GuitarMikeB wrote:RhythmMan-2 wrote:I've seen ads on CL - looking for band members - posted by groups who I know are top-notch.
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If you answer an ad, you'd better give them the benefit of the doubt!
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If you treat everyone like they are posers - and then - unknown to you - you find a guy or a band who is just plain EXCELLENT, then you have made a bad impression.
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I've run into several intermediate level musicians who were obviously used to dealing with beginners. I'm talking about guys who've maybe learned 15-20 chords . . . maybe can play 2-3 styles of music.
When they answered my ad they just instinctively treated me as a beginner, too, never having heard me play.
Hey, man: That makes folks angry.
I've been playing over 40 years, learned over 500 different chords, and performed solo gigs for over 4 hours straight, in over a dozen styles of music; they'd best not treat me like a beginner!
When a stranger who's never heard me play disses me by talking with a swelled head and just being plain rude . . . well, let's just say I wouldn't let him play with me unless he paid me $50/hour for lessons!
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Don't get me wrong; I know there's a lot of guys out there who're better n' me, with what they do. But, we all play the stuff we like to play, eh? That's what music is all about.
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But never, ever assume you're better than the guy at the other end of the advertisement. Because when you find the perfect musician for you, you'll just piss him off.
Simple solution - show me what you got! I've got music - audio and video - people can pre-audition me. I expect to do the same with others. I've had more than a couple of 'beginners (per your description) who would link me a youtube where they are playing (?) but more times than not I can't tell if the person was even playing/singing, or even in the video at all! Other times (when we were auditioning for a singer for the Beatles tribute) the MP3 was studio-produced/autotunes to perfection and when we heard the guy sing it was 
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Heh, I wasn't even talking about the
beginners. I've had folks show up who couldn't play a B, or Bm, or A-flat . . . THOSE are the beginning guitarist!
The intermediate ones at least got past that, and learned some barre chords, but they get stopped by the 9ths - or anything that isn't a Major, minor, or a 7th.
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Now, ya gotta realize that I don't hold it against anyone for not knowing something. For, every expert was once a beginner.
What I DO hold against them is a brash attitude.
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One other thing, though. There are quite a few good musicians and singers out there who don't have the means to make recordings of themselves. Give them the benefit of the doubt, for if you don't - and if they are
excellent - then YOU are the one with the brash attitude.
It's a two way street.
Too true! I saw an ad the other day from someone listing 3 or 4 bands as 'influences' and not one band name was spelled correctly!
