PelhamBlueFire Posted April 2, 2015 Author Share Posted April 2, 2015 if you start the song by yourself, dont look around asking every other member "you ready ?" i have a bad habit, if i'm playing in a sports bar I wind up watching the game on one of the many tv's while i'm onstage... looking at band photos, everyone is focused... i'm staring off. I should stop that. This sound familiar. Very familiar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderchild Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 I think this is big. I've noticed that most major, known groups look like they've having a blast. Music is fun. Playing music is fun. People like to see musicians having fun playing music. It's contagious. That's why they call it "Playing Music, not Working Music" I used to play in a bluegrass quartet, we practiced a lot. But no matter what, when we were out one of us would screw the pooch. No matter who did it the other three would turn their backs to them for a couple of seconds. Folks loved it. What we found out was if we had a good time on stage and never ever took ourselves seriously, the folks loved it and got into it with us. We were busier than a one legged man in an a$$ kicking contest. TC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 EDS... Yeahbut... Imagine a gig where your former girlfriend and current girlfriend found each other and came to the gig together in -20F weather... The ride home was a gas. A long story, too... <grin> m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 EDS... Yeahbut... Imagine a gig where your former girlfriend and current girlfriend found each other and came to the gig together in -20F weather... The ride home was a gas. A long story, too... <grin> m lol, feel free to message me "the rest of the story"... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 EDS... Yeahbut... Imagine a gig where your former girlfriend and current girlfriend found each other and came to the gig together in -20F weather... The ride home was a gas. A long story, too... <grin> m Oh come on now m.. cough it up.. you know how we all love a good war story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 if you start the song by yourself, dont look around asking every other member "you ready ?" i have a bad habit, if i'm playing in a sports bar I wind up watching the game on one of the many tv's while i'm onstage... looking at band photos, everyone is focused... i'm staring off. I should stop that. I feel like I just took a look in a mirror......ouch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PelhamBlueFire Posted April 2, 2015 Author Share Posted April 2, 2015 Never forget what chord a song ends on. It's really bad when one guitarist ends on one chord, the other guitarist on another, and when the bassist tops it off by playing the wrong bass note. Ouch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Never forget what chord a song ends on. It's really bad when one guitarist ends on one chord, the other guitarist on another, and when the bassist tops it off by playing the wrong bass note. Ouch! now your getting personal! ...sometimes I feel like that's our bass player's signature move Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PelhamBlueFire Posted April 2, 2015 Author Share Posted April 2, 2015 now your getting personal! ...sometimes I feel like that's our bass player's signature move Haha. I used to play with a bassist that always made a weird plucking noise after the final chord. Nobody liked that, honestly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fromnabulax Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 That's why they call it "Playing Music, not Working Music" Yeah, but "they" may be wrong. I work very hard at my music. I learned from one of my early gurus who is still making a good living professionally, that if you want to actually support yourself in this game, it needs to be approached not only as a means of self expression, but also a craft that needs to be honed, as well as a business. I consider myself to be a businessman. I offer a product that I have intensely and intently worked on almost every day for over 45 years with an expertise that comes from years of serious study, practice and work. Writers go to work, plumbers go to work, insurance salesmen go to work, but musicians play? I don't think so. All the musicians I have admired the most through the years are the ones who take their gig the most seriously. That's not to say there is no fun, or great pleasure in working in music. The thing is that if one doesn't take their gig seriously and as work and a career, one can find themselves not working in music. I love it, I am good at it, I find myself looking forward to every gig, but make no mistake about it, it is my job, and it is my work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 fromnabulax I mostly, but don't entirely agree. The "mostly" is for those who definitely treat it like a job for which they work more than eight-hour days but... as with any other job, find times when it's not fun at all, and is instead a grind. I had a lady friend many, many years ago - actually a schoolmate of my Dad's - whom I had the opportunity to take to dinner one evening when she was in the area with the well-known symphony orchestra she played in. Obviously she was quite good, and more than being a good violinist, she was a good fiddler. She knew what I was doing at the time, a newspaper "editor" who played weekend money gigs and, for community promotion, played a lot with old-time fiddlers. She never had, to my knowledge anyway, a long-term "relationship." Whether or not she was interested, or if that type of career made it impossible for her