Has anyone tried School Of Rock?

Great to get some feedback from someone who’s tried it! I looked into SofR at one point in late 2019, just an itch to want to be in a band, from finishing B2B, doing some covers, and wanting to try out my bass playing in the real world, or, at least the semi-real world!

From inquiring with the local SofR, it did seem like most of their business came from an under 18 crowd, but they did mention adult classes, where they match you up with other adults - hopefully a drummer and a guitarist, so you can start getting a feel for what jamming and such will be like. What I liked about it was that it seemed nicely structured, and, you wouldn’t run into flakiness, since, well, people were paying to be in it.

I was close to doing it, but tried my luck at the time instead on random Craigslist bands that needed a bass player. No regrets, but there’s no structure to that, and, people that you run into can be very hit or miss. Still, it worked for me, and there’s some freedom from all sides to doing it that way. Sometimes you just don’t gel with people you meet, or they with you, or other issues that crop up. But it does take some work to figure it all out, and, SofR seems like a good option to bypass some of that, as well as the beginner-friendliness of it!

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I think the method is teaching around songs and bands. Not much theory. They have an app that’s got rock songs in it, that’s similar to ultimate guitar’s site, and even will listen and grade you. But basically, with my teacher, we’d just go through songs I was interested in, and he’d listen to them, then transcribe them for me, so we’d talk through that process too. And now with the band, my instructor is helping me create easy versions of the song, to get me kind of ready for rehersals, and then I hope each week, we add more flair to the bass line.

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Okay, we did our show yesterday. Homestead Bowl(ing alley). I was raised in So Cal, so I know of bowls, as in the Hollywood Bowl…but then I heard a band I liked was playing in NY at the Brooklyn Bowl in Feb a couple of years ago, which I thought was cold. And that’s when I found out about playing in bowling alleys. Anyway, I was super happy to play at our local bowl.

It was crazy how fun it was. Afterwards, the teacher’s asking us if we had fun - same question he’s asking the kids all the time - but I know the adults answers were much more enthusiastic Yes’s.

I was bummed that I flubbed the bass line during the solo of Are You Gonna Go My Way (our first song). I’ve been practicing it a bunch, felt that I have messed up every which way possible and know how to recover from it, so I was feeling confident. Too confident. Forgot to practice being nervous and getting fingers all confused and my mind blanking out in the panic. But, I kept my hands on the frets and would pick at a note here and there, and didn’t have a tantrum, so one can’t really tell, unless you know the line and notice most of it’s missing.

Wearing masks was a pain - mine is showing I’m sucking a lot of wind - but it’s hiding me making faces when I mess up and doesn’t show me moving my lips as I count the beats, so I think, at this point in time, it’s a plus for me.

Next session is going to be Arena Anthems. Not my first choice, but no regrets about signing up for the next session, cause it’s too much fun.

Our keyboardist got a little into creating a video…my wife feels Alive was our best song - Alive - Pearl Jam 🎸 Palo Alto Rock Band 🎹 Keyboard Victor Fang - YouTube (one of the teachers was playing drums, which helps a ton…) Some notes I’m a little late and others a little early…but sometimes I’m pretty close to on time, and that feels great. Reminds me of playing golf, where I rarely get a good shot in, but when I do, it’s what keeps me going back for more…

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Oh, and @eric.kiser I found out last week, that our SoR allows people to just sign up for the Adult Band - without the private lessons…some of the folks in the class are doing that. So that could be a way to cut the cost if you don’t vibe with the instructors as much as you’d like.

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Great to see you playing live @cbaray ,
It was hard to hear your bass throughout the song, but at least your out there playing, and the crowd looked enormous,
Congratulations,
Cheers Brian

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we sent my kid to it when she was younger. as i recall the plan was for her to play drums on a song, but she really didn’t show much interest/put in any work on the drum part. to their credit they just gave her a tambourine or whatnot and had her sing a backup part and she still got to get on stage and jam. which at the end of the day is the best part anyways.

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@cbaray Dude! That’s so cool that you got to do a show. I’ll have to check with my local SoR about the Adult band.

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For the band before us, couldn’t hear the bass at all. So I turned it up a bit. At practice, it generally goes where the guitars turn themselves up and I follow a bit, until the singer says we are way too loud. Still need to learn that whole aspect of playing with others. And at the show, I could hear myself easily, but then there was a mic in front our our amp, that went to larger speakers at the front of the stage? So much more to learn!

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I am sure somebody with way more experience then I, can speak with more accuracy about this topic.
But, put it in perspective and, compared to your show, where you played together live, for how many songs? How long? And how long did you have to get set up?

If you go to a big concert, with a big headliner and a few other great bands, in arenas and stadiums and such. They pre set up and sound check the shit out of all the bands gear and sound, and have everything dialed in, that most of the time, things go great.

