General Music Chat

Am a new musician. Looking to start band. I have a concept for a band.
Although I am 50, I would like to have a young band. No alchoholics or druggies. I am interested in new musicians like myself, this would be an oppurtunity to grow together as a group. Doing covers is what I am into at the present. Classic rock. If we decide to do some original material, great, as long as its good. I am not into alternative rock or heavy metal. I do like some Metallica and AC/DC. I like the commercial sound. I am mostly into rhythm and lead playing but want to try singing also. What might work is a bass, a strong singer, a drummer, and possibly keyboards. That would be a well rounded sound. Maybe a rhythm guitar player. These are just suggestions and I am fairly flexible. I am committed to a young group; clean, upbeat and positive. A female lead singer might add some color to the picture.

Hi, LVH.
You might want to take this advice: At this stage: take whatever you can get.
Don't expect to "run" a group, unless you are SUPER.
Start by finding someone to jam with.
Good luck.
Samick1

Hi Sam,

Thanks for the input. I think its important to know what you want, not matter what you do. I f you start settling for what you can get, I believe you are robbing yoursef "so to speak". I know what you are talking about, and its not easy to find compatible band members, and I may never find what I want. I still don't think that is a good enough reason to settle for "what you can get". What if you settled for what you could get but if you would have kept looking, you would have found what you wanted? It may sound like I am trying to run something, but I am not. At least I don't think I am. Everyone is an individual, you run yourself. The querries I have posted are just that, querries. There may be some interested people and there may not. Personally I am not just interested in jamming with people: there are plenty of people to jam with. Been there, done that.

LVH

Who knows, I may be "SUPER"

LVH,
Yeah, I agree you've got to play what you like.
And, you've got to play what the other band members like. And you've got to play what the audience likes, too.
I know exactly what kind of position you're in, my friend. I'm 53, and I've been playing since the 70's. I know what it's like. I live in a musical 'dead zone,' myself.
Talented musicians who like the same stuff as you - can be VERY hard to find. And, when you find them, they're usually hours away. Don't be quick to discount jamming, especially if they live nearby.
You say, "Been there - done that." Ok.
But, if you're looking to form a group, it's still a good place to start.
It keeps you in practice and it's a good way to find compatible musicians. AND - spread your name around - isn't that what you want? Ask the people you jammed with to ask ariound for you, too.
You can also try contacting music insructors - they might have qualified students.
You just might get a referral.
Hey, like I said before - good luck . . .

Hi Sam.

We have different perspectives on the music scene. Fortunately for yourself, you started at a much earlier age. I am trying to catch up. I myself may be in a "dead zone"and may remain there for the rest of my life if a dead zone is defined as working with other musicians or being in a band. As for myself, I just enjoy music; it is not a goal of mine to be in a band; I entertain myself; a guitar, especially a good guitar, is an instrument which makes great sounds. I am interested in the music and the sounds, thats what gets me going. I just like listening and playing myself. A band, especially one that you can really connect with is just the icing on the cake. I kinda view that as a gift, not a gimme. I may never receive that gift. You gotta try; thats the essence of life. Thats what dreams are made of. If I ever stop dreamin or hoping, they might as well shoot me.

LVH

It seems like the older I get, the harder it is to find a group of people together who are like-minded. I believe that experienced musicians have the talent to be able to naturally sound good together, even if you end up playing some songs you may not at first like. I believe in total equality when it comes to selecting material. If everyone gets to choose an equal share of the tunes and everyone puts an equal effort into each song, then the finished product may pleasantly surprise you. Compromise is a wonderful thing in a band. As they get older a lot of musicians I find get narrow-minded when it comes to what they are willing to play. It's really sad to see bands squabble over which songs to play when they should be simply PLAYING and PLAYING and PLAYING. A truly talented group can make ANY song work. The "dead zone" you refer to may actually be a zone of hard-headedness. In actuality the only people who should be the judges of which songs you play are the people in your audience. Get together a group of talented people, PLAY your ass off, don't worry about choice of material, and get in front of an audience, and most of all, HAVE A FUN TIME. Life is too short and you're not getting any younger. Good luck-Fisherman Bob

Hi Fisherman Bob,

You hit the nail on the head in just about all of your comments. Its true that I am not getting any younger, but philosophically speaking, no one is. Ha! At my age you know that time is running out, at least I am aware that it is. To me its important to attempt to get the things done you always wanted to but have put off. When you are at a very early age, you think that it will never end but that is just being young. Probably just part of being a human. There are thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands who never make it past the age of 18. Well enough of that, I am still young enough to get the job done. Check back with me when I am 85.

