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Finding a band?

R

rpt50

Jan 10, 2021
340
495
#1
Where does one look, besides craigslist, for bassist openings? I have not been in a band since college (I'm 59 now). I was at an audition I found on craigslist, and the drummer that was there (also in response to the ad) listed off a slew of auditions (blues band) he had booked for the next few weeks. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to ask him where he found all those openings, but I sure didn't see that many on craigslist.
 
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#8
The first band had a paid account and they contacted me. The other two had enough information in their descriptions that I could contact them outside of Bandmix.

Still, you can sign up for a month or two until you find a band then cancel your subscription.
 
#9
Craigslist, Bandmix, signs in music stores, open mics, any place where musicians go. Get yourself some cards made up and hand them to everybody and anybody. You never know who is looking for a bass player, or knows somebody looking for a bass player. I used to hand them out to bands. I'd say, "You have a really good bass player, but if you ever part ways or need a sub, give me a call." I got a couple of calls from that approach over the years.
 
#10
I used bandmix and found our singer. Ended up paying for a month just to contact him lol. Worked out tho, he's good and still with us. If you do use it and do a free account, I'd suggest in the about section, add your email. You'll have to space it out and leave out @ or .com and stuff so it's not flagged. Something like

yourname at email dot com

But that way people can contact you. If you are trying to contact others, hopefully they have enough info to go creep Facebook for them

And I know people hate on Facebook, but honestly that's what most people are on, so finding a local musicians group might be your best bet
 
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#11
lfmn16 said:
...Get yourself some cards made up and hand them to everybody and anybody. ... I used to hand them out to bands. I'd say, "You have a really good bass player, but if you ever part ways or need a sub, give me a call."
Click to expand...

I go to the bass player themselves rather than anyone else in the band. For one thing, it doesn't look like you're trying to steal their gig. For another, (S)HE might know somebody else that's looking & couldn't take the gig for whatever reason, but can connect them with you.
 
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#12
It used to be that I had the best luck finding bands on Craigslist. It's a crap shoot, you have to weed through a lot of flakes, but actually found some decent groups that way.

One band, in fact the one I was busiest with, came through a TB get-together. A cab manufacturer was there, I guess noticed my playing, and had a friend whose band needed a bassist, so he connected us.

These days, I seem to have a network of people and music projects just come out of that. Most of them are people I met earlier with CL, but it's this kind of, "the guitarist in the tribute band has a singer friend who's written originals, do you wanna lay down some bass tracks for them?" thing.

If your schedule allows, open mics and jams are good to meet people at. My first gigging band started when the singer and the guitarist met each other at one of those, and decided to start a project together. The drummer was the guitarist's son and... I got recruited from Craigslist.
 

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