Damn. It's good to be a bass player in Los Angeles

[MichaelScott]

Half a zillion bands looking for a bass player on craigs list.

[superbassman2000]

Plan A: move to LA...

[john turner]

maybe i'm just cynical, but that should be telling you something.

[Matt Till]

touche x1000

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by john turner

maybe i'm just cynical, but that should be telling you something.

No, you're not cynical. I thought the exact same thing.

This isn't a blanket statement about CL, just my experience. I responded to two separate ads in the Seattle CL for a bass player. One was for some pimple faced 13 year olds playing in mom and dads garage, and the other was for a bunch of ego-maniacs who were sure they were the next AC/DC. All they told me they needed was a bass player who wasn't a "jerk".

-Mike

[NV43345]

Originally Posted by MichaelScott

Half a zillion bands looking for a bass player on craigs list.

Who is craig ? and what and where is this list ?

There is a huge shortage of Bass Players in my area,
Tampa,St.petersburg,Clearwater,Satasota the entire bay area.

As far as L.A. I love it out there.

[Stax]

Originally Posted by NV43345

Who is craig ? and what and where is this list ?

www.craigslist.com

[NV43345]

Originally Posted by Stax

www.craigslist.com

Thanx,I never heard of it before.

[Brendan]

Originally Posted by john turner

maybe i'm just cynical, but that should be telling you something.

No, that's about right. There's a reason these people usually can't find a bass player in the circles they run. The only occasion I've found where it wasn't true was a band intentionally trying to avoid the circles they ran in. Go figure.

Craig's List is by and large two ads:

1- 16 year old guitarsist [usually sic, actually] seeks band to play Flaming Lips. Only been playing 2 years, but pick up fast. No flakes, want to take this to the major leagues, despite glaring personality flaws.

2 - 30 something band seeks bass player. We're serious, have label interest, gigs lined up, and need rock solid bassist. No flakes, no druggies. We're serious, we're gonna be big, depsite glaring personality flaws, we swear.

I've met some cool people but those were over local boards. Those boards were either Korn or Thursday, but Portland was like that.

[Stax]

Originally Posted by NV43345

Thanx,I never heard of it before.

Happy to help. It looks like there is a Tampa craigslist.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by Brendan

No, that's about right. There's a reason these people usually can't find a bass player in the circles they run. The only occasion I've found where it wasn't true was a band intentionally trying to avoid the circles they ran in. Go figure.

Craig's List is by and large two ads:

1- 16 year old guitarsist [usually sic, actually] seeks band to play Flaming Lips. Only been playing 2 years, but pick up fast. No flakes, want to take this to the major leagues, despite glaring personality flaws.

2 - 30 something band seeks bass player. We're serious, have label interest, gigs lined up, and need rock solid bassist. No flakes, no druggies. We're serious, we're gonna be big, depsite glaring personality flaws, we swear.

Ditto. Moreover, you often see the same bands constantly posting "Bass Wanted" ads. Gotta be something wrong there.

[NV43345]

Originally Posted by Stax

Happy to help. It looks like there is a Tampa craigslist.

I checked it out,here is the local site I use alot.:http://tampabayentertainment.com/

[john turner]

Originally Posted by Brendan

2 - 30 something band seeks bass player. We're serious, have label interest, gigs lined up, and need rock solid bassist. No flakes, no druggies. We're serious, we're gonna be big, depsite glaring personality flaws, we swear.

lol you nailed my former guitarist bandmates perfectly. i couldn't have said it any better myself they even have an ad on craigslist.

oh, and need to add "no wankers". heh

[DougP]

our band formed almost entirely from Craigs List.

Of course you really have to wade through a lot of crap to find decent people to play music with. Each one of us had played with responded to atleast 5 listings there.

perhaps we were the lucky ones.

[DigMe]

This thread made me think of "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.."

brad cook

[Matt Till]

OMG, I was coming in here to post that Dig...

[Brendan]

I love that song. Office Space related or not, it's a damn good song to drive (oh, I'm sorry, roll. Or is it bounce?) to.

[pierce]

Originally Posted by MichaelScott

Half a zillion bands looking for a bass player on craigs list.

yeah, but only like 10 of those bands are worth playin with.

Originally Posted by dep1974

our band formed almost entirely from Craigs List.

Of course you really have to wade through a lot of crap to find decent people to play music with. Each one of us had played with responded to atleast 5 listings there.

perhaps we were the lucky ones.

ditto here...with a twist. first band i found thru cl. then we found our drummer. then the drummer and i decided to form another band, and found them thru cl. we have gotten gigs, and made contacts thru cl.

its also the first place i look to buy/sell gear. (second is tb, with a discount given to tb'ers, and third is ebay).

[Planet Boulder]

Originally Posted by Brendan

No, that's about right. There's a reason these people usually can't find a bass player in the circles they run. The only occasion I've found where it wasn't true was a band intentionally trying to avoid the circles they ran in. Go figure.

Craig's List is by and large two ads:

1- 16 year old guitarsist [usually sic, actually] seeks band to play Flaming Lips. Only been playing 2 years, but pick up fast. No flakes, want to take this to the major leagues, despite glaring personality flaws.

2 - 30 something band seeks bass player. We're serious, have label interest, gigs lined up, and need rock solid bassist. No flakes, no druggies. We're serious, we're gonna be big, depsite glaring personality flaws, we swear.

I've met some cool people but those were over local boards. Those boards were either Korn or Thursday, but Portland was like that.

You forgot this omnipresent element:

"Seeking a bassist for original band looking to create music in the vein of Radiohead/Interpol/Muse.

Must be willing to play same note at a droning pace for 3 and a half minutes at a time. No more, no less.

No calls after 8:00 PM please"

[shirojiro]

FWIW, I found my current band mates through craigslist in San Francisco, but I had to go through many auditions that ranged from ok to ridiculous.

The stereotypes cited above are sadly true here in San Francisco as well, but I would weed out a bunch of groups based on their goals. I'm in my 30s, so the teenager bands were out. I have a great day job, so I'm not really looking to go on a 3 month tour to promote an EP out of the back of a leaky van.

I used to make a living playing wedding gigs and corporate stuff. I can walk over changes and solo acceptably for cocktail music (where noone is really listening ). The hard thing for me was to find people with decent chops who were basically hobbyists like me. I like gigging and rehearshing and the like, but the bottom line is that music is not my livelihood - that helps keep it fun for me.

In spite of all that, I managed to find a few groups that I liked from craigslist. Thankfully, I got the job in all of them. It's nice to be wanted, I suppose, but I think I was able to match my interests with the bands' interests before I even showed up for the audition, so at least I knew we'd have some common ground.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are people out there on craigslist who are genuine and who have their acts together. My advice would be to call ahead and have honest conversations with the band members before you bother to schlep all of your gear over to some studio in a shady part of town with 5 strangers. At least then you can try to avoid wasting your and everyone else's time.