General Music Chat

Or are the "musicians" on Craig's List a bunch of losers? I have yet to meet someone from CL that is not full of himself (and shyt).

Or are the "musicians" on Craig's List a bunch of losers? I have yet to meet someone from CL that is not full of himself (and shyt).

I have never associated any musicians with Craig's list.

I guess I would have to ask: Are they any good? A sucky musician full of himself is one thing, a competent musician may put off a lesser musician, as they often do on forums. Naturally a sucky musician full of himself is only going to be mocked to some degree. Whether privately or publicly.

To be fair, confidence is sometimes confused with conceit. Guess that is in the eye of the beholder.

Good musicians, bad musicians, conceited musicians ..... Who gives a rats a$$? If their music is good I can get past all that.

I thought you were settled and in something Jimmeah?

I havent used criagslist, but i know what your talking about.
They might be searching for a band for a reason ya know?
Like maybe... for SOME reason, they're last one didnt work out.

Mark:

The Farleys is my main band but I write other styles (hard rock/metal/progressive) that do not work with that genre (punk).

So I've been trying to get another project that is a little more along those lines running. I answered an ad on CL for a prog rock band looking for a bass player; I auditioned and they hired me on the spot. The band at this point was just a drummer and a guitar player but they want the main sound of the band to be keyboards, more specifically mellotron. OK fine but you have no keyboards or anyone to play keys. They also were not interested in my originals, the drummer wants to be the only writer in the band and writes in the computer only. After a few rehearsals the guitar player said "you're a better guitar player than me" and got an attitude.

They have a lot to learn about being in a band; bands must have leaders but not dictators.

Jimmy did we meet thru CLs?

I have met some real characters thru CL the last couple of years. On a flip side I have been reunited thru there with folks that Ive played with thru the years, of course they are you guessed it, Characters!

I dont know how you weed thru all that, there needs to be a BS filter or soemthing.

Or are the "musicians" on Craig's List a bunch of losers? I have yet to meet someone from CL that is not full of himself (and shyt).

Jimmy, what is your criteria for the term "Musician"? I think there are many people in craigslist that are more artists than musicians. I find that the artists have the big egos.

Here is an interesting article about Artist vs Musician:

The Artist

I'll start with the artist. The artist plays for himself for the most part. His objective as a guitarist is to please his own artistic hunger. He strives for artistic elegance. Don't get me wrong, this is not necessarily a bad thing for me and you. It's great. Artists make life for the rest of us better. Artists create art. I have Picasso hanging on my wall, not something a graphic designer drew that I found in a magazine. The problem with being an artist is…it's rough to make ends meet. Artists are generally only brilliant at their own music or working with artists that fall into the same category as themselves. Artists constantly study art. That's the reason it's hard to make a living. The artist is always striving to create better art. He creates art with such high standards, the average Joe has a hard time understanding it. The artist is so involved in creating art that he often creates a gap between himself and the masses. I'm not saying all artists are broke but it's a gamble.

The Musician

The musician is a different animal all together. The musician is a hired gun. Although he may have musical preferences, he isn't picky about what he plays to pay the rent. While the artist may be particular about what he has to play to get paid, the musician will play anything. He is well versed in all styles and can mimic various players. These types of players make good studio musicians, session players and teachers. They usually do all these things. Like the artist, the musician is always working on learning new skills. The only problem with the musician is that he tends to find himself artistically frustrated. Let's face it, deep down inside, we all really want to be the artist. We want our music to live on after we're gone. We want someone, after we die, to send one of our CDs off into deep space so some alien can find it in a million years and say "them earthlings wrote the most glorious music in the galaxy."

You're so right John. I guess I should have known, I had seen their ad every week for months so I knew they were having problems finding musicians (prog rock is not very big in Detroit: punk, metal and classic rock is far more pervasive). But they were only ten minutes from my house so I figured I'd check it out. The covers they were doing were very obscure but cool so I said sure, I'll try it out. Oh well, no big loss.

Interesting article J. I suppose I fall more into the artist definition; I'm certainly not a hired gun kind of musician. I like the writing and recording process more than the entertainment business; like it said I'd like to leave something that lives on beyond my life (other than my bills).

I found HaleAmano on Craigslist. Worked out for me. Lucky for me they posted their band name. I did a little researching, and when I heard the singing and the music, I knew they weren't full of it as far as their musicianship.

This has been the most fun of any band I've been in so far, and it keeps getting better.

I do understand the CL frustration though. Before finding this band, I had to suffer ad after ad of people looking to do Metal and Screamo, or Casino cover bands. I was just not interested in that one bit. So yea, it was a bit frustrating for a while.

As the old saying goes you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince. I think it is that way with C.L. I have been thru so many people on there trying to find a band that I would even be interested in playing with. Music has caused me one hell of a lot of heartache lately, but I am not giving up. I have decided not to waste my time with losers. If they don't have music recorded or are not playing out where I can go see them and determine if I want to play with them Screw it!

Mark:

The Farleys is my main band but I write other styles (hard rock/metal/progressive) that do not work with that genre (punk).

So I've been trying to get another project that is a little more along those lines running. I answered an ad on CL for a prog rock band looking for a bass player; I auditioned and they hired me on the spot. The band at this point was just a drummer and a guitar player but they want the main sound of the band to be keyboards, more specifically mellotron. OK fine but you have no keyboards or anyone to play keys. They also were not interested in my originals, the drummer wants to be the only writer in the band and writes in the computer only. After a few rehearsals the guitar player said "you're a better guitar player than me" and got an attitude.

They have a lot to learn about being in a band; bands must have leaders but not dictators.

A more down to earth person would have volunteered to switch positions with you, you taking over the guitar and him the bass. "Normal" people go with the best line-up. At least that's what I would have done...

Oh, the original topic, Craig's List hasn't been the best source of musicians for me. Word of mouth is always best. Bandmix hasn't been bad, we've got a few from there who have gigged with us...

I've had some success with Craigslist. But it's been hit or miss. As has BandMix.

The big thing I've found in both places is it's important to weed out the losers early on. In previous attempts I just did the "looking for a band" thing and any responses I did get were from people I really didn't want to even respond to their e-mail.

This time around I took a page from some of the marketing people I've known over the years and wrote a carefully worded ad. It made a difference. It really did.

So, I've found some good musicians and I think I learned something.

Or are the "musicians" on Craig's List a bunch of losers? I have yet to meet someone from CL that is not full of himself (and shyt).

I believe that it should be mandatory for Craigs List to search the Internet and automatically induct looser musicians everywhere.

Kinda like they do in the rock and roll hall of fame.

That way I wouldn't have to go through the boring process of registering and all that crap.