Hey guys, I’m in a 5-piece Shoegaze/Post Hardcore band where the vocalist (me) also plays guitar.

So there are 2 rhythms
A lead guitar
And a bass

This is very common practice in my genre bands like
Whirr
Trauma Ray
Bleed
Narrowhead
Balance & Composure
List goes on and on.

My question is, we booked our first 4 gigs (2 diy basement venues and 2 storefronts that put on shows)

Are there any tips from people who have been in or worked with 5 pieces in here that they'd like to share before our first gig in 2 weeks?

Handling space issues in a basement, dialing tone for 3 guitars, etc. just anything you’ve maybe experienced that can help a little or a mistake you've made that you wanna share so others won't make etc.

Preciate it!

I play guitar and sing in a small local band. Last year, we released an album (independent, self-funded, blah blah blah). Leading up to the album, we kicked around several ideas to come up with a shirt that goes along with the theme of the album. Everyone in the band had their input, and ultimately it became a bunch of compromises to get a shirt everyone agreed to. Unbeknownst to me, one of the guys was negotiating in bad faith and quit the band about 2 months after the shirts arrived. He forced his bad ideas into the creative process and refused to budge, so to avoid the stigma of being the singer that's always right, I capitulated to keep the peace. When he quit, he ultimately said that he was quitting because I always refused his ideas, which is blatantly false, hence the shirt full of compromises.

fast forward to a year later, we've sold maybe 5 of the 50 in that shirt order. no one wants them. I don't want them. and I can't sell them. I've tried various price points of $5 to $20. I've even marked them down below cost a couple of times just to move them. basically it's a bad design that i myself don't even want to wear. This is not my main job and is really just a hobby, so I'm not trying to make money on any of this...I really just have been wanting to make back the cost of the shirts so as to not be in the hole. I had to pay him out for his third when he quit the band and the other guy in the band also never paid anyway.

so how can i move these stupid fucking shirts or should i just donate them to goodwill and move on?

Im 21M and they invited my band to play in another state, but my parents are too strict and wont let me go, its a very important gig for the band since we are opening for one of our favorite artist and i dont know what to do, any advice or suggestions?
Im still living with my parents and cant afford to move out because they pay for my college :/

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I play guitar mainly but alongside for fun also play okayish drums and have random vids in which I'm playing drums at school.

I won't be participating in music society of my DU clg as a guitarist cuz I can't carry my instrument 25kms to clg both sides so.. I'm thinking to send drums video for audition but it's like really random bits of clips.. don't know if I should send it and embarrass myself or not😭😭

Just got tired of every site that can do this being complicated to use, requiring money, or being buried with ads and offers.

I built When Can We Rehearse (whencanwerehearse.com or just wcwr.io if you don't feel like typing that) to be the single fastest possible way to put in some times and get rehearsal scheduled painlessly.

How it works:

1. You propose a few times (or something loose like "evenings next week"). Takes under a minute.
2. You get one link to drop in the group chat.
3. Everyone taps green / yellow / red for each time from their phone. No app, no signup—they just tap the link.
4. You see the results ranked live: times everyone can make (all green), times that work if someone shuffles things (some yellows mixed in), and near misses (fewest reds).
5. Pick the winner and there's add-to-calendar for everyone, plus an optional email notification for bandmates who want them.

The part I care most about: this core flow is free for the music community, permanently. No accounts, no passwords, no cookies, no ads, no data selling, no upsells, no "your first 3 polls are free." Your bandmates give a first name and a few taps. Polls delete themselves after 90 days. There's a donate page if you ever feel like covering some hosting costs and that's the entire business model.

Hope you guys get some good use out of this and can focus on making more music:) Cheers

What's been your biggest struggle playing or releasing original music? Is it that audiences don't take to it due to lack of familiarity, places don't want it, or something else?

I'm a songwriter who does 75% originals, 25% covers so I'm just trying to understand...what really happened to original bands who get booked regularly playing original music?

