The ranter is allowed his feelings but I would just ask why he/she would waste the precious time they have on this earth to "school" someone else? The best that happens is nothing, and the worst that happens is people call you a douchnozzle on a forum. I don't see the benefit of either.
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Craigslist Long Island Posting and Response
- Thread starter Jonathan C
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- craigslist posting response
I see ads like this often enough to guess that bassists not wanting to rehearse is a normal thing in most major cities. I've seen ads like this in Memphis, Knoxville, Atlanta, Tampa, and wherever else people on TB decide to share their stories.
It's... interesting.
Are bassists more inclined to be more "professional" in their approach to music, are they less social and would rather skip hanging out sessions, or something else? I'm guessing CL consists of more garage groups.
It's... interesting.
Are bassists more inclined to be more "professional" in their approach to music, are they less social and would rather skip hanging out sessions, or something else? I'm guessing CL consists of more garage groups.
What I take from the ad is that a previous band member had issues showing up once a week for a recreational rehearsal, and wasted everyone else's time. That said, not everyone or every band has pro aspirations, and there's a lot to be said for just getting together and playing.
I dont have a problem with the ad per se. It sounds to me that it came about because of past experiences. I would rather know what Im getting into before spending too much time, tho this sounds a bit cold. I just had the "gigging vs hang out and play" talk with my wife since Im in between bands at the moment. I want to get out and gig and she cant understand why i dont just find some cool situation and just play in the basement with a few others. I was thinking about starting a new band myself and thought about what I would put in an ad...I think I would try to be specific with what I want to do just like this ad, but in a more friendly way. That ad just rattles off what they want.
If these people are serious musicians then they should just go to their local jam sessions. There they will find others with the ability to play whatever they want and many just want to play and don't have the time or are just not interested in forming a band.
Seems like he wants a lot with nothing in return waste of time imo, and what does this actually mean "this is a fun project,we are not serious musicians,but we like to sound good.please no drug users,or ego maniacs.this is a start up project.no gigs lined up yet" Everything posted on this ad points that it isn't going to be a fun project and it is going to be run by this ego maniac "please dont respond if you are going to give me a 10 minute speech about your busy scedual ...i dont care,not interested,we are all busy" Kids this is a great way never to get someone remotely interested in wanting to have you as a band mate. Should be called How not to be a successful ad poster 101
I know this forum is full of guys who play in regular cover bands, and probably have a large amount of material they know. As someone who has never played in a cover band it would take me some time to get up to speed. A startup might be right up my alley if I wanted to play covers. That's a chance to learn with a group and you can still do the homework at home.
Not everyone only plays the bass to make money. Some of us actually really enjoy spending some time with decent players making music.
Not everyone only plays the bass to make money. Some of us actually really enjoy spending some time with decent players making music.
CL is full of wanna bee's, starts ups, basement jammers and time wasters that's for sure. CL also has some gems and some great musicians and bands. I'm proof of this with others I have played with and bands that were formed on that site. The job is to turn over allot of rock's to find a gem or two.
You're right. I hooked up with a country band on that site and played with them until they imploded. Then I auditioned for a really good rock band that played some great material - I was rejected but I'm not sure if it was my playing or my age as I was about 30 years older than they were (I'm hoping it was an age thing).
I didn't even have a problem with the ad that's being discussed here - to me it read like they'd been burned a few times and were getting frustrated. From my point of view it was an opportunity to play with what I hoped were decent players, no studio rental fees and close proximity to my house.
I guess my Alice in Chains / Chili Peppers comment put them off - whatever.
But as you said, there is a ton of crap on CL, you don't even get a response from half the ads.
I would rather have a band put all the info down in the CL ad and be upfront. This saves dedicated players who want to gig from wasting their time. Finding out its just a few guys who want to get away from the old lady a night a week to smoke , drink beer and jam would not be cool. Been there seen that.
I have met some wonderfully talented people on CL. Most all my bands in almost 20 years came off CL or parts of bands from CL.
You need to screen, be honest and upfront. I am currently seeking musician's on a couple CL ads and so far the response has been slow. Its mostly due to the fact I am upfront in my ad's and state what I'm looking for. Those who have replied overall have been pretty good so far...fingers crossed.
