My name is Shawn and I created this platform out of a deep passion for playing and experiencing live music. In college I would spend nearly every weekend at live shows or jamming in dingy rehearsal rooms with my friends and I loved every minute of it. However, finding like-minded musicians to play with was always a challenge—whether I was endlessly scrolling through messageboards looking for those who shared my musical interests or waiting to talk to musicians after gigs, the struggle was real.
That's why I built Bander. I envisioned a space where musicians could easily meet, connect, and plan time to jam together without any of the traditional hurdles. Today, when I see clips of musicians playing solo on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok, I'm amazed by their talent, but I want to ensure they don't always have to play alone if they choose to collaborate instead.
I believe you become a better musician by playing in a group—learning how to improvise, reacting to what others are doing in real-time, and collectively crafting something greater than the sum of its parts. Bander is all about rekindling the spirit of community in music, which we're at risk of losing in this age of AI and auto-tune.
Developing Bander was a labor of love that took over three months of dedicated design, coding, and implementation. I manage all the costs associated with maintaining the site, and I refuse to show any ads or track any data so that Bander will hopefully remain a helpful resource for musicians for years to come. If you find any value in Bander and wish to support me in this cause, please consider visiting the Support page. Every contribution helps keep this project going and remain independent.
Thank you for joining me on this journey! Can't wait to hear the music you make together.
Shawn
Magyar
