Rest from the monitor: how to gather a group and play music

IT-technology, of course, is a good and exciting thing. But what can you do to get some rest from the monitor? Sports jogging, cycling, pool - sport helps to keep the body in shape. And for the soul? You can draw pictures, sculpt plastic, write poetry. And you can play music.
Today I will share my personal experience, the accumulation of which took me some time, but if I knew all the details from the very beginning, I would manage to do more and achieve better results in the same passage of time. Overcoming the pitfalls, sometimes, takes up resources no less than the path itself.

So, what we have is a desire to play with a group and at least a small source of money to start with (even an upcoming birthday will do if you are still in school and parents have the opportunity to become a little generous).
You can play the most diverse music, but for convenience and for specific reasons, I will describe the creation of a rock band.

We collect the minimum apparatus

Immediately make a reservation, if you plan to promote this business seriously, no matter what - it is desirable that most of the apparatus was yours. You can, of course, collect everything from the members of the group - but there is a small nuance about which later.
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The desirable minimum for a comfortable game: an electric guitar (1 piece), a bass guitar (1 piece), a lotion for a guitar (1 piece), a microphone, a wire-jack (3 for guitars and 1 for a microphone), a combo (3 pieces) drum set. In fact, if you don’t swing at particularly cool tools and find a pretty second-hand strike, then this minimum will result in you at ~ 10,000–15,000 rubles.

Do not be upset that your musical instruments are cheap / used. At one time, we could not even dream of the most broken drums - so we improvised and made them from pots / pans. Nothing turned out pretty well. After this, it is a sin to complain about a flaky barrel or a scratch on a plate.



When choosing a guitar, especially when buying from hands, take a person who is familiar with electronic guitars with you, if you are not very well aware of this. This will significantly reduce your chances of buying guitars that do not build or have a seemingly unremarkable defect. And try to negotiate with the person from whom you take the instrument for a week (at least a couple of days) of a test game. Invite familiar musicians, if there are any, let them play the guitar a little and say their feelings. The most important thing is for your instrument to be liked and convenient for you personally. Even in appearance. If the tool attracts your attention - you will constantly pick it up for at least a couple of minutes while passing by. A device unsightly for you will stand more often.

Rehearsal space

And now an important detail: there is an opinion that with the appearance of drums in the group, rehearsals just need to be transferred from the apartment to a separate rehearsal point. I will disprove with a small hint: fabrics and pieces of rags, stuffed into drums, substantially soften the swotting of the neighboring heads and reduce the volume of the sound. In fact, in this way we managed to rehearse quite successfully, not listening to every minute blows and mop on the ceiling from the neighbors and the booming percussion of other neighbors with metal objects through the heating pipes.

The ideal option would be a garage with electricity in it. Pros: no neighbors \ households. Disadvantages: if the garage is not heated, then problems may arise in winter - with frozen fingers it is very inconvenient to play the strings, the drummer’s sticks will always fly out to the bass player (don’t ask why it’s him, I’m surprised myself :).



Garage doors should be able to close from the inside. It is just a necessity, and they must be closed every time you are inside. The fact is that not a single drunken company, passing by, remains indifferent to the gentle melodies of the guitarist (twisting the distortion a little more than completely), the nightingale trills of the vocalist (for example, trying unsuccessfully to sing a spider) and looks at the light. Already very unnerving and distracting red faces, peeking at the door. Disrupt the game with your questions, comments. Constantly begging to "give to play." Never let's play this kind of passersby!
Four of the first, to whom we kindly allowed to play the “Vladimir Central” and similar delightful creative work began, with the appearance of a maestro-connoisseur, to clatter with the tongue, to utter “yes your guitar is upset” and with a clever look to twist the chops. On a perfectly tuned electric tuner 15 minutes ago a guitar. In general, this is all distracting and in itself unpleasant. Moreover, why shine your equipment in front of all sorts of companies that love shansonchik, especially if you leave all the tools after a rehearsal in the garage?

If there is no garage - it does not matter. You can find out in local DK \ schools - they often contain places for such rehearsal points (or even ready ones) - you just need to agree.

In the end, if you’re too lazy to think about all this, you can simply find through the familiar or local city forums rehearsal points, handed over by the hour. The cost for 1-2 hours may vary in the average limit of 200-600 rubles, depending on the level of equipment and premises. You, in turn, collected your rap. point yourself can make money by renting it to other groups, thus paying for the equipment.

