HOW TO START YOUR OWN BAND

Hi! Im so glad that youve decided to take the first step in learning how to play
the guitar. My course will get you playing in no time. And once you start playing,
theres no reason that you wont want to START YOUR OWN BAND!

This free manual is all about: YOU STARTING YOUR OWN BAND! Read along
now while I give you tips and pointers that will get you playing with other people
that have the same goals as you.

I will lead you through these tips and suggestions by telling you how I
accomplished my own personal goals and how they got me to where I am today:
Performing in my Band, traveling across the country and making a living doing it.
Heres my story!

This is the story of a young kid who started playing an old, bulky, acoustic guitar
some 30 plus years ago. Today I play a Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG and a
Fender Stratocaster while I play with my band. Its wonderful and I want to share
my experiences with you, so you can quickly learn the things that took me years
to learn. Sit back and enjoy!

As I sit and write this manual, I am constantly reminded of just how fortunate I am
to be able to PLAY GUITAR IN A BAND AND MAKE A LIVING DOING IT. I am
writing my story from a room where I am currently staying. Its a beautiful room at
an exclusive resort on Saint Simons Island, Georgia. Im here with my group
PHIL DIRT & THE DOZERS because we were hired to perform for a corporate
client who heard us play and then hired us for his event.


Some of the other places Ive gotten to travel to are: Disneyworld, Las Vegas,
Lake Tahoe, Vail, Colorado, Miami Beach, Naples, Florida, San Diego and on
and on. Why do I mention these places? Because as you will read, I started off
just like you: with a strong passion for music and the desire to learn to play the
guitar. Practicing at your own pace and sticking with it, can help lead you to your
goals. I did it and want to help you do it! (Naturally, I cant guarantee that you
wont do BETTER than me or as well as me, but I can and will tell you the DOS
and DONTS of how to get started on your way to forming your own band.

For me, getting to meet Carl Wilson, Mike Love & Bruce Johnston of The Beach
Boys, was an impossible dream THAT ACTUALLY CAME TRUE FOR ME! It
happened, because I was in the RIGHT BAND at the RIGHT TIME! Getting to
sing on stage with THE TEMPTATIONS and JAN & DEAN are memories I will
never forget. I want to show YOU how this happened for me, so you can get
some tips for you and your band. This is my Story! I hope it will encourage you
and give you a goal to aim for, with your own band.


THE BEGINNING

I started playing guitar at the age of 13. At that time, my uncle gave me my first
guitar (Thanks Uncle Johnny!) It was a 1950s acoustic guitar. I found it kind of
hard to play because the strings were pretty far off of the fretboard and I really
didnt have the strength in my fingers to press them down correctly. But I didnt
know any better, so I just pressed down as hard as I could to get some sound out
of those old strings. I was having fun anyway. Well, YOUR first lesson is: if your
strings are too far off of the fretboard and you find it hard to press them down:
have a person (e.g. the music store salesperson) adjust the height of the strings
for you. It will make learning to play much easier. You shouldnt have to struggle
as I did. It might discourage you and we dont want that to happen!

Next, I tried to play little melodies that I was hearing on the radio. I wasnt perfect,
but it got me started hunting and pecking for melodies.

Right around this time, I met a guy in my neighborhood who was also learning to
play the guitar. So, YOUR second lesson is: try to find someone who is also
learning to play the guitar, so you could trade your knowledge with them. This will
help a lot. If they know more than you, its even better! My friend and I traded
ideas and we both got better and better and started to play some simple songs
together.

Then we both said, hey, how about we find a drummer and maybe a bass
player? So we started looking and asking around and eventually, we found a
guy that had a set of drums and a guy who had a Bass guitar. What will help you
with this is: asking your friends in school if they know anyone who plays an
instrument.

