Being super bored playing music alone and knowing you NEED other people to stay inspired, have fun, and keep learning and then not being able to find them is the woooorst! A lot of times, when you are starting to get better at music, people say you just need to “get out there” or just go find a band (just hanging around somewhere waiting for you…). For me though, “getting out there” sounds like I would just be roaming around town awkwardly bopping into people’s band practices like heeeey it me!
Me “getting out there”
I certainly don’t want this for me or anyone so in this blog, I want to break down exactly how to build a community of musicians when you first move to a new town to do music, or if you just decide you want to start playing out more!
Here are my top tips to get you started!
1) START WITH THE EASIEST MUSIC OPPORTUNITIES FIRST
Looking for opportunities that have zero barrier to entry and get you going right away are always a good start. Things like meeting people at small shows, performing at a writer’s night (you can sign up for most online), or asking to sit in at the end of someone’s set are great ways to do this! I met a new awesome music friend who found my show last week on Instagram, came, and ended up sitting in on some songs (and sounded great!). Small opportunities like this don't take a big time commitment (just don’t take it too personally if you ask and they say no!).
If you feel socially anxious just walking up to people you don’t know and talking to them about music, a good place to start is asking them things like which pedal is their favorite or things about gear. I feel like this is the music world’s version of talking about sports.
My sister Molly has been so much fun to play music with! I never really thought we would make our on little band but here we are!
2) LOOK IN YOUR IMMEDIATE CIRCLE FOR A JAM BUDDY
The phrase “In high tide, all boats float” is SO true when It comes to music things! You don’t need to be writing or playing with a ton of people way better than you when you are getting going, but rather try to connect with and take a chance on the people who are right around you who are also looking to do music. In Nashville, there are lots of groups of songwriters who have started to write together. If one person has a hit song and co-writes It with someone who’s not a well-known writer, people will usually ask about the co-writer, opening up a lot of cool opportunities. YEET!
3) CHECK OUT MUSIC AND GIG FINDER FACEBOOK GROUPS AND FIND MUSICIANS ON INSTA
Instagram has been the biggest way I have found my bands, gotten auditions, and found people to jam with! It’s truly insane that you can find someone you think seems cool and you like their style and then you meet them in the real world and they are just as awesome as you thought. Shameless pitch- you should check out my course Instagram Toolkit for Musicians here! I promise it’s not how to be Instafamous ( We don’t even cover how to start promoting Sugar Bear Hair Gummies in it!) but how to create real opportunities using the connections you make on Instagram! The biggest thing is not being afraid to reach out and message someone and having enough confidence that if they say no, you aren’t crushed.
Need help using Insta to meet other musicians?
Check out my Instagram Toolkit for Musicians Course here!
Also, this is kind of hit or miss, but the group YEP (stands for Young Entertainment Professionals) on Facebook can sometimes have cool opportunities. I met a friend who I did radio tours with on there, but have also gotten into some weird situations I had to just scoot out of. But at least this guarantees you will at least be meeting people and could find your music soulmate on there! There are also a few apps popping up like Gigtown and Jamcard (invite-only though) that you can use. I haven’t use Gigtown so I’m not sure how helpful It would be (tell me if you try it!) but could be cool!
The Project my sister and my we are doing is purly fun and zero pressure which is so great! This is always an awesome way to start a band just making It for fun and not having any expectations of what It needs to look like.
4) TAKE A MUSIC CLASS
There is always more you can learn on guitar, and signing up for group lessons is a good way to meet people who are on the same level and looking to get out of the house and play music! I loved my class with the Nashville Jazz Workshop (sidenote- my teacher Lindsey Miller was an amazing player and so cool!). I feel like this is a great way to at least start playing in some capacity with other people.
How To Get a Gig
Check out this post for more on this!
So there you have it! I always love seeing any comments or emails hearing your thoughts! If you feel like you are stumped trying to figure out where to play or how to get connected to the music scene in your city or town, know there’s nothing wrong with you and It truly just takes time. You will get opportunities and there are people who also want to play music with you so keep trying different things and eventually something will happen! Thank you so much for reading my blog!
