How long do you think, until a band can gig?

[Woundweaver]

Hey, I was just wondering in your opinions, how long, after a band has formed (say for arguments sake, if they practice once a week, just cause its easier to guage) they should start gigging?

It struck me after I realised that so many people have so many different opinions from what i've heard on how long it takes for the band to be good/tight enough to gig.

Wacha think?

[airborne50caliber]

Depends if you feel you are musically secure.

[wicked_child]

and if you can play in front of crowds without ****ing up.

[JK_TheJudge]

2,3 days give or take a few,No but umm whenever you guys feel like your sh*t is together

[himynameistweek]

it depends on how well the band works together, the type of music, talent levels and whatnot. some bands can get a full set down and ready to go in a month, others take nearly a year.

[Implements Of Destruction]

Depends on how long everyone been playing. I'd say that you want each member to have a 1-2 year of experience on their instrument. And after that i'd say a few months of practise before you could do a gig of COVERS. However with orignals i think you need longer in order to find your bands sound. This being said thou alot of band around here tend to gig pretty quickly after become a band but then again thats why they don't sound to good.

It's upto you really. You can either gig near the start; You won't be that good but you'll gain experience for later or you can wait for quiet a while and be good for your gig.

[devildriver421]

depends how good you are, how fast you come up with stuff, how often you practice. anywhere from a couple months for a small opening show to a few years for the exact same thing. If you have to ask, you most likely aren't ready. My personal opinion: opening bands should play like 4 songs, so once you have 4-5 songs down perfect every single try, you should be ready. Just remember you have to be able to play them absolutely perfect because onstage you'll be nervous, different environment, moving around, etc.

[Woundweaver]

Fair enough, we've been together 6 months as it is, got a few songs together for a rough demo, in the process of gettin gigs at the moment, just wondering how everybody felt, thats all.

Cheers guys,
Nick

[Implements Of Destruction]

6 months is around about a good time. I'd go for a small gig if i was you. Don't expect alot of people to it but just play it and see how everything goes. If you think you played good and so did the crowd then try and open at some of the bigger venues around.

[devildriver421]

personally, my band has been together about 3 months or so, first band for all of us, so our first month or so wasn't very productive. Right now we're working on our third actual song, and we're planning a gig for october/november at a local building with a couple other bands. The turnout is usually about 100 people or so because the one band from my school is quite good and popular, so we're gonna play there as our first show. And that'll be about 7 months that we've been together. We could play in August, but there's a show set up for mid july and we won't be ready for it so we figured wait, and then we realized we should have it during the school year so we can advertise. So yea about 6 months is good. Now I'm just rambling because I'm bored. anyway good luck

[devildriver421]

6 months is around about a good time. I'd go for a small gig if i was you. Don't expect alot of people to it but just play it and see how everything goes. If you think you played good and so did the crowd then try and open at some of the bigger venues around.

implements of destruction hell yeah! not deadly sinners though sorry lol

[Implements Of Destruction]

implements of destruction hell yeah! not deadly sinners though sorry lol

Old Chimaira = Good, from what i've heard new stuff = bad.
3 inches of blood = good, nice break for me and i just love the music

And to add onto the thread my first gig was after a year with just a drummer at school gig thing. It was to about 100 people mainly all old parent so they wouldn't have even noticed a mistake. I had been playing with this drummer since i started thou so it was a year of guitar and a year of playing with him. My first real big gig was at about 3 year of playing with the same drummer but this time a full band. I say big but it probably had smallest crowd, it was just most advertised and first time playing with a P.A :D

[devildriver421]

yea new chimaira is boring but old is good, implements of destruction is such a good instrumental htough

[10571z]

my band took about 9 months to produce a 9 song setlist with 2 covers. ts really hard we wrote so amny songs which we never used.

[Moseph]

I'm going to agree with the consensus that says there's no definite period of time a band has to practice before they can gig. That's something that's all about the details of the group.

