How did you get in a band?

[BUMNOTE]

Hi can anyone give any info how they got in a band.Have tried some websites and local music shops,seems everybody wants a drummer or guitar player,has anyone started up your own band.also what did you play if you got a audition.Cheers Dave.

 

[dooce]

Have a look in Gumtree - they have a music and musicians section, or something like that. There are lots of dedicated muso sites like Bandmix, Find a Musician etc, but mostly populated by 16-year-old proto-metalheads with a serious disconnect from reality.

 

[Nick Wyver]

Try some local jam sessions.

 

[Randy Hunter]

I got in my first band when I was a teenager. I was working as a busboy at a restaurant that had a bar. The cook was a drummer and he knew a bassist. I had another buddy that played piano. We knew the manager very well, since she was already our boss, so she agreed to let us jam/practice/perform in the bar section of the restaurant on slow nights. Of course, that was 30 years ago, but I still play occasional gigs with the piano player. Most of the bands I play with now came through associations with other musicians I established over the years either by sitting in at jam sessions or through referrals. I even get calls for gigs from folks that see some of my videos online.

Randy
www.randyhunterjazz.com
Lessons page: www.beginningsax.com/Jazz Improv Lessons.htm

 

[johnboy]

In my case a knock at the door in 1957. Someone had told them that a saxo lived there.
As Nick says, try some jam sessions, or go to some gigs, just walk up with a smile, tell 'em how good they were and start talking to them. That's what I did out here.

John.

 

[jeremyjuicewah]

Eeh, John, you old charmer!

 

[johnboy]

Eeh, John, you old charmer!

Hi Mike,
It's always worked, in all walks of life ;}
So glad that you are sorted saxwise We're in England 'til the 30th, but when we're back I'd love to see them ;}

John.

 

[ArtyLady]

Make sure you know and can busk a few standard 12 bar blues numbers (Everyday I have the blues/Thrill is gone/Hoochie Coochie Man/Stormy Monday - stuff like that), and get along to some local blues jams for stage experience and networking with other musicians. That's what I did, and also I've been getting lots of requests from bandmix lately (quite of few of which i've had to turn down as I think 3 bands is enough to be getting on with at the moment! ) - so I think there must be a shortage of Sax players locally!

 

[jake]

Try contacting you County Council, Education Department. They or their music teachers will know of various bands. Some Councils have youth bands and other offshoots. You will be surprised of the music fraternity out there, locally. Look up on the the web.
Good luck.

 

[Taz]

I found my first band at a jam session, I was invited to join my first rock 'n' roll band through someone that new me. My original drummer from my first band recommended me to my third band, and a friend of the drummer in my present band saw me playing with a local blues band (the lead guitarist was also in my first band!) Confused.com!