Why Bands Never Worked for Me

As a young aspiring guitarist, the prospect of being in a band was always glamorized in my eyes. You only ever saw the badass moments of your favorite bands growing up, and I conditioned myself to think that was what a good band looked like: no qualms, perfect chemistry, and everyone serving an equal piece of the whole.

Little did I know, curated media and well-rehearsed sets made my idols look like they had it all together much more than they probably did. So when it came to forming a band, I hadn't really anticipated the rough patches that came with it. Though these rough patches spanned many things, my core issues were as follows: creative control, varying skill levels, and a missing drive to push forward.

Creative control. I've been someone who's recorded music for years, starting with muddy demos in high school and eventually moving toward tolerable indie rock in my early adult years. When it comes to direction, my personal taste has developed in such a way that I find it a bore to play things I wouldn't listen to myself. Some of the best advice you can get, however, is to take as many opportunities as possible to play live gigs and mesh with a group.

Easier said than done.

Which is why I'd also like to introduce the patience it takes when everyone starts from a different place. Sometimes you get lucky with chemistry, and people are already in similar boats. Chances are, especially when scraping by to assemble a four- or five-piece band, they aren't, and one of two things happens: you play below your desired skill threshold to accommodate the weakest link, or you force a sloppy performance because some of you are in over your heads.

Starting in a rough patch and working your way out isn't a bad thing - that's resilience. But sometimes the gap is too large to mask, and I think being self-aware of how you sound makes it difficult to keep pushing through when you aren't living up to your own expectations.

Last, there's that drive. I've tried to be an entrepreneur my entire life. When it wasn't building a music blog, it was running a consulting LLC or doing freelance marketing in high school. I know that to get something off the ground, people need to make sacrifices and take measurable steps toward progress.

But when you juggle classes, work, and a personal life, it's hard to make things work in a band, and that only becomes harder as the group grows. If people aren't willing to make cuts every now and then to get the group together, things don't go anywhere. From not only my own experience, but also from watching the experiences of people around me, I've seen how difficult that can be.

One day, it would be nice to release a project of my own. If that day ever comes, who knows - maybe I'll book some gigs, and then I'll probably have to face this issue head-on despite my distaste for it now. The indie sphere needs bands, no doubt, but my patience seems to have run dry, and I've become very comfortable in my solitude.

It's taught me to appreciate things like a looper pedal and forced me to spend more time inside a DAW. There were certainly avoidable mistakes made along the way, however, which is why I want to emphasize that this is just an opinion piece at the end of the day.

My final advice to you would be this: if you decide to join or start a band, be a leader. People need a figurehead to make things happen. Not necessarily a frontman, but someone who isn't afraid to make sure everyone has been practicing their parts. Someone who isn't afraid to say, "Hey, maybe you two guitarists should switch roles," when the skill level doesn't seem to be there. Someone who gets people out of their house and into band practice on a consistent basis.

Because simply having a band on paper sounds awesome. But the title alone was never enough. You can be the most skilled musician in the world, but that's the thing with a band: you leave your autonomy at the door.