A little bit about the alignment of kombik

It all depends on the room, but the following system has recommended itself in a good light: the bass combo is on the left hand side of the drums, the guitar one is on the right. The vocal line stands in front of the drummer away. All combo should be raised above the floor (at least put on a chair), normally hold and not rattle. In general, with all the rattling things you need to do something (wrap with a cloth or put it more firmly). The sound is tuned by the drummer, but you should not twist it to the maximum.

The most important part: people

People need to recruit those who can play well - this is a fallacy is wrong. Yes, skill is important, but in fact it is more important to recruit people who are close in concept and burning with the same desire. Even if they play very poorly - mastery comes with time, but the ideological component and the relations in the group are the main skeleton of the collective.

You can find out from your friends whether they are burning with the same desire, or leave a proposal for joint music on the resources of your city. The hardest thing is to find a drummer. Having a drum set you dozens of times simplifies things, but an important requirement for the drummer is the ability to keep strictly to the rhythm and not to stray from it. All the bands have different ways - somewhere the rhythm is kept on the bass player, somewhere on the drummer and on the vocalist, somewhere combined. Try different variations and choose a comfortable one. Even putting this leading role on the bassist, you need to pay a lot of attention to the drummer - let him acquire the metronome and eventually learn to keep the rhythm of the music on its own.

As practice has shown - even a person who has never played the drums quite quickly grasps the simplest skill of tapping a rhythm and holding it (if the bear has not crushed the hand, of course).

Spend some first rehearsals on teamwork. Play simple rhythmic patterns, learn to fall under each other and not get off, to improvise on the go. When big problems with this cease to arise - do not rush to invent your songs. Play the songs of other bands (The Beatles have proven themselves very well - their music is surprisingly complex and simple at the same time). Make a few covers, work out the technique and teamwork - after which you can begin to contribute to the world of music.
Some groups do not pay attention to the moment that musicians meet and communicate only at rehearsals. This is wrong, try to gather more often outside the walls of the rehearsal point, discuss your ideas.
Good people will help to take certain heights faster, bad ones are completely capable of completely ruining the whole team.



And yes. If it so strangely happened that the vocalist smokes - take away cigarettes from him at the beginning of the rehearsal (you can attach a vocalist to some heavy object just in case and put a microphone next to it - smoking vocalists like to make stash;)

The bass player is ... Well, what can I say. You will not keep up with everything - especially bassists (jokes of course, but sometimes personal experience confirms this. Ghm, he played bass himself). If he constantly, staggering, does not touch the fingerboard of a guitarist or vocalist, and also managed to put the guitar on the right side, then this is a good, fit bass player :)

Leadership, rehearsals

The role of the leader in the group is very important. The leader must be, in addition, he must be able to be firm and decisive. It is the leader who yells at the loafers, collects rehearsals, leads the project, often also retains the last word (but he should take into account and take the opinion of any team member seriously). It is the leader who will subsequently (and optionally) negotiate live performances, solve group problems and issues with group members. The leader should stop attempts at freebies (something I am too lazy to go today) and encourage the participants. What can I say - look at the meaning of the word "Leader" and everything will become clear to you without explanation.

Many groups bring to rehearsals, in addition to tools, cans (bottles, bottles) of beer and other alcoholic and alcoholic goodness. Be firm and put off all these things for a while after the rehearsal. Drinking alcohol during rehearsals is a very big problem for many beginning groups. In the end, what you should not drink for two hours, and only then with pleasure from the work done with the team members to discuss today's successes for a jar of cold beer?



The same is about strangers. No need to drag on the rehearsal of different girls \ friends \ grandmothers \ cats. They will distract your concentration (oh, oh, oh! Now he made a cool guitar trick when switching to solyak, I wonder, have you seen everything?)

For the future

Having this good minimum, you can add, for example, a keyboard player, a second rhythm guitarist, a sampler, if you wish and when you can. If the drums and drummers are very tight - the drum machine will help you. But this is no longer the case, the whole atmosphere of the music is lost, and after all, was it all started?

If you like the material - I can continue this small series of articles, telling you about further advances and technical nuances, focusing on the home recording of your creativity and ways to perform on stage (even a small town of 50k-100k people).

Thank you for your attention and with all my heart I wish you success in such creative endeavors.