Whether or not you have been in a garage band for several years or a few days,there are some tips and tricks that all members of the band should try to adhere to. Below is a partial list of my favorite recommendations for garage band harmony.
- Be on time for practice. You may be having a bad day, but your band mates are really excited to play.
- Bring all the gear you need to sound as professional as possible (buy quality equipment) and make sure it works !
- Ask for advice or feedback on your equipment and your sound. Interact and share knowledge with each other (you can always learn something from another musician)
- When someone else is tuning their instrument, please stop playing and let that person tune in a quiet environment.
- Whenever learning new music, it is best to have a CD recorded with all the new songs and distribute copies to all band members. Each member should practice their respected parts at home and be ready when rehearsal comes. If you want to learn new music as a group during rehearsal without individual practice, then you must have the recorded music available for playback during practice (trying to get everyone to remember exactly how a cover song goes is rare)
- Don’t be an idiot. Everyone is together for one common purpose, to enjoy the gift of music and playing an instrument. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. And if you are an idiot….. good luck, you won’t be around long…. keep searching.
- Make sure all instrument sound levels are the same. Whether you want to play loud or soft, be sure everyone is at the same output levels. (everyone hates that one guy or girl whose amp is cranked up and overpowers the other musicians.)
- Try to keep all guitar and microphone and speaker cables away from power cords. (reduces chance of humming or buzzing through PA system.
- You don’t need to be a professional sound tech to have great sound, but you do need to spend some time learning and understanding your equipment. There are many different ways to hook-up amplifiers and speakers and effects, so take some time as a group and learn the basics and remember to always ask other musicians questions regarding how they set-up their live sound.
- Always remember to share ideas and songs with your band mates. If you are working on cover tunes, make sure everyone likes the song and has fun playing it. If you are writing original music, determine who is responsible for content, in other words who is writing lyrics, who is writing melody etc…. ( just make sure everyone has an opinion on the final cut)
There are many other pointers I have left out of this article, but some good things are just to be left alone for another day.
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Happy Jamming !
Bill
Great article. I am an avid garage band advocate and enjoy blogging and quite frankly my dear ” I don’t give a damn ”
Clark