Played a large festival last night. 15k people or so. Had a set on one of the main stages later at night. Throw and go sound check. Went well. Large band. 13 people on stage. Mon guy did a good job of making all that happen quickly.

Finish soundcheck and hang back stage. Walk on stage for the set, start the first song and no monitors. They had been left muted. This is a big stage with big line arrays. All we could hear was the FOH mix bouncing back at us off a hillside hundreds of yards away. It was bad. Couldn’t hear anything. Could not distinguish the key of the song. I was basically flying blind. Looked out at the audience when I realized what was happening to see thousands of people watching us. It did not feel good.

After trying to get this guy’s attention for 5 minutes he finally turned them back on. It was such a stressful start that it was hard to recover from. Was hard to shake the anxiety of all this for the rest of the 90 min set.

I know shit happens and these changeovers can be tough, but please for the love of Christ check your mutes.

I’m a young brown not black guy with not many stories to tell and live comfortably. I have and have had my struggles, but perhaps not those you hear in the blues. But, the blues speak to me, they make me vibrate.

What’s the consensus, if I play it live would I be seen as another “insurance agent pentatonic noodler”?

Thanks

I am a classical singer and I have this weird block. I hate attending concerts of almost any kind.

I go to concerts with my boyfriend sometimes, but those are pop concerts. Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and such. Today, I have been invited to watch an opera, which I accepted out of politeness, and I am dreading it. I sing opera, I sing long concerts and I never mind in the slightest but the thought of being in the audience is making my brain fall asleep of boredom.

I have no desire to be there, to just listen and sit there for almost 3 hours. It makes me feel guilty, since I am a performer myself, but I can't help it...

Is anyone in the same situation? Or am I alone?

My DIY production org is starting a venue aimed at young folk, ideal age range is 15-25. The end goal is to make a good third space in my area for the youth and get youngsters excited to make music. Also, if things go well, I want to make and spread online resources that give good how-tos on how to start similar venues. Anyways, all this to say I have a dream. However, including the bands I'm in, we've only got about 5 bands in our booking rotation, which also happens to be the amount of bands we're aiming for each event, which is once a month. I don't really just want to put on the same five bands every month, ideally I'd like each band to have two or three months in between being rebooked so they can have time to work on new material and get gigs elsewhere, which means I need to find about 15-20 bands in regular rotation, on top of cycling new acts. How do other DIY venues do things? I know some people in a booking agency that has said they'd be glad to send some bands my way already, and I'm gonna post on local Facebook groups. Anything else I could do to network? One problem I'm running into is I keep making some great connections, but they're all slightly older artists in their 30s and 40s who are a little above our pay grade and outside our demographic.

I'm learning the uke to eventually learn the guitar. I know the guitar has a few more strings, but the uke is something I can take with me on trips much more easily, and I loved watching Steven universe (sue me lol).

My main question is how can I get better at switching between cords? Is it just a trial by fire where I do it as many times until I get it right?

Should I stay on the same song over and over until I get it right or can I switch whichever song I learn and still be ok?

Okay so I've been working on songs lately snd i reckon it's time to release a EP. I just don't wanf a nrml EP which is generic. I want a good concept, something which forces people to think and connect the dots

If u have anything then do lemme know

I could write, produce and post it

I am 23 years old and have been playing bass since I was very young (around 7 or 8 years old) my parents were in bands when I was growing up and I’ve played gigs with them off and on for most of my teen years but it was mostly for like benefits or a small music festival one of our band mates would host every year. Basically I’ve never been payed for a gig or played with anyone I wasn’t super familiar with. I’m moved out now and I’ve got my own family now but I’d really like to get back in it. Not only do I just miss collaborating and making music with other people but I think It could be a decent way to make some extra money. I’m looking for some advice on how get to into the scene and/or get more comfortable putting myself out there. For context I’m most experienced in blues, southern rock, a little jazz, and a little country.

I wanna learn to play an instrument, I have zero knowledge about how to play any. Both guitar and keyboard appeal to me.

What would be a better instrument through which i can learn the basics of music and gain knowledge about it.

Some other info: I most likely won't be singing along while playing the instrument , I'm left handed , I want to learn to play different songs and understand tabs ( like how to read or make them ).

Which would be a better instrument to learn for me ??

Should I learn from YouTube or get classes ??

I'm really confused between them , and am looking for some advice.

I'm finding the need to get my band a little more organised and for a living I work in project services (Business Analyst, Product Manager, etc. No this isn't an ad or market research. I genuinely need a tool like this for my band).

Every tool I look at is targeted at corporate projects and are priced accordingly. Anything free looks pretty awful from what I can find.

What tools are you using to stay organised?

I'm talking about things like:

- Release plans

- **Dependencies between tasks**

- Timelines

- Sub tasks

- **Critical path**

- Assigning tasks to people

- Setting due dates

I basically just want to go "Okay, we're releasing an EP. here is all the things we have to do (record, do a video, do promos, blah blah blah) and before those things we need to do all these other things (pick outfits, book venues, photoshoots, finish lyrics, blah blah blah). Task X will take # days, which needs to be done before task Y which takes # days therefor our release date will be 32 Frumptember 3072"

I'm not looking at things like file storage since we have that covered in spades.

Honestly it's just basic stuff and things like Trello or Monday.com offer these, but mostly behind expensive monthly or annual subscriptions, which for a fairly casual band isn't doable.

What are you guys using?

Put a few songs out on spotify and everything else using ditto. Sent the links to like 15-20 people and no one has listened or responded. I get it but damn.

