Hi from home made band

I first tried to learn the guitar about 35 years ago, after buying, trying, getting fed up and selling about 5 guitars I gave up and sat on my friends drum kit, I was hooked and started to teach myself the drums, then had a family, the usual stuff so I hadn't done anything musical for about 25 years until last December.

My then 12 yr old daughter decided she wanted to learn the guitar, so me being the good parent I am decided to help her :) (I got the bug again) I started to look up on the internet how to play and was amazed at how much and how quick I was picking it up compared to all those years ago, my then 14 yr old son had already shown interest in the drums and my then 15 yr old daughter the bass.

We started off with some basic stuff and my wife said that if I can get them playing a couple of songs by this coming December then we could play them at my youngest son's celebration party, we now have all the equipment we need for a full band, me on rhythm guitar and some lead, my 15 yr old son on drums, my 13 yr old daughter on keyboard, her friend learning bass, my 16 yr old daughter lead vocals, her friend learning guitar, 5 of us backing vocals and a family friend on his Djembe drum.

We are playing a gig at the local theater which I belong to this Saturday (6/9/14) to get them all used to playing if front of people (about 50) before playing at the party in December in front of about 200, we have 12 songs for Saturday and should have about 18 to 20 for December.

It's great that I've now found Guitar tricks.com as I can progress even more now and so can my daughters friend.

I'm 51 now so as already mentioned on this thread, no you are never too old to start.

Hey Clive -

That's so cool!!!! 12 songs is a lot of songs in that period of time, 18 even better for your "final" performance. That's a great idea to get them in front of an audience before the "big day". I'm sure you will all do great and it will be loads of fun.

How is it that you daughter started to learn guitar, got you back into it, but she's now playing keyboards?

Keep us posted on how it goes!!

Cheers!
Rich

Hi Rich,

We are doing a few Beatles songs as we found them fairly easy to learn, apart from the harmonies on Help which we have just got sorted now, we are also doing a rocked up version of Country Roads, and other songs such as Bad Moon Rising and It's my life. I also wrote a song so that we could have a bit of fun creating one if we got frustrated trying to learn any.

Yes that's what I thought, I'm hoping playing in front of people will give them a buzz also.

A couple of us have had a change around, my daughter who was learning guitar found it ok but a little complicated, I bought a keyboard and worked out the harmonica notes on it for "Love Me Do" by the Beatles as we don't have a harmonica player and it turned out she had been learning the keyboard at school, she decided to stick with the keyboard.

We had a lead vocalist but she couldn't remember the words, so my daughter who was learning the bass took over the lead vocals, it turns out she is a better singer anyway, just needed to build her confidence, her friend who is playing the tambourine in some songs and the cow bell in "Hard Days Night" is learning to play the guitar also.

The friend of my daughter who is playing the keyboard is taking over the bass as my other daughter finds it difficult to sing and play at the same time.

I will try and get someone to take a photo or two on Saturday if there is anywhere to upload them.

My wife hates me going to the music shop now, she said it started out as a bit of fun, but now we are more professional the the Rolling Stones with the amount of equipment that we've got (after purchasing a 12 channel mixer):)

Which is quite fitting as our last song of the set on Saturday is "The Last Time" by the Rolling Stones, that song could have more meaning than we thought, we'll get peoples opinion at the social after the gig and let you know :)

That's great that you can get a group of youngsters like that interested in The Beatles and The Stones.

Beatles songs can be tough. On the surface they seem simple, but once you dig in...not so much, especially with the harmonies.

I'm sure your local music shop LOVES you!!! :-).

That's so cool! My kids are still young (5, 7 and 10). My 10 year old isn't interested in my music as much as I've tried to get her involved. I still have hope with my 5 and 7 years olds...

I look forward to hearing how it goes. If you record the show, post links so we can all have a listen!! I'm sure it would go over well.

I'm only playing open chords with some lead here and there.

Yes my music shop does love me :)

I've never pushed my kids into anything, but if they have shown interest in anything I've always backed them and helped them, your 10 yr old could suddenly decide that they want to give it go one day like mine did.


I'm recording it on video but unfortunately it's not digital so I can't upload it but I'll get someone to try and record a couple of the songs on their I phone and upload them, maybe on Facebook or something.

Originally Posted by: clivebI've never pushed my kids into anything, but if they have shown interest in anything I've always backed them and helped them, your 10 yr old could suddenly decide that they want to give it go one day like mine did.[/QUOTE]

Same here. A couple of years ago she said she wanted to learn guitar. She was inspired by Taylor Swift. So for her birthday we got her a 3/4 acoustic. I started her out with some basic stuff including a very basic way of playing a Taylor Swift song. Once she realized how much work is involved, she lost interest. As you say though, there's plenty of time for her to rekindle her interest. The guitar sits there just in case...

She loves to sing and she did very well with 4 years of piano lessons (lost interest there too), so I think there's music in her waiting to come out one day.

[QUOTE=cliveb]I'm recording it on video but unfortunately it's not digital so I can't upload it but I'll get someone to try and record a couple of the songs on their I phone and upload them, maybe on Facebook or something.

Glad to hear you are recording the event. It will be quite memorable I'm sure.

The gig went really well, we messed up a little on a couple of songs but that was just a bit of nerves, other than that it was great.
We ended up with about 40 people there in the end which was fine, it's amazing how different people hear things in a different way, some said "Ticket To Ride" was our weakest song and some said it was one of the best? everyone thought "Bad Moon Rising was our best one, but then we've been learning that one for a while now, we only started learning "It's My Life" three weeks ago as we decided to give it a shot and everyone said it was really good.

The kids loved it once they got over their nerves, a couple of them were nearly physicly sick, but they were all buzzing by the end, they all can't wait until December now, I am in the process of trying to get a couple of gigs at their schools also, we are going to drop a few of the older songs and stick some up to date ones in. just to vary it a little.

Unfortunately the video didn't work, for what reason I don't know, I haven't seen the person who was supposed to turn it on since, either they thought they had or they forgot, someone has got some bits on their phone but they said it was white a lot of the time due to the stage lighting, if I manage to get anything uploaded I'll put the link up here.
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That's awesome!!! Glad you guys had a good gig.

Stage freight can be paralyzing!! I know my first time was nerve wracking, and we did just one song! After we were done, I thought I was going to start physically shaking! But in the end it is a rush!!

Once you get through it, you just want to keep on doing it! That's great that they've got the bug now!

There will always be mess ups. Some (most) the audience won't even notice. And if they do, they won't likely care very much. The good thing about getting through those early on is you don't fear them any more and you learn to just roll with them. Messing up on stage isn't the end of the world. Once I realized that no performance is going to be perfect, I was able to relax a lot more and enjoy the experience in the moment.

Bummer that video didn't work. You'll know what to look for the next time.

Hope you are successful getting them some gigs at the school! It's a really cool band project you have going on and is a great experience for the kids (and you too!!).