Nervous About Joining a Band? Here Is What to Expect

Almost every musician who joins BetheBand tells us the same thing afterwards: they wish they had not waited so long.

We asked our members what they would say to someone hesitating. Here is what they said.

"Don't be nervous, just join"

One of our guitarists put it bluntly: "Don't! Don't be nervous, just join. What have you got to lose? I mean, nothing really." He also told us that getting over the fear of performing in front of an audience was a major part of why he joined in the first place. "There's only one way to do that, it's just to go through. Yeah, I'm glad I did."

Start with the Meet & Greet

One of our vocalists suggested the simplest first step: "Go along for a Meet & Greet. Meet the band directors. Get a feel for it." That one session, a relaxed, one-to-one conversation about your playing and your goals, is usually enough to settle most of the nerves before you have even joined a band.

The nerves are almost always about the wrong thing

Most people worry they are not good enough. In practice, our baseline is simple: singers hold a note in key, drummers keep a beat, everyone else plays in time with basic chords. If you can already do that, you are not behind. You are exactly who this is for.

What members say once they are in

"All the other musicians have been great, it's been well-organised. Everyone's been patient with each other because obviously we're all at different musical levels and abilities."

The nerves fade fast once you realise everyone in the room started in the same place you did.