Scrolling through results from your favorite search engine, you will find a plethora of web sites offering advice on starting a band and exploring the first step in starting a band. When looking through Google’s search results myself, I stumbled a cross a number of articles and web sites offering their insight on “How to Start a Band”. Below are some excerps of a few sites that came up. If you search for yourself, you will see that as much as there are some answers and suggestions that make sense… some do not.
“The first step in starting a band is to set out a list of goals and what you want to achieve by starting a band.”
http://www.ehow.com/how_4802516_start-band.html
“You’ve taken the first step and declared your intentions…”
http://www.triplejunearthed.com/unearthedhigh/Features.aspx?ResourceID=30
“The first step to do is to go to your local music store and hang up flyers stating you are looking for musicians.”
http://www.howtoplaydrums.com/start-a-band/
“What should you do first? The answer: nothing but think.”
http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-start-a-band
“The first step when deciding to put together a band is to make sure you are completely committed to it.”
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1965936/the_101_of_starting_a_band.html
Aside from the comment about posting flyers for musicians, each starting point seems to point at something other than the music. This finger presses an urge into your chest, “sit down and map this thing out.”
As easy as this sounds, read what happens when I try to put pen to paper in preparation. After grabbing a notebook and scribbling with 4 or 5 pens for ink, I find an inspiring CD and hit play. Soon the sounds and vibrations of successful writing fill my ears with awe and I write down a few words.
The first step in starting a band involves etching 2 words at the top of my page and deeply underlining them in place. Tracing over each letter of “My Band”, I think of what to write down next. The wall of sound drops as the first chorus hits my chest and I decide to sing along. Skipping ahead a good 35 minutes, I am either lying on the couch in a daze or dancing in front of the mirror. Either way, my sheet of paper still reads, “My Band”.
For me, I suppose that I need a pre-first step. Like explaining the rules of a brainstorming session befor cloud bubbles take over, this baby step is really a plan to plan. There are a few things that I suggest you force yourself to think about as part of the first step in starting a band.
Before turning up the speakers with your favorite track, write down these topics on a piece of paper. You may just find these things prove absolutely critical to your journey into the world of rock and roll.
1. What is my purpose?
2. What genre of style of music do I want to play?
3. What can I bring to the table?
4. What is my biggest fear about moving forward?
5. What is my inspiration?
6. What am I willing to do to succeed?
7. Who is with me?
8. What is my next step?
I trust that if you can honestly and independently answer each of these questions in detail, you will first of all realize where you stand, but also have at least a foggy image of where you need to get to in order to press forward in starting a band.
Personally, I have had a desire to start a band for years and have never sat down and tracked out where I want to go. Should I be surprised that I am not where I wanted to be? Are you surprised? Most of what I have done is take a seat on my drum stool and watch a few friends strap on guitars - jam for hours on end - we hope that the skin-shaking sound will bust through the walls and perk the ears of a talent shark, strolling down the street.
While this may have happened to a few people in the world, the reality for me was that after a few hours, my arms were sore and I just wanted to just chill out and dream about the next jam session. Reflecting on this myself, I now realize that the first step in starting a band is establishing a purpose and answering a few tough questions.
Read more tips for starting a band and view my answers to these questions in the “Starting a Band” category. |
