This may be useful for other things too. Some things I've learned, sometimes the hard way.
1. If you don't think it's a little silly to be "in a band"; you're either a tool, or oblivious
2. Nobody cares that you're in a band
3. The only person who is actually going to pay attention to your music is your mother. This is the only person you are going to "shock" or actually listen to and like your music
4. You're not that good at what you do
5. Nobody cares how good you are. Nobody gives a shit about the mistakes or prima donna things you do with your insturment, just so long as you play and keep somewhat of a beat.
6. Nobody cares what other bands you do or do not like
7. Never critique other bands unless they actually ask for a critique, just play your shows and make your music
8. Music citics are aweful people and some of the worst writers you will ever encounter. They are the masters of purple prose
9. Don't hold on to songs, or be idealistic about getting everything "perfect" - just record the damn things and play them live. Nobody cares anyway, nor are they paying attention
10. You're not too good to play live - if you are not playing live you are a)not in a band b) you are not a musician c) you are not a song writer.
11. There is no such thing as playing in a band that is "beneath" you - this goes triple if you are not in a band.
12. You have not written anything if it is not on record
13. You are not going to get laid
14. It is not cool to be in a band - everybody and their brother nowadays is "in a band"
15. There is no such thing as a venue that is "beneath" you if you are not playing live
16. There is no such thing as an audience that is "beneath" you, unless they are openly hostile to you on stage
17.You're not going to make a living off of this - if you think you are, you're wrong. Get a second job. If things are looking good, you'll know when to quit the second job.
18. Never say you are a musician for an occupation if you have another job that makes more money - if you do this, you're a tool.
19. Don't think in terms of "big tours" - this will usually waste time and money. Just do minnie gigs out of town for 3 or 4 day weekends.
20. There is nothing inherently better about NYC, LA, Seattle or whatever than Boise, Sheboygan, Dayton, etc. If you move to one of those former mentioned cities it better be for a damn good reason other than "being cool". Also, there is nothing special about playing the cities either. Their crowds are no more or less special than in Bumfuck Nebraska.
21. You're not that creative or unique. And usually when someone says they are completlely different and original it is either a) a lie b) really really terrible non-music that is desperate for attention. If you were that much of a musical genius you would not be reading this anyway.
22. kick the drummer out of the band if he wants to start writting songs
23. A cover band will be more popular and make more money than you ever will.
24. The only people it is "cool" to be in a band for, other than cover bands, are the kids who already sit at the cool table in high school or popular frat boys at your college. They will be more popular than your band ever will.
25. Don't be scared about showing your songs off to anyone or playing live. Learn three chords and just do the damn thing, no one cares anyway. Being in a band is fun, and if you're in a situation where it is not and it isn't your main occupation, get the hell out of the band. Oh, and if you are quitting the band ratinonalizing that being in a band is't fun before your first show - you were never in a band to begin with, and you're probably being a wuss.
I promise this isn't a negative take on anything at all - I think these tips are quite positive. I just see a lot of younger people going into this with the wrong attitude. The sooner you realize this stuff the more liyou will enjoy your experience and quit being anal retentive about things- and the better you will be at doing what it is you want to do in this type of music
"As in a kaleidoscope, the constellation of forces operating in the system as a whole is ever changing." - Ludwig Lachmann
"When A Man Dies A World Goes Out of Existence" - GLS Shackle
Half of what I read economics alone can tell you.
Me likes.
I don't really even listen to music anymore because I think it is all...
really really terrible non-music that is desperate for attention.
So much contemporary music is just pretentious. "Listen to my analog sound. It is so not hipster (AKA 'I'm a hipster/trendster, like me'). Yeah that's a minor to a major 7th. It's just subtle, you know."
Hahaha. I've always told my friends who think they are going to be rock stars that "...any frat boy can pick up an acoustic and write your songs. The market will pick him, not you."
17 and 8 are good observations as well.
I just tell people to write music for themselves and/or other musicians. Otherwise, you are right. No one cares. Just don't embarass yourself (know your musical and booze related limits). If anything the people who do not play or write or care about music are using your band oto get themselves laid, which should be a compliment, but it isn't.