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You can also place an ad in the school newspaper or post one on the school
bulletin board. Another way to find other musicians is to go to your local music
store and talk to the salespeople there. Just hanging around there, you will hear
all kinds of people playing at all different skill levels. You very well might find
someone for your band there. Before I get to far along, I want to make some
strong suggestions right now!

First, youll want to make sure that you tell whomever youre talking to about
possibly auditioning and joining your band, that your band is A DRUG-FREE
BAND! Nothing will destroy a band quicker than playing with other members who
drink alcohol or do drugs. Ive seen the effects of and have lived through the pain
and destruction of having both of these types of people in some of the bands I
have previously played with. I have seen some of the most talented musicians
lose their bands because they were either too drunk or too high to play or even
show up for a performance. Im not saying that these are bad people. But I am
saying that they will eventually cause problems for you and you need to stay
away and avoid these problems. FIND PEOPLE WHO ARE LIKE YOU: PEOPLE
THAT ARE INTERESTED IN THE MUSIC. Now, back to the story!

Remember the two guys we found, who played the drums and bass guitar? Well,
neither of them played very well, but then again, neither did we. So, we got
together and tried to play with each other. At first, it wasnt a very pretty sound. In
time though, we worked out our very first song together. So, Your Third Lesson
is: Even if the other members are not very good on their instruments, still get
together anyway and learn from each other (I see this happen time and again
with my daughters little group. First, she was learning to play the guitar by
herself. Then, her friend heard her start to play chords and decided that she
wanted to play guitar too. My son then heard them and bought a Bass guitar.
Then decided to put a little band together. The guitar player got a set of drums for
Christmas and now they are a trio playing together.)


THE MIDDLE

As your band starts to come together (the speed of which depends on how much
you practice together) and youve found the right people to play with, you should
get a good list of songs that you would like to play. You might find that your
tastes might not all be alike, but as long as someone isnt totally off-the-charts
with their musical tastes, respect each others styles and try playing the songs
they like too.

My first band actually played our first gig with a list of about 10 songs. Thats it:
Just 10 songs! We tried to get our songs to sound as close to the original as
possible. I would suggest this to you too. It might be hard to do when youre a
beginning player and just starting a new band, but try to do it.


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It will make you a better player. Listen to the nuances of the instruments and try
to play the correct chords and rhythms.

Once youve learned enough songs to be comfortable, its time to get your first
gig. Now let me say something right here. You may not want to play for anyone
else. You may just enjoy playing for yourselves. Thats perfectly OK! As long as
you get enjoyment from playing theres no NEED to go any further. BUT if you
want to share your music with others, then you need to get your first gig. How do
you do that? you ask. I will tell you how I did it and this will help you succeed in
this task.

First, it is very probable that your first few gigs will be non paying gigs. Thats
OK! Eventually, you will get paid to play. (Think of it: making money for doing
what you really enjoy doing for free.) My first few gigs went like this: playing for a
Church Festival on the Street where I grew up, in New York City. It was great to
get to play with my friends, who just a few months ago were non-players like
me. We played for a few hundred people that night. We were nervous but the
excitement of playing songs we were hearing on the radio, was just the greatest
feeling for us! (Oh yea, this was a freebie.)

Our next job was to play for my 8th grade graduation party for about 15 kids. We
played our same 10 songs, but this time word got around that our band was
playing, so about 50 kids ended up coming to the party. We were pumped! For
the first time, girls wanted to talk to me. This was also a freebie gig, but it didnt
matter. We were having to much fun!

We continued to practice and learn a couple more songs. Then, we got a phone
call from a priest who had heard us play for that Church festival. He wanted to
know if we wanted to play at this place in New York called The Seamans Center.
(It was and might still be, a place where sailors would go to pass the time, while
their ship was docked in the harbor.) The first time would be another freebie,
but if we did well, the next time we would get paid to play. Needless to say, we
took the gig!

