At what point did you first start playing with others?

[Mushroo]

Here are some questions for you: Do you enjoy jamming along with your favorite albums? When you are in the car and a good song comes on the radio, do you sing along? Do you enjoy the energy of going to a good concert? When you are at work or doing chores, do you ever find yourself whistling or tapping your foot to an invisible beat? Have ever played "air guitar"?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, I predict you will LOVE making music with others.

 

[Medicine Man]

I had a gig before I had a bass. When I was 16, I had been playing trombone for a decade, and some guys I knew from the local pit orchestra convinced me to buy a bass and learn some stuff real quick before their blues gig in 3 weeks. I literally practiced my fingres into bloody nubs. I'm not bragging, because boy did I suck for the for the first 6 months. I highly recommend learning to play an instrument before you take any gigs on it.

 

[delta7fred]

From day one.

A bunch of school friends decided to start a band and we all started learning together. For a few months it sounded terrible (even to us) then little by little it started to improve as we all worked out what we should be playing and our timing improved.

 

[Yonni]

Thanks for sharing all the stories and advice. A lot of them made me chuckle, especially the school kids forming a band before they could play. That was me 35 years ago too. I should probably give a bit of background: I'm a late starter (51). I live in Edinburgh Scotland so no Craig's List here but the music stores have notice boards and there are some websites where local bands advertise for musicians. There's even a local venue that I think has jam nights. I have 2 young kids, a full time job and I'm studying part time so although I've been playing 17 months, the bass has to come after all the other priorities. In short, I'm not as far along as I feel I should be. I don't feel I can commit time to a band until I've finished studying (1 more year to go) and the boys are a bit older (4 & 7 yrs old). I know I'd get a buzz out of playing with others but I don't feel confident enough just yet. I should probably just suck it and see. My timing seems ok though.

 

[RustyAxe]

Within weeks of getting my first bass ... 1967. But I'd been playing piano for about six years, so I only needed to learn the fretboard to play the notes I heard in my head. Many (most) players didn't come to it so easily, I suppose. I had the same experience when I started upright bass about ten years ago. I was on stage in weeks, once I learned some good technique. I already knew where the notes were ...

 

[JTE]

While I'd played a little guitar, I started playing bass with others on stage the day I first played bass- Here's the story-
There was a local band (1976) playing country, some older rock 'n' roll, CCR stuff. Merle Haggard, Waylon/Willie, Hank Snow, etc. They didn't have a regular bassists and two friends of mine were doing most of the gigs with them. I cleaning up the wiring on one of the guys' spare bass (a refinished Mustang). and one afternoon he called me to inquire about it. When I asked if he needed it that night, he said "No, you do." I told him I'd only ever played with other people three or four times (on guitar) for faltering jams, never worked up songs, and didn't know most of the stuff they played. He prodded me, cajoled me, encouraged me, and told me it paid $50. I was making $200/week working for my dad's HVAC business so $50 was enough to push me into it. I showed up (I knew the guitarist at least) and was scared to death. I knew enough from guitar to play a basic Chuck Berry sort of boogie and to be able to find the root, third and fifth of a chord most of the time. I got through the night, and figured I'd never hear from them again. But, the singer asked if I'd be interested the next gig- four nights in a row at a local bowling alley, paying $50/night. Two hundred dollars sounded great so I really learned how to play bass on stage- and 'shedding with columns in Guitar Player Magazine by Carol Kaye and Chuck Rainey. I was coming from Cream, Allman Bros (the original band with Duane and Berry), Airplane/Hot Tuna, etc. When I was accused of being a "busy" bass player I didn't understand because what I was doing wasn't anything like Jack Bruce or Cassady...

That band had a lot of turnover, I worked with four different drummers in six months. The guitar player quit to form his own band, and after a while asked me to be in it. He found a great drummer and I was hooked at that point.

 

[catcauphonic]

So, I've been playing for about 17 months but progress has been slow with 2 young kids and studying part time on top of my job. I'm itching to play with others but not confident I know what I'm doing enough to jam. How did you get started jamming and joining a band? Is there a minimum set of knowledge you think you should have before you're ready?

Taking up bass as my first instrument at 42yo, I really only intended to play along to songs I liked. But after about a year and a few months of seemingly very slow progress, i decided to check Craigslist in search of a drummer in a similar spot. Instead I auditioned for (and nailed) a startup band with a drummer and guitarist with a few song ideas I liked. We played together weekly and added another guitarist who's extremely talented, and eventually a singer. 2 months later we were playing out. That was 4+ years ago (though we eventually ended up with another singer who's even better to work with.) Not counting the first EP with the old singer, we have a single with a video, and our first full length comes out in a few weeks.

TL/DR: To better apply to your sitch... A month or two after I joined that band, my then wife said she noticed my playing become exponentially better. Go for it. If you can put your first time nerves aside, you'll notice a big difference.

 

[dreamadream99]

I would just add, don’t be intimidated playing with more competent musicians. Nothing raises your bar quicker.

 

[Bob_Ross]

How did you get started jamming and joining a band? Is there a minimum set of knowledge you think you should have before you're ready?

Ha! I joined a band before I even knew how to play!

When I was 12 years old my best friends & I were always talking about music and rock bands, and one day one of my buddies said "Y'know, I've got an old snare drum in my basement" and I said "my parents got me an acoustic guitar three months ago" and my other friend said "I play a little piano" and we all did the goofy unison "LET'S START A BAND!" shout. So we did. We all sucked...but we learned together. Spent five years with those guys, and by the time we broke up (everyone moved away to go to different colleges) we'd evolved into a pretty decent, if eclectic/idiosyncratic, band.

It was probably three years, maybe four, before I was good enough to actually play with anybody else besides those guys though.

