Tips on finding other amateur musicians to jam with after 30?

[Fishfacefour]

I'm in a similar position to the OP. Definitely will be looking to jam with real humans soon. 

I took a look at musofinder and think I must be doing something wrong. I signed up and there is no content on the site, I found their search function through different pages but nothing comes up in the search...

Has anyone had any luck with the site? 

[CookPassBabtridge]

Another person here in pretty much exactly the same position as the OP, so thank you for asking the question @waylander (cool Conkers avatar btw 😉).

Reassuring that I haven’t just imagined the shift in difficulty in finding people to jam with. Ten years ago all of my friends played, there were musicians everywhere at college, uni etc. Now everyone I know has moved away, had kids, are focusing on careers, or don’t play at all. My ‘network’ has gone. I also often worry that I won’t be considered as an option because I’m not the same age as people that are starting up bands now (can’t party all night anymore, touring more tricky with work etc.). I’m seeing a former bandmate in a month or so who still very much actively plays, I might ask him for some advice too. 

That said, I do need to get off my backside once full lockdown restrictions are lifted and try one of the helpful suggestions listed here! 

[Woodinblack]

14 minutes ago, CookPassBabtridge said:

Reassuring that I haven’t just imagined the shift in difficulty in finding people to jam with. Ten years ago all of my friends played, there were musicians everywhere at college, uni etc. Now everyone I know has moved away, had kids, are focusing on careers, or don’t play at all.

Welcome to your 30s

A lot of people drop out of life in general between 30-45, then come back at 45 wondering what happened. You see young groups, you see old groups, that middle area is a bit less common.

[grapefruitmoon]

53 minutes ago, Fishfacefour said:

I'm in a similar position to the OP. Definitely will be looking to jam with real humans soon. 

I took a look at musofinder and think I must be doing something wrong. I signed up and there is no content on the site, I found their search function through different pages but nothing comes up in the search...

Has anyone had any luck with the site? 

I signed up yesterday too and had the exact same experience. Nothing there!

[CookPassBabtridge]

24 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Welcome to your 30s

A lot of people drop out of life in general between 30-45, then come back at 45 wondering what happened. You see young groups, you see old groups, that middle area is a bit less common.

That is so true! Never realised it before, even when I take a trip to the pub for example I rarely see groups my age, it’s mainly just a bit younger or older.

Perhaps I should just accept my fate and hibernate for a few years 😂

[Supernaut]

I believe your 20s are for going crazy and your 30s are for cleaning up the mess so to speak. 😄

[Waddo Soqable]

Does it matter how old you are ?... If there's a group of people who are wanting to play something with someone, then why not just do it ?.. If you look at an orchestra for instance you'll find people in their 20s thru to 60s. I've been in bands with people much younger, admittedly I still had daft hairstyles and my general attitude can be less than "grown up" ....but I cant see any reason not to play with people who are a different age group,  if all parties are up for it..

[Crawford13]

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

A lot of people drop out of life in general between 30-45, then come back at 45 wondering what happened. You see young groups, you see old groups, that middle area is a bit less common.

I'm 36 and this is totally true, I reckon it's because we are trying to figure out how to be parents😂

[Len_derby]

Don’t get hung-up about age. In my covers band, three of us are in our sixties, one in his early thirties and one (female drummer) is eighteen. As far as I can remember the only people to have mentioned it is us, when we make jokes on stage.

To be honest, musicians who make a thing about age are not likely to be people I’d want to spend time with.

Edited June 3, 2021 by Len_derby

[waylander]

9 minutes ago, Len_derby said:

Don’t get hung-up about age. In my covers band, three of us are in our sixties, one in his early thirties and one (female drummer) is eighteen. As far as I can remember the only people to have mentioned it is us, when we make jokes on stage.

To be honest, musicians who make a thing about age are not likely to be people I’d want to spend time with.

I can speak from experience I no longer judge anyone on their age.

I fence in my spare time and my first ever regional match was against this guy in his 70’s. We started and he stood there looking shakey on his feet, I’d seen him sitting down before the match so figured wasn’t great mobility. I had to try and close on him so I could get a hit so I could move on, as soon as I was within range he stabbed me square in the neck.

