Playing in a band

The Lounge General Discussion
#21

Collaboration brings out the highest of highs and lowest of lows. The highs make it all worthwhile. I’ve played in bands while working on my own stuff for the past 17 years now. I always joke that it’s like dating multiple people at the same time. To stay on the same page, trust, respect, etc. over a long stretch of time is very difficult, particularly as adult responsibilities begin to creep in.

I miss being in a band though, despite all the frustrations. There’s nothing quite like the magic of collaborating with other people to take ideas in new and better places.

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#22

Definitely this, especially when you’re touring a lot. I spend more time with my bandmates than anyone else. Very rewarding though.

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#23

thanks for bringing some light into this very sad thread

#24

Playing in a band is one of the most fun things I’ve ever experienced. Yes, I love my electronic gear and don’t want to compare electronic to bands, to me one is not better than the other, just depends how much I feel the music. There is this magic though that can happen in a band, when good musicians spend a lot of time playing together. It gets to a point where the musicians don’t even have to listen to each other and is as if the music is all being channeled to them directly from the same source, no thinking, locked into the groove. At this point if the dancers are flowing, it’s also as if they are being moved with the music, instead of listening and reacting, the band and the audience are united on a magical platform of energy being created in the moment. What the band can do that can’t be emulated by a machine, is wiggle anywhere they want. A musician can play a cue note or just look or nod and the whole band changes in an instant, this can happen even with no cues just by feeling it. Ideas can surface from one member and the rest follow unplanned, new things that have never been played before can happen easily, complete freedom of organic movement with the only limitations being physical/mental level of the artists. This kind of music breathes with life and instills a feeling of the grandeur and the mysteries of the universe. Machines don’t channel the vibrations of the universe, humans do and use machines to express it, they can help a person express themselves but in another way are filters of uncontrolled expression. Bands are a magical mind melt that when met with passion, devotion, love, perseverance, and ability to devote oneself beyond their own ego, can create truly magnificent expressions of the ever expanding frequencies of the universe. :heart_eyes::notes:

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#25

I don’t think it has to be ‘electronic instruments vs band’. Animal Collective for example do the loose/improv band thing equally as well as guitar kinda setups. Midi sync is overrated :wink:

#26
#27

I misconstrued what you meant by that. Yeah, they can often be the same thing.

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#28

I just felt like giving bands some cred since Ruebe pointed out the thread was sad. I used to play in bands but for the past quite a few years have been practicing just me and my machines in the woods, so I definitely don’t have anything wrong with the gear vibes, but I still think there is a magic in bands that can’t be emulated by machines, there are also things that can happen with the machines that can’t happen in a band, but this thread is about bands, so I’m gonna say what’s cool about them…

#30

I think Elektron and others are helping bridge the gap between completely electronic machine music and bands by creating electronic instruments with enough expression and wiggle room to be played live with bands. I do see much more collaboration between traditional and electronic musicians in the future, and traditional musicians becoming more and more electrified…
I love music, I am not saying anything is better than anything else, it’s the music that’s good or not, to me it does not matter how it is made, but there are differences which can be talked about as long as we keep everything in an objective perspective and don’t take things personally…

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#31

It’s not, let’s try to remember this or the thread will go south quickly :wink:

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#32

Id actually say the AK is a great keyboard for a band. Maybe a bit leftfield but why not? Sequencer and a ( if you can play unlike me! ) ton of performance/expression options.
Hmmm…
got me thinking…

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#33

I’ve seen a couple of AKs in the wild on stage, last one was Liima (ex Efterklang members). Lots of cool electronic stuff happening in that band, alongside more trad stuff like vocals, drumming and electric bass.

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#34

I just love playing with other musicians, good or average…
I love loosing myself in the sound and perceive echos/answers, or add counter beats/notes to my friend’s rhythm/melody.

