Using Craigslist to find other musicians

stevo

Senior Member
I hope this is not something previously covered. I looked, and did not see it, if it has been.

I have found Craigslist is a great resource for finding musicians. For anyone currently looking for people to jam with, you may want to start there.

Good luck.
 
Re: Craigslist

I was recently checking out Craigslist and while there are a ton of ads I find that no one appears to be into the type of rock that I'm into. I'm from the Thin Lizzy, UFO, Y&T and Stevie Salas school of rock and that's nowhere to be found. And it's not like those are 'exotic' rock bands either. As for the blues rock stuff I haven't seen anyone mention Stevie Ray Vaughan. I guess that explains why I haven't been in a band in a while. :(
 
Re: Craigslist

On one hand, I found my current band on Craig's List, and we are having a ton of success. On the other hand, I've met more weird people off there than I can count. It's just like buying used gear on there. Sometimes you go and the kit is a mess, and sometimes you find a 5-piece DW Collectors kit for $800.
 
Re: Craigslist

Craigslist can be a real mixed bag. Sometimes there are some great deals to be found.

There also seems to be a lot of folks posting gear on it that don't bother going into enough detail about what they are trying to sell — so buyer beware — not going back to edit what they have written and being in a hurry doesn't help them either!
 
Re: Craigslist

I don't look on craigslist for musicians anymore. It seems like EVERYONE that I have contacted on there has been flakey. I guess it depends what you're looking for. If you're looking for a steady-working and good-paying band with professional-minded musicians, then don't get your hopes up. If you're looking for a bunch of slackers who don't have the motivation or drive to get out and network to find musicians that they actually want to play with, and when/if they finally DO get together, they just jam for a couple hours, maybe once or twice, and then let the group fizzle by lack of communication by all of the members...THAT'S when you look to craigslist for musicians.
 
Re: Craigslist

Agreed, a lot of flakes, and an equal number of serious people.. at least in my region (Jersey).

I'm in three bands because of Craigslist.. all serious and dedicated musicians! I guess I got lucky lol.
 
Re: Craigslist

I love craigslist... I just found a Roland TD-3 brand new. The guy was asking $650, I offerred him 450 and he took it. I love that there are NO FEES and you get to deal direct with the people. I've sold tons of stuff on there as well and came out fairly well from that.

As far as finding musicians, I have found it kind of hit and miss. A lot of young folks with no idea what they are doing. A lot of people who want to "jam"... Not a real money maker, but good for networking locally.
 
Re: Craigslist

The law of averages applies. I found my current band lineup on craigs and i have to say we are all a perfect compliment to each other, but i looked online on craigslist, backpage, myspace and other sites every day for 5 months before i found the group i was comfortable with and then i looked for 4 months after we formed to make sure there wasn't a better band out there. By the end of the 4 months though, we had hit our stride and started writing some "next level" stuff and i stopped looking for something else and commited to it totally.
 
I can agree. It's hit and miss, like anything else. I found one group I've been playing with since September '08 and they are a really nice, polite, fun-loving bunch of people. All good solid musician who are serious.

One the other hand, you have people who "just wanna jam and drink some beer and hang out". One pick today on the Dallas-Fort Worth musicians Craigslist site was advertising for guitar players and drummers. Their picture? Some "upskirt" closeup shot of a chick wearing a very short skirt, panites and all.

Not that I don't like seeing nice looking women, or parts thereof - I DO - but come on??!!? How professional is that? They are advertising for musicians and they post a pic of a chick's panties??!?!! LOL

Check this out: http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/muc/1057426287.html
 
Mixed results. I am playing in a band I found through Craigslist last November. We get along pretty well and like the same music. We've played one gig and have been asked to play a local ale house by the owner who saw us at the first gig. So things are going well.

Before I found this band, I went on several auditions that I couldn't wait to leave, and one where the lead guitar left after two songs...and I trucked my kit 35 miles to audition for what I thought would last several hours. We ended up playing less time that it took me to set up my kit.

However, the other band members of my current band tell horror stories of auditioning drummers from Craigslist. Drummers with no dynamics (loud only, please), bad attitudes, less than stellar (or no) equipment, and/or no reliable transportation.

I may have gotten the drum chair because I was the easiest to get along with, and had the best attitude. I think there were actually drummers better than I technically, but they weren't too musical.

The best place to get real good gigs, at least here in SoCal is Musicians Contact Service. They used to be located on Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood, but they're on line now and for a fee you can get access to professional level gigs and auditions.
 
Last edited:
i can't complain about craigslist too much because i found my current band through craigslist, and everything's been great for over a year.

having said that, we recently lost our bass player and advertised for a new one through craiglist. sheesh! what a parade of weirdos came through our door to audition! the best one was a guy right off the boat from russia, who was brilliant technically, but had only played russian folk music his entire career. we're a fairly heavy rock band, but he had no familiarity with rock music. he'd never heard of bands like led zeppelin and ac/dc. he could play the notes fine, but he had zero feel for rock music! the audition was so strange! we eventually found a great bass player by networking with our friends.
 
Back
Top