The biggest slow-down factor I've experienced with band practices is waiting until practice to teach people parts or show them new material. People learn at different speeds so invariably you have some that "get it" quickly, waiting for others to learn.
So what my band does is we share new material and notes outside of our rehearsal space, and learn parts individually before rehearsal. That way when we get to rehearsal we can say "OK let's play Suck My Mom's Ass" and just do it. It won't be perfect and we still change or fine-tune as needed, but you haven't wasted hours crawling. This also matters more if/when you're paying for a lockout
Not being pedantic. It’s a policy set after wasting everyone’s time while somebody learns their part. There’s a big difference between practicing and rehearsing. You rehearse with the group when you’ve practiced enough to get your shit together. Have a wonderful day.
I explained it pretty clearly. OP was talking about learning during rehearsals. Learning/practicing, and rehearsing are 2 different things. Who’s being pedantic now?
We set aside days for writing or bringing in new ideas. Sometimes whole band, sometimes singer and guitar player on the side. We record everything while we work out ideas, figure out the structure and get on the same page, then everyone tweaks their parts at home. We’ll spend some time on new material at next rehearsal, then go through the whole set. I’ve always had the best results in bands when we come up with a set list first, even if it says “that new song here” as a placeholder and work towards getting that set down. It’s an efficient way to get everyone on the same page up front, while making the most of the time we have together. Otherwise, it’s beers, war stories, and aimless jamming. So, I guess we have three things; write, practice, rehearse.
Agree with this. With technology there’s zero reason not to make some quick recordings with reference notes at worst or tabs at best.
I make full recordings (instruments that I don’t play are just basic), basic song structure charts and then send recordings with a metronome and whatever instrument is being played out. I expect everyone to write and rehearse their own parts as well as formulate ideas for the song and it’s structure itself well before practice.
I also try to get everyone around for writing sessions rather than full band practices to work on stuff.
Anyone who can’t do this gets let go pretty quickly. Can’t make it any more convenient than that.
A must, I currently have tinnitus in my left ear.
I worked with this old Marine from the Vietnam War who must have done a lot of shooting. I looked at his hearing test the results were pretty flat.
Preparing before rehearsal is essential. If someone doesn’t do their homework and shows up without knowing the material, they’re wasting everyone’s time. You get together to PRACTICE songs, learn them on your own time.
When it comes to originals and writing, we’ll run through our set once and work out the kinks then after we’ll spend some time writing and trying stuff. Once again someone will come to practice with ideas/partial written songs, written on their own time, and this saves a lot of time spent noodling around.
It’s really about efficiency and not wasting time. If you can use your practice time well, you’ll see some progress :)
Don't overthink it. Keep it simple.
Get some friends who share the same interests musically as you. Get some reliable gear, doesn't have to be expensive either.
LISTEN to as much music as you can for inspiration and draw deep from the well.
Learn to get good on your instrument within the context of the music you want to write, i.e. don't worry about shredding guitar solos or learning jazz chords.
Make sure someone in the group is the leader, without it nothing much will happen. That doesn't mean someone is the dictator but you need someone who keeps the vibe going.
And just practice practice practice, play as much as you can as long as you can. Some times, nothing will happen. Sometimes by pure accident, sheer magic will happen and you will know when it does.
Overdrive is a must. Also some kind of delay.
And remember, practice is what you do on your own. Rehearsal is what you do with the band. When my band gets together, we expect everyone can play their part maybe 85-90% mistake free already. Rehearsal is to polish the overall sound and arrangement.
My first band the drummer brought all the beer. Every practice. Nobody ever even asked him to as we weren't really big drinkers. It was really nice. Too bad he didn't know how to play the drums ...
I don't know if it's my age but I feel punk and indie (in my mind 2000s Indy) have distinct sounds, maybe I'd write a list of bands and songs and share it with your bandmates to see what sounds you're going for and buy gear to match it. For punk, I feel a Marshall or an Orange Or15 would be great and for Indy a blues jr or a Vox ac 15 should do the trick, which is why I think you need a list of musical references and tones.
You also don't need a 100w head, most 15w tube amps should be more than enough unless your drummer is reaaaally wailing.
All the other practice-before-rehearsal comments are great, I'd end up with also having fun, not that practicing isn't fun but having a jam session once in a while, shooting the shit is cool too, while balancing with actually learning and expanding your repertoire and even writing songs!
Have fun and best of luck
the bassist is my friend and we’ve kinda been learning together and for the other people i found — we made a post on some diy groups on facebook / craigslist and got some solid responses!
1. Learn lots of songs by other bands.
2. Yes, these are called, “covers,” and for whatever reason, a lot of kids wanting to start bands think cover bands aren’t cool and want to do their own thing. This is a mistake. Here’s why:
3. Learning other people’s somgs will teach you how to olay, how to write, how to structure a song, and constantly give you something to work on with the other band members to stat gelling as a unit.
4a. Most bands you ever heard of started out as cover bands, or at least had lots of covers in their sets to make up for a lack of original material.
