By Kenny Auyoung
Looking for band members is never an easy task. You may firstwant to ask yourself what exactly you’re looking for – whetherit is to join an existing band or find individual members tostart your own band. Obviously, both have their differences andthis should be answered first before you start your gruelingsearch.
Join an existing band. This is a great way forenthusiastic musicians to gain some playing experience rightaway, although it is sometimes harder to find these kinds ofopportunities. These are established bands that are looking forsingle or multiple members for various reasons (their guitaristoverdosed on cocaine, bass player got fired for drinkingproblems, etc). This might go without saying, but make sure youreally do like the type of music a band plays before deciding tojoin their group! There are many musicians I know that play in aband where they don’t even like the music they play, all just to“gain experience” to get their foot in the door and hopefullymove on to greener pastures. It can’t be stressed enough that ifyou don’t like the music you play, you’re going to do ahalf-assed job at it, so why bother?
Also, know your playing experience and limits. For example, ifyou’ve only started playing guitar learning all Green Day songsfor a few months, don’t expect to join a thrash metal band thatrequires you to do sweep-picking, fast arpeggios, or any otherinsane guitar techniques. Make sure you choose a band where thetechnicality of the music they play is comfortable with your ownskill level as a musician.
A huge advantage for joining an established band (maybe) is thatmost of the back-end stuff is already taken care of. Thisincludes tasks such as finding an agent/manager to book yourgigs, song development, contracts with music labels, etc. Allyou have to do is show up for rehearsals and play shows asscheduled.
A good resource to start finding these bands in need is going toyour local rehearsal studios where most of them lurk. These areplaces where any musician can pay for a room to rehearse. Bestof all, all the musicians you find there are often in your localarea. Check out the bulletin boards where frequent bands post upclassified ads that may go something like:
“Looking to join a band that rocks?! We are in need of aguitar player with lots of experience! Our influences include:Megadeth, In Flames, Black Sabbath, and many more! Ifinterested, please contact Todd at xxxxxxxxxx.”
Or even better yet, post up your own classified ad on thebulletin board so bands can contact you instead. Local,independent music stores often have a bulletin board forclassified ads as well. These are some of the best free ways tofind band members in your area.
Disadvantages of joining an existing band. First andforemost, you have to learn all their songs usually in a limitedperiod of time. The band might have a show coming up and youhave to be able to play all their songs flawlesslynote-for-note. Needless to say, this might be stressful for somemusicians (except if their music is very straight forward andeasy with pure 3 note power chords).
Another disadvantage is often your own music creativity islimited. Most bands prefer their original tunes to be played andcarried on without any radical change. For example, if you justjoined a band and replaced their old guitarist, the way theformer guitarist played a particular solo, is the way the bandwants it to be played by you. Often you must follow the samenote structure of a music piece composed by another musician.
Organizing your own band. This is where you try to findindividual musicians to start a new band, usually with similarmusic skills and backgrounds. Thinking of starting a band is theeasy part, but the actual process of searching for the rightpeople is harder than most people think. There are tons ofmusicians out there in the world but only a small percentage ofthose you may be compatible with. In addition, ask yourself: areyou going to play in a band just for fun, or are you trying tomake a living out of it? This will influence where you are goingto start looking.
The internet is becoming a popular method for musicians to findother musicians. If you search “looking for musicians” inGoogle, you will easily find over 12,400,000 results - so how doyou find what you’re looking for? Many ads posted in classifiedssections and on popular music forums will vaguely havedescriptions such as this:
“Guitar player looking to form a band.”
Well, that’s just great.
Try refining your search to keywords such as the area you arein, what position you are looking for, etc. Example: “Lookingfor bass players in Toronto”. The first search result is an adposted on www.craigslist.org, which by the way is an excellentplace to get started. Try to only focus your attention onwell-written ads that describe the musician, which includes howmuch playing experience he/she has, the types of music they arewilling to play, and the intention of playing in a band. Or youmay also want to post your own ad in music community forums andadd a link to your audio/video samples that will likely interestmore candidates. Audio/video samples that show off your bestwork are often the most influential factor of candidatescontacting you back.
Be consistent with this. Chances are you won’t find someoneright away on your first few posts, so try to refresh your adson a weekly basis (but don’t spam!).
The internet is a large resource but don’t just rely solely onit. You may find you have better luck looking in localmagazine’s classifieds ads section where it’s more direct. Also,because musicians have to pay to get their ads published inmagazines, it shows that they are more serious about organizinga band.
Don’t limit yourself in a location. If you are seriousabout starting a career as a musician, you don’t just search forbands or members only in your local area. Living in smallertowns and cities won’t give you very many options in choosingthe right band or member for you. Expand yourself to largerurban cities where the potential to find band members isgreater.
Finding band members is like finding a good job. Know exactlywhat you want before searching, always have a good portfolioready, and be consistent in your pursue. Goodluck!
Article Source: www.ArticlesBase.com
