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Oh how I love Craigslist!!!
- Thread starter bassbully
- Start date
Me either. I have replied to many ads with not a single response! I'm starting to think there is a conspiracy against me.
I appears there are those who never respond and those who never show up. Very weird is CL.
DWBass, I have found responding to ad's very often gets little to no response. Post an ad for yourself outlining what you're looking for. You will get several responses. I find there are many more craigslist lurkers than there are posters.
You should have told him "That's OK sonny, I won't hold your youth and inexperience against you."
See, that's what I like about the blues.
Nobody gives Clapton that kinda cr&p...
Yeah, it's okay to be old in the blues -- in fact, it give you a credible complaint to lament.
Perhaps your not selling your self well? Approach it like a mini resume. List previous projects and experience. If you haven't really worked a lot, talk about your influences and philosophy or approach to playing bass. Something like...
"I am a dedicated bass player and love playing bass. My goal is to really lock in with that kick drum and create a delicious and melodic groove, supporting the melody/vocals/soloist. Yadda yadda yadda."
Something like that. Let them know you understand their music and style and your role in it. We should have a "responding to CL ads" workshop or master class or something. Haha
I've had great success and can say I've met all my recent projects off cl. Cool pop Americana blues artist that I think has a shot, TWO different full 16 piece bigbands, a Reggae band, various small combo stuff and even made the final cut for Abney Park, an internationally touring band that plays to huge crowds in Europe especially. Yes, AP was looking on CL for a bass player.
Reply often!
I honestly believe, if you sincerely want to make some kind of career out of it, you have to move yourself to an area with plenty of opportunities to play. A city with a scene, the bigger the better.
It's like if you wanted to be a logger, you aren't going to get a job in a town with no trees. Just one of those things, there has to be a market for live music or can't really expect to play much or find good stuff on CL.
Either way, best of luck to all, whatever your situation may be.
I particularly like the ones that expect you to learn six+ new-to-you songs just for an audition - and expect you to memorize them, not play off charts. Yah right. None of them I've run into like that ever went anywhere AFAIK. I tell folks now I'll do 3 plus whatever songs I already know that we have in common or forget-about-it. Heck, I've even seen bands freaked out by the fact that you can read charts LOL.
Or here's a good one. They give you a specific list of 3 songs to learn for the audition, so you squeeze those charts into your rehearsal time, you show up at the audition and they ask if you learned the whole album yet. Then during half time, the band goes outside for a powwow, you get the feeling that the keys player is straight up pissed you didn't learn the entire album and had the gall just to come prepared with the set list you were given. I mean really! You should have been so enamored with the album that you had no choice but to cuddle it at night and learn the whole thing. So you lose the gig because some goober with nothing better to do goes into the audition with the whole album under his fingers.
That old story.
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Had a girl call me once saying she had to fire her bass player and she needed someone a.s.a.p. for an upcoming show. I meet her, she hands me a cd with the music on it. I get to the gig and no one knows any of the damn songs! NO ONE! We just start jamming on some stuff. She had 3 girls up front like the Supremes none of which could sing anything in pitch! We played for aprox. 45 minutes before the cops came and shut it down (was a backyard thing). Still got paid. Easiest $75 I ever made.
You have to network. Facebook, going to live music events, hanging in the crowd, talking to other musicians, going to open mic nights... Basically, you hit the music "hot spots" in your town, and you schmooze.
Hand out your business card, get names so you can friend other musicians on facebook, talk to bartenders and find out who the good bands are in their club. Eventually, you start getting in the right circles.
Once you get an audition, or a sub job, ya gotta be able to show up on time, play your parts, and not be an @hole.
It's good to see some of you get lucky on CL.
It is a great resource, just not working for me.
Meantime I will revert to what has worked for 20 plus years.
Go to gigs & jams , hangout, meet real players.
Good luck to all, the scene ain't what it use to be.
It is a great resource, just not working for me.
Meantime I will revert to what has worked for 20 plus years.
Go to gigs & jams , hangout, meet real players.
Good luck to all, the scene ain't what it use to be.
My peeve is the ones that way oversell themselves. I've had to jump through hoops like they're a national act. "We need current promo, songs you know, songs you might have heard once, your SS number, blood type, shoe size and emergency contacts" and get there and it's guys that aren't even weekend warrior status. Might have done something years ago and hope to play Joe's backyard party someday. Oh and you must be exclusive.
Went to one last week and it seemed to go ok. Decent guys and players they are at least a working band looking to replace the flat tire. But they have a small warehouse with no soundproofing, with a makeshift PA. They said you're the best player that came down but we couldn't hear your vocals that well. Umm yeah neither could I.