We played that first night for about 40 people. I could still see it in my memory.
We must have done well, because Father asked us to come back again. (At this
time, we had added a keyboard player and another guitar player to the group.
This allowed us to get a more authentic sound when playing songs by The
Rascals and Three Dog Night...) The next time, our 6 piece band made $125.00
for 4 hours of playing. (We repeated a lot of songs.) We were feeling great about
it! WE WERE A BAND! (If youve never seen the movie: THE BLUES
BROTHERS, rent it! Its all about THE BAND.)





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As time progressed, all us guys in the band got older and we went to different
High Schools and started to become busy with other things. I met new people in
High School and that afforded me the opportunity to play with different people.
(Eventually our first band fell apart, but I will never forget those great guys and
the wonderful memories of playing with them in our first band. You only get 1 first
band you know! Make it count!)

The people that I was playing with now were quite a bit more experienced that I
was, so I began practicing more on my own. It was at this point that I began to
learn how to solo on the guitar: that is, PLAY LEADS! My teachers were:
CARLOS SANTANA, PAT SIMMONS of THE DOOBIE BROTHERS and
DICKEY BETTS of THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND. I listened and listened and
listened for hours, to their music. I tried to my greatest potential, to copy their
leads, note for note! This is where I learned the most information in the quickest
amount of time. (Look for my new course which is being written now, on
LEARNING TO IMPROVISE AND PLAY LEADS ON THE GUITAR.)

Lets take a moment to recap what you should have picked up from my
experiences, for your band!


First: Play any respectable gig you can, even if its for free. This will
certainly open other doors for you and eventually you will be playing paid
gigs. Plus, you will be working out the bugs of playing as a group.

Second: Go and listen to other bands, especially those that have
progressed beyond your level. See what theyre playing. Look at their
instrumentation. You may want to add a member to get a certain sound
youre looking for. Dont be afraid to ask questions either. The more you
learn, the better youll play.

Third: Spend a lot of time listening to Musical CDs of the groups you like.
Ask yourself: how will I play these songs that I like and listen to? Well, I
will tell you: You are in luck! Today, (unlike when I was young, before the
WWW) there are web sites where you can go to find guitar, bass and even
drum tabs of your favorite groups and their music. If you dont know how
to read this stuff, dont worry, the last chapter of the course you have just
ordered is dedicated to this very topic. Here, I will teach you how to read
guitar and Bass tablature, so you can play not only the chords to these
songs, but also the melodies and bass lines to them as well.







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THE END

Once you have worked your way through your first couple of bands, you will get
to a point where you will probably settle-in with one group for a while. For me,
that group was called: FATHOM ( an acronym for: FOR ALL THOSE HIGH ON
MUSIC). This was my first band that made some descent money. We mostly
played clubs and bars in New York City. (We were a group out of Queens, NY.) I
was one of the two guitarists in this band. The other guitar player was better than
I was at playing leads, so I watched, listened and learned from him. I didnt ask
him to show me how he was doing certain things because I felt uncomfortable
with asking this particular person, but I did learn from him on my own. (You will
learn that some people are actually possessive about what they know about
playing an instrument. It can be a very competitive thing. Others will be very
helpful and want to watch you learn for your own good and that of your band.)

A year or so later, I joined the U.S. Army and actually had the good fortunate of
meeting someone who got me an audition with The Army Band in Ft. Polk, La. I
passed the audition and I spent the next 2 years earning my military pay, as a
guitar player and singer for The U.S. Army. (Remember, this all started about 6
years earlier with me playing that old acoustic guitar that my uncle had given
me.) We played in a 5 state area recruiting people to the Band program the Army
had available. I also got to play in The Mardi Gras Parade. Once again, I was
having fun playing music. Only this time, it was earning my living!

