Would you join a band that you weren’t sure you wanted to be in?

It doesn't bother me. My recent experience---I was at an open mic and 3 guys came up to me and asked me if I wanted to join their band on the spot. I thought maybe we ought to have an audition or tryout or something. But something told me to say yes and I did.

Then when we got together my initial thoughts were that I wasn't sure about the material. It was not in my genre and I was having trouble figuring out where I fit in. I'm a lead guitar player and a lot of the material didn't lend itself to the standard pentatonic scales in my regular tool box.

But I found out that instead of playing my normal style of "signal me when it's time for me to stomp out some heavy solo' I adapted and changed completely to just throwing in little accents here and there. Plus they do covers of artists I sort liked but never really thought I'd do live.

And the other thing that was a bonus was actually the guys are really nice and I"m happy just being part of it. It might end and maybe some other opportunity may come along. If it happens then I have no problem letting them know and they'll find somebody else. But in the meantime I'm actually very happy with how things turned out.

What's to hurt to try it out and see if it clicks? Just be very clear about your intentions. That way, if it doesn't work, there's no hard feelings.

For the last few years, I've been stingy with my time. Now that I'm an OldFartBassPlayer, I'm definitely more grumpy and demanding on how I
spend my time (especially if church music starts up again). I've played/jammed/?auditioned? with
four different bands (friends) over last five years. All four hinted they wanted me to join, but the problem was:
IT WAS FUN playing 60s-70s classics. (I even emergency subbed a gig one night). BUT THERE WAS precious little difference in how any of
them sounded, all were competent, and all were good guys. I just didn't want to give up weekends to be part of a glorified jukebox.

So even with an easy path in, I turned each down, with very little thought. I'd been part of an amazing originals group in college,
and don't see myself being happy as a committed member of a cover band.

To focus on your question, from that point of view, it was a matter of simply reminding myself of 'why waste my time (and theirs)'? when
I could project what I ultimately would be feeling after a matter of time. Give it one get together just to be curious,
and be part of the musician community, but...

Now if I got asked to sit in with a new forming group, the Fogerty-Sebastian-Cavaliere Amalgam, I'd probably have to put some serious thought in...

I have to concur with Peegoo's post. I have always made myself available to participate in Jams; fill in for someone; and do musical theatre shows (short term projects). I have had a number of people ask me about joining a group, and in a majority of cases; the project (or opportunity) never materializes, or is short lived. I can only think of one time recently that I did decline an opportunity, and that was due to a medical issue. If it was not for the medical issue, I would have jumped in with both feet. To this day, the decision to decline still bothers me.

Regarding the question; my playing experience has always been "short term" projects. I never let personalities cloud the issue.

In my case; once I got past, going to a number of "Auditions", and different people learned about my ability; it was word of mouth; and the usual question was "are you available?". I mentioned in another post that most theatre shows only have about three songs that are "memorable", that you may enjoy; but you have to play the entire score for the show.

I have also discovered, that opportunities dwindle as you get older; and the current situation with the "virus" is an eye opening education. Best advice: don't pass up any opportunity to play; you can't predict what will happen down the road.