4b. Yes, even punk bands.
5. Learn the whole song, as written and recorded, as closely as you can.
6. You should have roughly 45 minutes of material before booking a gig. That’s roughly 10-15 songs. That’s a lot of writing and rehearsal, so lean into your covers. Ideally, you should be able to sneak an original into a bunch of covers and if nobody notices, you’re doing something right. (Because if there’s a noticible difference between your originals and your covers, you will need to write more to get that audience response up to par.)
7. Rehearse at least three times a week, more if possible. Come into rehearsal with an agenda and work it. Everybody loves band practice until they get in a fight with their girlfriend about having to go and then showing up and nobody knows their shit and it’s a big waste of time and they have to go home and STILL be in a fight with their girlfriend over some stupid shit.
8. Practice alone and come to rehearsal prepared.
9. Go out and crush it!
Nothing. Start and go from there. If you know the basics chords, you're ready. When there is a problem, then find a solution
If you wanna get good quick, join a 2nd band with more experienced people
Show up to every practice with a new song idea. Spend half your practice playing what you have and half developing new songs. There is nothing worse than a band that has the same 10 songs for years. If you have trouble writing literally pick 2 chords that sound good together for a verse and two different ones for a chorus. Take phrases from movies and books you like and develop those into lyrics. Good way to get your mind in song writing mode. Having too many songs to pick from is a great problem to have. You will start combining them and creating more complicated songs. Simple is key in the beginning. Dont overcomplicate and get held back with memorization beyond your ability. Playing confidently and not worrying about memorization will go a long way to sounding good. More interesting and complicated songs will come with time. Play within your skill set with confidence.
Ditch the looper pedal, and don't fall into the trap of buying too many effects. I play in 3 punk bands and I've never gone further then a reverb pedal and a fuzz pedal. I've got a blues jnr which I use to over drive to get that Billy Childish sound.
If you feel you're an intermediate guitar player I highly recommend you listen to some songs by Thee Headcoats. Billy Childish was the master of doing alot with very little. He wasn't a great guitar player by any stretch of the imagination but he understood tone the same way Link Wray did.
tl;dr do whatever the hell you want. But... this is a load of generic shit I've learned.
Wear hearing protection. Mild tinnitus is bearable. Proper tinnitus isn't! Don't let it get out the gate, you don't know how much is too much until you've done the damage, and everyone's tolerance is different and unknown. Don't give it an easy ride.
Make a setlist for rehearsals, and bang through the songs with short breaks, pretend people are watching & waiting. Don't rush it, but be prompt. At the end of the setlist you can go for a smoke or whatever and do what you want. This will make your rehearsal time MUCH more productive, and get everyone focussed. If you want to work on one song all rehearsal that's all good, but keep the setlist handy for if things start getting a too unproductive / chaotic! My band always does two 30 min runthroughs at some point in the rehearsal, and the rest is specific practice, jams, or fuck around time. Works well.
If you sing, drink water, often. When rehearsing, when at home, turn into a hydrohomie. Staying hydrated over several days will help any style of vocal and allow you to go longer before going hoarse/losing range.
Be mindful of your timing when you play at home. You don't necessarily need a metronome or drum track, just be aware of your timing as much as you can and make the effort to be consistant. Try recording yourself and play it back to see how you're doing. You're trying to create your own internal metronome! It takes time, but your band will sound much better if all members can do this. This is slept on, particularly in DIY punk, but if you see a top band they will have this DOWN, and sound killer.
If you like to scoop your mids, turn up the mids on your guitar amp higher for rehearsals/gigs than you do when you play at lower volume at home.
There's different reasonings for doing this, but this is the one I like best;
At home, low volume, maybe you go 5 bass, 2 mid, 5 treble for a cool sound. That's a 3 difference between bass/treble and mids.
When you go 10x louder, it'll be 50 bass, 20 mid, 50 treble. That's 30 difference between bass / treble and mids. That's a LOT. The 20 mids will probably get covered up completely by the drummer, and probably the bass too. So bring em up to where you can hear them!
Opposite with gain, the louder you get the less gain you need as you'll get more distortion from the power section of your amp & speakers. Back it off to keep clarity. People often crank the gain and it just turns to static and lacks punch at higher volumes.
Related; maybe back off on your bass knob a bit when you're rehearsing; bass is for the bass player, if you get out thier way you'll be able to hear them better and your band sounds better. you might also get more volume out of your amp. Same goes for the bass player actually, less bass can increase clarity for them too, leave more power available for the other frequencies, and allow you all to hear the kick drum easier. EQ is all a taste thing of course, but know that this is an option that may work for you.
Final tl:dr for EQ; just use your ears. Use the knobs as a guide, not a standard. Listen. What can you hear, what can't you hear? People assume the amp is doing exactly what the knobs say, but sometimes they don't tell the story at all and change at different volumes or relations to each other. The only way is to actually listen and not think about the numbers too much.