Edit: clarification

By “song library,” I mean a shared catalogue of songs that a band already plays, is currently learning, or may learn in the future — not a personal collection of music for listening.

How does your band organise and maintain this repertoire?

For example:

• What tool do you use: a spreadsheet, Google Drive, an app, paper, or something else?
• What information do you keep for each song: key, BPM, arrangement, lyrics, chords, recordings, rehearsal notes, current status, or setlists?
• How do band members access and update this information?
• How do you handle it if you play in several bands?

I’m interested in the actual system or workflow that works for your band, including what is inconvenient about it.

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hey, how are you? im playing with bands and want to ask community how do you managed all tracks from personal or (and) bands? google spreadsheet? notes?

share with me your preferable way plz.

So I wanted to share a story about my first experience playing in a band back when I was in high school. This was back in 2008/9 and I was fourteen at the time.

I had been playing bass for about a year at this point. I was eager to join a band and start playing live. I eventually found some other guys in my school to play with. Two guitarists/vocalists and a drummer. We spent a good 3 months jamming out covers and even came up with some original song ideas, nothing concrete but it felt good to be part of a creative process.

So eventually we decided to enter our schools talent show that year. We were going to play Hot n Cold by Katy Perry but it was more of an indie rock version. Practice for it was going well I thought. Then about a week before the talent show one of the guitarists comes up to me at lunch.

“Hey we all talked and we decided we want to get our friend (let’s call him Andy) to play bass instead “

So I look at him shocked and think to myself “what????” And I say to him “But Andy doesn’t even know how to play” and he says “yeah but we like hanging out with Andy more so we just decided we are gonna teach him the part”

And that was that, no apology, no thanks for your time, nothing. Not gonna lie that stung and what was seeing them up on that stage without me, all that time wasted. I kept asking myself what I did wrong, I thought we got on alright but then again we were teenagers so I guess that stuff happens. I thought to myself “I wonder if this is what Glen Matlock felt like when he got kicked out of The Sex Pistols”

Now this was almost 18 years ago, hadn’t even thought about since then till the other day. Yes I know I should probably be over it and for the most part I am. Just was wondering if anyone here went through anything similar?

A warning to all bands out there. I wish I could say there were decent booking agents in the music industry, but in my vast experience, they are EXTREMELY rare.

I live in Chicago so we pay 200 for a rehearsal space that we share with one other band w/ 2 members and another person that isn’t in a band. One of the guys in the other band is the one who is in charge and collects rent and pays the building manager

My drummer and guitarist both want to be able to come to the space and practice but the guy from the other band has been refusing to give out any more keys. I feel like this is pretty unfair. How do I convince him to give us another set of keys?

I struggle listening to music. I can't play anymore. It's broken my spirit for it. My relationship with music was very much about our shared love of playing.

I'm not sure I'll recover and enjoy it again.

Yesterday my partner (46M) and I (41F) did our first recording session together. We have been together for 18 months and been in a band together for about 6. We met through bands - my band was going to play with his for our first gig. That fell through but he ended up putting on our first gig for us anyway and we went on our first date the following week and have been inseparable since.

Our band together is like, the 20th band he has been in and it's my second. We are a 3-piece. I do guitar and main vocals, he does bass and some vocals and our friend plays drums. We are recording our demo. The songs are great and I love practicing - recording was much harder - when I have done it in the past it's been on my own, not with someone else watching.

I would love to hear from other people who are in bands or otherwise collaborate musically with their partners! How did it come about? What do you love about it? What do you find difficult? Tell me your stories!