I used to play in a 8 members band a decade ago : once we created from scratch a 9 minutes improvised track that was hopefully recorded (we used to record all our weekly sessions).
It took us months before we were able to reproduce this track !
There were beat changes, rise and fall, even a part played only by the classic guitar, and awesome samples played right where they should… We were on fire, knowing each other, everyone reacting to the sound that was way more than the sum of its parts…

Playing in a band is a huge experience, all the more in perfect improvisation, where everyone has to create from scratch and adapt to the other players.
So incredible when you know each other well, and master your instrument so that you play as you would speak, or rather sing…

I love it !
I already got pleasure lasting for hours, with big adrenaline kicks… that would almost compete with sex.
I wouldn’t miss a chance to play with someone else, I’m hooked :smiley:

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#35

I just had a casual jam night with a drummer friend. It was me on bass guitar and Octatrack and him on his kit. I just muted the 3-4 tracks of percussion on the OT, and he filled in with his stuff. Definitely not perfect, but a lot of fun. I’ve been frustrated with him not being able to follow with a foot pedal looper. But my melodic sequences on the OT seemed to work; we even managed through a sequenced piece in 5/8! I’d like to try a gig or two with him if it works out.

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#36

Another thing about bands involves the letting go of complete control of the sound and allowing others to fill these spaces. This is interesting because your not exactly sure what they are going to do in the next moment, so your always expressing part of the music while feeling/listening/predicting the other parts. You end up not just playing anything you want and adding more, you carefully add just enough while flowing around what else is happening. You sort of have to surrender yourself to a bigger picture, which becomes more of a mental/possibly spiritual exercise.
On the other side I absolutely love being a one man band with gear and looping. What I think is so great about that is almost opposite of what I said above. Since I’m the one making every loop, I barely have to think at all about what I’m playing, cause it’s my style, and it goes together perfect. It’s much easier for me to create a certain vibe that I hear in my head because I’m the one playing everything and there’s no surprises because of another musician hearing completely different parts. So far I have yet to create the same vibe of my solo stuff with other musicians unless they are just playing over what I create…
I definitely want to pursue both, my solo set, and one day another band, because they each have there own rewards… Ideally I’d like to get my solo stuff out there first, and then through that hopefully meet other like minded musicians who have already heard what I do and like it, in a way attracting musicians who hear the music coming from a similar zone as I do.
But alas, as I typed this I am reminded that if a really good band is in the middle of an epic jam my first paragraph might not apply and the musicians can be so mind melted that they all are doing whatever they want and yet it perfectly goes together as if one thing. That’s the magic sauce, and flowy dancers can be there with them. At this point if a dancer is in the vibe and jumps up, the music goes with it, the dancer is not waiting to hear the sound to move, they are in alignment with the same energy that band is drawing from and everything is connected and happening in the now… Magic sauce…

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#37

Playing,
Like a wave upon the sand
Daybreak,
While I’m playing in the band…

#38

For the same reasons Open Mike mentioned, I’ve loved being in a band and having the camaraderie, the letting go and being a part of the whole, the magic sauce … :smile:

I think I relate the feeling of being a part of a greater whole to being a key ingredient in the magic sauce.

Being a soloist, on the other hand, has its magic as well as has been mentioned. Especially when you have just the right collection of gear that is manageable yet offers great room for experimentation and growth. I feel grateful having the OT (and my associated pedals, bass, tanbur, etc), as it allows for this for me.

It’s give and take, soloists don’t have to deal with band squabbles, the guitarist doing meth before rehearsal, stressing when members don’t show, etc. But band members get a collaborative musical product (if that’s the band structure) and they get to rely on the strengths of other musicians. They don’t have to try to entertain an audience alone. I miss bands sometimes, yet having solo work to come back to will always be my panacea.

Edit: As @Ray-Ray_Velouria mentioned, it isn’t a versus thing with me either. I think at this point, my ideal would be myself and a vocalist, even though I’m singing more now. Duets are cool :sunglasses: two people is a band, right?

#39

It’s kinda like getting married or having a long lasting monogamous partner. Sure you can stay single all your life and escape the arguments and heart break, but what are you giving up?

-Solo electro people don’t freak out I’m sure you can have a great musical career as one person with many magical experiences happening…

P. S. I can’t wait for the day this forum chills out enough I don’t have to include a defense sentence to guard against people interpreting what I say about one thing as meaning the opposite of something else…

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#40

I thought that was what emojis are for? We need more hieroglyphs :smile:

Btw, are you suggesting that this forum ISN’T chill enough? :wink:

#41

I’ve had rough times with this forum, but I’m not going to let it bring me down anymore…
:heart_eyes::banana::banana::heart_eyes:
Ass, recommence rainbows flying out! :monkey::rainbow::rainbow::rainbow:

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