Starting a Band- what to do?
 

Some friends and I are strongly considering starting a band (some kind of metal band probably, not sure exactly what), and i have recently been overwhelmed by all the things I don't know or can't do.
I have never been in a band before and don't know how to read music (I play guitar if it matters), but I am very interested in the concept, especially of songwriting. People I know who are younger than me have done a lot more in the music world than me, and I feel that it would be best to get started as soon as possible. Also, I heard that Metallica's members didn't really know what they were doing when they started out, but they got better very quickly and things really fell in place.
Does anyone have any advice for someone in my position, or books/websites that I might find useful? Thanks in advance.

You don't have to read sheet music, you can get by on tabs.

The best advice I can give you is don't overthink it. You don't need to decide anything at all before you start playing. Just get your friends together and just mess around playing whatever you feel like. And have fun! Everything else will fall into place, but the most important thing is just start doing it.

just go for it, learn some songs to play together, make up your own stuff at practice, next thing you know you will have an instrumental, start writing some songs, then you will have a full song

I would recommend, if you plan on playing covers, learning them by ear. I don't know why you would use tabs if you can learn in a more productive way.

Also, make sure that the band is for the music. Don't let significant others or anything get in the way, but also don't let the band take over your life if it isn't working out.

In other words, don't get too stressed, I'm sure you'll have a million other chances to play in a band.

Enjoy yourself, getting too serious doesn't get you anywhere.

Much luck.

Keep us updated.

Ok, thanks for the advice! I suppose I have been thinking too far down the road...

Roger McGuinn's advice:

although it's a great way to meet girls, don't let hangers on turn your practices into a party. be there with a mind to improve on whatever the band doesn't do well.

this a million times over.

also keep in mind that there are about a million other bands starting up or just getting going right now. you can either stress yourself out trying to compete with the lot of them to be the next big thing or you can just say eff it! and have fun with your buddies.

By no means do you need to be able to read sheet music. There tons and tons of famous/ talented musicians who cannot read music. Can you read guitar tabs? This might be a big help and is a lot easier to learn quickly than reading music.

That being said, being able to read music does come in handy if you want to involve yourself in instruments other than guitar (like piano, in which you kind-of have to be able to read music), or if you want to write your songs down in this format for whatever reason. I'm sure there are lots of books/ websites out there that can teach you how to read music. Buy a 'beginner's guide to music theory' type thing and see how much you can learn from it. But reading music is not an absolute necessity needed for forming a band and writing your own songs.

i was in a band once

Play in the band everyday helps

Everyone shold be commited meaning not missing band meetings

doing drugs and drinking usually does not help the meetings IMO

if yall dont know what yall are doing jamming can help get ideas out but songwriting and playing parts peice by peice and putting things together deff helps u in the Song writing devlopment

has most kids i was in a band in highschool but like most of them Drugs and girls and other intrest broke us apart FAST

this sounds more like a support group agenda.

the biggest issue i've noticed with bands is a lack of ability to be honest about what 'being in a band' means with each other. everyone has their own view on what 'good' music is, everyone has a different definition of 'success', and everyone has their own way of expressing a commitment.

you need to be able to be honest with yourself about why you want to be in a band AND be capable of expressing those views to your bandmates regardless of their expected reactions. if you can't do that much then you're simply delaying the eventual (and inevitable) dramatic breakup.

one last thing, if YOU want to be in charge of the band be clear about it from the get go. don't pretend to be 'just another member' while biting your tongue or lying to your members.

you have to start playing by your heart, if you make something that sounds nice to you, try to memorize it and write you know? i'm beggining a band and it's a damn crazy experience. go easy, dont try to be too much advanced, first, all of you have to be in sintony and then , play some covers. then, if you guys are good with your instruments, make some jamms and something will come out, trust me ! ;)

the truth is to play music, you don't need to be able to read music, you don't need to know what the chords are called all you need to know is the music.

You don't need to be able to read music. I technically don't know anything about music at all, apart from what's euphonic, and I get a long alright. For songwriting, I just play something simple, like 5-7-8 on the A string, at a certain tempo. Then, I add some open E string chugs in the gaps, and then I tweak the original melody and tempo until it's sufficiently complex.

These tips are going to sound kind of stupid, since I don't know anything about scales or harmonies at all, but I've found that sets of two notes on frets that are adjacent sound pretty sinister, if you just stick them in places. Same deal with frets that span two other frets (e.g. 5 and 8 or 7 and 9) and going diagonally across strings (e.g. 5 on the E string and 6 on the A string.)

Also, record your practices, just in case you come up with something cool and want to save it. Do the same thing when dabbling at home.

It's good playing covers, it helps you develop new skills and also aids you in playing with your band mates.

Try not to get stuck in covers though if you're hoping to write your own stuff, jam and stuff like that it's the easiest way to write new stuff.

Always try to make sure your'e in time with everyone, when you're starting out it's easy to go out of time and not realise, watch your mates hands and try to listen to what's being played.

Another absolutely key thing is to make sure you get on with the people in your band. It sounds silly, but I have friends that i'd rather not be in bands with because i'd know there'd be so much of a difference in opinion that nothing would get done.

Get huge and then quit to start an unsuccessful solo career.