SQL lertter Exclude ... like 'd%'

[dan]

ok, I am trying to select information from the database by the first letter
of a field such as
"SELECT id,band_name FROM bands WHERE band_name LIKE '".$letter."%' "
$letter is the variable with the letter in it.
--this SELECT statement works fine.

the problem is when I try to select everything else besides the alphabet.
(0-9) or ($,%,#,@)
I have tried
"WHERE band_name NOT LIKE 'a%' and 'b%' etc..."
doesn't work
I also tried:
"SELECT id,band_name FROM bands WHERE band_name NOT LIKE expr REGEXP
([a-z]%)"

can anyone tell me how I can select bands that begin with numbers or
Characters and not the ones that start with a letter??

thanks