Anyone have experience or wisdom to share on whether or not a band with young whippersnappers and old fogies is a good idea or not? My son and I have been talking and we want to form a cover band and do classic rock and maybe some grunge (AIC, Pearl Jam, etc). We schemed last night on some potential members that we know. One I think might work well, because it would a friend of his on bass and a friend of mine (who's in his 20's) on lead guitar (me on rhythm and my son on drums). However, my friend lives almost an hour away and I'm not sure we'd be able to practice as often as we'll need or if he would even be interested in driving that far. The other lineup is the one I'm more worried about and is more likely to actually happen because we all live in the same area. It would be the same friend of my son on bass and another friend of his on drums, with me and son on guitar. I worry that I'll feel out of place :oops: being 35 and in a band with a bunch of 16 year olds, even if we're playing music from my generation and older. Of course, at first just getting together and jamming wouldn't be weird, it's more if our eventual goal of playing parties and a couple of little bars that have live music in our area.
Thoughts?
you two are definately band worthy. wish I lived closer.
jamming with minors is one thing. gigging could be problematic.
age diversity is not really a problem if everyone is on the same page, however.
I jam a lot. every friday night. it's an open jam so lots of differenrt aged folks show up.
I have discovered that young players like to down stroke a lot and tap. they like playing songs, but have a hard time making things up for jams. that said, I love the energy and new ideas they have.
they don't have much patience for old guys playing songs from the 60's.
old guys tend not to know the new songs on i pods.
it is always worth a shot. something dynamic could happen and I would hate for that opportunity to be missed.
Mick Mars was 30 when the rest of Motley Crue was around 18. It seemed to work out well.
So I need to dye my hair black and avoid any exposure to sunlight? :D
yeah. rip your shirt in half and cut the sleeves off.
seriously, if you have the chops and blow the kids away
then all will be good. music is the commonality.
Rock is the language. and then, if you get people to dance
then it's a slam dunk good thing.
it should be fun.
if it works great then it is a good reflection on you.
and if it doesn't work out, it is not a reflection on you.
y'know, kids. :idea:
Hi,
I don't think that the age matters anything like as much as the attitudes do. Some combinations of personalities and ambitions just don't work well together, and that doesn't necessarily have much to do with age.
If you're all prepared to learn while you enjoy yourselves, make decisons with a strong dose of give and take, and nobody gets too hung up on their own particular future vision for 'The Band' then it can work for everybody.
There really is no magic formula or set of rules. Some bands break up quickly because somebody wants to be the boss and the leader all the time and some of the others resent it, yet others have a long and successful run for precisely the same reason - because somebody took charge and gave the group some direction and focus. There's only one way to find out which applies to any line-up, and that's to try it out.
I play every week with a group that has a father/son combination in it. Dad's 50, his son is in his early 20s. The oldest member is well into his 70s. If you just listened to tracks of us playing you wouldn't be able to tell anybody's age from either the instrument they play or how they were playing it. There is no correlation between the actual age of each player and the distribution of skills and experience between us.
We aren't all into the same kind of music, and we have widely different backgrounds. But we all love making music and sharing the experience of doing it with others. We also all have a sense of humour. So we laugh about all sorts of things, including all the mistakes we make. Anybody can suggest anything they like, and, provided they can bring some music or explain what parts we all play, then we'll work through it. It's a joy and a privilege to be part of it. :D
Good luck with getting something going.
Chris
I'm 47 and my son is 21 and we are in the process of getting something going right now, so I don't see a problem with it. When I was 35 I was in a band with a 16 year old and two 21 year olds. The 16 year old is a professional musician now 8) and he must be in his 30's. :lol:
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Uh huh, so all the old guys say it's cool, and it's "all about attitude more than age." Waiting to hear from the younger crowd .... (how old is NEZTOK?)
In the meantime, introducing The Rocker, a new flick about this topic:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809909025/video
Keep going past the commercials for the extended clips.
Gotta love a band (even fictional) whose name is A.D.D.
-=tension & release=-
gnease, I just saw previews for that last night and thought about this post :D
The good news is, my friend is interested, so it looks like I might still be the oldest, but at least I won't be the only one that can buy beer.
Mick Mars was 30 when the rest of Motley Crue was around 18. It seemed to work out well.
Yeah it works sometimes. If you look at country music, a lot of the newer acts are people in their 20's but if you look behind them in their band there are almost always older people there.
All my life I wanted to be somebody. Now I see I should have been more specific.
Jeff, you got a lot of good advice here. I'll just sway slightly off course and say...you're not old at 35. You should not be telling yourself that. I know you are stating that by comparing your age to to the rest of the group, you are old but man, I wish I could be 35 again.
Back on track....at 35, I would jump on this chance without even thinking about it. Go for it man.
Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
I'm 37 (for one more day) and play in a band with ages ranging up into the sixties. It certainly creates issues at times with different musical tastes and views, but I agree that it is more about attitudes. Being in a band with varied ages will probably require you to be more flexible and willing to compromise. Of course, that is on both sides.
The good news is, my friend is interested, so it looks like I might still be the oldest, but at least I won't be the only one that can buy beer.
Sounds good.
If you wait for the perfect combination of members and skills you'll probably wait for ever. IMO, being in a band that is not necessarily the ideal combination still beats being in no band at all.
Go for it. :)
I don't know I guess they can work depending on the type of band etc. but I think they inherently create problems that might not/don't exist if everyone is closer to the same age.
There are only two reasons I can think of that a teenager is going to ever want to play in band with people over say 30. One, if he's realted to one of the members, like his father's in the band or brother or two he's so far ahead technically than his peers he joins a band of more accomplished musicians.
I'm old enough myself I wouldn't want to be in a band with people more than say 5 years older than me and probably no younger than 35.
It's easier for a 37yo to relate to a 60 yo than it is for 18 yo to realte to a 35 yo.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
You mention the teenager being more advanced musically being a reason to play in a band w/ someone older. That's the inverse of one of the things I'm worried about. The 2 friends of my son that we are considering are both more advanced than I am. In their original band, they are playing Dream Theater, Pantera, Rush, etc. I feel accomplished if I stumble through the rhythm part of a simple 3-chord song.
But, like I mentioned before, my friend from work is interested, so it would just be one other teen besides my son. If he's not interested, we've decided we are going to post on craigslist and a few others looking for a bass player and vocalist that's interested in just jamming and having fun. And has a place we can practice, cause none of us do. :D
I appreciate everyone's advice so far on this. I love getting all the different points of view and experience. I can't remember what we did before the internet.