After The Army, I moved to Ohio and formed a new band right away. I checked
the newspaper and found some musicians that were also looking for other
musicians to start a band. We started a Top 40 band and played the 70s music
of the day. We played 5 nights a week. Playing songs by groups like Toto,
Kansas, Styx, Genesis, The Eagles, etc... really helped me develop my lead
guitar playing chops. This band eventually morphed into another group that I
formed and played in for about 5 years: GOOD VIBRATIONS! We were now an
OLDIES band, playing just about every weekend, while we all worked at Regular
jobs during the weekdays. We played at private parties, weddings and clubs.
(Its not bad being able to play music and earn in one night, what it takes to earn
in 1 week at a regular job.)

Finally, I went back to College and earned my Bachelors degree as an
accountant. Playing music on the weekends was great and now I had a great day
job as well. The accounting years rolled on and I found myself more and more
drawn to my music instead of my accounting profession (Hmmm, I wonder why?)
I began to wonder if there was a way to flip-flop my 2 professions. That is: make
my music a full-time enterprise and my accounting, the part-time business. I
knew this would be hard. I had family obligations and I knew that playing music
full-time in a small city would not provide me with enough work to sustain us all.



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Then it happened! With one providential phone call, I found a full-time group
that was losing its guitar player. I asked about their operations, what type of
music they played and then, for an audition. That was 10 years ago! Today I am
a guitar player and singer for one of the nations most successful Oldies Tribute
Show Bands: PHIL DIRT & THE DOZERS.

We travel in our own tour bus and play between 125 and 150 shows a year for
corporate clients like: General Motors, HBO and Walt Disney and play besides
great performers such as: Faith Hill, The Beach Boys and The Temptations. I
could truly say that I have experienced some of the greatest experiences of my
life, because I learned to play the guitar so many years ago.

I have written about my own experiences in such depth, because I want you to
see, first-hand, how a 12 year old kid who was given a free guitar, taught himself
to play, without any lessons and today, makes a great living doing what he loves
to do. (In 1969, I certainly had no idea that I would end up doing what I am doing
today.) My point is: Neither do you! You could start today and possibly end up
with some or more of the opportunities I got along the way. You could end up
earning a living being a guitar player in your own band. I know one thing: you
cant even think about it unless you give it a shot.

If you like music and want to play for yourself, thats great: JUST DO IT!
If you want to start a band: JUST DO IT!
If you want to get your band so good, that you could start playing or more
and more people: JUST DO IT!

Remember: 1)Practice. 2) Learn songs. 3)Find some other players who can
share their playing skills with you. 4) Start your first band. 5)Go out and get some
gigs to play, even if they are freebies, at first. 6)Keep practicing as a group, and
learn more and more songs. 7)Always look for opportunities to better yourself.
(You may get an offer to move up without your band. Thats a tuff decision to
make sometimes, but if the opportunity is a really good one...it might be a once in
a lifetime opportunity to move up.)

Naturally, you will meet different people and have different opportunities.
Everyone, including yourself, possesses different talents and potentials. Theres
no guarentees in life for anyone! But, just as in any other profession, you can
control what you do to try to accomplish what you want to accomplish. No one
can stop you from practicing and getting better and better.

Heres a true event that happened to me in my early days. At one point in my
early band days, I was told that I could not sing very well. I loved to sing as much
as I loved playing the guitar, so this comment really hurt my feelings. I knew that I
wasnt the best singer, but I also knew that I wasnt the worst singer either. So,
instead of giving-up, I became more motivated to be a better singer and I stuck
with it.

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Today, I sing over half of the lead vocals in my group. Im still not the best singer,
but I am good enough for people to come out to request songs for me to sing.
So, let your determination drive you up and over your obstacles, whatever they
may be.

Dont let anyone discourage you! If you have a dream: You go for it! Keep
playing! Keep practicing! Theres no guarantees in life, but neither were there any
for Elvis or The Beatles or Madonna or Faith Hill or Brittany Spears or Nirvana.
They were all regular people like you and me. But, I am sure they all had one
thing in common: A Love for music. We live in a country where you can make
your dreams come true. Go for it!, like I did.

I wish you the best luck and lots of great times in your journey to your own
personal successes!