Hell of a nice guy though, he saw I hadn’t been doing it long (easy to tell just by looking at me as I was wearing ill fitting club gear) and found me after to spent 1/2 hour giving me pointers. 

Edited June 3, 2021 by waylander

[Fishfacefour]

It's not so much about age, it's more about being out of the loop. The natural networks you develop when younger and without responsibilities have dissolved, and in my case I'm in a new city. 

It's difficult to make new networks if you're not out drinking or at gigs. Now we've had 18 months without gigs it can be difficult to start afresh. 

[waylander]

3 hours ago, CookPassBabtridge said:

Another person here in pretty much exactly the same position as the OP, so thank you for asking the question @waylander (cool Conkers avatar btw 😉).

Reassuring that I haven’t just imagined the shift in difficulty in finding people to jam with. Ten years ago all of my friends played, there were musicians everywhere at college, uni etc. Now everyone I know has moved away, had kids, are focusing on careers, or don’t play at all. My ‘network’ has gone. I also often worry that I won’t be considered as an option because I’m not the same age as people that are starting up bands now (can’t party all night anymore, touring more tricky with work etc.). I’m seeing a former bandmate in a month or so who still very much actively plays, I might ask him for some advice too. 

That said, I do need to get off my backside once full lockdown restrictions are lifted and try one of the helpful suggestions listed here! 

Same here mate, much prefer to go home to bed then spent it partying 😂

Thanks for the avatar compliment btw, great game ... shame never got a sequel!

[waylander]

3 hours ago, grapefruitmoon said:

I signed up yesterday too and had the exact same experience. Nothing there!

Sounds like something to wait a while doing then if they've got server problems.

JoinMyBand seems pretty active, had a look on there yesterday

[CookPassBabtridge]

39 minutes ago, waylander said:

Same here mate, much prefer to go home to bed then spent it partying 😂

Thanks for the avatar compliment btw, great game ... shame never got a sequel!

Indeed it was, I suspect it was a bit too niche to have a sequel, not sure how well it did commercially. I know second hand copies are really expensive these days.

Ahem anyway, back on topic...be interested to know how you get on finding a group to jam with!

[yorks5stringer]

4 hours ago, waylander said:

Same here mate, much prefer to go home to bed then spent it partying 😂

Thanks for the avatar compliment btw, great game ... shame never got a sequel!

Was going to suggest a couple of Open Mic/ Jam nights near me but one of the pubs closed  during lockdown and has now changed hands( to be gentrified) and I'm not sure what's happening to another one in Langport....not good times for musicians or the entertainment world.

[waylander]

9 hours ago, yorks5stringer said:

Was going to suggest a couple of Open Mic/ Jam nights near me but one of the pubs closed  during lockdown and has now changed hands( to be gentrified) and I'm not sure what's happening to another one in Langport....not good times for musicians or the entertainment world.

Thanks mate, whats the one in langport called? I’ll keep an eye on it as it’s not too far 

Edited June 4, 2021 by waylander

[Cat Burrito]

Facebook usually has a musicians in (names local town) type page so have a look at one of those two. Good advice re open mic. I tend to find these things seem impossible but once you open the floodgates it does rather snowball. Good luck.

[Woodinblack]

On 02/06/2021 at 11:20, waylander said:

Yea thats fair, i'm down on the Devon/Somerset border so any local music groups to check out are very welcome. Would be more specific but not alot of point as it's fairly rural

Ah, didn't twig you were that close. Somerset is (was) pretty active with a lot of groups going on. Not sure which part of the border (its a 70 mile border!), but we practice near chard and several other groups practice there. There are quite a few groups near yeovil, although the amount of town pubs are closing down. A lot of towns have a local music scene page, and there is a somerset music hub page etc. 

[waylander]

2 hours ago, Cat Burrito said:

Facebook usually has a musicians in (names local town) type page so have a look at one of those two. Good advice re open mic. I tend to find these things seem impossible but once you open the floodgates it does rather snowball. Good luck.

