Bit of a Rant, where now?

[SteveXFR]

As others have said, get along to jam sessions. 

I went to one, it was mostly pop/blues/jazz but I got chatting to one of the drummers there and we're now in a stoner metal band together.

[SteveXFR]

Top tip for jam nights. Learn 12 bar blues and when someone says "who's going to start us off" you get in there with a 12 bar blues. 

[TimR]

Bandmix has been good to me. Currently playing in 3 bands all found me through Bandmix.

 

You don't need to pay, I can't remember what advantage paying gets you.

[BassAdder60]

43 minutes ago, TimR said:

Bandmix has been good to me. Currently playing in 3 bands all found me through Bandmix.

 

You don't need to pay, I can't remember what advantage paying gets you.

If you pay you can send messages on Bandmix and receive messages too of course. 
It’s not the best of sites to be honest but it can lead to finding other musicians etc 

[Leonard Smalls]

7 minutes ago, BassAdder60 said:

It’s not the best of sites to be honest but it can lead to finding other musicians

I once sent out 23 messages to guitarists, all of whom professed to wanting to play the genres I was proposing, and all of whom said they were expert or advanced.

I only got 1 message back, from someone who turned out to be late 60s (said 40 in profile) and wanted to play country , it said punk and funk in profile, so wasn't interested. Still waiting for replies from the others; good thing I wasn't holding my breath!

Still strikes me as a bit rude not to reply at all - surely not all messages go into unchecked spam folders?

[BassAdder60]

9 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

I once sent out 23 messages to guitarists, all of whom professed to wanting to play the genres I was proposing, and all of whom said they were expert or advanced.

I only got 1 message back, from someone who turned out to be late 60s (said 40 in profile) and wanted to play country , it said punk and funk in profile, so wasn't interested. Still waiting for replies from the others; good thing I wasn't holding my breath!

Still strikes me as a bit rude not to reply at all - surely not all messages go into unchecked spam folders?

I think some sign up make a profile and then give up looking or responding 

[dmccombe7]

18 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

I once sent out 23 messages to guitarists, all of whom professed to wanting to play the genres I was proposing, and all of whom said they were expert or advanced.

I only got 1 message back, from someone who turned out to be late 60s (said 40 in profile) and wanted to play country , it said punk and funk in profile, so wasn't interested. Still waiting for replies from the others; good thing I wasn't holding my breath!

Still strikes me as a bit rude not to reply at all - surely not all messages go into unchecked spam folders?

I think its just bad manners. I always reply to any messages i get altho i don't use Bandmix much at all these days.

Dave

[Leonard Smalls]

7 minutes ago, BassAdder60 said:

make a profile

Aye! And what's amazing is the amount of folks who don't put pics in, or any sort of idea of what/when/how/why. It only takes a couple of seconds to type something like "been playing guitar for 10 years, looking to join covers band, influences range from Beatles to Metallica"

[Leonard Smalls]

2 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

I always reply to any messages i get

Me too! I had a chap asking if I wanted to join his band recently and rather than ignore him we corresponded and even found we had folks in common. And I had no interest in joining his band, wasn't my thing and I was busy anyway, but I felt like it was good manners to reply. It's not like he was a spammerscammer trying to steal my life savings (or if he was, there's probably better ways).

[dmccombe7]

3 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Me too! I had a chap asking if I wanted to join his band recently and rather than ignore him we corresponded and even found we had folks in common. And I had no interest in joining his band, wasn't my thing and I was busy anyway, but I felt like it was good manners to reply. It's not like he was a spammerscammer trying to steal my life savings (or if he was, there's probably better ways).

100% and that guy might be a valuable contact in future. Both bands i'm in at moment have same drummer. I first spoke with him 6yrs before being in a band with him. We had discussed by PM's about doing Glam Rock but couldn't find the right people and it fell away. Then out of the blue i got a message thru the grapevine that a guy was looking to do a Glam band and when i spoke with him and suggested the drummer he said he knew him and was already on board and the drummer had also recommended me on bass. We had never met and had never heard each other but when you know you know. We've been in same band for 5 yrs now.

Bit of a long winded storyline there 

There's no reason for not giving a quick one liner reply saying you are busy at moment.

