How to join
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How To Start a Band: A Survival Guide
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okay
let's get this out of the way right now
most of you watching probably got a
ukulele for christmas or something
you're probably 13 to 17 years old
you've been listening to a lot of emo
bands like my chemical romance
fallout boy panic the disco 21 pilots
you traced all the way back to their
older shows on youtube and you're saying
to yourself man i could probably do
something like that
well i can tell you with an almost
mathematical level of certainty that you
will not end up like any of those bands
that i just mentioned you will never
play arenas
you will never sell at a concert house
you will probably never even get around
to releasing your own music if reality
catches up to you and you realize how
expensive
time consuming and miserable being in a
band can actually be and unless you're
like me where you have a massive social
media presence to bounce off and
kick-start your career in music
you're probably not even going to get a
response from a record label
does that make you sad does that make
you discouraged if the answer is yes
i'm afraid you're just not cut out for
music in the first place but but but
if you're willing to bury down all your
hopeless fantasies of fame and fortune
and find enough drive and performing in
front of nine people at a time in some
sweaty basement
you might be able to pull something out
of this video and that is our first and
most important tip
understand that your band is not going
to go anywhere if you're cool with that
we can continue
okay you're still watching awesome first
thing you're going to want to do is
learn your instrument
[Music]
bass guitar piano drums vocals whatever
it is
make sure that you know a thing or two
about how to play it youtube tutorials
are totally free and they're super
effective to work with
lessons are even better if you can
afford them spend about six months to a
year practicing by yourself and really
get a feel for what you're doing
while you're by yourself how about you
learn a couple popular cover songs
every genre and instrument is different
but most guitar players should know
sweet home alabama
bass players should know seven nation
army drummers should know come together
pianists should know don't stop
believing and also ukulele players do
need to know
every single tournament pilot song ever
written and singers should be familiar
with most of the songs i recommended
now this isn't critical it's just
something good to have on your belt when
you move forward
it's also pretty smart to learn a thing
or two about music theory as well
you don't need to do in-depth analysis
of beethoven or anything just
know the names for the parts of songs
and whatnot is the drummer's time
signature a little bit off
is the bass player playing in the key of
c major while everyone else is in e
minor this stuff is really simple and
you can learn it all in a day if you set
aside some time
and it'll make a world of difference
once you're playing and riding with
actual people but nate the beatles
didn't know music theory so i guess i
don't need to either
well guess what you're watching a
youtube video on how to start a band you
are
obviously not the beatles sure you don't
need to learn this stuff but at the end
of the day virtually all music written
nowadays has a very basic foundation
it's your job to learn these foundations
so don't get cocky with me punk
i seriously doubt that you're going to
be the next death grips okay another
thing you're going to want to do is get
all the stuff that you need
i'm talking instruments i'm talking
cables amps preamps
pa systems backups everything that you
need nobody likes a leech and
if you happen to show up at a gig down
the road and you don't have what you
need your band may be going home
humiliated
listen it doesn't need to be brand new
just check craigslist or the facebook
marketplace or something you're going to
find an instrument or whatever you need
that works just fine
and finally the most important thing
that you need to do before you pull the
trigger on starting a band is attending
local shows by doing so you learn the
basics of how to organize a musical
event
you learn actual musicians who know what
they're doing you gotta make friends
make connections get your name out there
before you've even picked up an
instrument
treat these like social events go to as
many as you can i recommend aiming for
attending at least 15 local shows in
your area before you take the plunge
i promise you won't regret it so
since you are watching this and you are
taking what i'm saying seriously do you
remember those friends they made at the
local shows
i want you to contact them invite them
to play with you at like a jam session
or something like that
don't start a band with your dumb
friends that you made in high school who
also got ukuleles for christmas and have
no idea what they're doing
getting members who don't know their
instruments will turn practices into a
daycare really fast and you don't want
that
make sure the other members know a thing
or two about music theory as well and
make sure that they have similar
influences as you if you grew up
listening to
awol nation and modest mouse you're
probably not gonna mesh with someone who
swears by ac dc and led zeppelin ensure
that you can get along with your members
and make sure they're not secretly white
supremacists
or red hot chili peppers or any kind of
other deplorable human being
do you like teenage girls
when you say teenage how are we talking
make sure they're the kinds of people
who can show up on time for stuff by the
way i'm talking rehearsals
gigs recording appointments etc people
who aren't exactly punctual with time
will make you want to tear your hair out
down the road
[Music]
so over a facebook messenger group you
