Best way to find serious musicians for band?

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhiteShadow
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Finding good band mates is a hard problem. It can’t be work but it can’t be a lazy hobby. A wide wide range of songs is best BECAUSE it captures all listeners and band mates. Even country (hate to say that). Chicks and dudes of all ages love Tennessee whiskey. Or why don’t we get drunk and screw whatever. As said above the more you do by yourself (Singing lead) is key! Then people gravitate to your band including new band mates. If you become as solo act and sing, you will have all sorts reach out to you wanting to do something especially if you can arrange songs different than original. Might take a year BUT you will be way better for it.
 
Word of mouth and meeting people at shows. Craigslist and Bandmix have always been a crapshoot for me, though Bandmix did give me some luck with 2 different bands in 2 different states.

Our Craigslist here in South Florida looks more like a dry erase board at a mental institution than anything else. It’s generally where the 50-something’s go to talk shit about their former bands. One will make an ad looking for a musician and their former bassist or whatever then goes on a rampage with the ads, replying to them with all their dirty laundry. Pretty sure I saw a custody battle within one before.

I don’t even deal with that shit now, I’ll just go to shows and talk to people. Once you make a few friends in the scene and meet their friends, eventually realizing every city has it’s own incestuous pool of band members, things get easier.
 
Concentrate on making musician friends first or have a loose jam session. It also helps to listen to a clip of them playing first. Craigslist can be really bad...I've had some experiences. State your intention up front if you're looking to start something original or just covers.
 
I just joined a band on bass. The guitarist was a super nice guy but not really good. So we got a second guitarist who is pretty good so the original guitarist couldn't keep up and quit. So we are looking for a second guitarist and a singer now. On one hand I kinda want to switch to guitar but bassist are sometimes hard to find out here.

Anyway we are using Craigslist. We make sure to meet away from our band room. We ask if they party. If they smoke weed or drink we are ok with that but hard drugs are a no. Typically people with actual career jobs are higher up on our try list. If someone has a day job at a bank, IT, Electrician, etc we are more inclined to give them a listen than someone who is in an entry level job at a grocery store. I know it sounds shitty but it at least tells us that they have stuck with something. We also get clips before asking them out.

Around here it's a pain to put together something cause nobody has a rehearsal space. And drummers are hard to find.
 

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The best (and only way IMO) is to have gigs already lined up a few weeks out from auditions. The talent level of musician you’ll attract with good paying gigs already scheduled will be leaps and bounds beyond the well intended wannabes that a typical “Want serious musicians for a new band” flyer hanging on a telephone pole or in a music store approach will ever attract.

Edit: Also, find the Drummer first. If you can’t attract a person that can 1) Keep a sold “in the pocket” beat, 2) Does not over play, and 3) Can play various styles…there will not be a band.
 
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Try to find a local, or at least semi-local facebook groups for musicians wanted. Post a minute long video of you playing, with a brief description of what you're looking for. You can do the same with craigslist, in which case it helps to have a youtube video to share a link to. It doesn't need to be a full scale production, a desktop tripod & iphone video with half decent audio will make people pay attention to you v.s. the hundred other guitarists writing paragraphs.

Go to local shows, find out who the good musicians are. Get to know them, find out who they know, etc. Many of them have side projects, other bands, or friends who are good players that are looking. I don't go out of my way to find people like this, but if good players have a show somewhere local, it's worth making some effort to go out & enjoy seeing them.

Try to be someone who's known in the community for being a solid & reliable player, that takes time, but eventually you'll become one of the guys that good musicians reach out to when they need someone.
 
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