’t assume that because they’re on the net, they are by the original writer and are therefore correct. My experience shows that they are rarely correct, and have been done in a very simplistic way. Use them as a guide, but never take them as being gospel. I prefer to trust my own ear!

Rehearsals:
If each player has done their homework and learned their parts, rehearsals should simply be a time for tidying up intros and endings - in musical terms, “top and tailing” each song. Having to hold up rehearsal while some lazy bones is shown how their part goes, is both time consuming and irritating to all the other members who have put in the hard yards at home.

Repertoire:
With regard to the band’s repertoire, the bandleader should have prepared a list and obtained copies of all the songs the band intends to learn over the coming weeks and months.

He should then dub the numbers you intend to learn at your next rehearsal onto a tape or CD and give a copy to each member, making sure that the key the song is in on the CD (the written key) is one that is well within your vocalist’s range. If not, he should advise everybody accordingly. For example - “this song is in D on the disc, but you will have to transpose it down to C for the singer”.

The bandleader therefore needs to know the vocal range of each of the singers. This can easily be done by listening to a song that they currently do, and picking out the highest note they can comfortably hit. This is essential in arranging a song for your band, as constantly stretching a vocalist beyond his or her range will not only make the band sound bad, but can also damage the singer’s vocal cords.

Incidentally ….. there are PC programs on the market that can transpose a song into another key, without changing the tempo, making it easier for the musicians to learn.

Writing and Reading Charts:
At the mere mention of the words “reading music”, most amateur musicians go into cardiac arrest – the palms get clammy, eyes glaze over, and a general feeling of blind panic sets in! However, these feelings must be overcome if you want to progress to the next level.

Reading and writing simple chord charts for yourself and the band to use, is not that hard! It can be done in your own home and at your own pace.

Charts are just like road maps. By looking at them you can see where you're going, and find the shortest way to the end, without trusting the whole thing to memory.

When you first listen to a song, you'll notice that certain parts of it (for example, the verses and the choruses) are the same chord structure, and are repeated several times. So rather than write a sheet of music that's five pages long, there are ways of writing the chart (by the use of signs and symbols) that will keep it down to one page
but still enable you to play the complete arrangement in sequence, ( for example verse, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, chorus).

There are many benefits in having a chart.

For example, during rehearsals it enables the whole band to go back to a given point in the song (maybe where someone made a mistake) and all continue from that point, rather than having to run the whole song again in it's entirety.

Lets say there's a mistake towards the end of the song, and you want to start again, but not do the whole song. The singer asks “are we going back to that part before the middle bit, after we've been through it twice, where there's that high thingy on guitar?”

Imagine how frustrating this can be when you've been over the song 17 times in the past  three hours, your nerves are at breaking point, and you're about to take the bass player out the back and strangle him! Wouldn’t it be so much easier if you all had a chart that you had written, and you could say “lets go from ‘Letter D’ on your chart, and play it through to the end”.

So …. If you’re serious about moving to the next level with your band, you should all make a firm commitment to learn how to write simple chord charts.

Vocal Harmony:
It is my opinion that 3 part harmonies (1st, 3rd and 5th) are all that is required to give the band a big, fat vocal sound. The pitching and singing of harmony notes is an acquired skill, and usually takes many years to perfect. If you have the voices within the band to do this, it will give your group a real edge.

When learning harmonies, the best way to ensure that they are correct, is for all the singers to get together around a piano or guitar and rehearse them in an “un-plugged” situation. Trying to get your notes right with the whole band playing can lead to mistakes, as they are sometimes be drowned out by the on-stage volume. This can leave you believing they’re all OK, when in actual fact some may be clashing or two singers may be on the same note. Three-part vocals unaccompanied (or maybe with just an acoustic guitar or piano) can show off your group's musical skills to great effect. This is known as “a cappella” singing.

Instruments:
Just a quick word of advice –

1. Always buy name brands, and
2. Always get the best you can possibly afford at the time!

If you buy cheap equipment, I’ll guarantee you will soon realise that it is slowing you down and inhibiting your progress. You will find that after about 6 months of playing in the band, your technique has improved and you want to move up to the real thing.

It's then that you'll find the gear you've bought, even though is still nearly new, isn’t worth a fraction of what you paid for it and you’ll get next to nothing as a trade-in. So you’ve just wasted all that money. Quality, name brand equipment always holds it's value, and assists in preventing you from forming bad habits.

In Closing:
In this article I have tried to give those of you who are just starting out, a small insight into some of realities of forming and then running a band. Obviously I have only skimmed the surface here, and I would love to have the time and space to go into them in greater depth.

If you have any questions, I would be only too happy to offer some suggestions and pass on the benefit of my experience to you. Just send an email directly to me at hcsmith@bigpond.net.au and I promise I’ll answer it.

Whilst I may appeared to dwell on a lot of the negatives of being part of a band, let me assure you – it’s well worth the effort!

Some of the most satisfying and wonderful times of my life have been spent in the company of musicians – doing gigs, touring, and even just rehearsing - and I wouldn’t swap them for the world.

Musicians are a unique and wonderful group of people. They speak a different language and have a different sense of humour to the rest of society, and it is this uniqueness that is so endearing and bonding.

So to coin an old phrase ....  “you only get out of it …. what you put into it”.

Practice hard, be inspired by those gifted with great talent, but also be understanding and patient with of those whose talent may not yet be as developed as yours.

God has given you a wonderful gift – the ability to create music and make people happy! Be eternally thankful …... 

Howard Smith.
January. 2009.