Dave

Edited August 29, 2023 by dmccombe7

[SH73]

I too picked up a bass after 15 years of absence from playing. Since then I picked up few more basses, guitars and a drum kit and have few years on top of you.  Finding reliable band mates or any band is not straight forward. I have joint a couple of bands but they split up before we even rehearsed. Or they want me to play music I don't even like or listen to. I am happy to just play to myself, as loud as I want, with the style I want, have the tone I like and pull whatever face I want when I play not having to rely on others to turn up for rehearsal or a guitar playing fiddling with a pedal board for 20 minutes to dial in the tune every single rehearsal. 

[Geek99]

On 26/07/2023 at 07:41, Paolo85 said:

I am in a similar situation, a bit younger, with the complication (which you may or may not have as well) that for family reasons I am not so sure how much time I'd be ok to allocate to a band. On paper jam nights seem to be the thing for me but I am not so good at improvising and jamming in front of lots of people is not necessarily the low pressure situation I'd be looking for after some 20 years without playing with other people.

My ideal situation would be a fairly local band of middle-aged mums and dads, little more than beginners, or re-learners, or for some reason hapoy to just reharse together for a while without gigging until the band works alright.

I guess such thing may even exist if I am flexible with genres...

Not at all - improvising is much easier than you think. I’ve got small children and get to a jam night once a month max. I’ve not practiced in years as kids and diy mountain don’t allow. At @How1 also 
 

I got thrown in the deep end by a rude OM night host (just this Friday gone) who wouldn’t even tell me what song was next. I had to work it out, google the chords and come up with something, really quickly.  Luckily there are sone basic rules about what works and I swam, sort of, rather than sank. I expected to sink, as you do. If you read my started threads, the story is there
 

where are you located ? Either of you that is? 
 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Geek99

[dmccombe7]

5 minutes ago, SH73 said:

I too picked up a bass after 15 years of absence from playing. Since then I picked up few more basses, guitars and a drum kit and have few years on top of you.  Finding reliable band mates or any band is not straight forward. I have joint a couple of bands but they split up before we even rehearsed. Or they want me to play music I don't even like or listen to. I am happy to just play to myself, as loud as I want, with the style I want, have the tone I like and pull whatever face I want when I play not having to rely on others to turn up for rehearsal or a guitar playing fiddling with a pedal board for 20 minutes to dial in the tune every single rehearsal. 

Until i found the bands i'm currently in, i joined various styles of bands to get more experience. Everything from Prog, Rock, Pop, Tribute, club style and even a Ceilidh style rock band. Some were covers and some were originals but for me it was worth it. I learned a fair bit and i had to accept different characters in each band. Means i'm a bit more tolerant these days and accept that not everything in a band will be perfect and i just get on with my job in the band. I'm very lucky that i get along with everyone in both bands and it just works. We have a great laugh at gigs and even rehearsals are great fun.

Dave

 

[SH73]

4 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

Until i found the bands i'm currently in, i joined various styles of bands to get more experience. Everything from Prog, Rock, Pop, Tribute, club style and even a Ceilidh style rock band. Some were covers and some were originals but for me it was worth it. I learned a fair bit and i had to accept different characters in each band. Means i'm a bit more tolerant these days and accept that not everything in a band will be perfect and i just get on with my job in the band. I'm very lucky that i get along with everyone in both bands and it just works. We have a great laugh at gigs and even rehearsals are great fun.

Dave

 

Unfortunately it wouldn't work for me, I grew up on metal and although I don't mind listening to other music genre when they are being played by others than me, I couldn't play e.g. pop. I even turned down a band playing originals based on early Sabath days.  Also, being up late is not my cup of tea anymore. 

[TimR]

Don't forget we are bass players. There's a high demand for good players. 

 

If you write your bio well and honestly you'll be contacted. I'm not sure I'd be writing to guitarists, certainly the fact that there are 23 that look suitable would suggest a bunch of people out there who want to play guitar but aren't in bands. 

 

I'd be looking for bands that have already formed and are gigging.

[TimR]

On 25/07/2023 at 23:47, How1 said:

Every time we get together we're  playing really random stuff, like different genres every song. It's fun to some degree but it's not really working for me.