 

[brianrost]

although I've been playing 17 months, I'm not as far along as I feel I should be

That was I thought, too. Then when I started playing in bands I realized that I could be playing even worse and noone would even notice Basically, I waited a lot longer than I needed to. From my very first paid gig in college, it was only about 4 or 5 years until I was playing in bands with full-time professionals which is where I really learned how to play.

Just don't start out playing with people who want to play complex music, there's thousands of tunes where playing just root-five (or just root!) or a simple triad walk is all that is needed. Being in tune and in time is all that really matters in the end. The hardest part for me was learning how to listen to recordings and figure out the chord progressions and at least parts of the bass lines. The playing part was easy.

 

[bass12]

I spent years playing along to records before really beginning to play with others. I just never had the goal of becoming a sideman or collaborator and the only musicians I knew were older pros. The first time I sat in with a band was when I was twenty one. I started playing bass when I was twelve and began taking bass lessons at seventeen. I did get together with a drummer once when I was about seventeen but I realized that playing along with records was more fun to me than playing with a musician I didn't click with. I still feel that way.

 

[Laurent]

As soon as possible.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

So, I've been playing for about 17 months but progress has been slow with 2 young kids and studying part time on top of my job. I'm itching to play with others but not confident I know what I'm doing enough to jam. How did you get started jamming and joining a band? Is there a minimum set of knowledge you think you should have before you're ready?

I was 11. One thing for sure, playing with other musicians will improve your playing much faster than playing in your bedroom alone. My advice is to play with others as much as you can, but also, don’t shirk your responsibilities. Sounds like you have a full plate.

 

[Dan Knowlton]

I was gigging regularly as a drummer and also played every other week at a large church (2500+ attendance). When I decided to play bass I would go to rehearsal on my "off" weeks and play along through a headphone monitoring unit and would sit in for the bassist when he could not make rehearsal. I had been playing about 6 months when I got a call asking me to play for the Saturday night service (smaller one, usually 8-900) as they did not have a bassist. Within 2 more months I was on bass one weekend and on drums the next and then we lost both of the bassists so I did 4 years of playing 50 weeks a year.

The fun thing was the number of well-known artists that came through there so I got the chance to play along with them. It could be challenging, like the time a C&W guy showed up at the 8am rehearsal - gave us three songs to play...and then proceeded to play in a different key for each of them during the services - and NOT the same key for each of the two services! Not complaining- getting stretched is the best way to learn!

Dan

 

[natobasso]

Start as quick as you can jamming with people, it will dramatically increase your skills and confidence. There's nothing like someone counting off a song you barely know to keep you focused!

I like to get at least three songs together that everyone wants to do at the jam so it's "productive" and fun and then take it from there. You might find you know more songs than you think by ear.

Be honest about your skill level and set expectations and then blow them away with your great attitude.

The more you jam the better you get.

 

[wysiwyg248]

I started with a band first, then learned that I had to practice.
One starting point, practice and create your own play list. Practice this to death, learn more tunes, etc. In the meantime look for people interested in the type of music you like, check Craiglist, blogs, online, etc.
I met Francis Rocco Prestia and asked him how often he practice his style of 16's notes. He told me that never practice, he would get bored in two seconds. However, he played with a band as often as possible.
Lear from the master himself.

 

[coolhang]

You should start playing with others as soon as you can find others to play with.
No joke - that's how it really happens .....

 

[dtripoli]

At what point did you first start playing with others?
Immediately....end of story.

 

[Later_Peter]

2 weeks ago.

 

[Jimks]

How and when .... just go do it.... any chance you get. Period. Don't worry about messing up or be timid when jamming ... jamming is the place to try new things, learn to improvise, and just friggin have fun playing You want to learn a particular song, someone there will usually know it and show you ... so you learn from others too. Everyone there will "mess up" .... and no one worth their salt will care. If they are that anal, it isn't jamming. Do it often. You will also get to know other players .... who know other players ... and it will grow from there .... and before you know it , you'll be standing on a stage playing away.

And I don't care what your age is ..... old, young, etc. ........ no one else cares ...... it's how you can play. You know what , you can be in front of 20,000 people playing .... mess up ..... and most likely no one will even realize it and even if they do they won't care. Off stage, you may get ribbed about it, all in fun ... because it happens to everyone. They know they'll get it all back when they do it at the next one. Now, if you mess up on every other note you play .... they will care.

Don't just learn bass..... learn "music" ..... different keys, scales, chords and more types of music. It was easy for me to apply what I learned playing other things to bass, musically. You get something out of all of it. Versatility is a plus. Just "play" at home sometimes, turn on some music and 1) try to listen and learn what the bass player is doing and to play it as they did, 2) then also play the same song .... and adlib ..... how you would have played it. Don't get timid, stressed, tight or over-anal.... you'll stiffen up and won't play as well as you are capable of doing. Llighten up on yourself .... YOU will always be your own worse critic and push yourself to do better, if you are any good at all.

 

[Captain Comet]

Playing with other will push you into songs that you wouldn't think of yourself. That will expand your skills. You will find you really like playing some songs, suggested by others, that maybe you didn't think you would like so much to start out. Those end up being very rewarding.

I would start out playing songs that are simple to build your confidence, and it will grow from there. If you have a competitive bone in your body, over time, you will not want to be "the weakest link" in the band. The better players you work with, the better it will force you to play.

In my last band, after 6 years, this escalated to the point where one guitar player and I pushed a song idea, and the 2nd guitarist, who tended to drive the songlist a lot and tended to be conservative, thought the song too complex to play out and backed away from it. The first guy and I each hammered it out before the next practice and peer-pressured the 2nd into playing along (somewhat lost).... bwa-ha-ha-ha.... It ended up being really good and on our songlist for a year or two.