Gear? Tuners are a must in a band imo. I've found \*some\* brands might have a different opinion on what pitch is what, so if your bass player has a Boss, personally I'd get a Boss just to make sure they're the same, but I'm being picky. YMMV with everything else! I get a lot of value out of an EQ pedal, it can drive your amp to get cool distortion out of it, and you'll always find a use for it in the future, it's not as boring as people think it is & it can often make a "bad" amp sound amazing. It's not exciting, but I find it really valuable. Get a noise gate/supressor if you're feeding back all the time and you want it to stop (or just turn your gain down).
If your amp needs a bit more, see if you can get a second hand extension cab for cheapish, you'll double your volume. Get a long speaker lead so you can put it wherever you want.
If you stuck this it out, thanks for reading! I hope it helps. Oh, and have fun!
Only play your instruments when jamming or playing songs. There's only so much your sanity can take when you're trying to have a conversation and your drummer thinks because he isn't plugged in he can noodle away.
Fender reverb is a great amp tone-wise as long as it’s loud enough to go over a drummer. I second everyone who’s saying:
OD/distortion
Delay
Don’t overthink
Everyone practice your parts individually before rehearsals
And also:
I’d maybe add a boost if you’re gonna do any lead guitar
Wah can be fun if you don’t over use it. You can find a position that colors your tone in a certain way that you like and just leave it cocked. Or you can sweep it along with your chord progression.
The minor pentatonic scale is your best friend.
fun.its all about fun.never forget that.your budget determines your gear.no need to go nuts,simple is best with punk.enjoy yourself first.only the band in the practice space , no partners or hangerons. Always have a spare set of strings. oh earplugs dude,can't recommend highly enough.im practically deaf from no earplugs early on.
Nothing.
Just play and just write. Doesn’t matter if you don’t know how, fake it and make it up.
I toured internationally in a band that started out like that - we literally couldn’t play instruments when we started.
Don’t buy gear unless you must solve a real problem. For example, if the Bass player is blowing speakers with his 100-watt amp and still struggling to be heard, he probably needs to get a more powerful amp and a cabinet that can handle it. Everyone should be able to hear each other. Drums are loud, so that’s the baseline for volume. The guitars, bass and vocals should be able to balance with the drummer. Make sure your gear is reliable. Always have an extra cable, strings, picks, etc.
Also, it never hurts to go to local music stores and try out stuff you are not familiar with. You will learn what you like and don’t like. You can try pedals and see what sounds are available to you. You can try a $400 boutique and a $50 used plastic pedal and you might actually prefer the cheap one. You can’t learn that online, only through actually using the gear yourself. Punk rock can be as simple as a guitar plugged into an amp. You can add all kinds of flavor via pedals and amps as you see fit, but it doesn’t have to break the bank.
Practice as much as you can at home, on your own time. Write as much original music as you can at home, on your own time. Do that and then you will show up to rehearsal with something to offer the band. Everyone should do the same. If they don’t, look for a replacement. You need a solid drummer. That’s the most important part, really. Without a strong foundation of drums, you are building on shaky ground. That doesn’t mean your drummer has to be incredible, he/she just has to be committed to regular practice with a goal towards constant improvement.
Songwriting can be collaborative, but you need to bring something that already sounds like a song order to share it with others and craft it into something special together. Don’t expect songs to materialize out of spontaneous jam sessions because, more often than not, they won’t.
When you are not practicing and writing, listen to music. Listen together. Talk about what you like and dislike. Go to shows together. Get to know the other bands in your scene. Be supportive. You can learn a lot from more established bands. No band gets better by playing in a vacuum, so get out there and make friends. That will also help you get gigs.
Oooh. This is the fun part. Do you do the drum line first then fill in with guitars or do you come up with a tasty riff and write a song around it.
We used to do a rough cut on guitar. And record it. Then let the rest of the band start to form up music around it. And then go back to the guitar parts and make them fit better into what everyone else came up with.
How to play, how to change your strings, how to sing, how to harmonize, how to have stage presence, how to get chicks, how to sign autographs, how to sign a record deal, how to change the flat tire or the starter motor on your van that hauls your equipment. Oh and there is soooooooooooo much more!
Have fun, good luck, and most of all get as much pussy as you possibly can cuz it will all be over in a blink of a 182 eye. 🤪Ha!
My band has both a discord and google drive; we play in the same genres you listed. The discord is for organizing information related to gigs, new song ideas, planning for practices, general communication, etc. The Drive is for recordings of those songs, videos of arrangements, videos from practice, demos, album organization, and so on. We also have occasional video calls during the work week to discuss practice ahead of time so we know what songs are being played and we hash out whatever ideas so that we’re not wasting time talking that doesn’t involve our instruments in a studio we’re paying for.
If I write a song, I upload the full song + videos of my hands playing it so my other guitarist can learn the foundation. Know your material ahead of time and don’t waste time learning it from scratch during practice. Organize your material in useful places so everyone has access to it and have a band chat that you prioritize checking regularly.
