You will quickly realise that your participation in a band will change many factors in your life. Some of them are mental and physical, but others are also about the perspective that others have about you.
So you have got to learn your instrument to a decent level and you are now ready to join or create your first band. In my experience, it made more sense to join a band where the other musicians were just a little more experienced than I was. This helped me to learn from my peers, and they were patient in explaining and sharing (or showcasing) their skills with me.
Another advantage was that I only had my parts of the instrument to take care of and did not have to worry about management or practice arrangements, and I could rely a little on the contacts and network of the other members for performance opportunities. This gave me the relaxing start that I needed.
Let’s look at the changes you can expect to experience in the short to long term while being in a band.
If this is the stage you are currently at, you’ll benefit tremendously from The MEGA Starting a Band Checklist to guide you on the right path to success.
You’ll Feel Proud About Yourself
To take the step and share your style and skills with a group of other musicians takes a lot of guts. It’s a scary step to take and not everybody deals well with exposing themselves to a group of people.
You’ll probably open yourself to criticism for the first time as well, but once this is accomplished and you are accepted by the group, you’ll feel a strong sense of pride. Especially in the beginning, one feels like you are walking on clouds because you feel like you found where you belong.
You deserve to feel proud of yourself! Walk with your head held high. You made it happen and took the step of humbling yourself to be a part of a group of musicians.
You’ll Grow In Confidence
The opinion of others will matter less to you because you are investing your energy, time and thoughts into the music that you are practising with your band.
With every riff or piece of music that you master, your confidence will grow a little more.
You will also slowly feel more and more integrated within your band and start to take over more of the little tasks like helping set up the band room and stage beforehand, preparing setlists, and inviting guests to your first performances.
All musicians need an extra boost of confidence, and the bonus of being in a band is that the members often boost each other. If confidence is something that you would still need more of, scan through my article How to Build Confidence as a Musician for some valuable tips.
You Become More Committed, Productive and Successful
A person who commits to a hobby, especially where a team is involved, automatically feels that they have a valued role to play and can’t let their band down.
The more you do, the more time you’ll find to do even more.
De Wet Kruger
The first excuse lazy people use is to say that they don’t have time. Successful people can pinpoint a time exactly when they will get something done and have it ready.
You will quickly realise that being in a band also makes you more productive. You’ll learn to make time to practice your pieces and will have to deal with deadlines.
This is a comfortable social environment to learn and make mistakes, but you’ll grow from it and realise that others rely on you.
You’ll Feel Goal Driven and Ambitious
As soon as you’ve hit the stage once, you’ll want to have more and experience it all again, just bigger and better. You will learn to reflect on what worked and what you can improve on as a unit. This will make you dream bigger and drive you to reach higher goals.
You will feel the hunger to build on your song repertoire and contribute to songwriting as well.
In a band, we often motivate members to set goals for themselves in order to see rapid growth and development, especially in the case of beginner-intermediate bands.
Check out my post about Goal Setting for Bands and Artists for clear direction.
Your Social Circle Will Expand
When you consistently showcase a creative skill, you automatically become more popular and interesting. People will see you in a different light than before and also show a different type of interest in you.
You will often experience random people approaching you that you never thought of being acquaintances with, talking and asking questions about the band and upcoming performances. That means that you are doing it right!
The main thing here is to keep your feet grounded and stay humble. Receiving the opportunities that you’ve worked for is not a given that it will stay that way. Every time I went on stage, I wanted to perform as if it was the last.
People should feel loved and comfortable with you. Always have a few interesting stories to share about your journey that will make people laugh or curious.
Your friends and family will become the basis of your success. Love them each day and listen to their feedback.
Your Network In The Music Industry Will Expand
Your network of contacts will expand and you will get to know many new people in the music industry.
When you step on stage for the first time, you will know nobody except your bandmates. After a couple of performances, you will start to recognise the regulars and see familiar faces again.
The ones that I recommend you invest more time on are:
- Venue managers
- Sound engineers
- General staff like doormen and bartenders
- Battle of the Bands Judges
Another tip: Always try to leave a band room cleaner and better organised than it was left for you. This type of respectful behaviour is not seen every day in the music industry.
You’ll Become More In-Shape
Carrying gear and equipment around, and standing during practices and performances will have it’s effect on burning extra calories.
Being occupied for the duration of practices and experiencing the rush of performances keeps the mind off of having the munchies when the body doesn’t really need to eat.
You will soon feel that your clothes are getting a bit on the loose side. Just focus on sticking to your normal meal routines and try to have water and a snack bar with you for emergencies.
It Becomes Part Of Your Identity
You will always be known as “the band guy”, or people will continue to ask “How’s the band going?”, or “What happened to that band you played in?”.
That is how people will get to know and remember you from now on because you made a difference in their lives during that period. In fact, you made a massive impact on their social lives and weekend plans while following your band around.
I still have people asking me about bands I played in a decade ago where people continue to be hungry for new music and to experience the nostalgia of their youth. That was the golden era of our lives.
This post was written and posted by De Wet from startingmyband.com on 17.09.2023. The content was stolen from me if this blog post is seen anywhere else.
You’ll Learn To Set Realistic Goals
When starting a band, we often want results too quickly without realising that being in a band is actually a marathon. During this long-term commitment, you will grow a lot and gain tons of experience and contacts but don’t set unrealistic expectations.
A few tips for beginner band members:
- Don’t get demotivated when you are struggling.
- Sleep on it, and keep pushing again the next day.
- Conflict will happen.
- Deal with it as maturely as possible.
- Open communication is usually the solution.
- It takes a whole community for a band to succeed.
- It’s not only in your hands.
- Invest in building relationships with your whole band community.
- You’ll be playing plenty of promo gigs.
- Make your band your social life.
- Try to just do one thing better each gig.
- Write down and track your accomplishments, no matter how small they are.
- It’s healthy to take a few weeks off once in a while.
- It gives the mind space for new creativity and inspires the soul to achieve new goals.
- Perform together with other buddy bands and share each other’s fans.
- Be grateful for each opportunity. It’s never a given.
Once you are ready for the next step, check out one of these articles for a next read:
- How To Stay Motivated and Ambitious As a Musician
- HOW TO Optimize Your Time and Productivity As a Musician
- Should You Go Solo Or Start a Band?
- 9 Things To Know Before Starting a Band
Until next time, Rock On!