General Music Chat

Put up some fresh craigslist ads, tried to be as specific as I could on what I was looking for, but first two responses were a keyboard player who doesn't sing lead (ad said 'must be able to sing at least 50% of the leads') and a girl singer who doesn't play any instruments ... Geez, I guess I should have also said 'must be able to comprehend English', too!

Put up some fresh craigslist ads, tried to be as specific as I could on what I was looking for, but first two responses were a keyboard player who doesn't sing lead (ad said 'must be able to sing at least 50% of the leads') and a girl singer who doesn't play any instruments ... Geez, I guess I should have also said 'must be able to comprehend English', too!

Communication...it's whuts fer dinner (or it ought to be)



mike, you might follow my lead for c-list ads and also include somewhere in the body of your ad..."please don't show up w any dead bodies in the trunk of your car or back of van."

Ideally, that's what I'd like - just walk into an existing duo act, for example, and start adding my stuff to the mix, but with the crappy pay that most places are giving these days, solo artists and duos aren't looking to expand and sacrifice 1/2 or 1/3 of their earnings. I'll keep my eyes out for a band that loses a player, but it doesn't happen often enough with the acoustic acts, only the 'classic rock' electric bands around here are regularly looking for guitarists.

But in the meantime, I got a response last night from a guy I knew from the open mics I hosted in 2014 - of course he didn't know it was my ad because I made this one anonymous. We're going to try to get together to see if there is any playing compatibility - he's a good singer, decent player, but only 32 years young with a young family, so I'm not sure how much time he can really commit to playing out.

You're probably right about the 'hired gun' thing, Jimmy - I tried that a few years ago, but there was no money and the band lead had both pitch and tempo problems! But I'd rather find an opening in a group that I could become PART of the act, not just 'play what we tell you'. I auditioned 2 years ago who was looking for someone like that. I didn't know 1/2 of their songs (played with them for 4 hours), but could play along with every song after listening for a verse or so - but at the end of each song, the 'leader' would say 'so-and-so' (the last guitarist who quit) always played it like _____.

In this area there are a ton of musicians (I'm just 20 miles north of Boston) and a ton of venues for acoustic solo/duo acts. I know people getting gigs who really have no purpose getting them. Yeah, the pay sucks, but it does for full bands around here, too. The better acts play better places and get better money. That's my aim!