First Band Survival Guide - 8 Steps to Nailing Your First Gig

Most people have a vision of what their first band will be like - the perfect blend of all their influences and inspirations. However finding other musicians who share your vision to a tee can be difficult and if you want to get started sooner rather than later, it’s best to be flexible with what kind of music you’re willing to play.

This doesn’t have to mean abandoning your genre of choice entirely but it could mean stepping into a more textural role despite a desire to shred up a storm. To the contrary, it could also mean pushing yourself to take on some parts that feel a little intimidating and challenge the limits of your playing.

In fact, one of the biggest perks of beginning to collaborate with other musicians is becoming a better player through being pushed to explore uncharted territory. The most important thing is to remain open to experimentation and new ideas, after all, it is very hard to work with someone who is too rigid in their approach to making music.

Almost every seasoned band member has experienced trying to work with the person that shows up to the practice room hours late, or doesn’t show up at all. Don’t be that person. Consistent lateness or cancelling every other practice at the last minute is one of the easiest ways to get yourself fired from a band.

Whilst this advice applies primarily to bands that want to go further than a casual jam with friends every now and then, punctuality is worth paying attention to as an invaluable quality. It can be the difference between getting recommended to other musicians looking for new band members as well as contributing to the success of your current goals.

Similarly, the amount of hard work that goes in to making a band great is very easy to underestimate. Remember that the great gigs and nights of celebration afterwards can’t happen without a lot of effort behind the scenes first. If you really want to make a band work then take rehearsal seriously, show up when you need to, and give it your all.

Just like practicing the guitar itself, what you put in typically reflects what you get out. Unfortunately the days of a record label rep wandering into a bands early gigs to a few people and signing them based on sheer talent are behind us - so be prepared for a long, but none the less exciting and rewarding, road ahead.

Practicing with a band isn’t just about learning songs together, it’s about working out any structural or tonal changes to a song, tightening up the sound, and working on performance elements like crowd work or stage plotting.

Wherever possible, it’s best to arrive to the practice room with a good idea of how your parts for the set go. That way, you can spend time on the things that really need the full band present, rather than having to spend hours going through what the correct notes are.

If you’re playing cover songs, it probably goes without saying, but learn them at home to the best of your ability before showing up to play them with a full band. If you’re working on originals, making sure you listen to any demos and practice room recordings as well as spending time thinking about the track and coming up with ideas will make the process of bringing the songs to life with your band far more productive and enjoyable.

If you’re going to be gigging, you need to make sure that your equipment is up to scratch and that you know how to use it. This means knowing which cables you need, being able to name all the parts of your instrument and amp, knowing the ohms of your amp or which output needs to go to front of house on digital rigs, being able to troubleshoot technical issues, keeping on top of repairing or discarding broken equipment, and more.

Some smaller venues can’t mic every amp so make sure that what you have is going to be loud enough in a gig setting where running through the PA isn’t an option.

Remember - just because an amp seems loud in your bedroom, it doesn’t mean it will on stage in front of a drum kit! If you’re still quite new to music and feel unsure when it comes to gear, reach out to your bandmates or other people in the music community around you for advice - it’s always better to ask for help than to guess and end up in a situation where you don’t have the gear you need.

It’s perfectly normal to get nervous before going on stage, especially before your first few gigs. It can help to be prepared with some healthy techniques to manage nerves in advance so that they don’t disrupt your performance.

Whilst it can be tempting to rely on a trip to the bar before a show to mitigate the pre-gig jitters, this can easily turn into an embarrassingly inebriated performance and if you aren’t in mid-80’s Mötley Crüe, it’s best to stick to low or no alcohol before hitting the stage if you want to give the audience your best.

Try playing in front of family and friends, making time for a good warm-up before the show, or looking into mindfulness techniques such as meditation and visualisation to help you stay calm and focussed.

Part of being a great band member and a memorable musician is making the stage show exciting to watch. Playing your instrument well always comes first, but it’s only one element of the live performance.

Make sure that the first time you’re standing up and moving around whilst playing a part isn’t when you’re on the stage - it can be fairly challenging at first when you’re used to playing sat down. Practice playing whilst moving, running around, head banging, dancing - or whatever it is your bands performance will need to be fantastic.

Stage presence obviously isn’t a one size fits all, you won’t want to make the same performance decisions in a wedding band as you would playing ambient black metal. So take some time to figure out what your live performance will need (including thinking about what to wear on stage to make the right visual impact) and plan accordingly!

It’s worth watching live performances from your favourite bands or the artists that have inspired your current project and taking note of what each member is doing to make the performance effective.

Now this isn’t the most exciting part of band life, but be prepared to contribute to band admin tasks like answering emails, booking gigs, managing social media, making posters, and scheduling rehearsals or recording sessions. Bands tend to work best when everyone is contributing and that includes all taking on some of the less glamorous tasks. When we dream about what it will be like to be in a band, sending emails is rarely the first thing on our mind, but it’s a fear chunk of the reality.

Keeping on top of the admin component of being in a band, at least until you have a team around you to help, can be the difference between landing better gigs and more airtime quickly and being stuck in the rehearsal room stage for longer than you would like. It’s well worth having a discussion early on in the formation of a band about how you’ll split up tasks between band members and who will tend to which social media platforms, as this can save arguments further down the line over who is pulling the most weight.

The music industry is in a constant state of change, with the impact of streaming and social media irrevocably changing the process for signing bands since the hey day of classic rock, so expect your experience to go a little differently from what you may have read about some of your favourite bands.

There’s lots of great information online, but be wary of anyone trying to sell you an exclusive list of contacts or subscription based talent booking services. The truly best way to gain industry knowledge is through networking.

Attend gigs and keep an eye out for conferences or events run by musical organisations such as The Musicians Union (UK), American Federation of Musicians (USA), PRS (UK), SESAC (USA), Spotify, or other relevant bodies in your country as these can be great places to get advice and meet people from all walks of industry life.

Chat to other bands that are doing well on the same scene and ask questions where appropriate. As you become an active part of the wider music community you’ll naturally accumulate a wealth of knowledge and contacts over time. Again, the most important thing is to be open to new information and advice, even if it goes against your expectations of what you thought the music industry was like.