The one at a time approach works well, according to my own experience. At the very least, you can connect with one person and then both decide what you want to add next. Even more, members tend to come with their own connections.

I started off with a rhythm guitar player(no longer in the band). He liked what we were doing and ended up contacting an old drummer that he used to work with and convincing him to give it a try. I would have never connected with the drummer otherwise, as 'surf' was the last thing on his mind. He came in and is one of the best drummers I have ever had the pleasure of creating music with. Even more, he might be the second most devoted person in the band.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
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Starting a band is all about finding like minded people. Once you find them open communication is the key to making it work. In my case, I was lucky to have worked with a drummer and guitar player in previous bands. They were very open to creating a surf band. Moreover, we found a bass player on CL who was raised in Hunting Beach, CA.

The other way to do it is to throw money at players who need it. If you're wealthy just hire the guys you want, tell them what and how to play their parts.

Rock
A Man from S.U.R.F.
http://menfromsurf.com

"The other way to do it is to throw money at players who need it. If you're wealthy just hire the guys you want, tell them what and how to play their parts."

lol no i'm not wealthy and i wouldn't want hired people to jam with.

For the older musicians, I suggest you try to make practices fun and worth the effort to get together. Ideally it should be something each person looks forward to - an escape from mundane reality. Gigs should just be icing on the cake.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

Tell em it's that much time away from the nagging wife.
I'm only half kidding.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Having started an all instrumental band from scratch (3rd Wave) I can only say what seemed to work for me. 1st, have at least some general concept for the band ( "Classic Surf Covers" , "Variety Pop Instrumentals", "All Original Surf Instrumentals") and some idea who your potential audience might be (bars, country clubs, corporate gigs, outdoor concerts, sporting events). As you progress this may change but at least it gives a starting point. For 3rd Wave we looked to the Ventures and basically tried to use their format of playing guitar based instrumental covers of "catchy" songs with a melody, and to come as close to having studio-quality sound as possible.
As several posters have mentioned, quality players don't generally want to spend a lot of time at practice. To minimize practice time, I would pick a song, come up with an arrangement, learn my part (usually lead guitar), and then write out a basic chord chart. If you do that up front, when you find another musician to work with or audition, things can progress pretty quickly.My impression is that you are a lot more likely to find good musicians if you've done your homework. I try to think of practice as something I do at home on my own to learn and perfect the material and get other band members take the same approach. Then when the whole band gets together it's to rehearse what they mostly already know. Personally, I think it is important to play out in front of an audience as much as possible, and overall we probably play out 2 or 3 times for each rehearsal on average.

Last edited: Apr 04, 2013 05:12:10

Thank you all for the great advice!

ok, so far... i want to do surf and instrumentals. Ventures style for lack of a better comparison.

I'm working on 15 - 20 songs to start with before i get others in. I'm pretty much almost there. I would like to add drums, bass and another guitar. mostly for fun. so yes, practice needs to be fun for all. the only gigs i'm interested in are Show and Shines (car shows) and street festivals in the neighborhood. and that's if all goes really well. if not, just practice jams for the love of playing good music!

I'll start a drummer that i've played with before and add new members one at a time. that's if the drummer is interested of course.

this should be fun

ParkRowe wrote:

I want to start a Instrumental / Surf / Rock band, mostly covers with some originals as well. I've been learning the material i want to play, and i think it's time to get jamming/practicing with a band.

Post a CL ad.

Say EXACTLY what it is you're looking to do.

You need to be super duper uber clear about what it is you want to do. If you're not quite sure what you want to do, you either need to decide that first, or be willing to let others control some of the direction of the band.

Let me just say here that there's a big difference between a "real" band, and some guys "jamming". Most - and I mean most - people do not have the work ethic to perform with a real, gigging, working band. It's a job, and it has to be approached like a job. Everyone needs to learn the material, everyone needs to work together towards a common goal (which should be clearly defined at the outset), everyone needs to have their act together.

If you place a nebulous or ill-defined ad, you're going to get all kinds of goofballs responding. Then you're going to have to go through all kinds of trouble trying to make these various players work out. That's a LOT of time and effort on your part and you'll become frustrated and disappointed.

If you place a very specific ad, you will likely keep all those goofballs from responding, but you'll also limit the number of respondents to only those really interested. While that can be good, if you don't get enough respondents to put together a band, it will be disappointing as well, but at least you won't have to had to deal with all the nutjobs and waste all that time. It should also give you a general feel for how marketable such a product would be in your area as well as musician interest in it.

Good Luck,
Steve

1. Find 2 to 3 other people that don't need to earn money from playing shows.
2. Brainwash those people into instrumental martyrdom.

Good luck.

I'm only slightly kidding

Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
The Secret Samurai on Facebook

I like "Cruelty to Robots". But that would be a Top 40 covers band. And they'd get paid.

Squink Out!