Are you a guitar player, keyboard player, bass player, drummer or singer? If you are, then I'm sure you've thought about the possibility of playing in a live band. Playing in a live band is the next logical step to take after you've learned how to play your instrument.
How can you start your very own live band? It's as easy as meeting other musicians who are looking to join a live band of their very own. There are hundreds of musicians out there looking to play in a live band and all you have to do is find them.
What do you need to do to find other musicians looking to play in a live band? You should start by checking musician postings at your local music store. Pretty much every music store provides a bulletin board where musicians can post ads for free with the goal of finding other musicians that want to play music together.
Another important thing to do is to ask the music store for a list of music teachers who teach students to play on instruments you need to have in your band. The music teachers are a great resource for contacting students who are ready and want to play in a live band. You can build a good list of potential band members this way.
Once you have a list of musicians to contact it's time to start making phone calls. Make sure you're clear about the type of music you want to play. It's a good idea to have a list of songs you want to learn so you can make sure the musicians you contact are interested in playing the same music as you.
The next step in starting a live band is to get together with the other musicians and try playing some music. At first you just want to get together with one or two people at a time. Make sure you all have a song or two prepared to play and then simply try playing together. You'll be able to tell quickly if you are going to be able to play together or not. If you're not sure how many musicians you need, read my article about the typical live band lineup.
After you find a group of musicians who can play some complete songs together you'll have the start of your live band. Have a few easy goals to work on right from the start. An important and easy goal is to learn to play two new songs on your own before you get together again. The next time you get together you can work on playing all the songs from start to finish.
There are going to be a lot of things that will go into making your live band work and become successful. The most important thing to remember is to have a common goal and to work together to reach it. Having a goal of learning new songs every week will keep you focused and your band will just keep getting better!