my band totally changed, thought on this

snakebyte90

Do you want advice on how to get gigs, or how to play gigs?

To get a gig, make a recording of your groups 3 or 4 best songs. Go into a club when it's not too busy and talk to the owner. It's good to have a little brochure or flyer as well. It should have a good photo of the band, a brief little bio on each member, a songlist, and phone numbers or e-mails so you can be contacted. Ask the owner when the next available slot is. No matter what date he gives you, say "We'll take it!". I have gotten many gigs like this. Be very positive and believe in yourself. Be fun.

Another way to get gigs is go down and play at an Open Mic. If you do a good job and the owner likes you, then talk to him or her about a paying gig. This works well too.

To play a gig;

1) Get there early. This gives you time to carefully set up and do a soundcheck. Owner's love this. There is nothing worse for an owner to have a packed house, have it be 15 minutes to show-time and still no band. So, the earlier the better. You never know, you may have to run out and buy a new battery for your pedal (that's happened to me before).

2) Have a set-list and stick to it. I have seen bands have a two or three minute discussion between songs trying to decide what to play next. That is very unprofessional.

3)Don't noodle between songs. When a song is over the whole band should be quiet. Take your time, make sure everyone is ready for the next song (sometimes a drummer might have to adjust his gear). When everybody is ready, do a count and start the next song.

4) Don't party. You will not play well if you do.

5) Be prepared time wise. How long do you have to play? Two hours? And you only have ten songs? Well, then sometimes you have to slow the pace a little. Stretch a song out. Play an extended solo. Don't rush.

6) Don't play too loud. OK, you've got a 50,000 Watt amp. But remember, the human ear can only take so much. If you are too loud people will leave. The owner might even unplug you. No kidding. It is not volume that makes the song IT IS THE GROOVE. So be tight. (That means rehearse).

7)Be polite and courteous.

8) Bring extra strings, batteries, cords, etc.....

9) Don't take yourselves too seriously. Relax. Have fun. The crowd will pick up on your feelings. If you are having fun, they will too.

I like how the 8 came up as a smiley face.

Good list of stuff, useful to all of us.

I kind of wanted advice for getting them, and any tips or stories people had when they first started out.

I have a bar owner that wants 3 nights a week of music and he has an all age club too, I just told him a had a 3 piece blues style and he was happy enough to let me give it a go when I was ready. There is not much live music from locally where I live.

Well if there is not much live music locally, people won't expect pros. However, try to be as professional as possible. Take the above advice and run with it. Rehearse as much as you can. Get your songs down tight. Then, try to rehearse and add new ones soon. If you play 3 times a week at the same club and do it every week, people will get tired of the same songs every time. Above all have fun!

There are lots of hints and stories down in the "Gigs & Jams" section of this forum. Perhaps one of the local moderators will move this down there...

Oh, and add your city and state to your profile, so maybe we can come hear you play.

-Laz

PS: if you look in the reply code editor, you will see that the emoticons are made up of punctuation combinations, so 8 ) without the space between looks like 8)

thanks guys, but I doubt anyone lives even close to me. We have a lot of bands come from the twin cities and run "the circuit" around the small towns, but they mostly play screamo and the middle age middle class of my area like blues and old rock, so that sets me in pretty well I think.

well everything changed AGAIN!! arghh this is so frustrating, I want to get a band toghether and everyone I know who is a musician is IN ONE!!!! I want to make some money, not a lot just some.

The guy who was going to play bass now backed out, he wants his own thing entirely, the drummer is in a thing with him but he said he would still play with me.

So now I have no bass, I like playing bass, but I CAN'T DO BOTH AT THE SAME TIME! It is really frustrating, I know that having music as a job is going to be tough and I won't be rich, but I didn't think it could be this hard to get someone to pluck four giant strings. Yeah bass is hard like any other instrument, but in a starting band it doesn't have to be that good.

I don't know ANY other bass players not in bands, and if I ask any of my good friends they either don't want to or aren't into the same music, now I like different styles of music, just that "rap" and "hip-hop" aren't playable music to me. If anyone lives in the area near me, I want YOU to play bass.

Snakebyte90

Did you know The Doors did not have a bass player? They did pretty well without one.

Start playing with the drummer. Get a bunch of songs together and get them down tight. Then go find some places to play. If you are good, people will come to you and want to play bass.

I have played in all sorts of configurations. Solo, with just a drummer, just a bass player, another guitarist, a singer, bongos, you name it.

When you play guitar with just a drummer you have to mostly play rhythm guitar. But you can throw little fills in now and then. Also, you might want to tone your guitar down which will almost give the impression you have bass. I have done this before and it works.

So go with what you've got for now. Like I said, if you are good, all sorts of people will want to join your band. 8)

yeah, I know the doors had no bass outside the studio, but they had a organ too.

I think it might all work out, the guy I was talking about who I originally played with said he would play bass, he has one, just plays drums more. So now it is a matter of practice practice practice.

Of course, now I have to get a job so that narrows the practice window a bit.

The White Stripes only have a Drummer and Guitarist...