Social advice needed

[dianec42]

Extremely introverted bass player, wondering how to go about finding people to play with.

The obvious answers, and some limitations thereof:

1. The office band: Fun; they found me; 1 gig a year is not enough. Am considering asking if people want to continue to get together and jam in an unstructured fashion for the rest of the year. Advantages: We have the space pretty much to ourselves, and I can continue to mooch off of Dan's random hardware as he's pretty well storing it there. Disadvantages: We tried this last year and it petered out by mid-January.

2. Ask every musician I know in the area: Umm, I know one guy at the office who plays guitar and ISN'T in the office band; I asked him today if his gang is still looking for a bass player. Answer: Maybe.

Am going to ask everyone in the band if they know anybody who knows anybody, etc. Obviously, I am also posting this lame cry for help to LJ. Am considering trying to track down the landlady's son and see if he's back in the area.

So... if you were in the LA area, looking for people to play with, how else would you look? Bonus points for taking extreme social anxiety into account.

Comments

[gvdub.livejournal.com]

Depending on what type of music you like to play, look for open jam sessions around town. I realize it's not high on the "easing social anxiety" scale, but if you go a few times first just to listen, then come to play, you'll be comfortable with the people, and have some idea of the level of playing that's expected. Such jams are always in need of bass players, so you'd be a welcome addition to just about any of them.

Check local music store bulletin boards. Also, hang out at the store some and get to know the guys behind the counter. They may know somebody who's looking for a bass player.

Craig's list.

I'll think about others, but those are the old standards.

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

open jam sessions around town ...

Thank you, that is an excellent suggestion. My particular brand of social anxiety lends itself EXTREMELY well to lurking! (-: [This also sounds totally commitment-free, which could be good while I'm just starting out.]

Also, that could be a good way to get music back into my life as an active thing, which has been kind of missing in recent years.

I assume the free weekly papers would be a good place to start looking for those?

Thanks!!

[gvdub.livejournal.com]

Southland Blues magazine has a listing of all the open blues jams. The free papers are another good place to look, although those particular listing may not always be obvious, as sometimes they're not a separate listing, but buried in the general club listings.

Good on ya. I need to get out and play more myself. Maybe I'll get it together to head on down to the Baked Potato this evening and drag one of the guitars along.

I don't know if you're aware, but music is actually mostly what I do. The LASFS and fannish stuff is all very recent and a side thing.

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

1. Eh, I should be reading the general club listings anyway. I have been a complete hermit and have GOT to get out more in general.

2. Mmm, baked potato.

3. I kind of knew that. (I'm not COMPLETELY oblivious, just mostly!) And I never would'a guessed it from your default icon. (-:

[gvdub.livejournal.com]

Oh. Yeah. The icon...

You're certainly not the only one who leans towards obliviousness.

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

You're certainly not the only one who leans towards obliviousness.

Really? I hadn't noticed. :-P

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

p.s. - HOORAH for the California smoking ban! I might actually survive this open jamming experience.