New Bassist finding people to play with?

[cire113]

I just started playing bass 6 months ago and i am moving to a new town... I am not trying to be a professional musician i just enjoy playing with other people..

how do i go about finding people to play with for fun?

Everyone tells me to play with people ASAP but i kinda suck and i need to practice with people to get better

[MatticusMania]

Craigslist. Be sure to mention the fact that youve only been playing for 6 months (not necessarily in your post, but in email correspondance) and that youre new to the area. You'll find someone.

[ColdSteelRain]

If you're taking lessons, see if your teacher can put you in touch with some folks. Maybe contact a guitar or drum teacher and ask them.

If you go to church, contact the music director and see if they're interested. Even if you aren't performing at a service, they may be able to put you in touch with someone.

Check local music stores and see if they have a bulletin board, etc.

Talk someone else in the family (or gf/bf) into learning drums or guitar .

[nella]

+1

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Craigslist. Be sure to mention the fact that youve only been playing for 6 months (not necessarily in your post, but in email correspondance) and that youre new to the area. You'll find someone.

I used Craigslist and now have two guitarists and a drummer I'm getting together with on about a once-per-week basis. It took me some courage to post the ad on craigslist but it worked out great.

Scott

[pearcey]

I did the same. There's a local band website (perthbands.com) which has a forum. I replied to a few 'bass player wanted' ads, and didn't really get anywhere. I ended up posting a 'bass player available' ad (I used an ad posted here as a template, because I thought it sounded right for me) and got loads of replies. At the moment I'm having to turn auditions down, or at least say 'can't make it this week etc.' Got my first real audition tomorrow and I'm bricking it.

I didn't really feel ready until I'd been playing a bit longer than 6 months, but I suppose it depends on how hard you practice, and how quickly you progress.

Let us know how you get on.

[standupright]

find out where the local open mic nights, open jam sessions are, and go and listen. even if you feel like you aren't ready yet, you can go and start talking to people in an easier setting, and audition them without them auditioning you.

[Jeb]

Plus One (two?) to the ColdSteelRain and standupright posts.

[DudeistMonk]

Start jamming with people from craigslist...I posted an add and jammed out 1 on 1 with some people. Eventually I found a drummer I clicked with, and we started playing every week, I made huge progress, and we became a tight rhythm section, two months later we started auditioning guitarists...

It depends on your goals, but if you are trying to get good at jamming and writing lines ext, and you want to be in an originals band I suggest that you start with just a drummer for awhile (or a drum machine if you haven't yet)

If you want to do covers just jump right in looking for a band doing covers that you think you can do, that needs a bass player....you'll know as soon as you start trying to learn the songs for the audition if you can hack it or not.