Andy Chase

I’ve thinking (and writing) a lot over the last year or so about being in a band. I was fortunate enough to find a laid back, informal bunch of musicians to play with at the now-cancelled Black Sheep session; I had a lot of fun and improved my playing by leaps and bounds when I was attending regularly.

That’s the kind of group I want to be in - people who enjoy playing together, with “success” (however you measure it) as a purely incidental concern. Or rather, where success is measured by how much fun people are having. Musically, I have this idea of an acoustic group with one foot planted firmly in the old-time/celtic camp and the other planted firmly in the classic 60’s and 70’s riff-based blues/rock camp. What the hell does that sound like? I don’t know; I need other like-minded people to jam with to figure that out, and I mean “jam” in the garage band sense of the word— everybody vamping off of everybody else until something unique precipitates out of the mix. Can it be pulled off without sounding like a novelty act? (For example, the increasingly tired meme of putting out Kiss, Metallica, and AC/DC bluegrass cover albums) I don’t know that either.

The simple truth is that I need to get out and play more, or at least find a way to meet more local musicians. Trying to connect online seems like a no-brainer to an introvert like me, but in my experience so far it always falls short. I’ve been on both sides of the Craig’s List equation: I’ve posted a “looking for people to jam with” message, and I’ve also responded to one… in both cases, a few e-mails have been exchanged, and then nothing has come of it.

Similarly, the Banjo Hangout features a players’ directory where you can post a brief profile indicating where you’re coming from musically, if you’re interested in jamming/teaching/whatever, where you are geographically, et cetera. I’ve had a profile there for a couple of years, and although I’ve found that there are plenty of other players nearby I’ve never been contacted, nor have I contacted anybody; it’s an awkward way to meet somebody.

It’s easy for a web developer to forget that there are a lot of people out there who don’t eat, sleep, and breathe the internet… maybe flyers, judiciously posted at music stores and coffee houses, are the way to go. In any event, I’ll need to work on my mandolin chops for a while before trying to take this to the next level.