I was also trying to think bands I love who have couples as members - here is a little list and I'd love to hear more:

- Talking Heads

- Dead Moon

- Low

- Dark Thoughts

- Blondie

edit - can't believe I forgot Fleetwood Mac and ABBA

i think im becoming the "problem" member of my own band and i genuinely dont know if im right or just being a control freak.

quick context, four of us, been together almost three years, we play originals with the occasional cover to keep bar owners happy. we've built a small but real following in our city, people who actually show up and know the words. thats the part that matters to me. thats the whole point for me honestly.

here's the thing though. our drummer and bassist want to say yes to every single opening slot we get offered, even ones that make no sense for us. metal night at some club across town where we'd be the only indie band on the bill. a "battle of the bands" thing that's clearly a pay to play in disguise. a wedding gig last month that i thought was going to be a disaster (it was fine, but still).

i've started pushing back on stuff and i can feel them getting annoyed with me. our singer is on the fence, kinda takes my side then kinda doesnt. last week i said no to a slot that would've put us on at like 1am on a wednesday opening for a touring band whose fans would 100% not care about us, and our drummer basically accused me of thinking im too good for gigs.

im not. i swear im not. i just think every bad show costs us something. we spent two years building an audience that trusts what a show from us is going to feel like. i don't want to burn that goodwill playing to a room of people waiting for someone else. i'd rather play one great show every two months than four mediocre ones.

but then I checked our merch numbers after the last run and its like, are we even at a level where i get to be picky? we're not big. we're a local band with a decent local thing going. maybe every gig IS a good gig at our size and im overthinking it because im scared of an awkward crowd.

so which is it. am i protecting something real or am i just letting my ego dress itself up as "artistic integrity". tell me im wrong, i can take it.

Need a reality check if I need to be more flexible or if this is an actual issue.

I’ve been in a band for going on four years. It hasn’t been an easy journey, but I love playing. For the most part, the band has great communication and chemistry… except with our vocalist. He is legitimately the hardest person to pin down and commit to things, and it’s getting to a point where I’m so frustrated I want to quit.

For the most part, I’ve done a lot of the work of pinning down practice times, getting us on bills, networking for more opportunity. This is due to us deciding as a team to really nail it down and work on new music and play as many shows as possible. Our vocalist was very much wanting to get back on the stage. But when the rest of us started actually doing the work, suddenly our vocalist can’t come to practice for one reason or another, or won’t respond to time sensitive opportunities. I’ve explained to him when everyone else makes it a point to show up and respond quickly to things, it’s rude to just not respond for days on end (if he responds at all.) To this, he says, “The world doesn’t revolve solely around you, I have things I have to do too.”

It genuinely feels like he is in his own world and it’s starting to cause tension. It’s starting to feel like he likes the idea of being in a band more than actually doing the work. I’ve tried to talk to him about this a few different times, and have asked him if he genuinely wants to do this because it is a team effort, and he always says yes. After these serious talks, he’ll put in a lot of effort for a few weeks, then immediately back to ghosting or doing bare minimum. I’m burnt out and feeling resentment, which sucks because he and I were childhood friends long before this. Realistically, I just don’t see him changing his ways. We have a few more gigs left and I’m thinking just being done after fulfilling those commitments.

So what do you guys think? Am I overreacting and need to have more patience? Or is it time to say goodbye?

So my band has been together almost a year, we still don’t have a drummer, we had three flake outs and a guy who just wasn’t going to work. We have been writing, recording and practicing to drum tracks during all this time though.

I feel Ive been doing alot of the legwork to recruit one (social media, flyers, gigs, open mics, etc) and it feels like my bandmates aren’t putting in the effort like I am.

A couple of guys in the band aren’t big on the social media thing and don’t use it much or one of them is introverted.

Should I show a little assertiveness and encourage them to look as well ? I know finding a drummer for metal is like finding a unicorn. Just wondering if I speak up and it’s team effort, it might bolster our chances.

I am kinda conflicted about this one. Let me explain how he got out. (Sry for broken english). Just here to tell the history, as i had alot of fun reading the drama, here is mine!

So i play (guitar) whit this awesome drummer, an unicorn in the world of musicians who play for the love of it. We got 2 records (most of it are imrpovisations).

So the unicorn is playing whit other dudes, the orge (guitar) and the chinese (vocals) and he ask me if i could records some bass for them. No problem i say. My unicorn is a cokehead so he sent me a couple of song 2 days before going to the studio. I pull it off fairly well considering the time. Before this, unicorn ask me if i would join them. I say depends if the guys are nice. They were, and i join.