guys need to decide on where to practice
the drummer's house traditionally is the
easiest bet because they more than
likely already have a practice space
where you don't need to worry about
noise
other alternatives to consider are
garages rentable studios or any other
properties where the cops won't get
involved if you're making too much noise
pick a few songs for everybody to play
traditionally everyone plays a few
covers so you get a vibe of how you guys
play together
find out who's proficient with their
instrument who is out of their element
and who needs a little bit more
one-on-one practice
by the way when the day of the actual
practice comes and everyone arrives make
sure that you guys
actually get around to practicing a lot
of these first practices devolve into a
hey let's all hang out
talk and watch tv event instead of
everyone actually putting in effort
sometimes you just need to break the ice
stand in the middle of the room and say
okay has everybody learned their parts
you got to pick up your instrument and
start playing everyone will catch on
once you guys start playing you're going
to come to a sudden realization
your band sucks horribly everyone's kind
of doing their own thing the sounds
aren't exactly meshing nobody has any
idea what they're doing don't don't
worry you guys are only gonna suck for a
few more weeks
oh yeah and uh don't forget to give the
drummer a few breaks that kid is killing
himself over there while you other guys
are literally twiddling your fingers
moving back and forth
at the end of every practice it's smart
for you guys to just make a habit of
going through every song that you went
through
treat it like you're on stage or
something like that where you guys don't
stop from mistakes you just gotta keep
on going
chug through you're probably gonna be
impressed by how much better you sound
after doing that
i don't know it's magic or something
okay
well that train wreck is behind you now
and i'm assuming that none of you guys
have either committed suicide or quit
the band
congratulations you've made a lot
farther than most kids in your boots
a good goal to shoot for is one practice
every week which you're going to find is
near impossible in the facebook group
chat
everybody's gonna start spouting off
their ridiculous employment shifts and
you guys just need to figure out how to
make it work
in the preceding practices hopefully you
guys include an element of songwriting
um here's a quick note if you're
watching this plan on starting a cover
or a trivia band i just want you to
click
off right now i understand that nobody
likes you bands like yours are trash
tribute bands are a thing of the past
cover bands take eyes away from groups
to actually try and they have this weird
thing called dignity now that we have
that out of the way let's talk about how
real bands write music there's two ways
that people normally go about this
number one the guitarist normally says
hey guys listen to this and they play
some riff they made up over the week
everybody starts playing along and
improvising the vocalist makes up some
of the worst lyrics you've ever heard in
your life
everybody goes home they revise it and
when they come back boom you have a song
pros of this method are is that you can
write a lot of songs really quickly and
a lot easier the cons are
that the songs rarely have dynamics and
they sound a lot less inspired
or number two you go home write full
songs by yourself
and then you bring them to practice pros
of this method are is that songs tend to
have a lot more dynamics
more inspiration and they feel a lot
less scattered the cons
is teaching the band whatever's in your
head in the first place and you end up
babbling like a madman
there may also be creative differences
with other members so
you know it's also really important to
practice at home as well you want to
make sure that you're keeping up with
the band and you don't get left behind
[Music]
okay so once you have 30 minutes of
material ready it's time for you to
start looking for your first gig
generally try to shoot for 25 minutes of
original material and only one cover
please only one cover if anybody wanted
to listen to three blink 182 songs in a
row they'd probably stay home and listen
to enemies of the state or something
like that you gotta message smaller bars
restaurants local venues and see if they
have any opening slots for your group
and by the way don't even think about
opening for a big signed band with a
hundred thousand monthly listeners on
spotify or first go you're more than
likely going to be playing for an empty
bar
when you start off with your band it's
generally smart to plan out some kind of
wardrobe scheme
it doesn't have to be anything crazy
just ask everyone to stick to earth
tones or something like that
this is a controversial statement but i
hear a lot of people saying that it's
always smart to stay away from logos
on stage two although i'm not here to
tell you how to live your life you just
do whatever you want oh and here's
something to remember um
you're gonna suck you're gonna be awful
your band is gonna make fools of
themselves on stage
this is gonna keep you up late at night
for months and months just think about
how bad your first show was
it's okay nobody is ready for the first
gig take it with the grain of salt and
treat it like learning experience
oh yeah i don't bring merch to your
first gig
nobody likes a band that royally blows
up and sucks on stage and then they have
the audacity to ask them for money for
the privilege of wearing their logo on
their boobs
the first few months you're gonna want
to play as many gigs as you can your
first gig
sucked but your next few aren't and once
you get a feel for playing live you'll
seriously improve as a band and get your
live performance sea legs ready you will
definitely improve with repeated shows
while you're opening for bigger bands
