Are You Ready to Rock?

Are You Ready to Rock?

A guide to beginning a Rock band

One of the best ways to split a subject into its separate components is “Process Analysis”. The Bedford Reader explains that there are two types of process analysis; they are directive and informative. Although their names basically describe what they do I will explain them a little further. Directive is more of a “how to” guide it directs a person in how to proceed in a process. On the other hand, informative explains how something is done or how it takes place, it is meant to inform rather than give directions.

I chose to use the directive form of the process analysis to walk a person through the steps of beginning a rock band. For all of those people who have dreamed of being on a huge stage or even just rocking out at the back yard party of close friend this guide is written just for you.

First, you must get a guitar or piano and learn some basic chords. The basics that every beginning musician should know are G, C, and D or A, E. You can learn on any guitar; electric or acoustic. Learn those chords and a whole world of rock music opens up to you. Learn a few a more and you can play almost anything. The next step is finding a place to play. Most great bands start out in the garage. Another good idea would be to rent a storage shed for your band to play, and store your gear. Once you have completed the first to step the next thing on the list is to get at least one microphone, and a stand to go with it. Playing songs is a lot more fun when someone's singing!

The fourth item to consider may be one of the most important ones you have to recruit your band members (unless you are planning to rock out on your own). A trio or a four man group is an excellent way to start - electric guitar, a drummer, and a bass player (possibly a keyboardist as well). To find members try going to GuitarCenter or some place that has a public board for posting stuff. You can also find members online. bandFIND.com offers a fully featured ad system and invite system that should allow you to quickly and easily find other local people to ROCK with. Now that you have some friends to rock with you should create a song list. You and your bandmates will want to agree on some songs that you all like and want to play. For starters, five songs is a good number.

Now that you have a band and some songs lined up it is imperative to learn the chords and words to those songs. Just do a Google search including the name of the song and the word tab. Try Chordie.com for chords. If you're ambitious, sit down