So how did the gig go cnev?
"I like to play that guitar. I have to stare at it while I'm playing it because I'm not very good at playing it."
Noel Gallagher (who took the words right out of my mouth)
Well let's see after 1001 unsuccessful attempts at trying to get a band together and playing out we finally got our chance this past Thursday night.
We were scheduled to play for an hour and had about 14 songs ready, the only bad part was that we only got to do 11 I think as we ended up running out of time.
It's hard to remember everything that happened although 99% was good. There were a couple small miscues (one by yours truly, I spaced out for a second and lost my place on the fretboard but nothing major). I do have to say I feel less nervous than when I played sports. with sports every game is a new experience at least with the music we've played all these songs many times so it shouldn't be that much pressure and it wasn't. of course there is always a bit more since you don't want to screw up in front of anyone, but ont he whole it was good.
We opened the show with Beer Drinkers and Hellraisers and then we just banged out 11 or so more. We ended up ending with Jailbreak although that wasn't the one we wanted to but it was fine.
Supposedly there were 92 people there but I would have thought closer to 70 but either way it's a small club and that was the most people I've ever seen there so it felt pretty good having that many people there. I had a few friends come down and my oldest daughter showed up too.
Nothing but compliments form everyone and everyone in the bar was either standing or dancing so that was good. I think we had the energy up pretty high.
Wellt he owner told us we can play there as soon as we have enough material. i know we have a party on Memorial day and we need to hurry up and get some new material.
Have to say it was fun ..but not enough groupies
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Sounds like a fantastic success. A good start. 8) 8)
Just curious. What do you guys and the bar owner feel is "enough material"?
I know I'd be the opposite on the sports vs music thing. I could get nervous easy enough in sports, but a quick step back, re-focus and I was fine for the most part. I get nervous just jamming. Like you said, you have had a good bit of practice to get ready for this.
And then there's the golf driving range curse. I work it all out, everything is nice, etc. I step on to the tee box that weekend and shank the first attempt when it matters. :lol: :lol:
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Ha Roy the first tee used to scare the crap out of me I was so self concious but even that doesn't bother me anymore and my game hasn't gotten any better...maybe you just don't care when you get older.
Well as for enough material I'm thinking 36 songs or so maybe a few less. We probably have close to 20 now we can bang out some aren't totally polished but are do able. We have a bunch we were playing but stopped, that we could bring back fairly quickly. Figure 3 sets of about 12 songs each.
It was an extremely good night for the first time I hope we can keep up the mojo the next time.
Would have liked to end with the Godsmack song we wanted to but it didn't work out.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
maybe you just don't care when you get older.
This is true.
Sounds like you guys did great Chris. I'm happy for you!
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Thanks Terry, Al and Roy. Since I've never done this before it's hard to say but this did go suprisingly well for a first gig. Thak God I didn't break any strings or anything.
I mainly used the Strat but used the LP for a couple songs. Trying to get my sound with each. Right now I have been able to dial in the Strat a little better thant he LP but I think there is hope for the LP.
The only thing I worry about is the music. I don't think we are necessarily a dance band by any stretch of the imagination but we may need to tweak or set lists to accomodate more of that. I'm not sure any of the other guys really think about this stuff.
I love playing the heavier stuff but unless we want to play to a room of people staring at us I think we may need to make adjustments.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
I know what you mean about the type of music for the crowd.
Sometimes, especially early on in the night the crowd love what I call "muso" songs, where they can sit back, and really listen and appreciate the music. That is the type of music fan I am, I would love to just sit and watch a band all night.
But, nothing gives the feeling of having nailed a gig than having the crowd on their feet dancing all night, which is where the cheesier stuff comes into play.
Which if your songs got the most people on the dance floor?
"I like to play that guitar. I have to stare at it while I'm playing it because I'm not very good at playing it."
Noel Gallagher (who took the words right out of my mouth)
I think the Lenny Kravitz and The Cars song were the two that most people were up there for, although Back in USSR had them up there too.
It's funny how much you think you remember and how much you really don't.
We have Mustang Sally on our list to and I despise that song more than anything int he world but everytime I have seen a band play it good or bad people are up dancing to it.
Now I know we had a bunch of our friends there but it's weird the guitar player the drummer kicked out of the band a month or so ago has played a few gigs neither of which they had as many people there as we did and when they played no one was even paying attention at the show I was at and no one danced.
This seems strange since these guys are very good, don't know if it's the music, the venue, luck.
This was a show more about sitting back at just listening too, not great for the bar owner but the music was a bit heavier and not alot of dance numbers.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Congrats, cnev. Glad everything came together so you could actually get out and play a gig. :D I know what you mean about Mustang Sally, we've got it on our list too. I've tweaked the bass line a little to make it at least a little more fun to play. The most hated song on our list is Mary Jane's Last Dance. I do like the song, but everyone has played it so much, we don't even practice it. We just know it's there in case someone requests it. We keep putting off Wonderful Tonight, but that's another one that always gets requested.