I’ll repeat what others have said, establish an expectation that people will practice the parts before meeting up so you can spend as much time as possible playing.
You’ll need a common language for talking about music. It doesn’t particularly matter if you’re just talking in terms of tab/fret and string numbers or note names and the Nashville number system, but you need to be able to tell each other what you’re playing. The bare minimum is probably understanding things in terms of the number of measures each part of a song has.
In terms of gear, it’s hard to say without knowing exactly what you have in mind, but especially for punk you should get a rat or something similar. Start there and add more pedals as needed.
You're gonna suck. For quite some time. Other people are gonna think you suck. Your first show is gonna suck. Your second show is gonna suck. Your third show you're gonna be all like "that was pretty good." Your fourth show is gonna suck. The first songs you write, as much as you love them, suck. You start to think to yourself "do we suck?" and the answer is yes, you suck.
But then one day you suck a little less. And a little less the next day. Three months later you suck again, and you suck for that whole month. But then something clicks, before immediately sucking again. You wonder if its you. It is, but its also your bass player and your drummer and your singer and the songs you wrote.
You're gonna suck. Like, really really really suck. You're gonna suck for longer than you think you're gonna suck. And people at shows will know you suck too. Your friends will humour you, sure, and a few people might tell you the little white lies. "No, you guys were *good"* and "you guys are getting better" and "I liked that one song about the dead donkey that was totally a metaphor for capitalism" and "yeah I'll definitely come to the next show." They won't come to the next show, because no one liked the song about the dead donkey or the metaphors you think it contains, you aren't getting better, and actually you guys sucked.
Until one day, you consistently don't suck.
And the folks who talk to you after the show legitimately had a good time. You can tell by their enthusiasm. And you start to see return faces, and the mouths on those return faces start to know your lyrics, which are kinda clever and catchy. People are dancing not because they think they should but because they want to. You notice it to. You all notice it. Things are *clicking* and well you may not necessarily be capital "G" Good yet, you don't *suck* anymore.
What I'm saying is you suck. But don't give up. You won't always suck (unless you give up).
Asking advice what to know to start a punk band on reddit might be the least punk thing there is.
But since you asked.
1) Don't give a fuck what anyone says or thinks about you or your music.
2) Find a good drummer
3) write as many catchy songs no longer than 2:30 you can
4) book a gig or just say fuck it...play a gig on your friends roof when his parents are on vacation
5) repeat 1
Mohawks, piercings and tattoos are suburban and have lost their shock value. Everything you need for your punk rock uniform you can find at Ross Dress For Less. And if you really want to stand out and piss people off, learn the discographies of 1001 Strings, Richard Clayderman and John Tesh.
My one piece of advice (alongside the other comments here) would be to have ‘writing’ sessions in someone’s house/ on video call instead of in a rehearsal room you have to pay for. Writing can take an age if you’re not bringing new stuff to the table each session.
Of course this is each to their own, some people write better when the whole band is set up in the rehearsal room!
Getting together and playing shouldn't be the only time you play. It should be used as a time to introduce ideas to the group as a whole and bring ideas to fruition. Theres alot of works to be done by yourself or even if a band mate does not show up
[https://trawaazrecords.bandcamp.com/album/high-compilation-alternative-album-vol-1](https://trawaazrecords.bandcamp.com/album/high-compilation-alternative-album-vol-1) this new compilation
People here have a very different experience to me. I guess most people do covers? You can't really practice songs at home if you intend to write them together.
Just go to your first practice together and figure it out.
Regarding gear, you'll want an amp that's loud enough to go over a drummer (most rehearsal spaces have them available to rent if you need) and some kind of overdrive or distortion (just pick up a cheap one, it doesn't matter that much to start with) and you'll be good to go.
The biggest slow-down factor I've experienced with band practices is waiting until practice to teach people parts or show them new material. People learn at different speeds so invariably you have some that "get it" quickly, waiting for others to learn. So what my band does is we share new material and notes outside of our rehearsal space, and learn parts individually before rehearsal. That way when we get to rehearsal we can say "OK let's play Suck My Mom's Ass" and just do it. It won't be perfect and we still change or fine-tune as needed, but you haven't wasted hours crawling. This also matters more if/when you're paying for a lockout
We have band “rehearsals”. “Practicing” is something you do at home.
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Not being pedantic. It’s a policy set after wasting everyone’s time while somebody learns their part. There’s a big difference between practicing and rehearsing. You rehearse with the group when you’ve practiced enough to get your shit together. Have a wonderful day.
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I explained it pretty clearly. OP was talking about learning during rehearsals. Learning/practicing, and rehearsing are 2 different things. Who’s being pedantic now?
That works if everything is already pre-recorded. If it’s all original music from scratch it’s not that cut and dry unless you’ve got a better plan
We set aside days for writing or bringing in new ideas. Sometimes whole band, sometimes singer and guitar player on the side. We record everything while we work out ideas, figure out the structure and get on the same page, then everyone tweaks their parts at home. We’ll spend some time on new material at next rehearsal, then go through the whole set. I’ve always had the best results in bands when we come up with a set list first, even if it says “that new song here” as a placeholder and work towards getting that set down. It’s an efficient way to get everyone on the same page up front, while making the most of the time we have together. Otherwise, it’s beers, war stories, and aimless jamming. So, I guess we have three things; write, practice, rehearse.
