How to Find Musicians to Join Your Band: 10 Methods That Will Work

Details: musicians blog; Updated: 15th November 2022

Do you want to start a new band, find new members to replace the ones who have left, or discover a new band that you could join?

Using these tips and online resources, you can connect with like-minded creators and collaborators to form the ultimate line-up.

A great band is only great in theory until the right players take their rightful places - and this can happen in many ways, for many reasons. Foo Fighters only became a band when Dave Grohl realised that he needed to find real members to bring his solo studio project to life, whereas Guns N' Roses only became a band when the former LA Gunz and Hollywood Rose members abandoned their previous projects and decided to join forces. Even the Spice Girls only met each other because they all happened to answer the same classified ad in the Stage.

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When it comes to finding band members who are going to help you take your musical project to the next step, it's all about connecting on the right level. Sure, there might be hundreds of guitarists in your area who would love an excuse to strut their stuff onstage, but for a band that'll last, you need to find a teammate, not a star player.

Here are some practical ways you can get your search started:

Talk to Friends and Family

There's no reason why you have to carry out the whole search alone, so spread the word among your friends and family that you're on the lookout for some band members. You never know - you might even find yourself in a Kings of Leon-type situation where everyone in the band is related!

Even if you're the only musical member of your family and all your buddies are more interested in sports, it's still worth asking if they know somebody or even know somebody who knows somebody. You're bound to have an uncle or an old-school friend who loves watching local live bands, so they might be able to put a good word in for you.

Talk to your Music Teacher

If you're taking music lessons at the moment, have a conversation with your music teacher about the best way to find fellow musicians to jam with and local bands to join. Most drum, bass, guitar, and singing tutors will either play in a band alongside their teaching career or will have played in a band in their previous lives, so they'll be able to share their experiences of finding bandmates with you firsthand.

Another good reason to talk to your music teacher about finding bandmates is that your teacher will have other pupils, many of whom will be in your exact position. Your guitar teacher might be giving you lessons on a Monday evening and your future bandmate lessons on a Tuesday evening!

Go to Open Mic Nights

In addition to the mic itself, the best part about these nights is that you'll be welcomed with open arms and minds by those who run and regularly attend them. It's commonplace to see a first-timer play their first-ever song in front of an audience at an open mic, so you'll usually find the crowd to be naturally kind and accepting.

Open mic nights are great for scoping out local musical talent and putting yourself out there. You might see exactly what you've been looking for up on the small stage - or someone else might find what they've been looking for when you get up and do a turn!

Another great thing about open mic nights is that jamming is often encouraged - it's not unheard of for other musicians to jump on stage and start joining in when they hear their favourite songs being played. This can be a great way to hear and feel how well you gel with musicians you otherwise might not have considered, or even crossed paths with.

Go to Local Gigs

When it comes to a local music scene, you've got to ingratiate yourself to integrate yourself. You need to go to as many gigs as you can, buy as much merch as you can, and basically give as much as you can before you can expect to start getting anything back.

This may seem like an awful lot of work, and may not be the quick fix you were looking for, but show enthusiasm for your local scene and it'll start to show you some back. Once your face becomes a familiar one, the movers and the shakers will start to notice you and appreciate you - and that's the long-term goal.

Local gigs are, in many ways, a step up from open mic nights - this is where you'll brush shoulders with musicians who are more serious, or even dedicated fans who are musicians themselves. You may well notice that some local bands even share members, so once you've broken into the inner circle, you could end up borrowing a drummer or a bassist from the line-up of usual suspects!

Join Facebook Groups

Every town or city with its own pub will likely also have at least one Facebook group dedicated to local music - just type in 'your town name' + 'musicians' into Facebook's search bar and see what results appear. As well as posting your intentions to find bandmates in the group and replying to similar posts from other members, you may also find additional information, such as gig offerings, advertisements for instrument repair services, and secondhand equipment for sale.

Joining the group will, of course, be free, although your request will need to be approved by the group admins (you may have to answer a couple of questions too) - and you will absolutely have to adhere to the group's regulations. We do also strongly recommend, however eager you may be to find your new bandmates, that you don't spam the group - if other members only post in there every other week and you're posting in there every day, you risk putting people off!

Join a Music Society

If you're currently attending school, college or university, you're bound to find no shortage of music societies or music clubs. Most schools will have a choir, a jazz band, or another type of ensemble that you could find out about joining.

Even if the club you join doesn't specialise in your preferred style of music, that's not to say you won't find another musician there who shares your interest. You might find a jazz drummer who's a punk rocker at heart, or a soprano whose true passion is gothic metal!

