how did you go about getting your band together?

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 5:20 pm

Im a singer songwritter and i write my music on piano but when i write the lyrics and arrangements i write them with the feeling of having a band backing me. i have a really strong voice for the piano alone. im moving to the austin texas, sa antonio area in june and need advice on how to hook up with musicians and have them take me seriously as a female frontwomen.

Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:43 pm

first thing you might want to do is make some demos of a few of your songs and put them on the internet at sites like this. myspace is also a good tool. then play some solo shows in the austin area. i recommend austin because it has an amazing music scene. try to book shows with musicians you like and develop a good report with them. as you get to know some of them, you casn ask them to perform with you and record with you. that's one way.

you can also just put an add in local free press papers for the local scene and post adds in music shops. that's another. one's just a little more organic than the other. good luck. Bitte gruss meiner zweite Heimat ganz herzlich fuer mich.

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:18 am

In addition to what Gorgatron had said.....
There is always craigslist,
Go to open mic nights at the local bars,
Go to Karoke.....yeah i know, i know, but it works sometimes,
post ads at your local music stores,
are you wanting to join a band??...or form one around you??
if you wanting to join a band..i suggest all above...however, if you are wanting to form one around you, then some of the above apply,
But, if you are extremly talented and ready to go, then there is always your local musicians union, they have an abundance of musicians standing by and ready to work,,,,.I have used, www.bandmix.com in the past with great results, if ya need more info then i would suggest doing a search on the internet,
Hope this helps,
GG

ubw newbie Joined: Feb 18, 2008 Posts: 3

We just started getting together to play some popular songs and then we thought about staring a band... Its all down hill from there...

Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 10:01 pm

I never really had to look for a band.
I got given a guitar for my birthday one year and and bunch of my mates decided we'd start a band together and it all spiraled from there.

I would suggest putting an ad in the local music paper.
Over here there is Drum Media and 3DWorld. Both free with heaps of info on gigs and music news, but both have a huge classifieds section for musos looking for other musos.
I have heard of lots of bands and friends that have formed through these papers.
Hopefully there is something similar over there.

Best of luck.

ubw newbie Joined: Dec 10, 2007 Posts: 36

A good option would be to check out the music schools in Austin. Always tons of talented musicians devoted to their work looking for opportunity.
Is bandmix really that effective Gunner? How many collaboration have you made using that site? Very annoying with that site is that they expect you to pay to have acess to other musicians profile and contact info. And obviously the best way around that is just post your contacts in the 'about' section of an artist's homepage. But apparently the site works quite well.
oh and their artist sugestions they send every week could be geographically more precise.
Anyways, bandmix can help for sure, jams and open mics as well
what i also tend to do i just talk to ppl in the street when i see them with an instrumet, this method is quite crude but its the general feel you must have when strarting a band: DONT BE SHY about finding your musicians, about playing what you want to play, about finding and contacting venues...

by the way guys, we just came out with a blog where we base our content on band quotes. http://gigdoggy.wordpress.com/
We network with bands about band related topics and post their comments in the blog. If you are interested in getting posted just let me know.

all the best

gigDoggy

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:25 pm

There are lots of ways it can happen, as lots of people have already given examples of... Personally I think there's alot to be said for just advertising. If you want to stick up a few posters, music shops usually have an notice area that all the local musicians will read. If you want to go the online route, gumtree.com is how I met my bandmates.

ubw newbie Joined: Nov 08, 2007 Location: US Posts: 11

I agree with all the advice above. The key is to try all different types of avenues as you never know where they may lead you. The most important thing is to just get your music out there so people can hear what you sound like. In addition to all of the sites that were listed, try checking out infusician.com. It's a free site where you can promote your music and search for musicians. Best of luck to you!

how did you go about getting your band together?

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