Originally Posted by: maggiorAs many of you know, I was in a band project run by a local music store/school. It had it's bumps, but with our mentor (instructor), things always kept moving forward.

3 of us are trying to keep things going since we had so much fun. It's been almost 4 weeks and we are frankly floundering. No matter how I have tried, we cannot even agree on songs to work on. The problem we should be having is narrowing them down :-).

So, it occurred to me today that our mentor was acting as the band leader. He had final say on what songs we did. He decided when we had it down or had to keep working on it.

I also think back when I was in the church choir. The piano player was the choir director (band leader). It went very very well until somebody else came in and took over. They were not a good leader, things floundered, and they fell apart.

I see it with projects at work too.

So, is it common for a band (just for fun and gigging/making money) to have a designated leader?

I'm thinking of suggesting to my bandmates that this is the case, but I thought I'd throw it out here as a sanity check.

Hey Maggior. Is it common for a band to have a designated leader? Yes. However, in my experience it can be severely limiting depending on your band model. I can't say what would be best for you, only you can determine that. I will share a small antecdote regarding the musings on whether its a good idea to have one solid leader in the band.

First, let me say before anything else that IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE AT LEAST ONE LEADER!!! The worst thing that happens to bands is the members get caught in a gridlock of indecisiveness because nobody can make a decision on something. I've been down that road with my band before, we didn't even fully decide on a band name until we after we played our first show. Even worse, when we did decide on a band name eventually we went into the studio to record our first E.P. After it was recorded and for about a month afterwards we all couldn't decide on a name for the E.P. A couple of the band members didn't even give it the old college try. So, I thought for a while and came up with a name that I thought would work. Nobody in the band argued or came up with a better idea than mine so it stayed.

This has happened with numerous things in the band and it irritated me that despite having four smart individuals in a room together an agreement couldn't be reached. However, we had a very specific model for what we wanted to do musically. We didn't want just one, or even two songwriters. We wanted our band to be able to have all of our members be songwriters and even sing the songs if they had the ability to. To us, it felt extremely limiting to have one person just churn out song after song. After a while similar themes would pop up and it would only be a matter of time before the songs start sounding the same, and we absolutely did not want that. We just had to be willing to let our egos take the backburner (easier said than done lol!) and support the songs that each indiviual member was pushing to play. This would offer multiple bonuses to us musically. One of the biggest was we didn't want one of the members to feel like he was the heavy hitter of the band and without that member the band would be nothing. Not only does it add to an already inflated ego, but its also tiring. Imagine having to write ALL the songs, come up with MOST if not all of the music, come up with a vocal melody and THEN teach it to the rest of the band? Song after song, album after album? Burnout and animosity would soon follow, especially if you want to view the other band mates as equal artists.

So, lets get to the point. Depending on where you want your band (or whatever project you may be working on) to go musically, having a deep well of ideas made manifest by your other bandmates is something foolish to pass by. Then again, there are some times when the reins must be pulled in. If the band can't come to an agreement than things must be either put to a vote, or someone has to stand up and just DO something. If you do something and one of your band members doesn't like it or has a better idea, than you can continue to bounce your ideas back and forth until something truly brilliant hits you. Just remember, nothing kills a band faster than inaction. Make sure everyday you are taking steps to reach your next musical goal, whatever they may be. I hope this helps you out, or at least gives you something to think about.