I think the caps key is missing on the poster's computer. They seem to be punctuation-challenged too. I think you're supposed to put a space after a period. One of my pet peeves. I don't expect everything to be perfect since misspellings, grammar issues and punctuation mistakes happen to everyone (myself included). However, when I see an ad like that it makes me think that the whole thing is going to be amateurish. Just an opinion from an anonymous voice on the internet.
I was completely out of making music for about 20 years, and when I got back in it was very small - me and a guy on guitar getting together on a regular basis just to both get used to playing with people again. Eventually we decided we needed a drummer so we put out feelers that sounded a little like this ad - we wanted a regularly scheduled thing and we had no gigs. We didn't have a defined setlist but we had 30-40 songs we had gotten fond of playing. We found the drummer and went several years having a lovely time and eventually found a singer and lead guitarist and made music for several more years on a weekly basis without gigging. Finally we did a couple of small gigs, but really it was more about playing songs well than performing. I moved on to a gigging band after 5 or 6 years because that became my motivation, and the band did a CL ad a lot like this, and they got a great guy. That was 5 years ago and they curently gig 2-3 times a year, and they are happy with that. The drummer and lead guitarist both have other bands where they scratch the performance itch, and the singer, bass player, and rhythm guitarist are happy with situation as is. It works for them so it's all good.
So the only bass players who will join a social band are guitarists who couldn't hack it? The only thing ridiculous about this interaction was the reply.
The original ad has a similar tone to this gem that's been on the STL CL for some time.
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He's obviously had problems with responses in the past, but dang, I wouldn't sell this guy a bass for 3x the asking price. You catch more flys with honey than vinegar.
As for the ranter, waste of time to post it in the ads. If you really wanted to rile the guy up, rip him in a message directly to him.
Basement bands are fun for what they are. Personally, if I was asked to be a capable player, I would want to know it was going somewhere besides playing overdone covers in some guys basement. Once you get the songs down, which should be quickly by the way the OP asks for finished parts at rehearsal, then what? Play Man in the Box EVERY week for how long??? I get paid to put myself through that torture lol. My two cents
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He's obviously had problems with responses in the past, but dang, I wouldn't sell this guy a bass for 3x the asking price. You catch more flys with honey than vinegar.
As for the ranter, waste of time to post it in the ads. If you really wanted to rile the guy up, rip him in a message directly to him.
Basement bands are fun for what they are. Personally, if I was asked to be a capable player, I would want to know it was going somewhere besides playing overdone covers in some guys basement. Once you get the songs down, which should be quickly by the way the OP asks for finished parts at rehearsal, then what? Play Man in the Box EVERY week for how long??? I get paid to put myself through that torture lol. My two cents
The ad states: "This is a start-up, no gigs lined up yet."
I started up a band a couple of years ago. Start-ups are hard, and making a bunch of promises about gigs for an unproven start-up is dishonest. So, I didn't make any promises to my band members beyond, "Let's perform up to our potential in rehearsals and see what's available to us."
Two years later, we're out 2-3 times a month making above-average fees for a cover band.
Gig ambitions change over time and are dependent upon band ability, desire, and networking/marketing. Who's to say the band in this CL ad won't eventually book some gigs after they become marketable?
I think it's refreshing the writer of the ad isn't trying to blow smoke up anyone's ass about gig opportunities that don't exist yet. I've seen that kind of dishonesty a few times as well; it's far worse than just telling the truth that it's a start-up that needs to prove itself, and no promises about gigs.
I started up a band a couple of years ago. Start-ups are hard, and making a bunch of promises about gigs for an unproven start-up is dishonest. So, I didn't make any promises to my band members beyond, "Let's perform up to our potential in rehearsals and see what's available to us."
Two years later, we're out 2-3 times a month making above-average fees for a cover band.
Gig ambitions change over time and are dependent upon band ability, desire, and networking/marketing. Who's to say the band in this CL ad won't eventually book some gigs after they become marketable?
I think it's refreshing the writer of the ad isn't trying to blow smoke up anyone's ass about gig opportunities that don't exist yet. I've seen that kind of dishonesty a few times as well; it's far worse than just telling the truth that it's a start-up that needs to prove itself, and no promises about gigs.
Last edited:
- Jun 6, 2012
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I'm a serious player who does it for fun as is the rest of my band. I don't see anything odd about that. We have paying gigs (we didn't when we started), we have a blast and our crowds do too.
- Jun 6, 2012
- 4,837
- 6,859
- Disclosures
- I don't wait 30 minutes after eating, to go swimming.
