There’s no doubt that the best advice for starting a band probably comes from people who have made their livelihoods out of being in bands. Advice for the music business can and should come from all over, however. It’s important to weigh the pros and cons before quitting your day job, for example. But for kids who want to learn an instrument or teens looking to start a high school band, Dave Grohl had some great advice.
In a 2019 video for the Kennedy Center Education Digital Learning resource library, Grohl shared what motivated him to get into music as a kid. He started a punk band at 17, then by 21, he’d joined Nirvana in 1990. And of course, Foo Fighters have been going strong since around 1995. But he admitted that he initially thought he couldn’t be in a band. He felt he wasn’t as “technically proficient” as the musicians he was listening to.
“I thought I could never be in a band because I can’t play guitar like Jimmy Page or I can’t play guitar like Keith Richards,” he said. “And then once I discovered punk rock music, I realized that you just need, like, three chords and a big heart.”
He continued, “You just need to express yourself in the most simple form. And it just opened up my whole world.”
Dave Grohl on Connecting To Your Identity Through Music
At that time, Dave Grohl explained, he was in a band with some friends in his neighborhood. Mostly, they played covers of popular rock songs then. But with Grohl’s new revelation about punk, he wanted them to branch out.
“I went to my friends in my neighborhood band, and I was like, ‘Guys, we can write songs too,’” he explained. “‘We don’t need to play David Bowie songs or Who songs, we can write our own songs about anything we want.’ And my friends were like, ‘Yeah, let’s kinda stick to The Rolling Stones songs and play keg parties.’”
In addition to discussing songwriting, Dave Grohl also spoke about how music can shape identity. Especially at an age when kids are learning about themselves and what they’re interested in.
“That’s a funny time for any kid, also because you’re on this identity hunt,” he said. “Trying to figure out who you are, connecting with things, and music just does that. When a song gets its hooks in you, it’s because you identify with it.”
He added that he started going to shows and meeting other kids his age. They all wanted to start a real band, so they got together and made music. “With that do-it-yourself attitude, anything’s possible as long as you’re focused and driven,” he said. “If you set your mind to something, you can do anything you want to do. You just have to be driven enough to do it, and you’ll figure out a way to get it, and that’s how we felt.”
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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