 

 

Have you talked to him about narrowing down a genre and working on some specific songs with the aim of getting a drummer in.

 

Unless he doesn't sing, in which case, I would be looking for a singer to determine which direction to head in next. 

[SH73]

@How1 your post inspired me, I placed a new add looking for musicians to play with. I'll give it another go.

[dmccombe7]

37 minutes ago, SH73 said:

Unfortunately it wouldn't work for me, I grew up on metal and although I don't mind listening to other music genre when they are being played by others than me, I couldn't play e.g. pop. I even turned down a band playing originals based on early Sabath days.  Also, being up late is not my cup of tea anymore. 

I was brought up on Prog and Rock ie Genesis, Floyd, Rush and Kiss. 

When i was 20 i decided to listen to jazz rock bassists just to improve my playing. 

Couple of yrs ago i was asked by our drummer if i would be interested in helping his punk band till they got a new bassist. I enjoyed it so much i stayed and its just great fun. Takes a lot of finger stamina to play punk fingerstyle for 2.5hrs. 

I appreciate you want to stick to what you like and are into. 

I would rather be playing any bass in a band no matter what style as long as i enjoy it. I did pack in the club and function band to be fair as it just wasn't me.

Hope you can find a metal band that suits you. Nothing better than getting fellow musicians into same music and playing what you like. 

All the best.

Dave

[Paolo85]

On 29/08/2023 at 09:20, Geek99 said:

Not at all - improvising is much easier than you think. I’ve got small children and get to a jam night once a month max. I’ve not practiced in years as kids and diy mountain don’t allow. At @How1 also 
 

I got thrown in the deep end by a rude OM night host (just this Friday gone) who wouldn’t even tell me what song was next. I had to work it out, google the chords and come up with something, really quickly.  Luckily there are sone basic rules about what works and I swam, sort of, rather than sank. I expected to sink, as you do. If you read my started threads, the story is there
 

where are you located ? Either of you that is? 
 

 

 

Well, I guess it all depends on personal skills, regardless of practice time. And also confidence and interests. I guess stakes at a jam night in a pub are not high but I am not sure why would I spend my limited free time putting myself in a situation I do not want to be in - such as the one you have described.

That being said, I get the point many have made that some jam nights may not be as intimidating as I expected. Maybe in the right situation I could manage to put some roots and fifths in a simple chord progression or do something more if i know/learn a few songs.

A friendly BC member suggested a couple of jams here in Bromley that I will check out as soon as I get myself to do it

[Geek99]

On 29/08/2023 at 09:48, TimR said:

Don't forget we are bass players. There's a high demand for good players. 

 

 

F c u k 

[How1]

On 29/08/2023 at 09:54, TimR said:

 

 

Have you talked to him about narrowing down a genre and working on some specific songs with the aim of getting a drummer in.

 

Unless he doesn't sing, in which case, I would be looking for a singer to determine which direction to head in next. 

It's actually going pretty well. We've kind of settled in a bit and got a few bits recorded, albeit roughly at this stage. We're still coming up with rather disjointed ideas, but the stuff we're jamming out and coming up with 'on the spot' is beginning to find it's feet. He's also notably improved. 

Edited August 30, 2023 by How1

[How1]

On 29/08/2023 at 10:04, SH73 said:

@How1 your post inspired me, I placed a new add looking for musicians to play with. I'll give it another go.

Go for it 👍

[diskwave]

Found two different bands in the last four yrs with JMB. Seems a pretty good site. One for drums, the other bass.

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, greavesbass said:

Found two different bands in the last four yrs with JMB. Seems a pretty good site. One for drums, the other bass.

Yip i've used JMB too and had a fair bit of success with it. 

I did find a lot of the messages i sent got no response tho but that's the nature of the business these days.

Dave

[TimR]

5 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Yip i've used JMB too and had a fair bit of success with it. 

I did find a lot of the messages i sent got no response tho but that's the nature of the business these days.

Dave

 

I think it's that nature of any business. 

 

Unless you're recommended you're just another CV on someone's desk. 

 

The last guy who contacted me wore me down with his persistence. I'm still not convinced the band has legs. I have the most experience, have patience and am happy to go along for the ride for a bit. I'm not sure what the aim of the band is. Life is an adventure...