Do you ever wonder why bands break up? God knows I do.

The thing is that even your own band may be or have been going through the same issues that many of your favorite popular bands have.

Just from personal experience, I can tell you what my personal opinion...

You have to be friends first.

Sounds stupid, but it really isn't.

Everyone that has tried to get a band going has, at one point or the other, had to try and advertise or solicit to get another member that will "fill the hole".

Need a new guitar player? Bass player? Drummer? Lead singer? Put an ad in the paper...put an ad up in your local music store...get the word out among your friends...

Unfortunately it just isn't that simple.

Band dynamics and chemistry have a LOT more to do that just an individual's musical abilities.

You may get someone that answers your ad that is the "holy grail"...that is, he/she may be everything that you are looking for.

But they might not "jell" with everyone else.

Personal differences will kill a band faster than anything else. PERIOD.

You have to have the same goals...the same interests...and all of that stuff.

I have had the prviledge of being in two different bands where there was no personal friction. Nothing is better than that. NOTHING.

The last one I was in was a dream. Each person knew where each other was coming from. Each one worked off of the strengths of the others.

It was a running joke...I was the "song dictator" that tried to make sure all or our musical aspects were as tight as possible (timing, vocal harmonies, etc.)...the bass player was the guy that humped to get all of the gigs...and the drummer was the one that made sure how many free drinks we got at each gig LOL (don't take this as a discount on him...he was a HELL of a drummer)!!

All I know is that we all accepted our "roles"...and we had a GREAT time together. Sad to say, my personal obligations (job shift, etc.) had to bring that to a close.

Years later, we all say that if things would be different we would get back together in a heartbeat. In a HEARTBEAT. Because no matter what happened, we HAD FUN!!

Look, there is no point in putting all your time in trying to get a difficult situation to work. Music was meant to be FUN.

Another running joke was that we did not get paid to play...we got paid to haul our gear around from gig to gig. The thing is, that was the absolute TRUTH.

We would get to the gig, get things set up, and just enjoy the crap out of each other while we were waiting to go on.

I have had more belly laughs from those times than almost any other aspect of my life.

While getting out to play was a goal, having a set of friends that make it fun takes out all of the junk that you may encounter.

I hope and dream that I will be able to get to that point again...

Jerry Mathis has 25 years of guitar experience - playing, teaching, recording and performing live. Visit his website http://www.1StopGuitar.com to get all of your guitar tablatures, articles, reviews, accessories and more all in one place!