personally, I haven't a clue. Her comment was that she envied my sort of being a musician because I had more control over everything I did musically, but also personally. And then another lady friend who is a highly-talented and "trained" musician who also can handle a solo gig with her own material, and who's one of the hardest-working musicians I've ever met. In a concert you can see joy and yet... in a practice session not always such joy. Then there is the opera field and, at times, huge battles in interpretation. It's a job, but as any job, I think that without a certain joy to it, one should quit: As the beaten-up old rodeo cowboy of myth and legend was heard to say, "If I had me another trade, I wouldn't ride them bulls no more." m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderchild Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Yeah, but "they" may be wrong. I work very hard at my music. I learned from one of my early gurus who is still making a good living professionally, that if you want to actually support yourself in this game, it needs to be approached not only as a means of self expression, but also a craft that needs to be honed, as well as a business. I consider myself to be a businessman. I offer a product that I have intensely and intently worked on almost every day for over 45 years with an expertise that comes from years of serious study, practice and work. Writers go to work, plumbers go to work, insurance salesmen go to work, but musicians play? I don't think so. All the musicians I have admired the most through the years are the ones who take their gig the most seriously. That's not to say there is no fun, or great pleasure in working in music. The thing is that if one doesn't take their gig seriously and as work and a career, one can find themselves not working in music. I love it, I am good at it, I find myself looking forward to every gig, but make no mistake about it, it is my job, and it is my work. I agree and disagree. I'll try to explain. #1, I congratulate you on your musical vocation and wish you the very best. #2, there are different meanings to "play" I my self have played over 40 years but other aspects of life snuck in and put my music on the back burner. Before I married 30 yrs ago, the band I was in worked very hard practicing 5 nights a week all year long. We were good, tight, and in demand. We worked hard at practice. Sweat, frayed nerves, getting to gigs setting up etc. It was work, and we did take it very seriously. But when you hit that first chord in that first song and hear that crowd, "at least for me} it was pure joy. I was playing or making music and doing something that a lot of other people can't do. I hope, no, I know you've felt the same thing. Grabbing a guitar, when your not practicing or playing a gig, are you "working it or playing it ?}. It's like so many guys I know, that can play any music or chord progression put in front of them, but they can't play the song, no soul or heart put into it, {I think from your post that you can do both.} Being 62 now, I know my time has gone as far as being a working musician, been there done that. I didn't mean it was all fun & games, but there has to be a joy & satisfaction in working hard and reaping the results. The plumber wouldn't keep doing it if he did'nt like it. Playing music is when you get to a level and find out it's not as hard as it was. I wish you the very best in your music, and I wish you the joy to continue playing it. TC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drog Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 If you are using pyro, stick to the safe and tested quantity. When it says "one" cap full, do not put in "three". BOOOOM!!!!!!! Started the show with a bang, a really, really, big bang. Lost some lights too. Ah, the good ole days, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Californiaman Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Had David Lee Roth as a front man recently. That did not go over well. God why did I get rid of Sammy Hagar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvercrow Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 now your getting personal! ...sometimes I feel like that's our bass player's signature move You guys are describing jazz....ONLY KIDDING! How 'bout STARTING a song with a loud, enthusiastic rif- only to have your bandmates look at you like deer in the headlights... Or my most recent faux-pas; cueing the drummer and going blank; "How the hell do I start this song??!!" The "almost 60" syndrome... Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drog Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 How about grabbing the guitar that is tuned correctly and not 1/2 step down. :unsure: Looking cool when you jump off the stage and play in the crowd, not so cool when you jump back on and trip, fall into the drumset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 And then another lady friend who is a highly-talented and "trained" musician who also can handle a solo gig with her own material, and who's one of the hardest-working musicians I've ever met. In a concert you can see joy and yet... in a practice session not always such joy. m I think that says it best for me. I ain't a professional, or rather, it was never my living. But, aside from the gig or show, the rest is work. And, depending, it's a lot of work. I've had fun at rehearsals, sure. But like goofing off at work, it isn't productive. The more effort you put into the work part, the quicker things get done. And usually, the "higher caliber" musicians, that is, the more capable ones, the ones who do better, they don't appreciate unproductive rehearsals. Working out