For example, a group of jazz musicians who've been playing in groups for an average of 25 years decides to get together to play some standards, reading from fakebooks during the 2 hour set. I bet they could be prepared in a few hours. They most likely already know the tunes pretty well (and in a lot of cases have probably all played with each other in other groups already), and have their music right there, and are pretty much masters of their instruments.

A group of 14 year olds who have been playing their respective instruments for only 3 months a piece,trying to memorize and perform a 25 minute punk set will probably take a few months or more, simply because they have to work up their musicial prowess (rhythm/timing, where the notes are, etc) in addition to learning and memorizing all new material.

Obviously the jazz guys have a distinct advantage here, but I think that's sort of my point.

[RushHourSoul]

My band played for about 2 years before we started gigging.

[DonnieDoyle]

my band jammed for a month and played a show we were reall band :thumb:

[Derlinyer]

It really depends on how good you are.
Just don't make the mistake of gigging way before you're ready and making yourself look like crap.
My old band, Honor Among Thieves did that. Only practiced for about 6 hours and played three songs in front of a crowd (as an opener).
We sucked.
We broke up about one practice later.
I wish I hadn't used up that name though... It's a really cool band name to waste on a band that lasted for a month. ><
My new band, Depression Kick, has been practicing for 5 months (averaging about one-two four hour practices a week) and we don't plan on gigging for a while.
Sometimes it takes time, other times it doesn't.
Just do it when you feel it.

[Child of the Grave]

my band right now's got all sorta shitty problems. firstly, our singer hardly ever sings with us, and when he does he sounds pretty poor (especially compared to when he sings with other people). secondly, we got no decent equipment. my amp is weak and our singer, bassist and drummer dont have their own gear (we do most of our **** at school anyhow). this whole situation shits me up the wall. its not like we cant make music, its just the music is too imperfected for us to even dream of going up onto a stage. im tipping its at least another 6 months before we do anything...

hope that helps :thumb:

[KKinsane]

Make sure you get people you know in for rehursals to listen, it'll give you good feedback on your music and also you will get used to having to play infront of people, though im sure being infront of a larger crowd can be a little uncomfortable. Just make sure you can let loose and not have to worry about messing up, if you think your going to screw up infront of a big crowd, probability is you might.

Make sure you communicate and if things are messing up in rehursal's slow things down and work them out. Also listning back is a good thing, so record your rehursals if possible.

As of yesterday my band got down a three song set more or less perfect and are working on a fourth song, it would be five but we scrapped the first song after a few weeks, also we have two rehursals a week insted of one, its coming on rather well now and we have gig's anticipated for september, since the band started we have been in touch through msn and meeting up to hang out, being friends in a band with unfamiliar people helps alot, and im good friends with both the singer and guitarist, who i didnt know before i was asked to join on drums.

Another important point about giging is that you wont get known unless you get a good crowd at the gig, if the room empties, or theres not enough people in there, chances are you wont be asked back. Get promotional flyers out and tell as many people as you can about the gig.

Last note, if you are a band that plays a certain genre of music, you dont want to be playing at an all night folk music festival if you are a black metal band, in other words make sure your music fits the bill, or your crowd may feel misplaced

hope that helps :thumb:

[the_uber_penguin]

My band has been around for 2 1/2 years, but we have to keep cancelling gigs because our various bassists keep screwing us over.

[gaslight]

A band is ready to gig when they can routinely play through their set with no mistakes.

[SillyPuddyonIce]

Planning gigs ahead of time because you think you'll be ready then is a no no by the way.

[thommotitanium]

I say you have a good repertoire of original (and/or cover) songs before you start. So a lot ifit depends on the chemistry between the members of the band I guess.

vague answers ++

[deathscreamingsheep]

Hmmm my first band was together for 4 weeks before we started gigging and my opinion is really as soon as you can churn out some covers the better. Gigging experience can seriously improve your tightness, skill, songwriting and more importantly showmanship.