{"id":14575,"date":"2018-09-03T11:42:01","date_gmt":"2018-09-03T11:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/?p=14575"},"modified":"2022-06-09T12:16:52","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T11:16:52","slug":"how-to-start-new-band-project-musicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/blog\/how-to-start-new-band-project-musicians\/","title":{"rendered":"How to start a new project with other musicians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Creating new music and starting a new band is an exciting time. This guest post from Joe Hoten explores the best ways to approach working with new musicians and starting a new project.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Before You Start a New Band<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve just been to a show and had the best conversation with someone you met there – you like all the same bands, hate all the same bands, and agree that the time has come for a musical revolution. The air is heavy with promise, your mind is racing, and you just can\u2019t wait to get together in the practice room to see the fruition of that initial spark.<\/p>\n

This type of encounter is precious, because, for many of us, it\u2019s a rare one, and therefore not to be wasted. How disappointed would you be if, at your first practice, you weren\u2019t so much changing the course of history as you were standing around awkwardly, not knowing where to begin? This doesn\u2019t just affect amateur musicians<\/a>, either : Kurt Cobain and Mark Lanegan, Lou Reed and Metallica and U2 and Apple all wished that more had came of their meetings of the mind. And while some things are just not meant to be, here are a few preventative steps you can take to ensure your project doesn\u2019t implode on day 1.<\/p>\n

Catch them live<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The best way to get a sense of your new musical friend is to see them in action. If they\u2019re in another project, go along to their next show – or you could both arrange to go to the next local open mic night. You\u2019ll get to know their style, and, with any luck, you\u2019ll see how the bands you both like have influenced their playing – and then the cogs will start to turn. And if you both go to an open mic night and do a turn each, you\u2019ll both put each other at ease by putting yourselves on the line. Heck, you might even end up performing together that very night! And if either of you end up thinking better of it afterwards, don\u2019t take it personally – you had the best of intentions, but with something like music, you can\u2019t just talk about what you sound like, and you might just not see how you\u2019d fit together. At least you\u2019ve both been open with each other at this mic.<\/p>\n

Check their online past<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

While we don\u2019t want to appear to be advocating Facebook stalking, the fact remains that most of us with a musical past will have uploaded a song or video at some point. And, hey, if you\u2019re happy to have God-knows-who checking out your material, then so should anyone else who publishes themselves on the net, right? So count yourself as one of the God-knows-who crowd, and open the investigation on your new acquaintance. See if you can hear in their past recordings any semblance of the music you were both so excited to talk about – and see if it\u2019s half decent. You can\u2019t realistically expect to find the next Hendrix hanging around your local bar, but there are brilliant musicians<\/a> everywhere you go, so hopefully this one you\u2019ve met wasn\u2019t just talking the talk. Remember to be fair and check the date on the recordings, but more importantly try to imagine what you could achieve together while you\u2019re listening.<\/p>\n

Find a place to practice<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Agreeing to jam is all well and good – unless you never settle on a venue. Too many times have the words \u2018Yeah man, we should jam sometime\u2019 lead absolutely nowhere – and one of the reasons is that you haven\u2019t agreed where this jam is supposed to happen. It\u2019s understandable if, at first, you\u2019re not sure enough of each other to let each other into your respective homes – after all, you could be a mass murderer, and still be an decent musician<\/a>, a bit like Charles Manson or the banjo players from Deliverance. Meeting on mutual ground is the safer option with a new acquaintance, so check out some local practice spaces and split the cost of a couple of hours. You don\u2019t need anything too fancy or lengthy, and there\u2019ll most likely be a staff member or two on hand just in case things get weird.<\/p>\n

Pick some songs to learn<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is probably the most useful thing to agree on before your first practice – it can be really, really frustrating if you just ping-pong song suggestions to each other that one of you doesn\u2019t have a clue how to play. In fact, it\u2019s worse than frustrating – sometimes, it can leave you downright miserable to have your expectations dashed. Realising that you\u2019re not on the same page as someone you felt a connection with is like a mutual betrayal – definitely something worth avoiding.<\/p>\n

On a more positive note, some of my best experiences of first band practices have been a direct result of choosing a couple of covers we were all psyched about. It felt amazing to go from not knowing how we\u2019d gel musically, through the nervous count in on the sticks, to just nailing the song first time. You can ride those kinds of waves for a while – it really helps you feel like anything is possible. And all it takes to make that happen is for you to agree on what you want to play, and for you each to go away and learn it.<\/p>\n

Keep in contact<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Before your \u2018big day\u2019, make sure you keep a conversation going between yourselves. If you\u2019re serious about wanting to make this project work, then show each other that you are. Appear interested and excited about the prospect of working together soon, and you\u2019ll find that you start feeding off of and into each other\u2019s energy. You can send each other links to videos or trivia relating to your shared favourite artists, strengthening the bond and widening each other\u2019s horizons. Don\u2019t cool off too quickly, as you\u2019ll seem uninterested, and at this stage you really have no obligation to each other, so either of you could drift off into more welcoming arms. It also demonstrates that you\u2019ve not been at the forefront of each other\u2019s mind, which could easily lead to an underwhelming first jam.<\/p>\n

So, there you have it – before diving headfirst into the throng, run a couple of background checks on your potential bandmate, solidify your joint musical purpose, then, if everything\u2019s looking good, keep the hype train stoked. It\u2019s not every day you bump into somebody who sees the world through your eyes, so let\u2019s make the most of it!<\/p>\n

Written by Joe Hoten from\u00a0Bands for Hire<\/a>\u00a0– www.bandsforhire.net.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Creating new music and starting a new band is an exciting time. This guest post from Joe Hoten explores the best ways to approach working with new musicians and starting a new project. Before You Start a New Band You\u2019ve just been to a show and had the best conversation with someone you met there – you like all the same bands, hate all the same bands, and agree that the time has come for a musical revolution. The air is heavy with promise, your mind is racing, and you just can\u2019t wait to get together in the practice room…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":14576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3800],"tags":[299,260,4910,10140,28,628,5084,9476,6995,7114],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to start a new project with other musicians - RouteNote Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Creating new music and starting a new band is an exciting time. 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