arrangements, or learning someone else's materiel. Learning songs. That's work. Practicing, of corse. But there is practicing to have fun, to get better, and then there is practicing as a job to prepare. Preparing is, and to be productive, you have to put your nose to the grindstone. I never found pleasure in that. That's in addition to the obvious: the business aspects, showing up on time, commitments, etc. Equipment. (Not the FUN part, the work part). The above is why I do Blues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHTom Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 Had a "bigger band" ask to borrow the opening band's electric piano because the "bigger band"'s piano player/lead singer had a tiny crappy one. For some reason it kept shutting off......the singer bad mouthed it to no end and even bad mouthed the opening band. Found out during tear down that the problem was an extension cord spliced together with duct tape.....provided by the so called "bigger band". STAGE VOLUME!!!! Used to do sound for a band playing through a small club PA....lead player had a Randall and Marshall full 100 watt stack. Singer complained he couldn't hear his monitors........over the mic. I called him out to the board and showed him it was all up as far as it could go but was not going to drown out those two stacks. He asked what we could do......I said go behind them and yank the power cord out of the wall for one of them and one speaker cab out of the other......lol. "Rock Star Time"........if you want to play star, then do it once the gear is loaded.......not while half the band is working their butts off to get out of the way of the next band......everyone loads out, then everyone can scam chicks when the work is done. outdoor gigs......don't leave your guitar on it's stand in the sun for four hours then expect it to be in tune when you take the stage. Keep them in cases until close...then tune and keep out of the sun......I know....less time to scam chicks, but thus the price we pay NHTom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted April 5, 2015 Share Posted April 5, 2015 And where chicks are concerned, see Boris's post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PelhamBlueFire Posted April 6, 2015 Author Share Posted April 6, 2015 When you're mixing from stage, keep an eye on who's near the mixingboard. A soundsystem is for the entire band to come through. One of the singers I worked with previously in one of my first projects was notorious for favoring the vocals a little too much. He turned out to be a poor mixer, as he pushed the rest of us out of the mix. That's a sin, buddy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Have picks on your mic stand Make sure your guitar strap is secure tune quietly make sure your girl friend and boyfriend is not sitting close to you. Ignore mistakes room temperature water near by Never leave your gear unattended during breaks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 Have picks on your mic stand Make sure your guitar strap is secure tune quietly make sure your girl friend and boyfriend is not sitting close to you. Ignore mistakes room temperature water near by Never leave your gear unattended during breaks yes to all of the above... about the girlfriend thing, the same keyboardists girlfriend I mentioned previously, that always wanted to play tamborine, she would drag her chair all the way up so that she was sitting right next to the keyboards. it was terrible. I always had to be the bad guy and say "ya know... wtf ?" I wound up nicknaming her Yoko ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevDavidLee Posted April 6, 2015 Share Posted April 6, 2015 I think there are a million things that can go wrong that even the best of us can't predict. Another could be taking charge of emptying the room or even a street dance because literally a tornado is on the horizon and folks (including you) need to take cover asap. m You reminded me of a gig we played at The Port at Lake Panorama here in Iowa on Memorial weekend back in 2008. We could see through the windows from the stage that the weather was getting pretty treacherous outside while we were playing. It was an evening gig so obviously it was dark outside but we could see patio furniture & stuff blowing by the windows & someone said there were tornado warnings close by - so we sent our sound man up to check with the bar manager to see if we should stop or at least warn the crowd that we may need to take cover. They were like well twisters usually skip over water and since we're right next to this big lake we should be fine - no worries.... After we finished up the gig & started loading out to our bus we looked up and saw that part of the roof of the hotel was "gone". Some smaller boats were overturned out on the lake & we hustled up and got the hell out of there. The theory about a tornado skipping bodies of water turned into complete BS science & we were all very fortunate that no one got hurt or died. From a purely marketing standpoint - that became the gig where we told everyone that we literally "blew the roof off the place". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PelhamBlueFire Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 No matter how nervous you are, don't forget to eat before a (long) show. Once witnessed a guitarist from another band faint in the middle of the song. This was in front of the entire school at a special event. Felt bad for the dude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Rev... Panora still have "Blue Town?" Ain't been there in doggone nearly 60 years. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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