| Author | Message | ||
     Xl1200r |
After over 18 months of rehearsal, countless open mics, recording and passing out numerous demos, my band has finally landed our first real gig - I had no idea breaking into the local music scene here was going to be so difficult. It's a short 2-hour booking at a small cafe, so no booze, but it will at least be fun for me if not the crowd. The kind of stuff we play I think we'll do just fine there. Hopefully it will lead to more bookings in the future. Although, it's all a little bittersweet - our rhythm guitarist is a bit of perfectionist and has had some "episodes" at practices regarding tempo (ignoring his own need to relearn songs almost weekly) and decided we weren't ready for gigs yet. It's not going to be easy because we all like him, but he's only one that doesn't think we should be playing out and even elected not to play with us for our first gig, and I think a decision has been made to let him go and find another player for his spot. Of course, as the drummer, all of his stuff is at my house so I'll get to deal with the aftermath of him hearing the news. BUT, first gig! I'm very excited. And these guys were playing for 6 months before I even joined the group, so this has been a long time coming. | ||
| Bott |
great news Mark! Where ya playing,when ya playing? | ||
| Spank |
That's awesome!! We had a similar issue with our lead singer that you are having with your guitar player. We just told him "tough, your are gonna be there!" We had it pretty easy around here to get on the scene. Now, this was about ten years ago before your facebook or Myspace, that would of for sure made it easier! We luckily had about four different bands that we all hung around with and took turns playing out with each other. Then towards the end of summer we would have a huge party and have a pig roast with bands playing throughout the day. we even did a small midwestern tour with all the bands. that was a great time...nothing like a convoy of vans and summer long trip with all your friends!! You will always remember your first gig. I do remember some others but not many...mainly because of the free "band" beer you would get from the bar! | ||
| Xb12xmike |
You will always remember your first gig. my 1st gig was at CbGb's in the 80's and I broke a bass string in the middle of our set.... DOH!! I had just learned the bands tunes and had minimal rehearsals but I covered it fairly well, then another bands' bassist threw me up a clear fiberglass Dan armstrong short scale bass the finish the set with. I had a FenderP. I was sweating like a pig. hehe... fun stuff! This was in the 80's. | ||
| Xl1200r |
June 4th, 7-9pm, Arthur's Public Market in Schenectady | ||
| Hughlysses |
My first real gig was a spaghetti supper at our church. I remember when the time came up for my bass ride in "Brown Eyed Girl" I was so nervous my fretting hand was shaking like a leaf- but I got through it. I think it's fair to say you can make a LOT of mistakes that the audience never notices, so don't sweat the details too much. Our biggest challenge after playing for almost 20 years is keeping the volume level down. It's like a former guitarist of ours said, "I don't think we'll ever have an audience member say to themselves after a gig 'You know, those guys were great but I wish they'd just been a little louder.'"  Congratulations and have fun! | ||
| Xl1200r |
I think it's fair to say you can make a LOT of mistakes that the audience never notices Absolute truth. We've done some open mics where I've came away feeling like I really dropped the ball on a particular song, and people who were there had no idea, even after I mentioned the exact thing I did wrong, they didn't know what I was talking about. Hell, even my own band mates don't notice most of the time, lol. | ||
| Doon |
Mark, nice. Hmm not to far from My house. Have to see if I can sneak away and come see ya.. Oh and I went | ||
| Koz5150 |
Congrats. Sorry to hear about your guitarist though. I would stress that you think about the following concept. If people wanted to listen to music, they would buy a cd (or MP3 these days). People go to see live music to be entertained by something more then what they can get on a recording. Playing live is about entertaining your audience. Dead air, musicians staring at their fingers, and the band not connecting with crowd will kill you. I suggest video taping your performance so that you can go back and learn from it. A pic from my days as a "Rockstar"  (Message edited by koz5150 on May 27, 2010) | ||
| Koz5150 |
And Don't forget to have fun, because if you are not having fun, no one will!!! | ||
| Buell2001b |
people are so drunk they don't rememeber anythign | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Ditto the mistake comments above. If you make a mistake, DON'T telegraph it. Just keep playing. 99% of the folks won't even know it. We have a couple of sayings in the trumpet player world, "Play it loud and proud" and "Play it like you meant it". Most of all, have fun. If you are having fun most likely your audience will too. If you get nervous, take a couple of deep breaths, relax and forge ahead. You're gonna love it! | ||
| Xl1200r |
Well, looks like the guitarist is back in. Our singer was all set to ask him to leave, but he changed his mind and said he could make the gig. Basically the issues were laid out, he was very agreeable and even said he owes us all an apology. I would rather it go this way (if he holds up his end) than having to have him leave. Only down side now is they want to play another date when i'm going to be gone and use a fill-in drummer... feels like I'm being cheated on, lol. |
