Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

So - suddenly having to dig up ancient songs meant for my ears only and brush them up.
Quite scary, but exhilarating. Very exhilarating. To the point that I'm up late, on the phone to my similarly enthusiastic bandmates, talking over lyrics and who's going to play what. I think we have it worked out: between the three of us, I'm taking on keys, rhythm guitar, possibly backing vocals, and a lot of songwriting; Band Member No. 2 is taking on lead vocals and possibly lead guitar; and No. 3 - haven't really spoken with her yet, as this all happened in the space of a night, but looks like she'll play piano. Songwriting will be a collaborative affair, really, but looks like I'll be laying down the templates and the groupwork will go from there. I'm tied up with family for a long time, but I'll be dropping in on No. 2 - she doesn't live far - in about a week to talk about the band's direction and to practise.

Is anybody else in a similar position - long-time dabbler in music, all of a sudden in a band? Has anyone been in this situation in the past? I imagine many of you have been.

Tonight I'll be working through the bassline and lead guitar for our first song, late into the night. (On an iPad synth app, headphones. Mustn't disturb the neighbours.) Also making inroads into finishing off the lyrics.

That's exciting. I've taken a long time off from being musical and I know quite a few others have as well. Good luck. feel free to post some links, so we can hear what you're doing.

schmedidiah wrote:That's exciting. I've taken a long time off from being musical and I know quite a few others have as well. Good luck. feel free to post some links, so we can hear what you're doing.

Thanks. Will keep you posted. Just finished the first draft - very stripped-down, just vocals and snippets of guitar - of a new song.

Strongly suggest you get together for a couple of 2-3 hour practices/talks. Talking on the phone and listening to each others' tunes online is not the same as playing together.
Good luck!

GuitarMikeB wrote:Strongly suggest you get together for a couple of 2-3 hour practices/talks. Talking on the phone and listening to each others' tunes online is not the same as playing together.
Good luck!

We're meeting up on the 20th (No. 2 has heavy studying obligations until then). Going to mess about a bit with our instruments, then try to play our first song. Yep, wrote it in a night. Was up until five or six laying down the parts for our instruments, then sent it off to the others. Then crashed out into a sort of hazy half-sleep, plenty of nightmares and hypnagogia, until eleven. Despite that, feeling pretty damned good. It's all coming back to me, the music I wrote as a kid, how I had perfect pitch and piano-strings-guitar-image (not sure of the term for that!) synaesthesia until I was 12 or 13. I think that music is the way ahead for me, the way out of being forced back into education, the way out of this awful bloody town and all the terrible memories and my reputation amongst the upstuck sneery yuppo contingency. Smash it up, etc. ;)

Would anybody mind if I PMed them the song, or at least the skeleton of it? I'm wary of posting it publicly.

If it's not some scary hacker link, you can pm it to me.

Hmm, can't PM without a paid account. Screw that.

You're around, you can email me. No spam or bad links please.

sendtouncleted@gmail dot KOM

I've been in the opposite position many times. Have fun with it! I remember doing it for years feeling a great deal of pressure (lead vox and guitar), and several times in my life, the fun part was gone. Some music has a higher purpose, for the rest, when the fun is gone, so am I. Thanks for sharing, it is pretty cool.