Vive la insurrection:22. kick the drummer out of the band if he wants to start writting songs
Haha!
To sum it up with Tenacious D:
"It doesn't matter if it is good, It only matters if it rocks. The main thing that we do is to rock your socks off. There's no such thing as a rock prodigy, Cause rock 'n roll is bogus, right KG? ('Right!') Only thing that really matters is a classical sauce."
Here's some of my own advice:
1. Get a clean and sober drummer and bass player. This means you have a solid rhythm section and 2 designated drivers.
2. Everyone else in the band: use lots of drugs and alcohol. This will make you feel awesome, and people will think you are cool.
3. Play college campuses. Unlike actual businessses like bars, colleges have no idea how to spend money. It is very easy to trick these people into thinking that your band should be paid $1000. You also have a serious chance of getting laid.
4. Play bars. Unlike college campuses, local dudes who can get you more shows will actually be there.
4. (Optional) -- Create a persona and stay in character. Are you shy in real life? Fuck it! Take a bunch of pills and drink a bottle of wine on stage and let everyone know that you are the Jesus Christ of indie music. If you pull it off correctly, the drummer and bass player will say "damn dude, that show was good." If you don't pull it off, they will be very pissed, and maybe don't try it again.
5. Cover pop / hip hop / R&B songs. Everyone thinks this is hilarious.
6. Use technology to your advantage. Seriously, unless you have a back-up player for every member, someone is going to have to miss a show sometime. Pre-record their parts and use backing tracks or buy a drum machine. NOBODY wants to hear your stripped down acoustic set. You will also learn a thing or two.
7. Don't buy expensive equipment. If you need to, buy it used. Stay away from guitar center, basically.
8. Join your friend's retarded little record label. Its not like sub pop is trying to sign you, it will make your friend happy, and its fun to be part of stuff like that.
9. Your drummer does not need that many drums or cymbals. Your guitarist doesn't need a full stack. Remember, half the band is too fucked up to actually help carry any equipment, and mom's minivan isn't really that big.
10. Don't be a dick, ever, to anyone. If its part of your persona, "turn it off" when dealing with sound guys or people who run the venue. The asshole who is talking really loudly during the quiet songs -- don't worry about him. You will lose that fist fight, and will be banned from the venue.
they said we would have an unfair fun advantage
+1 for getting an actual job. When you rely on art for physical sustenance, it ceases to be art, and becomes labor.
but i thought that even the guy who plays the cowbell gets laid like crazy. this needs to be expanded upon
1. Get a clean and sober drummer
They exist? I'm just happy to see a drummer who isn't bat shit insane
As for equip - good call. Bass sounds best plugged in DI 90% of the time and it is usually better for the sound guy to deal with the mix than you, and no need for fancy drum kits - anything more than 4 toms the drummer should be kicked out. Pawn shops are your best friend.
The only thing you may want to fuss about is a decent tube amp for the guitars. If you play piano or synth, your going to have to shell out some cash.
No clue on the college thing I only played my college once - and it wasn't for money
Oh also,
If you want to start a "political avant garde" type band. Just play two ultra distorted chords really fast, put on a light show, have synths play random noises, and program some really hard dance drum beats via a drum machine. Than just yell really distorted random indecipherable lyrics really fast and wear a giant mask of Glenn Beck and drape the American flag in the back of your set.
Seriously do this, make an album of it -it's easy, and people will think you're smart. I would suggest doing 15 really short songs that range from 30 sec to 1 1/2 min or doing 1 or 2 really long songs that last for 10 min plus
I don't really even listen to music anymore
I would recommend you start listening to classical music (or more of it if you already listen to some).
Consider the following excerpt from Bach's first keyboard (harpsichord) concerto:
Now, the entire work is just an absolute masterpiece but I want you to notice the decrescendo from 1:11 to 1:37 (26 seconds long!) - very rarely do you hear the careful application of musical discipline in pop music to this degree. This isn't to say pop music is bad - it's just folk music - but it is to say that there is a difference between the backwoods barebeque and a five-star French restaurant.
