Sup Forums any music fags out there, i need advice

Sup Forums any music fags out there, i need advice.
im a decent guitarist, hoping to get better (wasted my piano, violin and other classical instruments) i'm 18 and hoping to join/start a funk band, inspired by Frusciante era RHCP. i'm still not at GREAT level yet but enough to right catchy riffs (scared I'll fuck up on stage though..) i was wondering if I should seize the my opportunity and start while I'm still young or practice for a few more years and start then. maybe 20.
all ive ever wanted to do in life is make music so this is very important to me

Try and join a local band if they aren't super serious. Other than that if you practice and keep at it you can make it

spent my youth learning and playing piano, violin and other classical instruments*

Is there anyway to find local bands? I live in NYC it's hard to find scenes for me. I've tried craiglist but they're always a bunch of older people looking for older people

Go to local shows and talk to people. Don't be afraid to start up a conversation and ask if anyone they know is looking for a guitarist or looking to start a band

Practice for several hours a day and join a band. Also learn stuff like "Pick up the Pieces" - The Average White Band, stuff that sits on a funky chord with a lot of muting

Oh man, I'll have to get out of my comfort zone for this one, but thanks a million for the help. I'll be sure to check out some indie shows, spark up some convos. If you have any other advice I'd love to hear em, I really have no experience in band stuff except for when me and my friends played for my old highschool, and even then I was just the drummer.

Go to Sup Forums?

Also why are you considering learning piano and violin as a waste of time? Use skills from that in your guitar playing

I love Average white Band, James Brown, Kool, all those funky motherfuckers. Really what pushed me to learn bass & guitar

You live in NYC? Have you tried busking?

Well, I'm now 27.
I spent from when I was 17 till earlier this year slaving away to "make it" in the music biz.
3 different bands, thousands of hours writing, practicing, recording.
Played well over 100 shows, some with a few hundred attending, and never caught even a remote break.
It took me nearly 10 years of my life to come to the realization that the rockstar dream is basically a dead thing now. Independent labels are extinct; most people simply do not buy albums anymore. Even many well known bands have stated in interviews that concert tickets and merchandise sales are barely enough to keep everything afloat.
We all start out with the intention of playing "for the music" but honestly we all want to be able to make at least enough to not have to have a shitty day job. And sadly, this is simply a thing of the past.
I still play, write, and record stuff, not nearly as much as I used to, but take it from me. Don't waste your time trying to "make it"
Some of the best bands I've ever seen were in some of the shittiest dive bar venues. Sadly, they most likely will never go much further than that.

Honestly the best advice is you get out what you put in. If you take being in a band seriously and practice and write your material constantly then you'll make progress. It also helps to have the right people with the same mindset in the band.

In all honesty, I guess I was being too insulting, if it weren't for those instruments guitar wouldn't have come to be so much fun. It made things WAY easier to understand ones you put it into prospective. For instance, chords and scales. Like I barely know music theory, except the major stuff or whatever, but once I think of the strings like the piano, pieces fall into place.

Those guys never help, I've opened 2 threads like this in the past with no response.

2 big differences

I can't argue with that, honestly music is dying, kids only listen to rap and pop nowadays.

And plus with piracy and shit like spotify it makes it difficult to even make music a career to begin with..

The only thing I have against this is that you're right, the rock star "making it" dream is dead.
But that doesn't mean you can't become popular. Social media presence is a huge factor in a band's popularity, and can be used as a good tool for exposure. Local bands can slowly expand their regional popularity this way.

OP Here.. I've wasted my life.
All Musicians strive for the big break but honestly in my mind it goes deeper than that. Big break or not I don't see myself doing anything else. I'd probably kill myself if I had to live boring life doing paper work, or teaching a class. But oh well, thanks for the real ass reality.

Thank you all for the advice, I'll probably post again on my progress. Hopefully I haven't Cobain'd by then.

If you're 27 then it's time to give the old shotgun a bj my friend

>how do I get fameous

get gud

there is nothing else to say, have a decent fucking product

Very true.
In some ways, social media can actually make it easier than ever to get a good following. That is one thing my bands never properly utilized.
I will say though, it got pretty annoying how every band handed out business cards with links to all their social media fronts. Hell, any given night, you'd end up with at least 5 cards from bands that weren't even playing that night, just people in the audience. It was kind of an inside joke for us: like, share, retweet... oh and listen to the music if you got time.
pretty funny to see all those hand outs littered on the ground every night.

this

My music comes from everywhere, never have I bought an album because somebody 'made it big'

i didn't ask how to get famous, i asked if i should start playing now or when i get a little better.

What's it to you?

if its not specified its assumed to be towards the op

>be like OP
>play violin
>decide to practice instead of play live
>3 years later
>gf dies
>never play violin again

Do it while you can OP you don't know what curveballs life will throw you in the future

jesus, im sorry to hear that man.. that's horrible.