When you see 5 bands in 6 hours in a club or bar, with quick change overs, and ultra fast sound checks, it is common to have band members asking for more or less of drums, vocals, bass or guitar.
I have singers between verses asking for more vocals, or less guitar.
And
I am sure they might do that during the big shows, but there are sound people communicating with the engineers at the soundboards, on CB’s or direct lines to communicate if they need to adjust anything.
So
I guess the point of it is, yeah, its something to get used to, playing with others, as to where your own volume and tone lie in the mix, but, there will always be adjustments at every show for all members. I would focus on speed if anything.
How fast can you get your bass, gear and amp / cab up and ready, in tune, and audible. As long as you are not the one lagging up the show, and the sound guy can get your check, you are gold.
Then, after many shows, you will start to know how to normalize yourself with the kick drum, or whatever your reference is, and it will all start to fall in place.
So that when you get to where you are playing thru a house speakers AND your amp / cab, then the house will take care of a lot of that, your amp is where you will be standing mostly, and is there so you can hear yourself.

Its been way too many years since I last played, but I would love to do it again, and it is really super cool that you did., thanks for sharing.

Do you have plans to play with any of these people in the future? Or do you want to start or join a band or two at some point.
The more you do it, the faster you will get better.
Good job, looks like a blast.

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Thanks for the info about the amp and house speakers explanation. Yeah - we had 2 adult bands switching people during each of 6 songs. So kind of hectic. Now it’s just a small bar in a bowling alley, and there was a guy in the back that did bring up the vocals in one song for the singer - so they were doing something…Just don’t know exactly what was being done, or what’s expected to be done. A little overwhelming, but still fun.

Some set of folks will sign up again for the next session, so we’ll play together, but I’m not sure how we’ll work out how we can play some of these songs again. Like building up a repertoire - that is something we’re going to have to work out. SoR gives us a nice practice area, with all sorts of equipment…versus trying to figure out who lives in a neighborhood that’s going to be drum friendly. I’ve already seen a local neighborhood band who was doing live shows Thursday nights 6-8pm during the summer get shut down…and they were good (versus us, who will sound a lot more like practicing!)

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the answer is NOBODY, ABSOLUTELY NOBODY.
I hear people even complaining about electric drum sets, and I thought that was pretty petty and a bit ridiculous, it was more of a quarrel that spiraled out over time to the electric drum set (Not even amped, just playing thru headphones).

I get if you are in the same house, and even on the 2nd floor, if you are right above them you may hear them, but when your houses have enough room to drive a car between, then there should be no issues.

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@cbaray

I’ve detailed it in a few threads on this site already- but you could always opt to go in a similar direction that I did. I started a band a couple years back prior to the pandemic, and then just recently put a new one together about 3 months ago.

Look for music rehearsal space rentals in your area! Where I live (Dallas/Fort Worth) the rates are about $20-$25 per hour with a 3 hour minimum. So divided up per person, it runs us about $15 or $20 for the rehearsal evening. These facilities have PA/mics/stands along with drum kit so it makes setup easy.

Once I had a rehearsal space lined up, I just started running Craigslist ads looking for people to join me. The nice thing about putting this together yourself is that you get to choose the style of music- and then select people who want to come on board. If you go this route- just be upfront in your ads about your lack of experience. (but so far I’ve found tons of people that want to play and don’t mind if my bass expertise is somewhat lacking!) We only meet up once a month- we decide ahead of time what new songs to learn on our own, and then show up to give it a go. (and then eventually drop that ones that are not sounding good for whatever reason, and keep the ones that are working) We have a good list of about 8 so far.

In your case it might even be easier than starting from scratch if you already have one or two other players from your SOR session that are interested. (and then for example, only need to find a drummer or vocalists, etc)

Good luck!

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Hi,
I started the thread, then kind of disappeared. I’ve spent the time learning and rehearsing songs with my SoR band.
Our season-ending show will be livestreamed on Facebook on September 24th, 2021, at 6:45 PM Pacific time. https://facebook.com/SchoolofRockSeattle
Our set:
Dr. Feelgood, Motley Crue
Round and Round, Ratt
Here I Go Again, Whitesnake
Heartbreaker, Pat Benatar
We have four bands, sixteen songs in total.
Thanks for encouraging me to do this; it’s been one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.

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I don’t have FB, so unfortunately, I could not watch.
If you have any other footage not on FB that you can post, that would be awesome to see.
Awesome for you, I hope you had a hell of a show.

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@Paul_D I wasn’t able to get there for the live stream. Is the recording posted anywhere?

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The drummer recorded the stream of the performance, and I have it. I am trying to figure out how to use Vimeo. I want to give my channel a name, other than my own name, and not have my name be visible to viewers. Is this even possible?

Update: when a help page instructed me to click a “Create a Channel” button that does not appear to exist, I submitted a ticket. They say I will hear back within 3 business days.

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There are quite a few Vimeo users around here. I think @PamPurrs has used them before. Maybe somebody will stop by and offer some advice.

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As far as I know you can set your videos to private so only people with the link can see them. I’ve never done it, but I’m pretty sure you can.

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I actually visited this sax mouthpiece maker in his apt in Brooklyn a couple years ago. He lived in a ‘musician friendly’ building. During certain hours, muscians were allowed to practice. Everyone knew this up front moving in, and therefore no complaints.
The walls were concrete btw, old building, haha.

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Ok, the exception to the rule.

So, this building in NY,
another in London,
another in the Tokyo,
and then you can visit tribal regions where they drum into the night as normal practice. Just hope they are not cannibals.

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