Some people have difficulty with classical music but I think it's because they get distracted by the surface features of the music such as the scales, trills and so on. Don't listen to those, listen through them to the underlying theme. I personally dislike programmaticism (music that "tells a story") but it can be helpful for acquiring a taste for a new genre. For example, listen to this gem by Dvorak:
... just imagine a woman singing and rocking her child to sleep, it's enough to make your hair stand on end.
One of the differences with classical and pop music is that classical music tends to be much more structured - opening, body, ending, foreshadowing, climax, etc. and this is how it can be so much more rewarding at times, even though it's all just sound. Once you realize this, you will understand that the expressiveness that is possible through music is truly unlimited even though the surface features of any music are all alike:
"Music is sound painted on a canvas of silence" - Anton Rubinstein
Clayton -
I'm way ahead of you clayton. I meant I don't listen to much contemporary music anymore. I like classical music because of the way it is written (@7:00 ish in the top video he explains how he wrote this particular piece; by drawing it). Einziger is pretty cool when it comes to semi-inventive music. He avoids the major pitfall....writing bad lyrics that dominate the rest of the music. Very few bands can get away with that in my ears.
Big band, jazz, funk, psych stuff is cool too.
Bands are not quite so relevant as they were once upon a time for studio purposes. My setup:
Guitar -> Preamp -> Delta AP192 -> VST Apps (reverb, compression, etc.)
Midi Keyboard ------------^
dazed111:but i thought that even the guy who plays the cowbell gets laid like crazy. this needs to be expanded upon
Watch this. Just awesome: I need more cowbell!
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I'm not a "pure" bassist - Rhythm Guitrar, Synth, and Piano (vocals as well if you count that) all have a large say in what I play in studio and live (though Rhythm guitar not so much live). And as a writer, I probably "start" with bass guitar more than most people do, but it is nowhere near my main insturment to write songs on.
That said Bass is kind of my favorite thing to think about - and easily my fav insturment to play live. I feel much more "correct" holding a bass guitar than anything else, and Cello and Double Bass (even though I don't play them) are my two fav insturments. Bass guitar is my favorite insturment to write for (once again, other than maybe vocals if that counts) , and the bas clef is my fav pitch when thinking in terms of "totality" and relation to things.
In my experience it usually most fun to write for after everything else is written.
Anyway here are some thoughts about bass:
1. You can write songs on Bass Guitar
2. You should write some songs on bass guitar
3. It is better to think in chords than in scales
4. You should learn how to play at least a functional rhythm guitar, and learn how to do chord progressions
5. Learn synth. This is very important and very easy. It is a bass insturment and if you don't learn it you are outa dated You can play bass and synth at the same time. Learn Synth, learn synth, learn synth.
6. Usually if the synth is playing 8th/16th note you ought be playing 1/2 or whole notes and vice versa
7. Don't listen to the drums, listen to the band
8. If you're new there is nothing wrong with just playing the root/ the 5th / the octive. In fact there is nothing with this period.
9. If you are in a part of the song where you have to play....play, never stop - no matter how much you think you are screwing up, don't stop!
10. It's a subtle insturment, if you think the bass is not a subtle insturment and you play it unsubtley - you are probably fucking up. Of all the insturments (even rhythm guitar) this is the least tailored insturment for being a premaddona
11. Being a good bassist means caring about being a good band, not a good bassist (yes every insturment is like this, but especially bass guitar)
12. It's fine to think of yourself as part of the rhythm section...but once you get the feel for that it is better to think of yourself as a low end insturment
13. vocalsand playing bass is a bit harder than piano / guitar but still very doable - and once you get used to it, very useful
14. Don't stick the girl youare trying to hit on on bass unless you really don't care about the band and are going to disolve it soon....stick her on "percussion" (i.e. 5 dollar maracas or 8 dollar tamborine)
15. Slap and pop is fine and all, if it works with the song - if not it is an awful thing to do.
16. Don't worry about "haters" who say "bassists don't use picks". The pick is ust another tool in the aresenol, and many times a damn good one. If you are playing punk there is no sustitute for a nice hard pick just doing don strokes.