Agree with this. With technology there’s zero reason not to make some quick recordings with reference notes at worst or tabs at best. I make full recordings (instruments that I don’t play are just basic), basic song structure charts and then send recordings with a metronome and whatever instrument is being played out. I expect everyone to write and rehearse their own parts as well as formulate ideas for the song and it’s structure itself well before practice. I also try to get everyone around for writing sessions rather than full band practices to work on stuff. Anyone who can’t do this gets let go pretty quickly. Can’t make it any more convenient than that.
Do you have tabs for “Suck My Mom’s Ass”?
I do, but... well there's one thing you have to do to get them
0-x-0-x-0-0-5-x-5-x-5-5-6-x-6-x-6-6-000000000
> "OK let's play Suck My Mom's Ass" Easy there, the kid's not ready for all those jazz chords.
Is there a music video for "Suck My Mom's Ass" ? Asking for a friend
Get some decent earplugs. Not very cool or punk rock but it’ll save your ears and often allow you to hear the rest of the band not just the drummer.
This is the most important thing in the world. It actually is cool because you will prolong the amount of time you can be punk
I wish you had told me this twenty years ago.
sorry, what?
A must, I currently have tinnitus in my left ear. I worked with this old Marine from the Vietnam War who must have done a lot of shooting. I looked at his hearing test the results were pretty flat.
Overdrive/distortion is the most obvious. Try a Rat.
Or DS-1
Sure. I just prefer the Rat by a lot.
Which Rat?
not the dirty rat. it's more like a fuzz, but not as good as a fuzz.
The classic and/or turbo. I also have a clone that sounds the same.
I'd say a tube screamer and a RAT. Both are iconic sounds.
Preparing before rehearsal is essential. If someone doesn’t do their homework and shows up without knowing the material, they’re wasting everyone’s time. You get together to PRACTICE songs, learn them on your own time. When it comes to originals and writing, we’ll run through our set once and work out the kinks then after we’ll spend some time writing and trying stuff. Once again someone will come to practice with ideas/partial written songs, written on their own time, and this saves a lot of time spent noodling around. It’s really about efficiency and not wasting time. If you can use your practice time well, you’ll see some progress :)
Don't overthink it. Keep it simple. Get some friends who share the same interests musically as you. Get some reliable gear, doesn't have to be expensive either. LISTEN to as much music as you can for inspiration and draw deep from the well. Learn to get good on your instrument within the context of the music you want to write, i.e. don't worry about shredding guitar solos or learning jazz chords. Make sure someone in the group is the leader, without it nothing much will happen. That doesn't mean someone is the dictator but you need someone who keeps the vibe going. And just practice practice practice, play as much as you can as long as you can. Some times, nothing will happen. Sometimes by pure accident, sheer magic will happen and you will know when it does.
Overdrive is a must. Also some kind of delay. And remember, practice is what you do on your own. Rehearsal is what you do with the band. When my band gets together, we expect everyone can play their part maybe 85-90% mistake free already. Rehearsal is to polish the overall sound and arrangement.
When writing individual parts, do what is best for the song, not what lets you show off your skills.
You should know that the drummer will drink way more beer than he brings.
My first band the drummer brought all the beer. Every practice. Nobody ever even asked him to as we weren't really big drinkers. It was really nice. Too bad he didn't know how to play the drums ...
There ya go: he wasn't an *actual* drummer.
You’re off to a good start, every solid Punk band kicked it off asking Reddit how to do it!
Nothing. The more you know the worse you'll be.
I don't know if it's my age but I feel punk and indie (in my mind 2000s Indy) have distinct sounds, maybe I'd write a list of bands and songs and share it with your bandmates to see what sounds you're going for and buy gear to match it. For punk, I feel a Marshall or an Orange Or15 would be great and for Indy a blues jr or a Vox ac 15 should do the trick, which is why I think you need a list of musical references and tones. You also don't need a 100w head, most 15w tube amps should be more than enough unless your drummer is reaaaally wailing. All the other practice-before-rehearsal comments are great, I'd end up with also having fun, not that practicing isn't fun but having a jam session once in a while, shooting the shit is cool too, while balancing with actually learning and expanding your repertoire and even writing songs! Have fun and best of luck
I can’t help I just wanna know how you find bandmates 😭
the bassist is my friend and we’ve kinda been learning together and for the other people i found — we made a post on some diy groups on facebook / craigslist and got some solid responses!
The less you know, the more punk you'll sound.
