What was your frist time like?

[lafromla1]

First of all, get the dirty thoughts out of your minds.....

Now, I'll be playing/noodling with a bassist and drummer for the first time outside of my teacher/student box and frankly, I'm pretty freaking nervous, mostly about embarrassing myself, even though my teacher says I am ready to try it out.  I've practiced with the bassist for the last few weeks, but never with this drummer, who has some band experience.  We have three or four songs that we will be mostly focusing on.

What was your first experience like playing with others you haven't met before?

 

[dNA]

I started playing guitar with friends in highschool, so playing with other people was pretty easy at first. I'm actually worse off now than when I started, because I've only played with other people a handful of times in the last few years. I get self-conscious when I'm playing with people for the first time in a while, too.

But don't worry man. Being a good musician is as much about having good ideas and a tasteful style as it is about how well you play your instrument. If you're a bit rusty, let em know and if they don't want to bare with you - f*** 'em.
If you want to just make sure you're tight, practice playing along to CDs or a drum machine. Emphasize following the track/beat as opposed to doing your own thing.

 

[Cagey]

I had a GIT graduate instructor, and of the many valuable things he taught me, probably one of the best was "Dare to suck!" It's simultaneously inspiring, calming, exciting, and forgiving. You're going to be nervous - nothing anybody can say will change that. But, really, seriously, there's nothing to worry about. No one's going to get hurt. It's not like flying a strange plane full of passengers for the first time or something. If you do suck, you'll know why, and it'll be up to you do rectify that situation.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

What was your first experience like playing with others you haven't met before?

Nervous, 'self embarrassed', doubtful, crappy sound, crappy play ... and then ... fun, good times ... basically it has been that way since.

 

[drewfx]

The absolute worst that can happen is they won't call you back. You are who you are; you do what you do. If they don't like it, just move on with your life. Getting rejected is only a big deal if you make it a big deal, so I say, "Don't worry about any of that, just play your music."

 

[lafromla1]

Well, we got together and about half way though the drummer says to the bassist "I guess we haven't scared him off yet, he's in".

I was totally nervous at first, so I suggested that the drummer start with something to get him loose and I would just go off his sound to get loose as well and that seemed to open the door.  2.5 hours, and my wife's homemade chicken parmigiana, later, we couldn't wait to schedule another get-together.

Learned a lot about what I am pretty decent at and what really needs work.

Thanks for all the great advice, it really helped.

 

[Superlizard]

Don't remember... those days are pretty hazy, man.

 

[Rouse]

About a year ago. I tried out for the school's worship team and made it. When we first started playing, I had no idea what I was doing and made a fool of myself. That changed quickly, quicker than I can ever imagine. Before school started, I felt comfortable and was ready to play. Just in one summer, I grew so much. Over the year, I grew even more, now its second nature playing with them and it all comes easily. The best time to join a band is when you're not ready, that's when you really begin to learn.

 

[GoDrex]

my first time jamming I wasn't nervous, only because I had been playing a while and the guy I was playing with never really did anything before (he had a drum set in his attic that wasn't his). So I just tried to get him to figure out some simple beats and I made up some stuff while he played. I'm sure it was horrible, but it sounded pretty good to us so we kept at it and he decided to take drum lessons and he slowly got better. I got some other friends to start playing and we all tried to figure out how a band worked. I wanted to play with people that were better than I was but I didn't know how to go about it.

 

[tfarny]

It doesn't really matter how you feel at first - playing with other people is what it's all about, it's the reason you play a rock instrument basically. As soon as you get in a good groove, all kinds of stuff makes more sense and your playing will improve heaps.