I’ll take a look and maybe ask if I feel brave enough. Sadly a lot of our local Facebook pages are now just buy/sell sites, someone for the fifth time that day looking for a recommended plumber and trolls. Even ones previously dedicated to events have been so over run the mods just gave up.

Edited June 4, 2021 by waylander

[waylander]

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Ah, didn't twig you were that close. Somerset is (was) pretty active with a lot of groups going on. Not sure which part of the border (its a 70 mile border!), but we practice near chard and several other groups practice there. There are quite a few groups near yeovil, although the amount of town pubs are closing down. A lot of towns have a local music scene page, and there is a somerset music hub page etc. 

I’m kind of in middle(?) near Wellington. I’m going to keep an eye on what Taunton has got going on as things start up again.  I used to go college there and it had a decent music scene, but I think like you say a lot of places have closed down now. 
 

[Woodinblack]

5 minutes ago, waylander said:

Sadly a lot of our local Facebook pages are now just buy/sell sites and someone for the fifth time that day looking for a recommended plumber. Even ones previously dedicated to events have been so over run the mods just gave up.

Oh yes, our local pages are terrible, I only stay on them to watch the fights, but we also have a couple of music scene posts, and they are restricted to groups, gigs and people looking to form bands

 

[waylander]

1 minute ago, Woodinblack said:

Oh yes, our local pages are terrible, I only stay on them to watch the fights, but we also have a couple of music scene posts, and they are restricted to groups, gigs and people looking to form bands

 

yours too! Yea the fights are good, we had one person back in January put a ww2 style poster up about reopening local businesses and the “government can’t stop us, covid is fake ” ... local businesses tore the post to shreds over the stupidy 
 

Any key words to search on that might make them easier to find? 

[Woodinblack]

1 minute ago, waylander said:

I’m kind of in middle(?) near Wellington. I’m going to keep an eye on what Taunton has got going on as things start up again.
 

Well, there is a taunton music scene  https://www.facebook.com/groups/462202057152514 and I am sure there are more. Strangely dispite only being 20 miles away I don't recal doing a gig in taunton, certainly a lot in the surrounding countryside where music is very big. Actually one of the odd things is Ilminster, small place right, well in the last pre-lockdown year we did the Cricket club, the football club and the bowling club gigs as well as a couple of pubs around it and a couple of private events in fields.

In fact, we are playing the Cricket Club in 2 weeks time.

You did notice the bass bash in september didn't you? I am not sure whether you commented there. It is great and you will find a lot more people with ideas where to try

[zbd1960]

The age demographic in groups / societies etc of all sorts has changed dramatically over the last 40 years or so. When I started work, groups would have all age groups represented within them. Nowadays, you get a huge hole covering post uni to around 50. I suspect bands are not immune to this. My view is that there has been a huge change in working practices over the last 40 years - people no longer live/work in the same town; long commutes; working hours are rarely 9 - 5... end results is tired people with less free time during the week. PErhaps recent events will cause people to have a re-think?

As a relative novice on bass I'll be looking for options shortly, although at the moment I'm signed-up with the local Rock School which has na adult section. They should start to meet shortly...  

[waylander]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

Well, there is a taunton music scene  https://www.facebook.com/groups/462202057152514 and I am sure there are more. Strangely dispite only being 20 miles away I don't recal doing a gig in taunton, certainly a lot in the surrounding countryside where music is very big. Actually one of the odd things is Ilminster, small place right, well in the last pre-lockdown year we did the Cricket club, the football club and the bowling club gigs as well as a couple of pubs around it and a couple of private events in fields.

In fact, we are playing the Cricket Club in 2 weeks time.

You did notice the bass bash in september didn't you? I am not sure whether you commented there. It is great and you will find a lot more people with ideas where to try

Thank you, i've joined the group and will look for similar ones

Illminster really? I've never been even when i lived over near the A303 as didn't seem like there was much to see there, sounds like they've got a decent live music scene... another reason i can use to get the mrs to move over that way again  

I didn't actually but i've search the forum and found it for 19th September, i'll be all vaccinated up by then so will defintely come along if for nothing else to meet a few other bass players locally. I didn't know that was even a thing!