I certainly agree with you on your band philosophy. You have to let each member be an individual. Its not all about one person. To me its fairly simple; you don't enjoy rock and roll and elect to play with people who are totally into country; you don't form a rock band and ask to play at Billy Bob's. You gravitate to people and venues which are common. If you do that, then the rest is going to take care of itself. That being said, I love a lot of country. I have more CW cd.s than I do rock. Kenny Chesney and of course George Strait are among my favorites.

Lets talk about fishing. I have a fishing video comming out for sale on ebay in approximately 3 weeks. Its a how to video. I am not trying to use this venue for advertising but since you go by Fisherman Bob, I thought you might be interested. Its a video on balloon fishing. I don't know if you know what that is. I haven't been able to find anything on it on any of the search engines. I am going on a fishing trip tomorrow to film some footage. Where I go I generally catch 25 to 40 lb catfish at about 400 yds. off shore. Let me know if you are interested in this type of fishing and I will get back with you.

The only type of balloon fishing I ever heard of was a guy who would catch a crappie (or any fish that predominantly schools), attach about 20 feet of line to the fish, then tie the end of the line to a balloon, throw the fish back in the water, and then follow the balloon around and catch more crappie like crazy! I heard this was an illegal method of fishing by the way. I 'm definitely a fisherman, but I don't fish for catfish specifically. Sometimes I catch one (mainly channel cats) by accident. The other day I was next to a guy who was crappie fishing who hooked and landed a HUGE flathead that weighed well over 50 lbs. He took it the nearest bait shop and it broke their scale. He fought it for well over an hour. Nobody had a net big enough to get the head of the fish in so three guys went into the water to get the fish on shore. It was bigger than any of his three kids who were with him. Anyway you definitely should try and market your video in the state of Kansas. Catfish are king of Kansas waters and lots of people fish for them here. At various times over the past twenty years Kansas has been home to world record catfish (particularly flathead). In fact I knew the guy that held the world record flathead years ago. Sorry to get off the music track, but I definitely would be curious to hear a little about your balloon method of fishing. Later-Fisherman Bob

Hi Fisherman Bob,

Hope everything is going OK. I know we are using this forum to talk about fishing, but I guess thats OK. I went yesterday to shoot some footage for the video and cut my thumb during a demonstration. It wouln't stop bleeding and I had to cut off part of my teeshirt and wrap it with duct tape. Ha! I didn't catch any fish but am going back Monday morning. I was fishing during the middle of the day and the tempature was about 100.

As far as balloon fishing, basically you are using the wind to push a balloon to where you think the fish are. Of course you have your bait tied onto the balloon. Its a fairly complicated rig up and special line is used. There is also a lifesaver used (candy) . As soon as I get this video produced I will see that you get a copy. Yesterday I was fishing about 250 yds. off shore at a depth of about 7 feet below the surface.

More later.
LVH

I get where your coming from regarding "like minded" players. I recently helped create a band with a 50 year old gtr player. Im 36 so it was interesting to see if the age difference would be an issue. Its not and it could have been if we didnt all discuss our musical wants after we all jammed alittle. It got a little bumpy in the coming weeks, but once our drummer lined up a gig, song choices fell into place quickly.
I guess my point is "your right in stating what you want" up front BUT also be flexable once you meet the like minded players. Theres no way you will all like the exact same thing. I learned to just shut up, play and remember why I picked up the guitar in the first place. For FUN!!!!!
Good Luck to you.
Sweeps
p.s. Check out my bands site http://www.disruptivedawg.com in the coming weeks. Im trying to finish the site asap and have clips of our gig in August up too. Thanks

Hi ya Sweeps,

Nice to hear from you. It looks like from the equipment you have you are into music, specifically guitar. I know of course that its a group effort in a band. Its also easy for me to sit here and give advice about the way it should be. I only hope I can take my own advice when it gets my turn. I hope you guys do allright in your effort and I am going to check out your website. Is that a Gibson Les Paul?
You know its a whole lot of fun for me right now primarily because of the internet. There are so many oppurtunities out there and so many people

I am very new to the scene and am still learning my licks. The more I practice and learn, the more I can appreciate the musicians that are light years ahead of me. It takes so much practice and time and dedication to get really good that I am starting to develope a bond between myself and other musicians I don't even know. I have only played for just over a year, and when I think of what I could know now if I had started playing earlier, gives me a lot of hope for what I can become, Lord willing, if I continue to practice.
LVH