Oh and we start playing and something's off. "Oh we forgot to tell you we tune a half step down." 
Went to one last week and it seemed to go ok. Decent guys and players they are at least a working band looking to replace the flat tire. But they have a small warehouse with no soundproofing, with a makeshift PA. They said you're the best player that came down but we couldn't hear your vocals that well. Umm yeah neither could I.
Oh and we start playing and something's off. "Oh we forgot to tell you we tune a half step down." 
Criagslist sucks for me, a
Bunch of bands playing stuff that doesent interest me, and the ones that do have a no old guys policy, and I am not that old, older than 28 and 35, 2 common cutoffs. And the 16-24 crowd is generally off limits.
Just want to find a group of 30's-40's guys with an established punk rock and roll band, many are clickish and classist as well, and I had to leave the OC and the middle class in am emergency, don't have the money to spend on a high overhead band, and my rig blew up so right now I am focusing on that, though I do have one cl response to reply to. Some I don't reply to because they are the same bands with ads that I wasn't interested in.
I too have bad luck with either getting no reply or say the wrong thing and they go quiet after one or 2 calls/emails.
I did have an experience that was scary though, totally misrepresented ad by a hyper possibly delusional female singer, who sent me to her guitarists place and this dude was totally stuck on 80's metal and horrible gear and tone, after hanging out for a while it becomes clear thenguy isndangerous and possibly pathological... Claims were not adding up, thenother guy trying out whonseemed interested was definitely a weekend warrior and didn't seem sharp, though I wouldn't want tonpissnhim off!
Ignore my n spaces, slow touchscreen phone that always freezes
Bunch of bands playing stuff that doesent interest me, and the ones that do have a no old guys policy, and I am not that old, older than 28 and 35, 2 common cutoffs. And the 16-24 crowd is generally off limits.
Just want to find a group of 30's-40's guys with an established punk rock and roll band, many are clickish and classist as well, and I had to leave the OC and the middle class in am emergency, don't have the money to spend on a high overhead band, and my rig blew up so right now I am focusing on that, though I do have one cl response to reply to. Some I don't reply to because they are the same bands with ads that I wasn't interested in.
I too have bad luck with either getting no reply or say the wrong thing and they go quiet after one or 2 calls/emails.
I did have an experience that was scary though, totally misrepresented ad by a hyper possibly delusional female singer, who sent me to her guitarists place and this dude was totally stuck on 80's metal and horrible gear and tone, after hanging out for a while it becomes clear thenguy isndangerous and possibly pathological... Claims were not adding up, thenother guy trying out whonseemed interested was definitely a weekend warrior and didn't seem sharp, though I wouldn't want tonpissnhim off!
Ignore my n spaces, slow touchscreen phone that always freezes
The main tip I can give is screen, screen, screen then screen again. I ask all the hard questions on member's age, drug/ alcohol use, practice space the size and is it clean?
I ask about equipment and are the member's employed. I also ask what its the bands direction and goals.
I did have a guy once tell me that I asked allot of questions to which I replied "Yeah I screen out people I do not feel are worth my time this way." He then said "well are you coming out to sit in? I replied "No."
When I first got back into music I responded to a guy looking for a bassist for what appeared in the ad a hard working no BS blues rock band. I talked to him and he seamed ok but a tad aggressive calling out area players who dissed him over the years.
I was eager to get a try out with anybody so I set up a time. A day latter there were several posts on that same CL site saying the guy was dangerous and a total wack job to stay away.
After reading those ads I called him and left him a message I would not be coming out due to change of mind. He called me back that day and left a very disturbing, angry and profane filled message
Thank goodness I saw those posts from others who went there and knew of him for this guy was really wacked.
After that experience I learned to screen and screen well and also to always trust my gut.
I ask about equipment and are the member's employed. I also ask what its the bands direction and goals.
I did have a guy once tell me that I asked allot of questions to which I replied "Yeah I screen out people I do not feel are worth my time this way." He then said "well are you coming out to sit in? I replied "No."
When I first got back into music I responded to a guy looking for a bassist for what appeared in the ad a hard working no BS blues rock band. I talked to him and he seamed ok but a tad aggressive calling out area players who dissed him over the years.
I was eager to get a try out with anybody so I set up a time. A day latter there were several posts on that same CL site saying the guy was dangerous and a total wack job to stay away.
After reading those ads I called him and left him a message I would not be coming out due to change of mind. He called me back that day and left a very disturbing, angry and profane filled message
Thank goodness I saw those posts from others who went there and knew of him for this guy was really wacked.
After that experience I learned to screen and screen well and also to always trust my gut.
