I am willing to bet that many of my readers who love music and love playing music have thought about making music themselves. Some of you are likely to go the solo artist route but many likely have an interest in starting a band.
I know that when I was first musing on the idea, I was daunted by the task of finding members. So, I thought I’d make a guide for people who don’t fully know how to go about doing so.
First off, reach out to your friends and find out if anyone is interested in jamming with you. You might find exactly what you’re looking for right under your nose. Even if your friends aren’t what you’re looking for, ask them to reach out to their friends.
If you don’t have many friends or your friends aren’t a good fit for whatever reason, I’d recommend trying to network as much as possible. I know that it isn’t always easy to find and talk to new people. What I did initially was I posted on a community wide social media page indicating I was interested in jamming with people and urged people interested to reach out.
If you are going to use this approach, please take proper personal safety precautions.
This is a good way to network with other artists in the community. You still might not find exactly what you’re looking for and that’s okay. There are other ways to meet people. Another idea is to put up fliers or something of a similar nature.
I personally found that it was important to explicitly mention my own skills and capabilities, the genres I wanted to play and my professional goals within the band (i.e., I’m serious and want to take this as far as it will go/I’m just goofing off and playing around while in college).
It might take a while to find your people but not unlike with most things in life, it’s all about trial and error. If you don’t try, you’ll never know.
— dj dragonfly