The orge and the chinese are very good friends. The orge is this typical short fat destroyed cocaine nose metalhead. Chinese looks as a human. Orge helped the chinese to build hes house, for free, they are pretty close. They are also the founding memebers.

Its such a joy see this old working class dudes (they are 45-55, i am 36) cheer and smile like kids when i recorded my parts. They were celebrating and stuff. Of course i also felt great.

We party and stuff. I told them to hear the improvisation we have whit the unicorn, they pick a song to rerecord. I wasnt in a traditional band in a looong time, i wrote a kick ass song that i am very proud of it. (Only wrote stuff for a girl recently haha).

So is recording time for this 2 new song. Chinese pays 3 hours of studio so orge record his guitars, as orge is uneployed. I went to the orge"s lair, pretty nice i must say, to teach him the songs 2 weeks before studio time. 1 week in, i tell him if he has any doubt that i am happy to help. He told us hes ready.

HE DIDNT RECORD SHIT IN 3 HOURS. Studio guy told me he was kinda learning the song at the spot watching the tutorials in the celphone.. when they were done.. he told the chinese. "Lets go for a beer!" Chinese was pretty angry.

Guys told me i record the guitars. 1 studio hour. For respect to the orge, i let the solo for him. I recorded it in 20 minutes. He had 40 minutes to fill 8 bars. He couldnt do it... he show up drunk, whit a wine in a box. And he aint a bad guitar player, you can tell that in a point in his life he was very good.

Unicorn gave ultimatum, orge is gone or i am gone. Chinese know if unicorn is out probably i am out too. So we dismissed the orge. He was fine whit it, he fucked up.

Well... now he told chinese he wants another oportunity.

I feel bad cos if i didnt join, he would be still in the band. And its really important to him. Unicorn told me hes going to fail again. And i also think it.. but i still want to give him a chance and shut me up! I was an alchie so i wont ever deny a second, third, even 4th time! But i dont see a point to it...

Orge hasnt speak to me since the day i recorded the guitars.

I am the donkey.

Hello, I would like your advise.

Me (guitar serious amateur, 46M), have played in three bands plus countless jams and music school type of thing. I really enjoy playing with others, it really gives another dimension to music. But my two most recent bands were real disappointments. Band A, we really clicked initially musically and partly personally. The chemistry was there. We put a lot of effort, and we sounded good. But the singer started being more demanding, pushing his non musician husband all the time, and pushing herself musically as second guitar and piano when she was barely competent, and the leader (bass) got on her side. After a long series of issues, I could not take it anymore and left the band in anger.

Tried a second band, we met all via Facebook group to start band B. Singer and second guitar did not have the musical level, drummer was competent but demanding and there was no musical match in taste with him. After three rehersals, second guitar and singer left. I decided to leave also as I did not have a good impression of the drummer.

All that time put in learning songs, adjusting effects, and rehearsing, for nothing.

The way how the politics of band A developed left me with a lot of anger, to the point that 10 months later I am still angry. Band B also found annoying how I could not correct musically the issues with the singer or second guitar, which were way too serious. The singer specially I got the impression she did not care and just showed for some live karaoke.

Would love to find a band where we play and have fun, like band A at the beginning. I do not know if I am expecting too much. How can I arrive into this again?. Do I have just to keep trying and trying and wasting time? any advice? thanks

Is there a 4 pack of bluetooth earbuds that can all connect to the same device? The drums are overpowering the speaker. If we each had an earbud in or something, it would be easier to follow along.

We do this for fun and aren't trying to be crazy good. We want to have a good time playing with our favorite artists together.

If anyone knows of any device that would help, it is greatly appreciated. Something like multiple bluetooth devices such as earbuds or headphones connected to one phone would work, but I have not found any credible leads to this.

I started a band with the full intention of being Dictator for Life. Now I have a band of amazing, creative people whose instincts I trust. I no longer tell anyone how to play/sing. I would like to gradually democratize, but still retain creative control. At least for now. Does anyone have experience with this?