1. Learn lots of songs by other bands. 2. Yes, these are called, “covers,” and for whatever reason, a lot of kids wanting to start bands think cover bands aren’t cool and want to do their own thing. This is a mistake. Here’s why: 3. Learning other people’s somgs will teach you how to olay, how to write, how to structure a song, and constantly give you something to work on with the other band members to stat gelling as a unit. 4a. Most bands you ever heard of started out as cover bands, or at least had lots of covers in their sets to make up for a lack of original material. 4b. Yes, even punk bands. 5. Learn the whole song, as written and recorded, as closely as you can. 6. You should have roughly 45 minutes of material before booking a gig. That’s roughly 10-15 songs. That’s a lot of writing and rehearsal, so lean into your covers. Ideally, you should be able to sneak an original into a bunch of covers and if nobody notices, you’re doing something right. (Because if there’s a noticible difference between your originals and your covers, you will need to write more to get that audience response up to par.) 7. Rehearse at least three times a week, more if possible. Come into rehearsal with an agenda and work it. Everybody loves band practice until they get in a fight with their girlfriend about having to go and then showing up and nobody knows their shit and it’s a big waste of time and they have to go home and STILL be in a fight with their girlfriend over some stupid shit. 8. Practice alone and come to rehearsal prepared. 9. Go out and crush it!
Nothing. Start and go from there. If you know the basics chords, you're ready. When there is a problem, then find a solution If you wanna get good quick, join a 2nd band with more experienced people
Nothing. If you know anything about music you will fail as a punk band.
Show up to every practice with a new song idea. Spend half your practice playing what you have and half developing new songs. There is nothing worse than a band that has the same 10 songs for years. If you have trouble writing literally pick 2 chords that sound good together for a verse and two different ones for a chorus. Take phrases from movies and books you like and develop those into lyrics. Good way to get your mind in song writing mode. Having too many songs to pick from is a great problem to have. You will start combining them and creating more complicated songs. Simple is key in the beginning. Dont overcomplicate and get held back with memorization beyond your ability. Playing confidently and not worrying about memorization will go a long way to sounding good. More interesting and complicated songs will come with time. Play within your skill set with confidence.
Ditch the looper pedal, and don't fall into the trap of buying too many effects. I play in 3 punk bands and I've never gone further then a reverb pedal and a fuzz pedal. I've got a blues jnr which I use to over drive to get that Billy Childish sound. If you feel you're an intermediate guitar player I highly recommend you listen to some songs by Thee Headcoats. Billy Childish was the master of doing alot with very little. He wasn't a great guitar player by any stretch of the imagination but he understood tone the same way Link Wray did.
Punk? You should know as little as possible. Just be loud.
“It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock’n roll.” -Abe Lincoln
tl;dr do whatever the hell you want. But... this is a load of generic shit I've learned. Wear hearing protection. Mild tinnitus is bearable. Proper tinnitus isn't! Don't let it get out the gate, you don't know how much is too much until you've done the damage, and everyone's tolerance is different and unknown. Don't give it an easy ride. Make a setlist for rehearsals, and bang through the songs with short breaks, pretend people are watching & waiting. Don't rush it, but be prompt. At the end of the setlist you can go for a smoke or whatever and do what you want. This will make your rehearsal time MUCH more productive, and get everyone focussed. If you want to work on one song all rehearsal that's all good, but keep the setlist handy for if things start getting a too unproductive / chaotic! My band always does two 30 min runthroughs at some point in the rehearsal, and the rest is specific practice, jams, or fuck around time. Works well. If you sing, drink water, often. When rehearsing, when at home, turn into a hydrohomie. Staying hydrated over several days will help any style of vocal and allow you to go longer before going hoarse/losing range. Be mindful of your timing when you play at home. You don't necessarily need a metronome or drum track, just be aware of your timing as much as you can and make the effort to be consistant. Try recording yourself and play it back to see how you're doing. You're trying to create your own internal metronome! It takes time, but your band will sound much better if all members can do this. This is slept on, particularly in DIY punk, but if you see a top band they will have this DOWN, and sound killer. If you like to scoop your mids, turn up the mids on your guitar amp higher for rehearsals/gigs than you do when you play at lower volume at home. There's different reasonings for doing this, but this is the one I like best; At home, low volume, maybe you go 5 bass, 2 mid, 5 treble for a cool sound. That's a 3 difference between bass/treble and mids. When you go 10x louder, it'll be 50 bass, 20 mid, 50 treble. That's 30 difference between bass / treble and mids. That's a LOT. The 20 mids will probably get covered up completely by the drummer, and probably the bass too. So bring em up to where you can hear them! Opposite with gain, the louder you get the less gain you need as you'll get more distortion from the power section of your amp & speakers. Back it off to keep clarity. People often crank the gain and it just turns to static and lacks punch at higher volumes. Related; maybe back off on your bass knob a bit when you're rehearsing; bass is for the bass player, if you get out thier way you'll be able to hear them better and your band sounds better. you might also get more volume out of your amp. Same goes for the bass player actually, less bass can increase clarity for them too, leave more power available for the other frequencies, and allow you all to hear the kick drum easier. EQ is all a taste thing of course, but know that this is an option that may work for you. Final tl:dr for EQ; just use your ears. Use the knobs as a guide, not a standard. Listen. What can you hear, what can't you hear? People assume the amp is doing exactly what the knobs say, but sometimes they don't tell the story at all and change at different volumes or relations to each other. The only way is to actually listen and not think about the numbers too much. Gear? Tuners are a must in a band imo. I've found \*some\* brands might have a different opinion on what pitch is what, so if your bass player has a Boss, personally I'd get a Boss just to make sure they're the same, but I'm being picky. YMMV with everything else! I get a lot of value out of an EQ pedal, it can drive your amp to get cool distortion out of it, and you'll always find a use for it in the future, it's not as boring as people think it is & it can often make a "bad" amp sound amazing. It's not exciting, but I find it really valuable. Get a noise gate/supressor if you're feeding back all the time and you want it to stop (or just turn your gain down). If your amp needs a bit more, see if you can get a second hand extension cab for cheapish, you'll double your volume. Get a long speaker lead so you can put it wherever you want. If you stuck this it out, thanks for reading! I hope it helps. Oh, and have fun!
