How To Play in a Rock Band, Part One: Introduction

Along with being a writer, editor, and audio person, I’ve been a musician for 56 years. I’ve been playing in bands for almost all that time, beginning with a backyard party in my parents’ house in 1968 or maybe 1969. Since then, I’ve done hundreds of gigs, from opening for Duran Duran on their first-ever US gig (no fooling) and for the Ramones on New Year’s Eve, to playing in venues like the Voorheesville Fire Department and the Cleary School for the Deaf (again, no fooling). I’ve shared a dressing room with Madonna, and played for less than 10 people and made less than $2. I’ve been backstage with the B-52’s and taken road trips in freezing-cold vans when the heater broke. I’ve had Paul Weller of the Jam complement my playing, and been fired and told to get out of town by a furious club owner.

Over the decades I’ve seen many bands and musicians make every kind of mistake imaginable on and off stage, especially younger people starting out. I’ve also seen them reach spectacular heights of greatness. It occurred to me that I and other pros I know have a lot of advice we could give.

So, I’ve decided to start a new series. Even if you’re not a musician, perhaps it’ll give some insight into the nitty-gritty of the art of music-making, or inform your listening the next time you sit in front of your stereo, or just provide some entertainment and perhaps a life lesson or two.

This isn't going to focus on how to play an instrument per se – it'll be more of a how to of what's involved and required to play in a rock band. I'll focus on what it takes to play on a local, regional and not-rock-star level, since that's where most of my experience is and where most musicians will wind up playing, though I have played some big shows with international acts. There will be some tough love where I will have to put aside my usual genteel editor persona, and some calling out of BS.

All advice and opinions are strictly my own except where otherwise stated.

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First of all, playing in a band isn’t easy. But when everything is on, it’s sublime.

It can be glamorous. There’s nothing like playing on a big stage, with theatrical lighting and a megawatt sound system, in front of hundreds of people, and hearing waves of applause. And it can be just as rewarding to play a weekday afternoon gig for a bunch of seniors in a library. I recently did that, and the smile on the disabled person’s face in the front row as he was blissfully singing along reminded me of why I do this.

It can be a down and dirty slog. The saying goes, “they don’t pay you to play – they pay you to load in and load out.” You come to realize the truth of that after having to set up in 102-degree heat and watching a fellow band member almost pass out, or while trying not to slip on the ice at the un-shoveled back door of a club at 2:30 a.m. on a 15-degree winter day, or when setting up on the second floor of a venue with a non-working elevator. Humping Marshall stacks might have been just another thing to deal with at age 22, but when you’re 60 with arthritis it’s another thing altogether.

They also say the mark of a professional is how they handle it when they make a mistake, and you will make mistakes, and encounter tough situations you could never have imagined. At a recent gig, a woman in front had a seizure while we were playing our closing song. When I was in college in the 1970s and played at the King of Clubs in Albany, New York, a driver high on LSD drove through the front door and smashed the façade made of glass blocks, scattering glass and panicked patrons everywhere. How do you handle situations like that? They don’t teach you stuff like that at the Berklee School of Music.

At times you will want to give up. Many have. You need to have copious amounts of grit, stamina, and determination, and a sense of humor really helps. But at other times, playing live is an adrenaline rush, a telepathic communication with the rest of the band and the audience, and you feel a mystical connection with the music where you transcend everything, including thought and body awareness, and channel some unknowable force in the creation of a wondrous and mysterious art.

I have a lot of advice and stories borne of experience. There will be a number of installments.

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This is a fundamental idea to understand:

When you’re on a stage, you are no longer a musician. You are a performer.

You are not sitting on the couch strumming your guitar while watching TV, or rehearsing with the high school chorus, or drinking beer and jamming with your buddies in the basement. You are on stage, in front of people, in a club or bar that expects you to entertain people and keep them eating, drinking and dancing. Or it might be at a summer festival, or an assisted living center, or a high school dance, or other venue where you are the entertainment. So, you need to develop performing skills as well become adept on your instrument. The way you look, move, and interact with the audience matter. 

And this is the fundamental concept about playing in a band:

You gotta groove.

The groove is the most important thing.

Period.

You can be able to play 500 notes a minute, or play all those weird flat-5 sharp-9 half-diminished jazz chord inversions, or look like Roger Daltrey or Taylor Swift, or own a $20,000 guitar, but if the band isn’t together and doesn’t groove together, you will never sound good, let alone James Brown tight.

As an extreme case in point, I’ve seen people commit the sin of stopping during the song and scrolling to the next page of their iPad, and resuming the song. Painful for everyone involved.

That said, leeway must be allowed for playing at an open mic, especially when you’re just starting out – after all, there literally has to be a first time you perform in public, and you’ll probably be very nervous. Open mics, where people sign up for a slot to play anywhere from one to a few songs, usually have a range of people performing, from total newbies to experienced pros who just feel like getting out and playing for a night. They're a valuable training ground.

Still, take this piece of advice – don’t go to that open mic until you can play a song all the way through. This may seem obvious, but after witnessing more than a few open mic train wrecks, I simply have to put it out there. Play in front of your friends, family, whoever, first, before playing in public. You’ll gain confidence and when you get through that first performance, even if you're literally shaking from nerves (and we'll talk about things like pre-show jitters later on), the audience will applaud, and you’ll feel great. At all the open mics I’ve been to, people in the audience want to like you.

But to be a great band (or performer), you gotta groove. Think of the rock-solid rhythm section of the Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts on drums and Bill Wyman on bass (and their tempos could fluctuate but it gave the songs their feel), or the crushing rhythm guitar of Metallica’s James Hetfield, or the hard-bop swing of Thelonious Monk, or Paul Simon’s unstoppable “You Can Call Me Al.” And the way you do this is by rehearsing and playing together and being aware that you need to be tight. When practicing on your own, play along with a metronome or YouTube jam track (there are hundreds of them). Practice really does make perfect (or close enough for rock and roll).

When I was first starting out, my timing sucked. I literally didn't even think about the concept of timing; I just played. But in college I was in a band with a great drummer, F. Lee Harvey Blotto of Blotto. (Yep, of MTV-era "I Wanna Be a Lifeguard" fame.) Let's just say my timing got better. Quickly. (Pro tip – if you’re a bass player, try to stand where you can watch the drummer’s foot as he plays the bass drum pedal, and play along with it.)

Simply being aware that the band members all need to lock in together is half the battle. In fact, being aware of anything that might happen is half the battle. (Ever have your guitar fall off the strap? Yeah, it happens, as the many guitars with repaired headstocks will attest – and yeah, there are simple ways to prevent it. Ever have to go really badly in the middle of a set? Let's just say it could happen to you.)

Record yourselves, watch your videos, and learn. It might be humbling and even embarrassing at first, but videos and audio recordings will teach you what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong, and where you need to improve, and make no mistake – even the most seasoned pros can always learn something new.

We all have to start somewhere.

I am fond of telling newbies this:

The more you play, the better you get.

Whether you're Beyoncé playing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium or the guy in the corner at the local restaurant, remember that when you're at a gig, you're a performer. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Raph_PH.

Header image: Grand Folk Railroad at the 2022 Montauk Music Festival. Your editor is playing the green Don Grosh ElectraJet.