Good job on the gig and when y'all go on tour, make Nashville a stop. :D
Jeff we are a long way off from that our next scheduled gig is a Memorial Day party. We have a bit of work to do in order to get enough songs down by then.
We probably have close to 20 now but 4 - 5 still need a bit of work and we will need 33 or so for the gig so we have some work to do.
I was pleasantly suprised at how well the gig went hopefully they will all be like that be that's proabably not realistic. But the last 3 or so practices leading up to the gig were good and it seemed to just carry over to the gig.
Although we didn't tape much of the show. (There is a video of our opening number which isn't the greatest recording) but there were several things (not huge) that I want to bring up with the band but I don't want to tick anyone off.
I made several mistakes but only one that someone may have noticed so I am not immune from my own criticism, but the singer forget some lyrics in several of the songs, the other guitar player forgot to play the intro to American Band the drummer made some mistakes the one that stood out the most was the begining of Just what I needed.
Again none were major and other than someone else telling me about the singer that was in the audience I don't think anyone heard them.
How do you guys critique your gigs or do you?
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
...How do you guys critique your gigs or do you?
I try not to be hard on myself which I tend to do otherwise because it is so much of a group effort. But in the past if it goes well I'll not think about it too much and just enjoy the rest of the evening and then look forward to the next gig.
But if it has been a really bad gig I'll blame in this order: 1. The sound engineer 2. The singer 3. The rythm section 4. Myself. It's hard to play good lead when the rythm section are all over the place.
Of course I'm not perfect but I have yet to do any huge mistakes that ruin the song. However I've been in situations where the others are really making fool of themselves. Especially the singer in between songs.
Maybe two days later I'll think about what I've could have done better. Things like telling the others when it's going too fast or if someone is out of tune.
"Talent is luck. The important thing in life is courage."
Jeff we are a long way off from that our next scheduled gig is a Memorial Day party. We have a bit of work to do in order to get enough songs down by then.
We probably have close to 20 now but 4 - 5 still need a bit of work and we will need 33 or so for the gig so we have some work to do.
I was pleasantly suprised at how well the gig went hopefully they will all be like that be that's proabably not realistic. But the last 3 or so practices leading up to the gig were good and it seemed to just carry over to the gig.
How do you guys critique your gigs or do you?
Keep riding that momentum! I haven't gigged yet with my cover band. We just filled our 2nd guitar spot a few weeks ago. Practice Sunday was really good. We went through 16 songs that aren't rock solid, but getting pretty close. We had a couple that when we got done, we all just grinned and knew it was tight. I recorded practice and haven't had time to listen back yet, but I know we are getting better. We've got another 10 on the list for next week that we've been playing, but the new guy hasn't yet. Hopefully, he can do a lot of homework this week.
As critiquing, I wouldn't worry about the small stuff too much. Most people are more critical to themselves (some don't act like it, but inside they probably are). I know I am. I've worried over mistakes I made playing with my other band that no one but me noticed. All the things you listed, I would bet each person already knows they screwed up. I wouldn't point out specifics, just say something positive about the gig, then say something about areas you could improve on and make it general and band-wide. Instead of saying something about the guitarist missing the intro to one song and the drummer messing up another, say "I think we need to work on our intros and endings to make sure their tight." The guitarist/singer I'm playing with now always says "as long as we all start and end together, it's all good." :D
I probably wouldn't say anything at all about forgotten lyrics, unless he ruined the song by stopping or stopped the band. Just say, in general, if you mess up, just keep playing and find your way back. I'm sure everyone was a little nervous since it was y'all's first gig, so let the small stuff go and keep everyone upbeat and positive.
hey man...your gig and mine do sound alike. we have been working on our song list for months now. we have forty.
you guys shouldn't take long to build the list up. I agree with others , keep that momentum going. try songs on each other. the best ones stick.
I'm crossing my fingers as I write this but we seem to have found a groove with the lineup we have and I have to say the last now 5 practices and gig have all gone extremely smooth. Not that practices were out of control or anything but we just seem to playing the songs better/tighter even new ones we hardly play.
Now Jailbreak is an easy song but the solo if you can call it that has the two guitars playing the same riff, sounds great if both guitars nail it and not so great if one is off. we plyed that I think 3 times as a group before the gig and it came out close to perfect...not sure if it's luck or what but that was really a pleasant suprise.
We had gone through so much drama for over a year hopefully it's all behind us and we can keep the momentum going.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Congrats! The first gig is always the hardest.
- I don't like to play Mustang Sally either, but when forced to, I try to make it a sing-a-long. Let the audience sing "Ride Sally Ride!"
- We record all our practices, and I plan to record any gigs we get. It's good for review and critiques.
- Jailbreak is all or nothing on the solo, and that may be why we drop it.
- Don't forget to discuss how to transition between songs. When does the singer need to vamp while you change guitars? When can you do a quick start on the next song, etc?
- When playing a fixed time slot, you can time it in practice, but even so, you should identify one or two songs that you can drop if you run long, so you can end with the song you want.
Keep it up. Soon your gig reports will be as exciting as Tommy Guns!
