The Unspoken Truth About Finding Your Band

So you want to join a band. You've started attending open mic nights. You've scanned all your local forums, classifieds listings, and social media groups for "band seeking musicians" posts. You've called up a few of your musician buddies to see if they're interested or know anyone else that might be. At this rate, you should be able to find a band to join or start your own in no time... right?

"I'm already in a band" - everyone you really want in your band

Despite all your efforts, you get the same handful of results every time:

• "I'm already in a band"

• Different skill or commitment levels, or the people you're talking to simply don't play the same instrument(s) you're looking to fill

• Incompatible interests in music genres

• "Love your sound"... then crickets

Sound familiar? No? If not, you're either incredibly lucky or you just might not have really tried to begin with. If this does sound familiar though, then congrats, you've learned what it's really like.

The Truth

This isn't easy. The music world is one where you can find countless musicians looking for band members, but few of them finding the match they're looking for.

It's you

Or more accurately, it's your expectations.

Expectations

Don't get me wrong. Open mic nights, forums and all those other strategies I mentioned can and do work. You probably started with those options because at some point someone told you that's how to find a band to join and it worked for them, am I right?

For most people though, it is just frustratingly difficult and time consuming; much more than it should be. In some cases, it can take so long people just give up entirely; don't be one of them.

Reality

You've barely scratched the surface. If you thought you were just going to show up to one or two open mic nights and magically find your dream team of rock star musicians, you're in for a rude awakening.

The people who get this right are really going after it. They're trying everything: all the strategies I listed earlier and then some as often as they can. And if they're not working hard for it now, chances are it's because they've already put in the time in the past to build their network.

As an aside, you should also take an honest assessment of yourself. Check your attitude; do people enjoy working with you? Are your skills at least up to par with those you're trying to recruit? If not, maybe it's time to grab some lessons.

TL;DR

If you want to find a band to join that's the perfect fit for you, you need to be actively working all the resources at your disposal. Put yourself out there, and work on yourself if needed to make sure you're someone others want to work with.

Most importantly, don't give up. It can be rough out there, but with enough dedication, you absolutely can find your band.