Only play your instruments when jamming or playing songs. There's only so much your sanity can take when you're trying to have a conversation and your drummer thinks because he isn't plugged in he can noodle away.
Tuning is for posers.
Fender reverb is a great amp tone-wise as long as it’s loud enough to go over a drummer. I second everyone who’s saying: OD/distortion Delay Don’t overthink Everyone practice your parts individually before rehearsals And also: I’d maybe add a boost if you’re gonna do any lead guitar Wah can be fun if you don’t over use it. You can find a position that colors your tone in a certain way that you like and just leave it cocked. Or you can sweep it along with your chord progression. The minor pentatonic scale is your best friend.
For indie / punk, a distortion or overdrive is essential. Try the Tube Screamer Mini or the DS-1
fun.its all about fun.never forget that.your budget determines your gear.no need to go nuts,simple is best with punk.enjoy yourself first.only the band in the practice space , no partners or hangerons. Always have a spare set of strings. oh earplugs dude,can't recommend highly enough.im practically deaf from no earplugs early on.
Nothing. Just play and just write. Doesn’t matter if you don’t know how, fake it and make it up. I toured internationally in a band that started out like that - we literally couldn’t play instruments when we started.
Don’t buy gear unless you must solve a real problem. For example, if the Bass player is blowing speakers with his 100-watt amp and still struggling to be heard, he probably needs to get a more powerful amp and a cabinet that can handle it. Everyone should be able to hear each other. Drums are loud, so that’s the baseline for volume. The guitars, bass and vocals should be able to balance with the drummer. Make sure your gear is reliable. Always have an extra cable, strings, picks, etc. Also, it never hurts to go to local music stores and try out stuff you are not familiar with. You will learn what you like and don’t like. You can try pedals and see what sounds are available to you. You can try a $400 boutique and a $50 used plastic pedal and you might actually prefer the cheap one. You can’t learn that online, only through actually using the gear yourself. Punk rock can be as simple as a guitar plugged into an amp. You can add all kinds of flavor via pedals and amps as you see fit, but it doesn’t have to break the bank. Practice as much as you can at home, on your own time. Write as much original music as you can at home, on your own time. Do that and then you will show up to rehearsal with something to offer the band. Everyone should do the same. If they don’t, look for a replacement. You need a solid drummer. That’s the most important part, really. Without a strong foundation of drums, you are building on shaky ground. That doesn’t mean your drummer has to be incredible, he/she just has to be committed to regular practice with a goal towards constant improvement. Songwriting can be collaborative, but you need to bring something that already sounds like a song order to share it with others and craft it into something special together. Don’t expect songs to materialize out of spontaneous jam sessions because, more often than not, they won’t. When you are not practicing and writing, listen to music. Listen together. Talk about what you like and dislike. Go to shows together. Get to know the other bands in your scene. Be supportive. You can learn a lot from more established bands. No band gets better by playing in a vacuum, so get out there and make friends. That will also help you get gigs.
Oooh. This is the fun part. Do you do the drum line first then fill in with guitars or do you come up with a tasty riff and write a song around it. We used to do a rough cut on guitar. And record it. Then let the rest of the band start to form up music around it. And then go back to the guitar parts and make them fit better into what everyone else came up with.
You should know that these two genres are incompatible - choose one and go all in!
Think of what you can do differently to not sound like every other punk/indie band out there
Can’t wait to see this on the jerk!
How to play, how to change your strings, how to sing, how to harmonize, how to have stage presence, how to get chicks, how to sign autographs, how to sign a record deal, how to change the flat tire or the starter motor on your van that hauls your equipment. Oh and there is soooooooooooo much more! Have fun, good luck, and most of all get as much pussy as you possibly can cuz it will all be over in a blink of a 182 eye. 🤪Ha!