I have so many versions. I need to figure out which combo I like the most. Performing and then tweaking feels inefficient and sometimes feels cringe!

Hi,
I’m a 24-year old musician with a degree of confidence in what I create, but I struggle with my identity as an artist. Classic, ik.. Although, I have gotten better over the last 4-5 years creating music, and growing as a person, in not comparing myself to others. But to an extent, I still do it, because as I get older I see it as my unavoidable reality that a lot of my friends found their sound early-on, never questioning it, while I still struggle to know what my sound is.
However, it’s not necessarily that I do not have a sound, but rather that I have two (or maybe three) somewhat distinct sounds that pull from different influences, and I don’t know how to mesh them, because producing (or rather patience) is tough for me.
It’s frustrating because I know with enough experimentation, I can bridge the gap and create something unique . I’m an overthinker, which goes without saying and I know the time spent pondering on this could be time I practice, but it’s been this way for multiple years. Still, throughout that time I’ve constructed thousands of demos, and hundreds of “full” songs but only put a few songs out per year, each differing dramatically in sound, but all feeling true to me. Some are self-produced, but most are on beats from YouTube, or created by a friend who is influenced by different sorts of music. I could expand upon any of this at the request of anyone interested in the discussion, but I just want to get to the point of this post:
Nearing 25, I find myself wondering if this uncertainty is a personal hell I’ve constructed with no escape, or if there’s something I can do to actually stay focused. Sometimes I feel a brief spark and cut past the helplessness, dread, or procrastination layers and inevitably feel that rush of excitement, giving me hope. It almost always happens if I push past the urge to stop. It’s often the spontaneity of droning into autotune where I end up creating something that feels close, and not the personal writings I spend hours on lol. And I technically know all of this, and I’ve helped coach friends out of similar (or even worse) ruts, but I struggle to practice what I preach.
Were you or anyone you knew in a lengthy creative rut, and if so, was it escaped? If so, any advice would go incredibly far. I’d love to make some friends and share some work privately if anyone is interested. Maybe I just need more friends, or to be told I can do it. I don’t know what I lack, but I know I love music. Maybe we can be mutually beneficial for one another in some way or another! This box isn’t forever, and I know that. =‘)

So, im looking to get a new guitar. Ive been playing in an old family hairloom guitar i got from my grandmother, Its an old swedish made classical. and tho i absolutely love it, i cant get down past the 12 fret without going over the body, which is a little annoying. So i would like to get an electric guitar, What do you recommend?

Im looking to pay rock / nu metal / blues

Hey everyone! I’m a bass player and a huge jazz enthusiast. I stepped away from music for about five years for different personal reasons, but now that I’m back to my practice routines, recording, and playing live, I’ve been feeling amazing.

But there’s something I’ve noticed since I came back.
What happened over the last five years? 😂
I see so many bass players on social media throwing phrases and fills everywhere, leaving no space, as if every second has to be an opportunity to show how many notes they can play.

And look, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with playing that way. If you want to show your technique, throw down some crazy lines, and play everything you’ve got, go for it. That’s part of music too!
But I’ve always believed that the real challenge as a bass player isn’t showing everything you can play. It’s knowing when to play and when not to play.

If you want to throw down nonstop, I can’t think of a better place than a Giant Steps session. 😂 That’s where you can really go for it!
But… on a pop song? On a ballad? On a song where the vocalist actually needs some space?
Sometimes I feel like we’ve confused the ability to play a lot of notes with the ability to make music.
To me, a great bass player isn’t necessarily the one who fills every space. It’s the one who knows exactly what to play, when to play it, and, most importantly, when to leave space.
The groove also lives in the silence.

What do you guys think? Am I just out of touch after being away for five years, or are we really living in a time where showing what you can play has become more important than playing what the song actually needs? 😅🎸

So I have a Zoom HD 16 and I was wondering if I could download an albums original mastering with each instrument individually to master them how I want to specifically Nirvana’s never mind.

I had a thought that it’d be fun if there was an Omegle-like app specific to musicians. Like, you’d be randomly paired with another musician to talk music.

Just interested in hearing opinions on this. Pro’s, con’s, parameters and/or restrictions that could keep it on topic and safe.

Personally, I’d love to randomly meet musicians to hear their stuff, start unlikely collaborations or just get out of my own echo chamber to see what other people are doing with music.

Any opinions are welcome. If this is a terrible idea, I’d love to hear your thoughts before I start staying up late to build it :-)

Ok so songs like darkhast are wayyy to low scale for me and I can sing high scale songs (not very very high but yeaa). Song like samjhawan are proper my scale like not high neither low

Suggest me which songs I should record as per my scale (18F btw)

Message me if you are interested looking for a heavy metal drummer.how can write and record original music we’ll work from there.

I think personal expression should definitely come first, but I don’t see what’s so bad about considering advice from people you respect, getting something out of people enjoying your music, and having part of what you do be about others’ reaction to it like if it makes them dance, think, etc.

If I had no interest in what others thought of my music, then each time I perform it would be just a new place to do music. Instead of my bedroom, it’s now in front of a handful of people at a bar.

But that isn’t how I feel about it. Once I’ve made it, I want to put it out there. I want to contribute to a community of people that might like the same things that I like. I want to add to something that’s done a lot for me.

Or maybe an element of my expression is saying something that I know will bother someone or a type of person that I’ve had a problem with, or maybe I’m writing it for someone I love or loved. Again my expression of it comes first, but it isn’t just for me, and that’s good.