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DO's and DONT's Please

+10000 to the "had enough harmonica" comment.

Make SURE the drummer can follow the band dynamics especially those initiated by the singer or guitarist during a song whenever they FEEL(there's that word again) like it. Nothing wrecks blues like a drummer who has only 1 pounding pressure.

IF, and you should, add a keyboard player then that player must not be hearing impaired and should also be able to do "normal" musician stuff like follow dynamics and either don't play or play very softly when required. Not good when the guitarist goes into the song's main solo and the keyboard is chording at the same volume or louder than the guitarist.

Good luck and have fun!
 
Since I gave all my serious answers in your other thread.............................




When nature's callin'
Don't be stalin'
Use your common sense
Before you let it flow
Find a place to go
Just don't whiz on the
electric fence
If you're gonna explode
You can use the commonde
Of igloos, cave dwellings
or tents
No need to explain when
you gotta drain
Just don't whiz on the
electric fence
You can swizzle on the sofa
Piddle in the air
Tinkle in the toilet
That's why it is there
You can let it rain
In the breakfast lane
While waving at ladies
and gents
Just don't whiz on...
Don't whiz on
Don't whiz on the electric fence
 
DON'T audition or meet with anyone who can't provide proof, ideally video, of them playing the toughest songs you want to do or something of comparable difficultly *in the same style*.

DO ensure everyone's on the same page with respect to what constitutes "professional behavior" if that's something you aspire to. Once someone's in the band it's tough to have the conversation about staying sober and not wearing sandals with socks and a stained ill-fitting t-shirt onstage.

Good luck!
 
Big difference between front porch blues, traditional and blues rock

Make sure people you connect with have same interests, can be Trump vs Clinton clashes for various styles....long as you aligned. One not better than other, and Noone here can tell you which to go after...personal preference

And the drummer will make or break your happiness

Good luck
 
JTE covered it all pretty well in Post 4.
I'm rebuilding my band from scratch.

We were between drummers (again) already.
Vocalist bailed - he could sing but was not much of a musician - if we went off his carefully scripted arrangement notes he couldn't find his way back.
Had to read the lyrics of every song every time.
Eventually he decided he couldn't handle the "stress and uncertainty."
When he finally booked a gig he started in with "But We're Not Ready" (see my sig...) and "We're not tight like we ought to be."
Well no kidding - everybody stopped giving a sh!t after going a year without a gig...
Then #2 guitarist, who believes himself God's Gift to Music Theory because he knows the notes in the chords and couldn't improvise but knew every SRV solo note-for-note, bailed, no big surprise since his #2 child is on the way.
Meanwhile #1 guitarist was secretly trying to replace me - so buh-bye.

Recruited a drummer from another project and got enough fill-in players to do the contracted gig.
And The Long Game is still to get some kind of frontperson and carry on.
I'd love to try the power trio concept but I have my doubts that a singer/instrumentalist not already attached to a project exists...

So - in addition to what JTE covered...
What's the blues scene where you are now ?
If it's flooded with working bands, or there's nothing, it could be a rocky road.
Are there blues jams and open mikes where you can scout talent? Auditions suck...
What's your local CL scene like? Do you have a pool of talent to draw from?

What's the venue scene like? Is there already live music?
Are you equipped and prepared to conduct rehearsals ? (Space, PA, drum kit, backline?)
If you're planning on paying a rehearsal room for this, you better have a plan to play out SOON because paying $10 a week (each) to rent a space with no payout in sight gets old in a hurry.
Do you have your material charted out?

You should probably be up to speed and ready to play a 2- or 3-hr gig in 4-6 weeks.
(I put together my group of pickup players for a 4-set gig with 5 weeks to showtime.)
If you're not on that trajectory, you may have to accept the realization that you have a hobby/vanity project that will never leave the basement.
(Nothing wrong with that, if that's your goal. But if you think you're playing out and when you finally hustle a $100 gig and members start in with "we're Not ready" you'll be faced with the reality...)
 
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1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning..."

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes... sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher, and she weigh 500 pound."

4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch--ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and company motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.

8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cause you were skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chompin' on it is.

9. You can't have no Blues in a office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

10. Good places for the Blues:
a. Highway
b. Jailhouse
c. An empty bed
d. Bottom of a whiskey glass

11. Bad places for the Blues:
a. Nordstrom's
b. Gallery openings
c. Ivy league institutions
d. Golf courses

12. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be a old ethnic person, and you slept in it.

13. You have the right to sing the Blues if:
a. You older than dirt
b. You blind
c. You shot a man in Memphis
d. You can't be satisfied

14. You don't have the right to sing the Blues if:
a. You have all your teeth
b. You were once blind but now can see
c. The man in Memphis lived
d. You have a pension fund

15. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.

16. If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues

17. Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. Cheap wine
b. Whiskey or bourbon
c. Muddy water
d. Nasty black coffee

18. The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. Chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim Fast

19. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broke-down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction.

20. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling

21. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie

22. Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

23. Make your own Blues name Starter Kit: a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Melon, Kiwi, etc.) c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.) For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Jackleg Lemon Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")

24. I don't care how tragic your life: if you own even one computer, you cannot sing the blues.
 
I wrote you your first song:

Er heum...

I got my pickup truuuck.
I got my pickup truuuck.
I got my Guuuurl
I got ma hooorse!
yeah I love ma horse!

But then I lost it allll!
I lost my pickuuup truuuck!
And ma gurl took my horse.
Yeah I lawst ma hoorse!
And she took ma money!
And ma house!

I got my pickup truuuck
I got my pickup truuuck
I got my Guuuurl
I got ma hooorse!
yeah I love ma horse!

[Harmonica solo]

I ain't got no more!
I'm in the countryside.
I'm broke as f:spam:
Caus I lost ma truck!
All caus of ma gurl!

Ohh yeah yeah yeaaaaaaaaah!