The troubles of finding a band

[FretsOnFire]

I'm probably not the only one in this position but for the life of me I just cannot find a covers band in my area (Southend, Essex) that's looking for a bassist.

 

I don't care what type of music as long as it's not funk or jazz and I'm not bothered if they are older than me (I'm 38) I just want to play with others 

 

I've tried Facebook groups, Craig's list, joinmyband, bandmix, posting to YouTube, Instagram, x, tiktok, hell I've posted physical adverts in music shop windows and the local papers and I've not even had a sniff.

 

Is it really that hard to find fellow musicians? 

[Dad3353]

Have you tried looking for a drummer, and maybe a singer/guitarist, and starting your own band..? 

[tauzero]

Are there any open mics or jam nights near you? Would be worth exploring if there are.

 

Also, are there any rehearsal studios around by you? They're worth checking out for adverts and putting your own adverts in. Bassists are generally quite in demand, almost as much as drummers.

[FretsOnFire]

3 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

Have you tried looking for a drummer, and maybe a singer/guitarist, and starting your own band..? 

My brother In law is a drummer and we've jammed before and I spent months looking for guitar players and a singer which we did eventually find but after one jam he backed out sighting life issues and the other three just fell apart sadly 

[FretsOnFire]

49 minutes ago, tauzero said:

Are there any open mics or jam nights near you? Would be worth exploring if there are.

 

Also, are there any rehearsal studios around by you? They're worth checking out for adverts and putting your own adverts in. Bassists are generally quite in demand, almost as much as drummers.

I've found a few open Mic nights this eve on your rec and so I'll be checking them out in the next week or so

[Dan Dare]

You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet a handsome price. Or even an ugly one. The only answer is perseverance.

[BigRedX]

On 27/09/2025 at 23:29, FretsOnFire said:

I don't care what type of music as long as it's not funk or jazz and I'm not bothered if they are older than me (I'm 38) I just want to play with others 

 

I don't really know what it's like trying to get into a covers band but for an originals band this would be a bit of a red flag, as bands tend to like their musicians to be fairly focused on the style of music they want to play. Certainly when I have auditioned musicians who say they like a very range of music it turns out they might say they like everything, but they have little understanding of the specifics of many genres outside of blues-based rock music and ultimately are unsuitable for the band.

 

If you really do like (and have a good understanding of) a wide variety of genres I would suggest that you do a separate advert for each one rather than trying to lump everything together in a single one, as it has the tendency to make you look unfocused rather than versatile.

[redbandit599]

I know you mention that you've tried Facebook Groups - have you tried these two? https://www.facebook.com/groups/133927049955561 and https://www.facebook.com/groups/567722186694185 both Essex based and cover band specific.