than yourself always watch on stage
and see what they're doing that you
aren't do the headlining bands have a
tighter sound
are they funny do they dress up take
note to yourself and see what you can
carry over to your sound to improve
oh and this also feeds into my next
point think about your stage presence
hearing live music is cool but people
came for a show
man it's music as well as visuals
if your band is just standing around
doing nothing nobody's gonna remember
you and your show's gonna be super
boring
all right here's a fantastic example
here's a clip from 21 pilots
oh okay okay calm down listen you can
say whatever you want about tournament
pilots but
this is bigger than that okay delusion
come back please come on just listen to
me okay so this clip is from 2011 when
21 pilots was still
underground so they're playing at a high
school during a cd release show with a
relatively small
crowd tyler joseph relays some
instructions to the crowd and preps them
before they start their song
there's gonna be a point where you split
down the middle again i always want you
to be a part of what we're doing
not yet i'll tell you what then one
side's gonna sing something you're gonna
sing with josh
the other side is going to sing with me
we're going to sing at each other you're
going to crash back together
we're going to go nuts the key word is
jump what's the key word
so a few neat psychological things are
happening right now so the band is
creating an expectation a norm for the
crowd that everyone is kind of expected
to fall into nobody wants to be the odd
man out so they're more likely to
participate at risk of making it awkward
oh shoot i see we're trapped by societal
convention it's in the back of
everyone's mind too which causes them to
build anticipation and dial into the
song much more effectively the band
plays their song normally and everyone
is magnetically fixated on them even
though they're not doing anything crazy
once they're nearing the end of the song
they have the audience participate in
singing back and forth in a harmony
josh's side on the right side you're
gonna sing this he goes like this
[Music]
tyler joseph marches right into the
middle of the crowd with nothing but a
ladder
and a flashlight in hand he stands up
elevates himself on top of everybody
completely changing the dynamic of the
show itself he instructs
everybody to participate with him in
that moment
he turns on a flashlight shines it in
people's faces for cinematic effect
and once momentum is reached a peak he
launches himself on top of everybody the
crowd
loses it he managed to hypnotize a whole
crowd with just a ladder a flashlight
and a little bit of charisma
again say what you want about the
quality of their music but as performers
this stuff is brilliant
once you start getting creative and
playing with your live shows and their
dynamics you're more than likely
gonna start getting a local following
once people start asking for merch go
ahead and make some
go to a local print shop with a large
original design and order bulk
listen it may be a lot of money up front
but the turnaround profits are
spectacular and don't forget to make at
least half of the order large
i found this out the hard way oh and
something else uh don't
play and dash show up at the beginning
of the show and leave at the end unless
it's a family emergency or something
like that
in which case you congratulate all the
other performers give hugs
apologize profusely and then leave with
your tail between your legs there is
nothing lamer than an opening band who
stays
only for their own set and then they
leave that is a fantastic way to lose
friends get kicked out of venues in the
future
and to reiterate please keep covers to a
minimum and never
ever under any circumstances do you
cover smells like teen spirit by nirvana
if any shady promoters happen to
approach you and offer you a spot on a
gig that you have to pay for
spit in their face and tell them to go
away tell them that you have too much
self-respect to pay
them money for the privilege to play at
their show that they are directly
profiting from
sounds atrocious you're darn right but
this malpractice is rampant in smaller
scenes especially in the hip-hop realm
so
stay alert when writing up set lists
keep dynamics of the songs in mind start
the show off with a banger
keep momentum going for a little bit
slow things down so it doesn't become
exhausting throw on something unexpected
pick it up again and then end on your
highest note that's traditionally how it
goes but you'll find your own vibe as
you continue performing
while you're playing gigs why not hire a
local photographer to take pictures of
your set as well
you look cool as frick on your facebook
page and that will come in handy when
you start looking for larger gigs down
the road like music festivals and
whatnot and they want pictures
[Music]
okay kid watching from home in their
pajamas with their out of tune ukulele
within reach
i'm gonna level with you there's a good
to fair chance that you're not gonna
reach this phase
most bands i see get stuck around the
practice and first gig area but
if you're really gosh darn serious about
this band thing this is where things get
tricky and sometimes stressful there are
much better in-depth youtube tutorials
on this specifically so i'm just going
to keep it brief once your band has
about 10 to 14 songs ready to go
play them put a cell phone in the middle
of your room and record demos they don't
need to sound pretty they don't need to
sound professional they just need to get
the basic vibe and structure the song
down if you want to get fancy you can
use pro tools logic or even audacity for
nicer sounding recordings
this is a great time to ensure that
everybody knows their parts inside and
out
now save up money as a band book studio
time at a local establishment once
you're there you're going to record
drums and bass first
