Playing music with another person is like dating.  It can be bliss or extremely uncomfortable and sad. But maybe it’s the first step in forming a new music project, or band, or you just want to play with a live person.  But along that path, there are times when you’ll be able to make great music together, and then, not so much.

Along with people’s playing level, there are different styles of playing, and (just like in dating), you have to figure out what to play.  That’s why it’s best if possible to go and see someone play at an open mic to get a sense of what kind of music that they play.

Of course, that’s probably not going to happen if you are going to craigslist it and find someone off of there.  I’ve done craigslist a couple of times, and I feel like there are some ways to prepare to get a good result.  Here are just some ideas that it might help to think about when trying to find a new person to play with…

CRAIGSLIST INTERVIEW

If you are looking for someone to jam with on craigslist, here are some questions you might want to ask…

1. How long have you been playing?  Have you ever played in a band, or with a music project before?

2. What kind of music relationship are you looking for?  (Sounds like dating).  I mean are we going to jam every once in a while, or might it grow into something more?

3. What songs do you know?  What kind of songs do your originals sound like?

4. Do you play with a metronome?  Wanna play with a metronome?

These first questions in talking to another musician to play with really has to do with evaluating if the person can play “in time” with you.  That would be par for the course to be able to play with someone.  If their timing and sense of rhythm is all over the place, then it’s kind of a non-starter.  So, these questions need to evaluate if you will be able to musically communicate on the basic level.  Of course, it doesn’t need to be perfect, but it needs to be in the ball park.

Then there’s the metronome…

METRONOME

So, I’m a big fan of the metronome to play with people at first.  Or at least a part of the time.  I know no one’s timing is perfect, but I believe that doing some training with a metronome is at least good to have an impartial starting point to progress.  When you’re first playing with someone, everyone’s sense of timing is a little different, so it’s good to have a referee to begin.  Of course, if you’re playing with a drummer for the first time… then you’re probably not going to be able to hear it.

CHARTS

So, before meeting up, it would save time to write out a few chord charts.  Even if you both know the songs, it’s good to be able to point to something and fix something, or get on the same page.  Look for another post on how to write out a simple chord chart.

Then, it’s time to play.  Stay loose, be fun.  And hopefully, you’ll bemaking out by the end of the first date!