Check Local Notice Boards

If you want to find local musicians, go to the places where local musicians are bound to visit. Aside from gig venues and the pubs and bars that host open mic nights, here are some local musician haunts that you could find in a town near you:

Music shops
Rehearsal rooms
Recording studios
Local radio stations

Even if you don't bump into your future band in person, most of these places will have a community noticeboard plastered with flyers from bands looking for musicians, or vice versa. Have a good look through what's already on offer and get in touch with any promising leads - then, if that doesn't go anywhere, ask about advertising on the board yourself.

Check Local Newspapers and Magazines

Even in the digital age, print media still has its place. A lot of local publications have subscribers that are just as loyal as the fan bases of local bands

Find out what the local community newspaper and local arts magazine is for your area, and get yourself a copy. Check through it to see if any bands are advertising in them already - if not, get in contact with them to see how much it would cost to place an ad in an upcoming issue.

Classified ads often charge by the word or by the line, so even though you'll be excited to describe your band in detail, you need to choose your words carefully and stick to the key points:

Position available (e.g. 'Guitarist wanted')
Band name
Genre (keep this short - 'metal' would save more space then 'progressive post-grindcore death metal')
Contact details

See if there are any free newspapers (also known as 'freesheets') that you can contact in your area too - these are often posted, free of charge, straight through people's letterboxes.

Sign up to Musician Forums on Reddit

From the back page of a local mag to the front page of the internet! Forums such as Reddit aren't just a great place to share your opinion and join the conversation - they are also a great place to find other musicians who are in the same position as you.

Remember: like with so many things in life, you get what you give when it comes to being a member of a subreddit. Make sure you offer advice in the comments of other members' threads, then you're more likely to receive support in return when you start your own.

Here are our best picks:

r/musicians

The largest community on our subreddit list also covers the broadest range of topics: composition ideas, inspirational stories and quotes, reviews of other members' music and much much more.

r/bandsmembers

Share good and bad gigging experiences, give and receive tips on which covers to add to or remove from a set list, and swap advice on finding quality band members with over 10,000 members.

r/musicianfinder

Musicians from all manner of genres come to post here: bossa nova, progressive metal, dream pop - you name it, you'll find it!

r/FindABand

This subreddit helps connect players so they can recruit musicians, join bands, or even just arrange jam sessions in their area or online.

r/NeedABand

Whether you're looking for a band to book or looking for a band to join, this is the place for you.

Sign up to Musician Finder Websites

There are several useful websites whose sole purpose is to connect like-minded musicians together, most of which allow you to filter your search results by location and by the type of instrument each member plays. And the best news is - many of these musician-finder websites are free to join!

Most sites of this type are based on interactions between user profiles - so make sure you fill out as many of the boxes as you can with the best content you have. Just think - if you saw another profile and thought the blurry photo and fuzzy demo meant that the musician didn't take themselves seriously enough to bother to impress you, then other musicians might not take a chance on you if you also don't make the effort to present yourself in the best way you can.

Here are our top 5 musician finder websites:

Join My Band

The UK's 'most popular musicians classifieds site' is free to join, free to advertise on, and has been ever since it first launched in 2006.

Since then, Join My Band has gone from strength to strength, with thousands of drummers, guitarists and more using the site to connect with other musicians every day.

Bandonkers

You'd be bonkers not to join Bandonkers - which is totally free to do - and run a free ad or pay a small fee to run a featured ad and score a top listing.

Badonkers also allows you to search for a wider array of instrumentalists than many other sites, from DJs and double bassists to pianists and piccolo players.

Band Mate

With Band Mate, it's 100% free to create your own profile, 100% free to create multiple listings - and it's 100% ad free too, so it's a self-contained musical community.

Make your profile stand out with a band photo, a bio, a list of instruments you can play or already have covered in your band, and embedded Soundcloud tracks.

Bandmix

Create an online resume to join Bandmix's ever-growing musical community as a single musician looking to join a group or a band looking to recruit a new member.

You can create a free account, complete with photos and a bio, and reply to messages sent to you by fellow members, but to send messages to new connections you'll need premier membership - which currently starts at £9.95 each month, £25.95 every 3 months, or £69.95 annually.

Find a Musician

There are 2 levels of membership to help you Find a Musician or help other musicians find you.

Become a Basic Member and you can upload one MP3 demo and one photo; become a Fully Subscribed Member (currently for £6.99 each month, £34.95 every 6 months, or £62.91 annually) and this allowance is bumped up to 3 demos and 3 photos.

TIPTry as many of these as possible - and be patient! We know how eager you are to get your band started, but good things - and good band members - come to those who wait. Good luck with the search!