Thank you all for the great responses and tips about how you started playing in bands and what’s important to you. It’s been really insightful!
A lot of great answers and tips have already been shared, but here’s my journey back to playing in a band. I stopped playing almost 20 years ago after being in various garage bands during my youth, mostly playing metal. Back then, I never learned anything beyond what I needed for the band I was in, and I made a lot of “mistakes.” I basically just played what sounded right to me, and of course, the riffs the guitarists told me to play. I never learned any theory and only played with a pick, but I had pretty good timing and was relatively fast, even though my technique was terrible. I guess that’s just something young fingers can handle!
Since I put music aside, I’ve missed it from time to time, and in 2022, I bought an Ibanez SDGR and started playing a bit by myself. Unfortunately, I had forgotten a lot, and I didn’t enjoy playing; instead, I felt frustrated that I was so bad and my fingers wouldn’t do what I wanted. I think it’s comparable to a soccer player who picks up soccer again as an adult – it usually ends in injuries! Luckily, I didn’t sell my equipment, and in the summer of 2023, I started playing a bit again, but this time, cover songs. I learned a few simpler songs, and the joy of playing started to come back, but I still felt like I didn’t know anything, and I still hadn’t played with my fingers, and my left pinky finger was more of a hindrance than a help. I realized I needed to start from scratch. I came across Bassbuzz and went all in to become as good as I could be when I signed up in September 2023. I completed the course and loved it. The support from the forum here is also incredible, and I started to feel like a bassist. Unfortunately, I was very unsure if I was good enough to take the step and join a band, which resulted in a question on the forum about when you’re good enough. There were a lot of great answers, and I recommend reading “When are you good enough?..and other similarly strange discussions.” - Lounge - BassBuzz Forum.
Then came the easy part, once I had the basics down and a bit of self-belief. There are many groups on social media where musicians look for other musicians, and I posted an honest ad in one such group. The next day, I was contacted by a guitarist who wanted me to join a band playing blues/rock covers from the 60s-80s. They were all a few years older than me and had played music their whole lives. A bit nervous, I showed up for the first rehearsal the following week. I didn’t know any of the songs they played, but I came prepared, arrived early, brought about three extra cables, batteries, etc. I approached the tasks very humbly and played as best as I could on the songs they played. They were all much better than me, but as the guitarist said, it’s more about who you are and the effort you’re willing to put in than what you can do right now. I continued to practice diligently and always arrived first at every rehearsal. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before our lead guitarist and vocalist had to quit, but by then, I was warmed up, and we got a new vocalist, a very experienced musician closer to my age. From the first rehearsal, he had the same attitude: as long as you put in the effort, the results will come. The following week, the drummer also had to quit due to health issues, and we got a “professional” drummer, as well as a new lead guitarist/keyboardist, also a “professional” musician. So now I suddenly found myself in a band with musicians who mostly play several times a week. Amazingly, they all think it’s great fun to play together, and we’ve now rehearsed a repertoire of about 40 songs. I’m really looking forward to playing gigs, probably before the summer.
Along the way, my old band Mecalimb contacted me and asked if we should have a reunion. We’ve now had 10 rehearsals, and the first of two reunion concerts is this Saturday. It became a bit of a long post for a simple conclusion, but I would say that the key to joining a band is to dare to try.