CamdenRob Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 (edited) Anyone else ever put an ad on gumtree looking for a new band to jam with? I just placed an advert and got Five responses within an hour.... Reading it back, my ad was pretty unfriendly as well (due to my generally unfriendly demeanor / unwillingness to compromise) If I'd have stipulated fewer conditions I may have got an even better response.... Good stuff very useful site. Looks like I have some listening to do over the weekend... Edited January 3, 2014 by CamdenRob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 You might be in for a surprise... IME most responders to ads stop reading after the words "Bassist looking for a band/musicians" and just fire off a reply. The one time I tried this I spent all of my time listening to music that was completely and utterly outside of the genres that I'd listed as my influences; and then trying to come up with polite ways of saying "why didn't you actually read all of my ad you useless time-wasting numpty"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyrene Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Is there a 'do not want a covers band' filter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamdenRob Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 (edited) [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1388760154' post='2325718'] You might be in for a surprise... IME most responders to ads stop reading after the words "Bassist looking for a band/musicians" and just fire off a reply. The one time I tried this I spent all of my time listening to music that was completely and utterly outside of the genres that I'd listed as my influences; and then trying to come up with polite ways of saying "why didn't you actually read all of my ad you useless time-wasting numpty"! [/quote] Ah I see... thought it might be too good to be true... [quote name='Cyrene' timestamp='1388760324' post='2325721'] Is there a 'do not want a covers band' filter? [/quote] I would have used it if there was... Edited January 3, 2014 by CamdenRob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiltyG565 Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 [quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1388759861' post='2325712'] Anyone else ever put an ad on gumtree looking for a new band to jam with? I just placed an advert and got Five responses within an hour.... Reading it back, my ad was pretty unfriendly as well (due to my generally unfriendly demeanor / unwillingness to compromise) If I'd have stipulated fewer conditions I may have got an even better response.... Good stuff very useful site. Looks like I have some listening to do over the weekend... [/quote] I've used it before. Most times, I got zero responses. The odd time I'd get lucky, but it wouldn't work out. I suppose it's great if you live somewhere that's densely populated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I advertised myself as available for a reggae band and got several responses, all relevant. That's how my current band got together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Stinky Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I put this advert in Portsmouth student union:- 'Miserable old git bass player seeks position with young arrogant rock band.' I had no response. I never thought of trying Gumtree, I'll give it a go this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I'm struggling with Gumtree at the moment. Had an ad up in the 'wanted' and the 'available' sections in order to increase my visibility so I've had loads of responses but all useless. I'm pretty open as to what in looking for and I'm up to jam with almost anybody; it's just been a logistical nightmare! They either live miles away and don't drive or they live next door but with no gear and work nights or something. Gah! Alex Ps; if anyone's interested I'm a bassist/screamer looking for dudes to start a metal band with in herts/west London. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Every band I've been in and every musician that has joined whatever the current band is has been via Gumtree. From the looking for a band end it's been largely grim with the odd success. There's always ten other bass players better and thinner than me. From the wanting a musician point of view you have to decide very carefully what you need and be direct and succinct, otherwise you will get all manner of "I could have played with the Stones if it wasn't for....." types. Then when they contact you, ask again. There's no point wasting audition time on no-hopers. Getting singers is much worse. I blame X-Factor. There's a lot of pub karaoke singers out there who (even if they can sing) won't have the skills to sing in a band. Good luck with that ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thodrik Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 If you get one good reply out of ten that is a good ratio. Out of the good replies, one good musician out of 5 is a decent ratio. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes it takes a while but Gumtree is still a decent resource. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrtcat Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Put an ad on gumtree in 2008 saying I wanted to join up with some players who wanted to start a casual covers band to get me back into playing after 4yr break. Got one reply from a guy who sang but had never been in a band before who wanted to put a covers band together. He had a drummer and guitarist interested. We've been going almost 6 yrs done 300 gigs and are now doing weddings and corporate gigs for decent money. Worked well for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 every band I've been in, has come from GumTree. had some great experiences and met some good musicians. that was 30% the good musicians. the others were musically inept and didnt know what chords they were playing. no doubt its a great site to meet new musicians/people though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbass4k Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1388760154' post='2325718'] You might be in for a surprise... IME most responders to ads stop reading after the words "Bassist looking for a band/musicians" and just fire off a reply. The one time I tried this I spent all of my time listening to music that was completely and utterly outside of the genres that I'd listed as my influences; and then trying to come up with polite ways of saying "why didn't you actually read all of my ad you useless time-wasting numpty"! [/quote] This has been my experience every time I post an ad to any musicians classifieds site. I get responses from bands I'm actually interested in too, but most people either don't read the full ad or just ignore it. The most frustrating thing, is a lot of times when I go back a few days later to peruse the ads, someone's posted an ad about a project I'd be perfect for, they just haven't bothered to read through the other ads. So don't rely on people finding you, go looking yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stubass Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 [quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1388786907' post='2326176'] Put an ad on gumtree in 2008 saying I wanted to join up with some players who wanted to start a casual covers band to get me back into playing after 4yr break. Got one reply from a guy who sang but had never been in a band before who wanted to put a covers band together. He had a drummer and guitarist interested. We've been going almost 6 yrs done 300 gigs and are now doing weddings and corporate gigs for decent money. Worked well for me. [/quote] Same story with me, not that we're earning decent money yet, in fact the opposite :-/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoham Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 I put an ad on last week looking for a keyboard player. 7 responses within 12 hours (and none since), 5 seem decent, 2 maniacs. Three didn't get back to me after sharing our demo, two did. Auditions arranged for both, one pulled out. Auditioned the other last night and probably going to offer him the job. To summarise - Gumtree worked out okay for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.gif.9ad672bb8b84505709f76b39c8c256ec.gif)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.