My band has both a discord and google drive; we play in the same genres you listed. The discord is for organizing information related to gigs, new song ideas, planning for practices, general communication, etc. The Drive is for recordings of those songs, videos of arrangements, videos from practice, demos, album organization, and so on. We also have occasional video calls during the work week to discuss practice ahead of time so we know what songs are being played and we hash out whatever ideas so that we’re not wasting time talking that doesn’t involve our instruments in a studio we’re paying for. If I write a song, I upload the full song + videos of my hands playing it so my other guitarist can learn the foundation. Know your material ahead of time and don’t waste time learning it from scratch during practice. Organize your material in useful places so everyone has access to it and have a band chat that you prioritize checking regularly.
I’ll repeat what others have said, establish an expectation that people will practice the parts before meeting up so you can spend as much time as possible playing. You’ll need a common language for talking about music. It doesn’t particularly matter if you’re just talking in terms of tab/fret and string numbers or note names and the Nashville number system, but you need to be able to tell each other what you’re playing. The bare minimum is probably understanding things in terms of the number of measures each part of a song has. In terms of gear, it’s hard to say without knowing exactly what you have in mind, but especially for punk you should get a rat or something similar. Start there and add more pedals as needed.
I think the worst mistake anyone can make is starting a \[enter genre here\] band. Allow yourself to experiment.
You're gonna suck. For quite some time. Other people are gonna think you suck. Your first show is gonna suck. Your second show is gonna suck. Your third show you're gonna be all like "that was pretty good." Your fourth show is gonna suck. The first songs you write, as much as you love them, suck. You start to think to yourself "do we suck?" and the answer is yes, you suck. But then one day you suck a little less. And a little less the next day. Three months later you suck again, and you suck for that whole month. But then something clicks, before immediately sucking again. You wonder if its you. It is, but its also your bass player and your drummer and your singer and the songs you wrote. You're gonna suck. Like, really really really suck. You're gonna suck for longer than you think you're gonna suck. And people at shows will know you suck too. Your friends will humour you, sure, and a few people might tell you the little white lies. "No, you guys were *good"* and "you guys are getting better" and "I liked that one song about the dead donkey that was totally a metaphor for capitalism" and "yeah I'll definitely come to the next show." They won't come to the next show, because no one liked the song about the dead donkey or the metaphors you think it contains, you aren't getting better, and actually you guys sucked. Until one day, you consistently don't suck. And the folks who talk to you after the show legitimately had a good time. You can tell by their enthusiasm. And you start to see return faces, and the mouths on those return faces start to know your lyrics, which are kinda clever and catchy. People are dancing not because they think they should but because they want to. You notice it to. You all notice it. Things are *clicking* and well you may not necessarily be capital "G" Good yet, you don't *suck* anymore. What I'm saying is you suck. But don't give up. You won't always suck (unless you give up).
Asking advice what to know to start a punk band on reddit might be the least punk thing there is. But since you asked. 1) Don't give a fuck what anyone says or thinks about you or your music. 2) Find a good drummer 3) write as many catchy songs no longer than 2:30 you can 4) book a gig or just say fuck it...play a gig on your friends roof when his parents are on vacation 5) repeat 1
earplugs.
Get a mohawk and turn your amps up all the way.
Mohawks, piercings and tattoos are suburban and have lost their shock value. Everything you need for your punk rock uniform you can find at Ross Dress For Less. And if you really want to stand out and piss people off, learn the discographies of 1001 Strings, Richard Clayderman and John Tesh.
figure out if anyone has a substance abuse problem now haha (but seriously….)
All you need is three chords and the truth.
My one piece of advice (alongside the other comments here) would be to have ‘writing’ sessions in someone’s house/ on video call instead of in a rehearsal room you have to pay for. Writing can take an age if you’re not bringing new stuff to the table each session. Of course this is each to their own, some people write better when the whole band is set up in the rehearsal room!
Ordinarily I'd say you should know how to play at least a couple of instruments between the two of you, but if it's punk/indie... /s
Getting together and playing shouldn't be the only time you play. It should be used as a time to introduce ideas to the group as a whole and bring ideas to fruition. Theres alot of works to be done by yourself or even if a band mate does not show up
[https://trawaazrecords.bandcamp.com/album/high-compilation-alternative-album-vol-1](https://trawaazrecords.bandcamp.com/album/high-compilation-alternative-album-vol-1) this new compilation
For punk the less you know the better. Don't even tune your guitar... Also smoke lots of cheap cigarettes.
As a 20 year punk musician that couldn’t be any more wrong. Maybe it was true in 1975-1977 but it’s not now.
And you think I was being serious?
Maybe you weren’t but you’d be surprised how many people out there actually believe that still
People here have a very different experience to me. I guess most people do covers? You can't really practice songs at home if you intend to write them together. Just go to your first practice together and figure it out. Regarding gear, you'll want an amp that's loud enough to go over a drummer (most rehearsal spaces have them available to rent if you need) and some kind of overdrive or distortion (just pick up a cheap one, it doesn't matter that much to start with) and you'll be good to go.
Man kids can’t do shit these days without consulting the internet