17. It is a crime there is nothing that can help an electric bass carry a sustain. Cello's and Double Basses have bows, we do not (not even an ebow works), this has irked me very much. The best thing I know of is either a synth stomp peddle or learning sytnth for some type of compensation. Either way, just one more reason to learn synth.
18 Learning Piano is usefu.l Among other things, it can function as a bass insturment, and it will help you diversify and increase your scope in musical knowledge and ability to suppost a full band
19. The best thing about being a songwriter who is a bass guitarist....You will always be the unofficial "conductor" of the band if you play your cards right
20. No bass solos, ever.
21. Knowing when not to play bass is just as important as knowing when to play
22. Knowing when to play "boring" root/5th/octive stuff and being "boring" and following the kick is vital. You can make a living off just doing this simple thing and you will never ever ruin the band
23. Doing too much is worse than doing too little (minus stopping playing bass to correct a mistake)
24. You are more in charge of dynamics than the guitarist with 20 pedals in front of him, you better know what the hell the song is calling for
25. You can be either a "functional" beginner who can fade in the background, the most indespensible part of the band, or something in between - it really is that diverse an insturment. You can play in a band and play live after three bass guitar lessons and a few band rehersals if you want - to being the guy who is controlling the entire band. Crazy stuff. The most important thing though, is that you are "functional" - you have to play (something, anything!) when you have to play.
I disagree. It is better to think in modes as you can see chords and scales simultaneously (in any key you want). Ask Joe Satriani. I think he knows what he is doing.
Yeah, Flea and Victor Wooten are just assholes that don't know what they are doing.
I'll talk about the chord stuff later, as that requires thought.
This was more of a joke than anything.
This is an aesthtic comment - I am not really much of a "jam / solo (particularly in relation to a jam) or virtuoso type of person. When I actually really like jazz they tend to be great composers (like bassist Charles Mingus, who to me is just as good as Debussy)
I just don't think the rock electric Bass guitar lends itself to soloing all that much. And the problem with a bass solo going on with drums is, due to the nature of the insturment - it is no longer a bass solo, but a bass drum track.
That said if the Paul McCartney Bass on "Michelle" counts as a bass solo, that's pretty cool - but it sounds too composed for me to call a solo.
I have no problem composing to feature a bass insturment (Bach Cello Suites anyone?), but solo improve not really my thing with a bass
I don't think solos have to be improvised. Jimmy Page certainly "composed" the solo in "Since I've Been Lovin' You" (which is far better than stairway).
I don't think solos have to be improvised.
Crushing Day is composed.
Btw, Malmsteen also said that he works from modes. Not that it matters because you can use a formula to play one note at a time or otherwise and it amounts to about the same.
That's a sweet Satriani track.
My tips:
Emulate the people you like. They won't care. It is the most sincere form of flattery. (You still need to be original, don't just rip them off...)
Learn to cut your brain in half and sing a different melody than you play with your fingers. Whatever your instrument. I play guitar so my examples are there. (The best musicians can do this and they are few in numbers; McCartney, Mayer, Hendrix, Erak [imo], etc.) Vai and Satriani et al do not seem to sing. They are too busy shredding.
This is about half improvised from the record. Notice the independence of his fingers from the variance from his 'singing' melody. This dude is 23 in the video. (There is this one too) (And, just for fun, these where he puts on a clinic with some kids that are in music school.)
Here is Mayer QED'ing his ability to play and sing independent melodies. it's got a pretty wicked solo in it too.
John Mayer's best song (or one of, anyway, his best stuff is on "Try!" and "Continuum"). Seriously, the solo (2:45) = hard on. (It's a long one.) (The solo that is.) (Like 6 minutes.) JM gives SRV and EC a run for their money in this dept.
Start at 3:10. This is how music is done live. All of the instruments are done sooo well. The first part of the guitar solo (4:20ish) is improvised, but the latter part, that starts right @7:52, is fully composed.
These are my three favorite (guitar) musicians, atm.
Listen to the pipa solo at about 4:10. Ah, good night, all.
Also, try to sound like Donna Summer. If you can write an 18 minute dance song, you're set.