Commitment

A friend of mine suggested that i should to blog about the experiences of BEING IN A BAND ? and here you go ! I even created a new category for it ..

Well , my band is not some super power rockstar famous band ..we are just a “cari makan” band if you know what that means ..

So i can only give BASIC advice , hopefully you will learn a thing or two from this post ..

The basic thing about a band is ..

Commitment

Commitment is just a simple word . But trust me , at some point of time , every band will face COMMITMENT problems.

In fact , many bands disband because of commitment issues.

Firstly , this is my standard of being committed in a band

1.BEING PRESENT ON TIME .

Applies not only to gigs , but meetings and band practices as well

2.LEARNING SONGS ON TIME

That includes time signatures , attacks and arrangements . Writing them down on a paper will be good .

3.CONTRIBUTING IDEAS AND GIVING SUGGESTIONS

I hate band members who just sits there , and wait for somebody to tell them to do something . Like a machine . Why not get a computer software to replace them ?

4.PLAYING FOR ONE BAND ONLY

This part gets a little bit tricky . I think it is perfectly normal for a musician to have 2 or 3 bands . But what if both bands have a gig on the same day ? It is not cool to pick one to please one , and piss the other side .

5.OWN TRANSPORT , OWN MUSICAL INSTRUMENT

That includes your Strap , Tuner and Cables too . Oh yeah , Guitar picks too .

.

Okay okay , i think my standards are wayyyyyy up high . Nobody is perfect right ?

I agree , but that is NOT an excuse to stop improving ourselves.

So what happens , if you’re committed , but your other band mates are not committed ?

What should you do to get them back ? After all , all of you are MUSICIANS , its either you eat shit together or you live your rockstar dreams together .

You can go through the classic “I am your brother and best friend” and “Talk to him nicely” way …

But sometimes , it just won’t work . Why ? Because of the diminishing effect ..

the more you try to convince him to be something else , the worse he become . You gave your HOLY PREACHING to him , he listens and agree , but he forgets it the next day , that means the next time you need a more POWERFUL MESSAGE to catch his attention again . Otherwise , it is just “ahhh , that again ? i heard that many times from you “

So when that doesn’t work , here are some gapnap.com suggestions

1) Money

You will be surprise how THE LOVE OF MONEY can actually change a person . It is a great motivation tool as well .

So start getting shows that PAYS .

2) Giving him a run for his money

If money doesn’t work ? Fine . Get a pro musician friend , that is BETTER than him . Let him know that your band will be featuring him as a special guest ( aka replacing him ) for just ONE SONG for this coming gig , and let him FEEL THE COMPETITION .

“I am threatened”

You need to HURT his ego a little bit , let him know that he is REPLACEABLE . Without him , THE BAND WILL STILL GO ON , give him a RUN FOR HIS MONEY .

Works specially well for front mans and lead guitarist ( ego driven musicians )

3.My Stupidest and Favorite idea

Invite a chick to your practice . Her profile should be something like this ..

a) Fun , Bubbly and Outgoing

b) Loves to flirt around with MANY MANY guys so that guys will fight for her attention.

c) The type of chick that can DRINK BEER and watch football with guys

d) The type of chick that loves to laugh , tease ..preferably a dancer .

*think the girl next door

.

yeah ..that will do ..

The thing about us musicians is , we LOVE to impress chicks with our Skills . It is like our secret weapon .

Notice how a guy will completely change when they are around girls ? They either become the shy-trying-to-act-cool type , or the “trying to IMPRESS her by stepping on you to make me look good” type.

Yeah , so the commitment will come , when there is a motivation .

Works well for chick minded guys .

4. If all else fail , FIRE HIM .

Because he is slowing you down . Don’t worry about finding another musician , plenty of fishes in the sea.

.

The key is to find out , WHAT MOTIVATES HIM ?

Is it …

Money ? Ego ? Competition ? Chicks ?

Self Satisfaction ? Passion?  (If it is self satisfaction and passion , he SHOULD be committed. If not , he is not enjoying what he is playing)

Okay okay , i know . I am a scary band mate. yeap yeap . Trust me you don’t wanna work with me .