This post is to get you and your band to take action instead of saying what you're going to do. Stop stalling and get moving. It's not what you say your band is going to do, but what action you take to get moving. Even if it's just playing a jam session at a local club.
Being a Musician and working on your material in the cozy, protected confines of your home gives you a place to write, and develop your band’s chops without any added pressures or interference. But What’s missing is actually getting out there and playing at local jam’s. As well, Musicians seem to be petrified of playing with others and screwing up in Public.
Players are worried about being shown-up by other Musicians. What I usually suggest is that you get out there into what I call the Insecurity zone and play something you know first – just to get in front of a crowd, then playing something you’re not so familiar with, and with another player – and if you do make a mistake play right through it and move on to the next riff. The reason I say this is because so many players make mistakes and don’t attempt to play past it, and “fret” over the mistake and virtually stop playing. Your playing doesn’t have to be perfect, just practice on your tone and note playing.
Becoming accomplished Players:
Your mistakes if done right when you move on to the next chord can become an element of the song. One of the main reasons bands or individual musicians never get on stage and make that next move into club work is stage fright, and being seen as a band that has terrible chops or inability to just play in time."Don't worry about every mistake". Pro Golfers screw up constantly. So making a few mistakes on guitar, bass or drums is nothing.
Stage fright shouldn’t be a consideration in your ascent to being a bar or a touring band. As far as a band’s chops go, that’s more important than being afraid of being on-stage in Public. A healthy dose of stage fright can propel you and your band into playing their best. Part of getting your music out there is to get it critiqued by a well known musician who plays your style of music. Don’t get a Recording engineer to listen to it. Have that individual go out to listen and watch you on-stage - and submit a CD as well so they can give you a good idea of what to work on in your shows and on your recordings. Now back to the trembling mounds of flesh that you are.
Getting Started On-Stage:
Start by going to local Jams with your whole band and by yourself as well. When you go with your band mates, bring your guitars and a good practice amp which you can pick up at a pawn shop for approximately $100.00. This way you have an amp and guitar set-up to your specs, and not some one else’s and can play it well. This way you don’t have to lug around your SWR, Crate or Ampeg which you should use in your shows only.
Next, you should ask the musician running the Jam if it’s all right if your band plays a tune or two. Jams get your band’s name out there, even in a very small way. Get your band members to go on-stage during the jam by themselves with other Players to get a reference on their feel, playing ability, chops and how to transfer that to your live and studio work. Keep on working your band’s repertoire, and write songs as much as you can, and practice other artist’s material, if that’s your bag.
Write - and rehearse enough material for at least one set at a local club. At this point approach a number of clubs that book your style of music, and see about opening for a known band. Opening for a band can sometimes get you more work than just booking your band early in the week by them selves. And act like professional Musicians, no matter what stage in your career you’re at – because you don’t know who’s watching you.
Even if you’re opening up for a headliner, or playing an early in the week show at a club for nothing – it’s still a fantastic way to get your band out there and work to become solid musicians. This way you’re learning how to promote your act and eventually get paid as working musicians.
Next, you have to write up a band - bio and start developing a press kit. One way is to go on-line and look for articles from the best in the music Biz (Taxi) which is an A&R Specialist – Artist and Repertoire business for musicians. These people have some of the most knowledgeable music industry veterans on staff, and can show you how to come up with a solid Bio and Press Kit. – Just go to http://www.taxi.com
Start getting interviews with local college radio and print writers. Start your own web-page as well and write articles on the band yourself. It sounds rather ludicrous, but a good way to Do it Yourself, and you can even interview your band members on their music careers, interests and goals.
One other way to get a following and more gigs is to interview other musicians and write articles on different areas of the music business, and get local music writers to help with content on your band website. This sounds like a lot of work, but if you love music enough you will do what’s needed. At Canadian Guitar Player Magazine we specialize in setting up Band bios, interviewing musicians and writing articles on various topics of interests to musicians, which can be set-up as part of a band’s press kit. We're here to create value for musiciains, and so should your band.
DIY promotion and making it work:
Getting a 3 song CD out there to promote and sell is also important. Like I said at the beginning of the article, your best 3 tracks with your strongest one first. As far as the recording goes you can do it on a 4 track or 8 track mixed on to CD. Also make sure to rehearse before going into the studio because no one likes to do 100 takes just to get it down right. Having all your instruments set up right so you don’t have to do any over dubs or editing constantly is important.
Doing a sound check so no signal bleed happens between your singer and the rest of the band doesn’t give off feedback, or horrible sounding final mixes is also imperative. So make sure your mic’s are set up properly and if you have the money buy some solid Shure 57’s or 8’s to help in that process. By experimenting with Mic distance from the amps can help in figuring out the best sound for the recording. So some pre-recording is in order just so you don’t have to keep on going back and getting frustrated by it all.
If you know a musician locally who has done his own recordings and can help you, use their knowledge to help you along the path. Its not always the top producers who will know what you need. Also, keep reading tips from Taxi.com and magazines like Guitar Player and Canadian Musician to help your recording and becoming the great musician and band you know you can be. Canadian Guitar Player has always been diligent in DIY promotion and can set up bios and press kits for a nominal fee. You’ll want to learn all you can in this business we love so much.
So never settle for the status quo and always keep on asking for the best from your band mates as well. First of all, get all you can out of the local scene before starting to get bookings out of town, because media promo is essential before you hit the big cities like Toronto, Montreal or New York. In the next article on getting the band out of the basement , We’ll delve into the services of booking agents, coming out with a CD release and learning the nuts and bolts of being a working musician.
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