rhythm guitar piano synths and horns or
whatever for the meats of the song
lead elements like vocals and guitar and
then finally you're going to add like
the weird quirks and flourishes or
whatever at the end
yeah this is really bare bones but if
you've reached this stage you
probably know what to do or you're
friends with someone who does
you know i'm not worried about this
do not skimp out on cover art a cell
phone picture of an awful colored pencil
rough draft will not cut it
you want to get someone who actually
knows a thing or two about photoshop to
design it for you pay them a little bit
of money if they do a good job you're
going to be making a cash back anyway
when making announcements make it a
habit to always have a link for folks to
go to
if you're announcing a show add a link
for an rsvp page
if you're announcing an album link a
song don't make hollow announcements and
not have anything to back them up with
they will be buried and forgotten have a
few local photographers get photos of
you and your band looking serious or
something i don't know
all these pictures look the same try do
something different or whatever
just so you don't look like these
endless boring metal bands look up some
famous music videos and take notes for
when you want to start making your own
you guys playing instruments in a weird
spot just doesn't cut it anymore throw
in some blood throw in some costumes
make it fun god forbid you try
it's also important to get a consistent
aesthetic for your band
have your facebook logo be the same as
your twitter logo be the same as your
instagram logo i have a professionally
designed logo that doesn't have this
stupid bloody
cowboy font i hate this this is cancer
for my eyes please make it stop
finally for bonus points if you really
want to look professional
let the promo materials carry into your
live shows is your cd cover a bunch of
guys and gas masks or something
why not walk on stage with gas masks and
peel them off before you start how about
a few props to liven up the stage a
video intro
think outside the box and set yourself
apart from all these other bands you're
playing with
i can't reiterate this enough youtube
has all the information in the world at
your fingertips
use it to improve your instruments your
stage presence media creations
anything at all do not sleep with fans
this never turns out well
there's also really gross power dynamic
that makes it icky and a big
no no you know this whole consent thing
going on watch what you say on social
media as well
dumb stuff will always come back to bite
you or even worse
appear on a reddit thread and go viral
lots of local venues and musicians check
on what you're saying as well and you
could end up on a blacklist if you or
your bandmates are caught spouting off i
don't know kkk propaganda or something
like that and never be afraid to cut
someone out of the band if they pose a
pr nightmare your group's future is a
lot more important than whatever dumb
racist tangents the bass player may go
on
always push for all ages shows whenever
possible bar shows are easy to get
but they may alienate some of your most
loyal fans support accessible venues and
support your local music scene dog if a
record label happens to contact you
have a lawyer or legal friend look over
everything and make sure that you're
safe before you sign your life away
make sure that you're in the clear and
your material and rights aren't in
danger
oh and speaking which pass up on major
labels entirely they're gross
they're bad stay independent and go with
smaller labels with fewer groups that
stick by their artists
do tons of research with whoever you're
considering signing with they're more
than likely gross and icky
and have a banned facebook account so
that local booking agents can find you
and contact you easily and
always have your links available spotify
bandcamp etc they shouldn't be hard to
find there are way too many morons who
don't take four seconds to add links to
their stuff and they suffer in the long
run because of it and finally have a
dedicated banned email when you're
messaging industry folks
thrabinsoncaruso69420 gmail.com is not
gonna look nearly as professional
as taking back sunday gmail.org it's
super simple
just do it
okay did you listen closely did you
learn a thing or two just follow these
instructions and you'll be playing in
greasy dive bars full of stone teenagers
in no time and truth is playing in a
band is a lot lamer than it appears in
movies and tv shows
actually performing gigs is a bit of a
reality check for most people
as long as you're upfront with yourself
and you understand that you're not gonna
be arena rock gods or headline
bonnaroo or something like that you're
probably gonna have a little bit of fun
you're gonna make lots of friends learn
awesome social and management skills
and you're gonna have a lot of cool
stories to tell your nieces and nephews
down the road
approach this with the mindset of having
fun and going on adventures and that's
the best thing you can do
keep your expectations in check and you
just might go somewhere so quit watching
my garbage and pick up your ukulele gosh
darn it
tune it for once there's tons of free
phone apps watch some tutorials get
going you fail 100
of the things that you don't do kick
butt take names make awesome music and
stay spicy i'll see you later
also lots of love to ethan land gabby
taylor
is this happy hour max moore and my
friend sarah joe simper and spencer
purcell for supporting me
on my patreon shout out to otto zagala
he's like 90
of my fan base and just some 13 year old
kid from australia
and harry phillips who is paying me 15 a
month so i can plug his channel
his valentine's day song is pretty
pretty cute i buried it in the
description
somewhere go find it plebs um enjoy the
end card i worked so hard on it
[Music]
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